Great Western Coffee Shop

Looking at next Sunday for a Portsmouth - Bristol journey.  Due to engineering work, NRE suggests:
Cosham - Swindon
Swindon - Bristol Parkway
Bristol Parkway - Bristol Temple Meads
Bristol Temple Meads - Clifton Down

They also claim that the usual "Salisbury" tickets are valid, however I can't find anything in the Routeing Guide that would allow this journey?

It lists the following as allowed combinations:
BB+WR
CE
CW+MW+LA
CW+MW+WR
LA+MW
LA+MW+PD
MW+WR
PD+MW+WR

Nothing appears to allow any travel between Salisbury and Swindon.  Would anyone care to enlighten me as to how/why this journey would be allowed?

I've always assumed diversions for engineering work trump the routeing guide.  I wouldn't worry about it.

Paul

Lines will be closed between Chippenham and Bristol TM and Trowbridge and Bristol TM, so it appears that the Sunday ex-Brighton is travelling via Melksham and terminating at Swindon. No additional call at Melksham though.  ::)

It's effectively a diverted service and that is allowed for by the routeing guide instructions.

Chance to travel over the line between Bradford South Jcn and Thingley Jcn if you've never done so before!

Some Portsmouth-Swindon-Portsmouth ARE calling at Melksham today in place of normal scheduled local services.

Just a like for like swap and no additional services I presume?

Anyone actually got a photos of these trains at Melksham?

Think so BNM. Because FGW don't...(yes I'm ranting again!) publish revised timetables, I haven't had chance to mess about with OJP to find out Melksham's timetable for today with what services are running. I checked the Melksham LDB earlier and there were two to/from Portsmouth trains, one in each direction, providing an early evening service. Will look at doing it for next weekend's work where the same diversions/closures are in place.

Not the ones that called ... but there's a selection of TransWilts pictures from early afternoon at:

http://www.wellho.net/iu/?page=11

---

Very odd calling pattern - with many trains stopping at  Warminster and Dilton Marsh, both of which are much smaller than Melksham, and then skipping Melksham.  But - realistically - it would have been a tough call to try to sell / generate traffic for just a handful of weekends in midwinter, and I'm actually grateful that no smart Alec decided to stop a train in each direction every hour only to turn around and say "look - told you - no traffic".

I would have thought that the service would be bustituted from Trowbridge rather than let people travel via Swindon?

Are these alterations in place in two weeks time?  That date doesn't yet appear on the FGW website engineering section.  Might travel just to experience the TransWilts.

Thanks for these, any chance you can enlarge the pictures slightly. I may actually later this summer travel on the train from Westbury to Swindon

From LDB today:

1715 Melksham - Swindon 1743 (1508 of Portsmouth)
1849 Melksham to Portsmouth 2055 (1817 off Swindon)
1957 Melksham - Cheltenham Spa 2133 (1935 off Westbury)

So, fairly close the the 'normal' timetable for a Sunday, just different origins and destinations.

Oh, and all three ran pretty much to time.


It was only a couple of services that went via Melksham and terminated at Swindon. These were run in place of the normal timetabled services through Melksham.

The majority of the Cardiff - Pompeys were bustituted between Trowbridge and Bath and Bath and Bristol and that is the case next Sunday as well. The following Sunday things are back to normal, at least according to OJPs.

I've cropped them / reduced them like that for the c.r.p. site ... where you will (indeed) see some of them slightly larger - 200 pixels wide v the 180 on the page I posted before.   Start at
            http://atrebatia.info/services.html
and they're on various right hand side image sets.

I spent a useful couple of hour chasing up and down and grabbed a few grey-day snaps;  I'm currently at work (awaiting late guests) and the pictures are at home - so no immediate enlargements.   If I get home and have trouble sleeping, I'll recrop one or two of the good ones less dramatically (a good strong size reduction is a wonderful way to get rid of cameras shake  ;D

OK ... Home now (guest check in circa 10:15) ... here are six of the best:

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/6b_1.jpg)

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/6b_2.jpg)

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/6b_3.jpg)

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/6b_4.jpg)

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/6b_5.jpg)

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/6b_6.jpg)

Thank you also good job with all of the photos

1.  Taunton.  :P

And I was going to guess Reading :(

I said I would do a check for today's trains running through Melksham and it's pretty much the same as last Sunday except the 1849 departs at 1842 and the 1957 departs at 1952.