Railfuture (national) events for 2022

[whole diary]

[grahame]

from https://www.railfuture.org.uk/conferences/?show=orgs#orgs

Webinar - Wed 12/01/2022 Rail Recovery - how to realise the potential

2022/Bristol (AGM^▸ (Annual General Meeting))
Sat 16/07/2022 17th Railfuture Ltd AGM
Venue - a few hundred yards from Bristol (Parkway) station

2022/Leeds - RAILFUTURE ANNUAL CONFERENCE
Thu 15/09/2022 Turning Point for the Railways
Venue - About a mile from Leeds Station

[grahame]

To register for the AGM^▸ (Annual General Meeting), on 16th July, please email as instructed - https://www.railfuture.org.uk/conferences ...

The Self-Care facility is currently unavailable (administrators/contributors can still login). This website has been migrated to a new server, but is still being tested. Until it is made available, it is not possible to login or perform other activites that update the database. It is hoped that everything will be available again before the AGM. Please email 'renewals' at railfuture.org.uk to record anything about the AGM. Soprry for the inconvenience.

[grahame]

Severnside AGM^▸ (Annual General Meeting) from 09:00, main conference late morning to around 15:30 tomorrow

08:00 / MKM^» (Melksham (Station code) - next trains)
08:26 - 08:41 / SWI^» (Swindon - next trains)
09:03 / BPW^» (Bristol Parkway - next trains)

16:57 / BPW
17:20 - 17:35 / SWI
17:59 / MKM

£13.40 with senior railcard?

Can I get there on time / do I any better on price?

[ChrisB]

According to NR^» (Network Rail - home page) journeyplanner. There’s no fare via SWI^» (Swindon - next trains) to BPW^» (Bristol Parkway - next trains). The route is via BRI^» (Bristol Temple Meads - next trains), so two tickets required MKM^» (Melksham (Station code) - next trains)/SWI & SWI/BPW which is about £5 (£17.35 w/S/Railcard) more than you quote.

[grahame]

According to NR^» (Network Rail - home page) journeyplanner. There’s no fare via SWI^» (Swindon - next trains) to BPW^» (Bristol Parkway - next trains). The route is via BRI^» (Bristol Temple Meads - next trains), so two tickets required MKM^» (Melksham (Station code) - next trains)/SWI & SWI/BPW which is about £5 (£17.35 w/S/Railcard) more than you quote.

Fares from Melksham to South Wales are valid via Swindon (and Bristol Parkway) and I was planning to be using one of those.

Travelling from Melksham to Bristol Parkway via Bath Spa is considerably slower than via Swindon, and I was amazed that there was no "Any Permitted" fare and that the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) journey planner didn't even offer me travel via Swindon.   Very much the best (easiest, quickest, least crowded, earliest arrival today) way to make the journey so why hide it?

[ChrisB]

NR^» (Network Rail - home page) journeyplannerdoesn’t hide it, but doesn’t offer a fare either (which is presumably why the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) planner hides it (coz it can’t offer a fare)

[grahame]

According to NR^» (Network Rail - home page) journeyplanner. There’s no fare via SWI^» (Swindon - next trains) to BPW^» (Bristol Parkway - next trains). The route is via BRI^» (Bristol Temple Meads - next trains), so two tickets required MKM^» (Melksham (Station code) - next trains)/SWI & SWI/BPW which is about £5 (£17.35 w/S/Railcard) more than you quote.

£14.25 of course - I misread brfares earlier so it was more than £13.40

[grahame]

Well - that was a classic example of "how hard can we make the train" ...

Outbound
Long (but friendly) discussion with train manager on whether the connection woudk make at Swindon and what the best ticket to use was.  Obviously a Melksham to Severn Tunnel Junction return ;-) - which was news to him, and I am not surprised.
Due to leave Melksham 08:00, left 08:15.75
Delay attributed to to shortage of staff in the yard getting trains out
Due to arrive Swindon 08:26, arrived 08:40.50
Lucky that the South Wales train as running late
Due to leave Swindon 08:41, left 08:47.25
Due to arrive Bristol Parkway 09:03, actual 09:10.00

Return
Due to leave Bristol Parkway on 15:18, change Swindon onto 16:03, MKM^» (Melksham (Station code) - next trains) at 16:28 - but that 16:03 was flagged up as cancelled.

