Great Western Coffee Shop

Sat at Exeter St Davids awaiting a train west earlier, trains to London at 1404, 1411 and 1418... (all formed of HSTs)

Seemed like mega overkill.

The 1404 ex PNZ was busy, 1410 ex Paignton empty, 1418 ex Newquay - lightly loaded.

Half the Summer Saturday ADEX are carting around air!

This time of year you would expect all three to be pretty loaded.

14.04 fast Taunton Reading, 14.10 calls all principle stations so assume would get more busy the closer to London it gets and the 14.18 is "set down only" at Exeter ex Newquay. Based on previous threads would it really be desirable to mix "normal" passengers with the Newquay clientele??

Somebody should tell the booking engines that the 1418 is 'set down only' at EXD. I can buy tickets for it next Saturday if I wish.

It might seem overkill for someone at Exeter, however i'm assuming after Taunton one is fast on the B&H, one is all stops B&H, and the other is via Bristol, so they may be quite close together between Newton Abbot & Taunton, but having 3 trains close together for a period of approx 50 mins which for the PNZ is probably 5-6hours of overall running it's not overkill at all imo.

All three go via the B&H.

1404 calls TAU and RDG.
1411 calls TAU, CLC, WSB, PEW, NBY, RDG.
1418 calls RDG only, passing the 1411 at TAU.

shift in the market if you ask me. Majority of people come for weekend breaks, esp in Newquay when people want to be there drunk on Friday and Saturday. Summer Saturday HSTs to Newquay are prob quietest ever.

Totally agree for some reason FGW seems happy to run Penzance services rammed while other services haul around fresh air.More capacity is needed to relieve Penzance services and less on other lightly loaded services.Only today I was going to get the 1621 from Exeter to Plymouth(the 1406 ex paddington) until I saw how grossly overcrowded it was on arrival at Exeter.People could not get on and those on could not get off.The result an already delayed train further delayed.Ended up waiting for the 1506 ex Paddington as the the next train was a rammed 4 car voyager swelled by additional passenger off a terminating Waterloo service.

Friday of an August Bank Holiday is always going to be cosy. Today was made worse (much worse) by the signalling problems in London from early afternoon onward.

Woody, you sure it was the 1621 (1406 ex PAD) that was grossly overcrowded?

Live Departures show it as cancelled throughout.

The next HST through EXD was the heavily delayed 1306 ex PAD which departed EXD at 1658, perchance it was that one you caught?

If you've seen elsewhere on the forum today about the signalling problems in the London area, you'll understand why services were rammed. There were dozens of cancellations and heavy delays out of Paddington.

You could be right I was a bit tired,it definatety departed Exeter 1705 ish.Of course I am not blaming FGW for todays overcrowding as I was aware of the problems at Paddington.Just agreeing with Devon Metros general observations that Penzance HSTs are nearly always far more heavily loaded than the Paignton or Newquay HSTs and FGW needs to address this problem as it regularly has an effect on timekeeping between Penzance and Exeter particularly on Summer Saturdays.I notice the Newquay/Paddingtons are 2+9 sets with a spare TGS for luggage.Pity all the Penzance services were not 2+9 sets but in the real world thats not possible at the moment.ie the depots are not long enough/cost/lack of additional Mk3s etc.although there are some Irish Mk3 coming on to the market but that another story.

the 1406 ran yesterday, albeit 55 late from plymouth, the 1306 was terminated at Plymouth as it was oer 100 late!

The service was only set down only until the 10th July, same with Plymouth. This was exactly the same for pick up only on the 1135 PAD-NQY at Exeter and Plymouth.

Thought it was a bit strange when i looked at it, as last year it was the other way around, it became pickup only/set down only just as high summer was beginning, not the other way around like this year!

Louis