How about run some extras, like 3/4 non-stop from PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains)-PLY^» (Plymouth - next trains), stop running normal Plymouth Paddington trains west of Plymouth and retain them hourly.

The main advantages of this I see are:

Current stops between Paddington and Plymouth are retained and therefore the market is kept
Large speeding up for Cornwell passenges.
Uses about the same number of HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) are present
Better lode factor on all trains

But having the disadvantages of:

Reduction in service to Cornwell from London
Using precious Reading-Paddington capacity
Reduction in service from Cornwell to places such as Exeter

Would stops every couple of hours be a way of solving this. So stopping at Yeoford and Morchard Road in the even hours and Lapford and Copplestone in the odd hours. Or is this a terrible idea?

For two years, which is good because It's obviously true, unlike the wikipedia ones which as you've all kindly pointed out can be altered by anyone and everyone.

However this does not show the long term trend.

I do mean declining. At the start of the most available data for several years I could find the station had 4,912 users, In 2002/03. It last year, in 2010/11 had 2,374 In this period it had 5 years of declining use and 3 of increasing. My personal opinion is that this is declining use, although you could argue that 2010/11 is very much an exception to the trend and if you discount 2002/03 growth has flatlined rather than declined.

2002/03      4,912
2004/05    2,104
2005/06    1,658
2006/07    2,208
2007/08    1,967
2008/09    2,058
2009/10    1,878

These are the figures from wikipedia for station use at Lapford, which I accept may well be wrong but I personally find it difficult to find other figures for national rail stations and I therefore use.

If you can find better sourced figure that show a longer range of data, i.e. more years, and/or is from a better source and disproves this trend I will happily accept Lapford has ad growth.

There are other Sheffield-Barnsley-Leeds fast trains as there are other Sheffield-Nottingham trains although buth of these are one an hour and very full. (The Sheffield-Nottingham train is the much maligned Liverpool-Norwich service)

Lapford is south of Eggesford.
Lapford has also had a declining amount of passengers.

Thus rendering the statement 'all the stations south of Eggesford have seen an increase in passenger numbers' a lie.

sorry i meant Lapford, not Portsmouth Arms.

BUT Dronfield's improvement in service came not from an exsisting service that passed through but from an entirely new service linking 3 core cities, this is where Dronfield has an advantage - its service is primarily for linking Sheffield, Nottingham and Leeds, not for serving Dronfield. All three cities have larger populations by a significant margin than Chippenham or Westbury AND significantly larger than Swindon. All three cities are Bristol sized.

Not true, Chapelton, King Nympton and Portsmouth Arms have all had declining growth.
And for Newton St Cryres surely the bus is better, nearer the village especially considering it accounts for 0.59% of passengers on the Tarka^▸ (Line from Barnstaple to Exeter) line.

Barnstaple, Umberleigh, Eggesford and Crediton account for an astonishing 91.93% of traffic. Though it is worth noting that these stations have a clockface hourly service.

I also fail to see how closing the stations will save journey time but missing them out should save some time, with the trains stopping only when demand will be high so for Portsmouth Arms, and Kings Nympton Saturdays on the 10 o'clockish from Exeter and a return leaving between 16:00 and 17:00.

There isnt a university, its not a holiday destination, although the trains are significantly quicker into Sheffield and Chesterfield than bus/driving and also link to the nearest shopping mall, Meadowhall, and large regional cities of Leeds and Nottingham.

I'm from Sheffield, infact I was on the Meadowhall tram route yesterday.
It will bypass the short piece of single track of the Homes Cord with a much longer one. The tram-train scheme is a great idea because the Meadowhall tram route is a phenomenal success at the moment. The new tram route will link Rotheram's out of town shopping centre, which currently doesn't have a station, Rotheram town centre, Meadowhall, although not the primary Meadowhall stop which is the interchange, South Yorkshire's largest cinema, another reatil park, the arena and Sheffield city centre. Its worth noting that these last four are already on the tram route.

The investment that would be need would be extra tracks as the fast trains every hour are genrally slowed down by the stoppers.

But shouldn't we be promoting more intergrated transport. If you were told youd have to wait for the next train in 40 minutes because your luggage was too large you'd probably be annoyed and put off using the train.

I have overslept before by an hour and a half, and although it was my fault the train operators in question allowed me to travel back to where I meant to get off for no charge, which was great credit to them.

I believe it is this mans responsibility but it does raise the question of why none of the other passenger tried to wake him knowing that Barnstaple is the terminus.

I think in the same situation I would have gone back to Exeter St Ds and sought ought accomodation or waited for the first train on the platforms.

But stories like this don't indicate a helpful attitude of the railway, so for example if he had woken up as the train was leaving Barnstaple, would it have been okay for the guard to go back or stop at Chapelton?

Or if he had gone back to Exeter would both his return to Exeter and his travel the next day to Barnstaple been free?

Weren't they [loaned Arriva Trains Wales units?

I would say there is a demand for more Long distance, both XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) and FGW services to Penzance.

The point is when there is severe overcrowding, which I believe Great Western has some of the biggest problems for this. Is sending a unit to Worcester a good idea. it may be that there is latent demand for it, which I think there is. But does that outweigh strengthening an overcrowded suburban service.

And thats sticking to the 'core' funded area. Applying this across the country, you'd redesign the fleets with the transfer of the adelantes to cross country most notable.

However this would probably dis benefit rural services