Great Western Coffee Shop

A few questions that you knowledgeable people will know:

1. Why did the 1552 PNZ to Pad train not run yesterday Saturday 19th. Many annoyed passengers and the staff, though helpful, did not seem to know why either?

2. The ongoing TSR at Gwinear road crossing between Camborne and Hayle. What is it for and for how much longer? A very large tract of land on the approach to the crossing curve on the down side has been cleared for some reason.

3. I noticed at Falmouth Docks this afternoon that the car park was packed.  Then noticed that all the pay signs etc have been removed. Presumably it is now free to park there and the cars were all from students from the nearby University residence?

Web site is still brilliant. Regards to everyone.

The TSR is because of heavy vehicles accessing farmland close to the crossing.
The cleared land is a Network Rail yard - the Helston branch DMU used to be stored there till it went to Trevarno where it is back on rails.
 

Thank you for that, FarWestJohn!  ;) :D ;D

1. Why did the 1552 PNZ to Pad train not run yesterday Saturday 19th. Many annoyed passengers and the staff, though helpful, did not seem to know why either?

Think most of the trains involving 'inward' running stock were re-timed to accommodate longer journey times due to the engineering.

Because it wasn't scheduled to.

Engineering works between Taunton and Tiverton Parkway means journey times are longer as services diverting via Honiton.

The staff should have known the reason it wasn't running, so it's bad that they didn't seem to.

As per note in Timetable 4 and I assume it will be in others that cover the route:

"Travelling at weekends between 19 February and 27 March?

The line between Exeter St Davids and Taunton will be closed and train services between London Paddington and the West of England will be diverted with extended journey times."

Yep the above note did appear in other timetables that cover WoE services. It also said "Detailed information will be provided nearer the time". Can anyone in the West of England confirm whether this happened as it didn't appear on the FGW website. I would take the word 'Detailed' to mean a revised timetable being published showing how this work affects journies to/from the WoE.

To be honest I would find it a waste of money.

The timetables that were produced for Reading blockade were also a complete waste of money.

So many ways of finding out train times, whether it be at station, online or on the phone. The need to print replacement timetables dies, it just isn't economical.

But of course I expect people will disagree with me...

I don't disagree with you Ollie printing revised timetables is not economical in this day and age, I just feel that some TOCs like FGW, XC make next to no effort when it comes to providing revised timetable information online at times of engineering work where other TOCs do so it's not consistent across the board.

FGW completely stopped providing revised timetables printed or online around December 2006, improved somewhat when Andrew Haines was in charge. Now only the very basic info of forthcoming engineering work is available upto Friday 4th of March which is pretty poor when other TOCs have info upto the end of May.

Would love to do a FoI request to find out how much the Falmouth Docks CP

1. Cost to set up
2. Cost to maintain
3. Raised in revenue
and
4. Cost to decommission.

I'm aware I risk asking a dumb question, but what's the Falmouth Docks CP?

Car Park ... as referred to in the first post of this thread.

When I was at Penzance last week the Timetable display had a large piece of paper stuck over the Saturday section saying basically "ask the platform staff"!

When I was at Penzance last week the Timetable display had a large piece of paper stuck over the Saturday section saying basically "ask the platform staff"!
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Better to cover over the Saturday times, and get people to check times rather than have mis-leading times displayed as at all other Cornish main line stations

3. I noticed at Falmouth Docks this afternoon that the car park was packed.  Then noticed that all the pay signs etc have been removed. Presumably it is now free to park there and the cars were all from students from the nearby University residence?

Web site is still brilliant. Regards to everyone.
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Falmouth Docks just didn't take money in the car park ticket  machine,  it wasn't even covering the cost of emptying the ticket M/C.

I asked the local APCOA man.

However anyone with a Brain would have made Falomuth Docks car park a ring-go car park ONLY and not free.

Better to cover over the Saturday times, and get people to check times rather than have mis-leading times displayed as at all other Cornish main line stations
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I totally agree. My point was it shouldn't be down to station staff to sort out a handwritten note. FGW in Swindon should have organised some proper publicity.

Smokey ....

You cannot make a Car Park Ring-go only. Many people still do not carry mobile phones.

Yes you can.
#No Mobile NO PARKING

How customer friendly is that? Your not welcome to use this car park and by extension the train service because you do not have a mobile phone. Mad.

Indeed, whilst I have a mobile phone, I don't particularly like having these things set up against my bank account. Using cold hard cash is 100% safe to me, whereas there is every opportunity that somebody could hack the bank details stored against me by paying over mobile.

Not everyone has a credit card.

Doesnt have to be a credit card - can be a debit card or one of those pre load master cards

It's a lot more customer friendly to have a Car Park Ring-Go only when the other option is a Car Park that is full of free parking cars.

Falmouth Docks just didn't take money in the car park ticket  machine,  it wasn't even covering the cost of emptying the ticket M/C.

I asked the local APCOA man.

However anyone with a Brain would have made Falomuth Docks car park a ring-go car park ONLY and not free.
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no point paying to park in the car park, when there is a large amount of space on the streets in the surrounding area, and Penryn has a large free car park a 2 min drive away, driving 2 mins to save quite a bit of money on parking (and a few pence on the fare) ha sgotta be worthwhile

2mins? you got a concorde or something?

well slight exageration, however if you live far enough away from the Docks to drive then you probably are within a 2 min drive of the free car parks at Penryn, and i just realised penmere has free car park as well, and falmouth town has large amounts of on street parking (free) if you know the area, so why drive and pay at the docks?