So then due to leave Bristol Parkway 15:17
Due to arrive Trowbridge 16:22 and leave there at 16:42
Due to arrive Melksham 16:53
but it didn't leave Parkway into 15:52 (and I was on it)

Platform staff at Parkway initially advised stick to that train anyway, as did GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)'s journey planner - until you drilled down and found a change time of MINUS 15 minutes (see below)
Changed his mind on "are you sure - that looks like I would just miss the connection" (would have been 18:51 Melksham)
Advise amended to change at Bristol Temple Meads and Chippenham (17:59 arrival)

Switched to bus at Bath - 17:30 arrival right outside home.

Occasionally things go wrong - but this lack of train crew to get the trains out of bed this morning and on the return trip too,  and the incorrect information  from the GWR website, and platform staff too, would have put off many. Certainly not a service marketable to the nervous or unsure.





To cap it all - looing back at the display in Bath Bus station providing information about next trains:



Busiest service - Bristol Parkway to Bath
Quietest service - Swindon to Bristol Parkway ("The Mask")
Nicest train - Melksham to Swindon (busy but pleasantly so, crowds waiting at Swindon for the return journey.

[stuving]

According to NR^» (Network Rail - home page) journeyplanner. There’s no fare via SWI^» (Swindon - next trains) to BPW^» (Bristol Parkway - next trains). The route is via BRI^» (Bristol Temple Meads - next trains), so two tickets required MKM^» (Melksham (Station code) - next trains)/SWI & SWI/BPW which is about £5 (£17.35 w/S/Railcard) more than you quote.

Fares from Melksham to South Wales are valid via Swindon (and Bristol Parkway) and I was planning to be using one of those.

Travelling from Melksham to Bristol Parkway via Bath Spa is considerably slower than via Swindon, and I was amazed that there was no "Any Permitted" fare and that the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) journey planner didn't even offer me travel via Swindon.   Very much the best (easiest, quickest, least crowded, earliest arrival today) way to make the journey so why hide it?

I think it arises because Melksham's routeing point is Chippenham, while Parkway's is Bristol Group (it's also a member). Not surprisingly, there isn't a valid route from Chippenham to Bristol via Swindon. So you need a destination a bit further on so its routeing point isn't Bristol Group. Patchway, Yate, and even Pilning don't escape Bristol's clutches so it's on to STJ^▸ (Severn Tunnel Junction railway station)!

Or is it? The Routeing Guide says STJ's routeing point in this direction is still Bristol Group - so that ticket should not be valid either! It may say "any permitted" (because STJ is not a member of the group, so is clustered with Caldicot), but via Swindon isn't permitted.

[jamestheredengine]

According to NR^» (Network Rail - home page) journeyplanner. There’s no fare via SWI^» (Swindon - next trains) to BPW^» (Bristol Parkway - next trains). The route is via BRI^» (Bristol Temple Meads - next trains), so two tickets required MKM^» (Melksham (Station code) - next trains)/SWI & SWI/BPW which is about £5 (£17.35 w/S/Railcard) more than you quote.

Fares from Melksham to South Wales are valid via Swindon (and Bristol Parkway) and I was planning to be using one of those.

Travelling from Melksham to Bristol Parkway via Bath Spa is considerably slower than via Swindon, and I was amazed that there was no "Any Permitted" fare and that the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) journey planner didn't even offer me travel via Swindon.   Very much the best (easiest, quickest, least crowded, earliest arrival today) way to make the journey so why hide it?

I think it arises because Melksham's routeing point is Chippenham, while Parkway's is Bristol Group (it's also a member). Not surprisingly, there isn't a valid route from Chippenham to Bristol via Swindon. So you need a destination a bit further on so its routeing point isn't Bristol Group. Patchway, Yate, and even Pilning don't escape Bristol's clutches so it's on to STJ^▸ (Severn Tunnel Junction railway station)!

Or is it? The Routeing Guide says STJ's routeing point in this direction is still Bristol Group - so that ticket should not be valid either! It may say "any permitted" (because STJ is not a member of the group, so is clustered with Caldicot), but via Swindon isn't permitted.

The problem is Chippenham being a routeing point at all. Melksham's routeing point should be Swindon. Abolish Chippenham.

[grahame]

RailFuture's Campaigner of the Year - Jane Anne Liston - award presented on Zoom





Here are pictures I took of the awards - with some notable and well deserved recipients in our area. How many do you recognise?

[grahame]

From the front page of the RailFuture website ...

We've decided to postpone our Annual National Conference, scheduled for Leeds on Thursday 15th September to March / April 2023.  We're working on the exact date

If you have booked, we will be in contact about your options once we have a new date.