FGW weekend services diverting via Yeovil/Honiton - Feb 2015

[whole diary]

[bobm]

For those who like seeing some different scenery, I note that FGW^▸ (First Great Western) services are diverting via the SWT^▸ (South West Trains) route into Exeter on the weekends of 7/8 Feb, 14/15 Feb, 21/22 Feb and 28 Feb/1Mar.

Some of the services will wait at Honiton for between 20 and 30 minutes waiting for a SWT service to Waterloo to pass.  Personally I think that is a price worth paying to have a through service rather than a bus.

The Honiton calls are mostly not advertised but I wouldn't mind betting the odd TM^▸ (Train Manager, or Ticket Machine, or Temple Meads (Bristol), depending on context) will have his/her ear bent to release the doors during the extended stops so a passenger can sneak off for a ciggie!

[LiskeardRich]

Can you provide more info regarding 21st feb? My wife has reservations from taunton to redruth on a paddington to Penzance service which shows as a through service.

[LiskeardRich]

Bobm I have just checked the diversions are Sunday only not the whole weekend at least the weekend of 21/22 Feb.

[bobm]

They are certainly happening on Saturday 14th - my train is one of them. 

[JayMac]

Off to see your Valentine bobm? 

[bobm]

Useless fact. On Valentine's Day 1967 I had my tonsils out at a cost of 90 guineas to my parents. A fact I celebrate each year.

[LiskeardRich]

They are certainly happening on Saturday 14th - my train is one of them. 

I've checked it out, on the weekends of 21st and 28th they're only on the Sunday. Weekend of 14th they are both Saturday and Sunday.

[Zoe]

It seems that on these days there will be no way of getting from Exeter to Taunton after 19:24 and the service during the day reduced to an hourly XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) train from Plymouth/Penzance. While it's important to maintain a direct service from Exeter to London (and so remove the need for people to use buses), I'm not sure it's a great idea for the Exeter to Taunton service to end an hour earlier even if the service during the day has to be reduced.  I note that the line between Exeter and Taunton is actually open so it seems quite unusual to close both Taunton - Castle Cary and Taunton - Highbridge at the same time unless the work is actually going to be between Taunton and Cogload Junction.

[stuving]

It seems that on these days there will be no way of getting from Exeter to Taunton after 19:24 and the service during the day reduced to an hourly XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) train from Plymouth/Penzance. While it's important to maintain a direct service from Exeter to London (and so remove the need for people to use buses), I'm not sure it's a great idea for the Exeter to Taunton service to end an hour earlier even if the service during the day has to be reduced.  I note that the line between Exeter and Taunton is actually open so it seems quite unusual to close both Taunton - Castle Cary and Taunton - Highbridge at the same time unless the work is actually going to be between Taunton and Cogload Junction.

If you look at FGW^▸ (First Great Western)'s web page "Summary of timetable changes - Saturday 14 February 2015 until Friday 20 February 2015",  it shows:
Taunton - Highbridge is marked in red (24b "Saturday and Sunday ^ Services between Bristol Temple Meads and Exeter St Davids will be operating to an amended timetable. Some services will be operated by rail replacement buses.")
Taunton - Castle Cary is marked in red (4a "Saturday and Sunday ^ The Railway line between Castle Cary and Taunton will be closed. Services be=tween London Paddington and the West of England will be operating to an amended timetable with some services diverted via an alternative route. Buses will also run between Castle Cary and Taunton").
Taunton - Exeter is not marked as affected at all.  It does not even have the blue marking used for "Minor changes to train times".

Now that looks like a mistake, as the diversion of FGW services (all, after 11:00) surely counts as "Significant changes to train times". XC are running their service but truncated, so most of the day that provides some - but reduced - service to FGW passengers. RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website) shows no FGW replacement buses to or from the south, so the last buses to Highbridge, Weston and Castle Cary cannot serve through passengers. 

So is the information wrong? Or is it a major planning error? Or what?

[Zoe]

RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website) shows no FGW^▸ (First Great Western) replacement buses to or from the south, so the last buses to Highbridge, Weston and Castle Cary cannot serve through passengers. 

So is the information wrong? Or is it a major planning error? Or what?

OpenTrainTimes shows FGW buses shown as running later in the evening between Weston-super-Mare and Exeter (in addition to the XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) Bristol to Exeter buses) but this is only towards Exeter, there is nothing shown as running between Exeter and Taunton (road or rail) after 19:24 so it seems it will be impossible to get from Exeter to Taunton, Bridgwater, Highbridge or Weston-super-Mare after this time.  I understand that since the HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)) are all diverted via Yeovil, there may not be sufficient resources available to allow the service level to be maintained between Exeter and Taunton and since XC are providing a service (which hopefully won't be too overcrowded as a result) FGW may not have to provide anything during these times but if you have to travel on Sunday evenings after 20:00 (the last train is usually at 20:55), it seems the only way will be a very expensive taxi.

[JayMac]

It does seem a shame that the last train on Sundays from Exeter to Bristol at 2055 (connecting into a local service at Taunton for intermediate stations) can't be covered by Rail Replacement.

[PhilWakely]

For those who like seeing some different scenery, I note that FGW^▸ (First Great Western) services are diverting via the SWT^▸ (South West Trains) route into Exeter on the weekends of 7/8 Feb, 14/15 Feb, 21/22 Feb and 28 Feb/1Mar.

Some of the services will wait at Honiton for between 20 and 30 minutes waiting for a SWT service to Waterloo to pass.  Personally I think that is a price worth paying to have a through service rather than a bus.

The Honiton calls are mostly not advertised but I wouldn't mind betting the odd TM^▸ (Train Manager, or Ticket Machine, or Temple Meads (Bristol), depending on context) will have his/her ear bent to release the doors during the extended stops so a passenger can sneak off for a ciggie!

The amended timetables for the coming weekend have just been posted at Pinhoe station and these show that nearly all Sunday diversions are available for boarding/alighting at Honiton, whilst the Saturday services are 'not for public use'.