Great Western Coffee Shop

Just thought I'd try and get in before the FGW site for a change.

Currently stuck on a Paignton-Paddington train in the Bruton area due to signalling problems. Train manager has just told us engineers are about 20 mins away.

Engineers have turned up and have fixed the problem enough to allow us to pass now.

FGW site now reporting delays of around 30 mins in the area.

 ::)

The signalling on the B&H is hopeless!

The ghost of Beeching perhaps,he wanted to close it and send everything via Bristol,the way that signalling is going they may well end up doing that.As you say its hopeless.

News to me that the Bruton area is on the B&H................... :D

In all my years of travelling from the Far West to London via Westbury (some 25 years now) I can only remember being delayed once by at points failure at Cogload Junction so I don't know where this 'unreliability' justification comes from?

Most people have historically refered to and know the entire route from Reading to Taunton as the "Berks & Hants".There have been frequent delays put down to "Signalling problems" by the FGW website lately somewhere on the Berks & hants and not just at Bruton.Timekeeping of the down "Hind",the 1803 Paddington to Penzance is abysmal and it hardly ever reaches Plymouth on time these days for one reason or another.
  I know its not always FGWs fault there are frequent delays (which dont show up in the official performance statistics/arrival within 10 minutes at the FINAL destinations covers a multitude of sins)). ie In my own neck of the woods Devon and Cornwall,lack of capacity and overcrowding are now cronic and trains between Penzance and Exeter simply cant keep to the timetable as a result on far too many occasions.

Well in my 25 years of travelling to and from the Far West it's always been a case of late at Reading and therefore lost path on the (true) B&H and not signalling problems.  Looking at the 1803 on the FGW Live Departures/Arrivals has it shown as being late at Reading on most days over the past few weeks.  Of course it's all down to 'congestion' at Reading, but more in my experience of lazy dispatch at Reading :-\

When I refer to hopeless signalling one of the main issues is the signal spacing between Castle Cary & Taunton which causes plenty of delays.