Chippenham Flyer

[whole diary]

[grahame]

Don't know if I posted up about this one up a few weeks ago, but I just came across the picture ... in order to make up time, some trains now seem to be leaving out stops.   One of the few Westbury to Swindon (and on to Gloucester/ Cheltenham) trains races through Chippenham as it tries to catch up with the timetable 

[martyjon]

Don't know if I posted up about this one up a few weeks ago, but I just came across the picture ... in order to make up time, some trains now seem to be leaving out stops.   One of the few Westbury to Swindon (and on to Gloucester/ Cheltenham) trains races through Chippenham as it tries to catch up with the timetable 

You didn't say which UP service this was the morning or the afternoon one

And what happened to the passengers from Melksham, or other places, using the service to travel to Chippenham on this service ;-

1.     Were they told before boarding at Melksham, or other places, if indeed it actually stopped at the intermediate station, Trowbridge, that the service today would not be stopping at Chippenham today and to wait for the next service which could have meant either having a picnic lunch on the platform of dossing down on th platform for the night.

2.    Or were they told when they were ON the train the service would not be stopping at Chippenham and to travel onto Swindon and return to Chippenham on the next available service.

Yes, FGW^▸ (First Great Western) seem to do this quite often, or curtail the journey short of the advertised destination so that the next duty can be started INTO the next journey and thus avoid 2 journeys being counted as late arrivals.

There is not sufficient slack in the system today which according to reports on this forum is being addressed in the new timetable, whats that, extending turnround times at destinations from 1 to 2 minutes ??

[grahame]

You didn't say which UP service this was the morning or the afternoon one

Saturday afternoon as I recall.

And what happened to the passengers from Melksham, or other places, using the service to travel to Chippenham on this service.

I understand that everyone was turfed off the heavily delayed train at Westbury or Trowbridge (I'm not sure which). It then ran empty to Swindon where it resumed the service.

I was actualy going to join at Melksham, but it was so heavily delayed that I got wind of the issue and as I had parked at Melksham station I was able to drive up to Chippenham to carry on from there with my journey to Swindon.   So I took the picture of the express 153, then boarded the 125 stopper a few minutes behind it.

Local transport was provided Trowbridge - Melksham - Chippenham by FGW^▸ (First Great Western); other passengers were instructed to take the Bristol train to Bath, change there, then get the London train to Chippenham and London.

To be fair to FGW, I think they were unsure at the time that they decided to turn everyone off at Westbury of Trowbridge whether the service was going to carry on at all

There is not sufficient slack in the system today which according to reports on this forum is being addressed in the new timetable, whats that, extending turnround times at destinations from 1 to 2 minutes ??

Yes, I undertand that is one of the main things.   You'll also find that some en-route timings have been eased further.