Great Western Coffee Shop

40 MPH speed restriction between Dorchester West and Castle Cary due to distorted rails because of hot weather.

I'm currently heading into Bath Spa having travelled from Weymouth on the 1310 (about 20 mins down).

Some bright spark decided that 15:10 Weymouth - Gloucester was not going to call at: Trowbridge, Bradford-on-Avon, Avoncliffe, Freshford, Oldfield Park or Keynsham!!

This directly inconvenienced me as I was waiting for the 16:44 from Trowbridge heading for Bath Spa! (It's the same train ;) ) So having just missed the 16:16 and ending up having to catch the 17:16... I was not pleased ::)

However on the positive side of things... The cup of tea I had onboard was welcomed muchly ;D

Cup of tea.. in this weather??  :D

I rather think you'll find thetrout is ... err, teatotal  ;)

I'd offer you a coat, but I rather think it's too warm!  ;)

How much of that route is now under speed restriction, it has got to be a fair amount, and average speed can't be much better than some of the preserved lines.  :-\

Fingers crossed NR have a plan in place to improve things before next year.

I have a driver's eye view DVD of Westbury to Weymouth from 2005 and I think the original speed limits are as follows from Castle Cary - Dorchester:

75mph Castle Cary - Yeovil
15mph through Pen Mill
45mph Yeovil PM - Yetminster
75mph Yetminster - Maiden Newton save for a 55mph restriction through Evershot Tunnel
15mph through Maiden Newton
60mph Maiden Newton - north of Frampton Tunnel
75mph Frampton Tunnel - Dorchester West
15mph through Dorchester West then 25mph to Dorchester Junction

It is noticeable from both that and journeys over the line that there's a lot of jointed or bullhead track still, which is surprising when lines like the Exmouth branch seem to be mostly continuously welded rail these days (I know the Exmouth branch is probably a lot more cost-effective to run but it's quite short and there's lots of station stops so I'd guess speed isn't a vital concern). I would assume that if the track was upgraded it should be possible to restore or slightly increase those speed limits. But I'm not an engineer so I don't claim to be an expert.

Several years back (circa 2004 I think) I was travelling on one of Wessex's loco-hauled services from Weymouth back up to Bristol...this was back when the diagram ran with top-and-tailed 31s daily during the summer and possibly twice a day too, since I got off my train in Westbury lunchtime/early afternoonish.

For some reason we'd lost 15 minutes or so earlier in the journey and on the run into Castle Cary from Yeovil I'm sure the driver was getting significantly more than 75 out of his antique steed! The guard apparently agreed as he walked past muttering about having a speed demon up front.

oh the days of the Class 31s (though when I did them, they didn't seem to be very impressive regarding noise at all :()

The 40mph limit has been there for some time now. I remember doing the 67s down there and asking the guard if the times will change due to the 40mph limit in force, but she said it doesn't really affect it, and I recall arriving into Weymouth on time.

It was a bit of a slow run, got used to trundling down there at slow speeds, but when your on a unit Yeovil comes around in no time!


Regards,

James.