Great Western Coffee Shop

This was affecting services between Guildford and Gatwick this afternoon. I was on the 1343 Wokingham to Gatwick, which got as far as Shalford, before being sent back to Guildford to terminate (so that was a rare passenger-carrying crossing from one track to the other at Shalford). A bit of a miscommunication at Guildford as the FGW conductor advised pax to speak to station staff at Guildford for 'onward road transport' which SWT weren't having anything to do with (initially) as it was a FGW Issue. They were suggesting catching the 1502 to Clapham Jcn and going to Gatwick from there.

Unfortunately for those Gatwick pax, the attitude doesn't portray the rail industry in a great light when they do have planes to catch. However the station staff did ring up cab companies to arrange shared cabs (at pax own costs I think). Also as I departed to Dorking via Leatherhead, I did hear that there would be a bus operating at 1525 for Chilworth and beyond.   

Road transport (buses) were organised by FGW to Redhill (to connect into Gatwick) and Wokingham staff were sending passengers for Gatwick via Clapham Junction.
Unfortunately, it can take a little time procuring vehicles at short notice on a Bank Holiday, especially when over 200 have been drafted in to organise the service around Reading (though I suspect some of these were diverted to Guildford in the end).
The line was reopened at approx 1600.