Class 180s return to the Cotswolds

[whole diary]

[81F]

I travelled today as far as Oxford on the 1559 from Evesham to Didcot, which I think returns as the down "halts" train. It was announced before arrival as being formed of five carriages, and indeed it was one of that rare species, a working class 180. It was warm and quick, a buffet trolley came round near Moretonn-in-Marsh and arrival at Oxford was exactly on time. Wonderful!

[John R]

Shipton suffers from a lack of car parking, not easily resolved, Unless it is, its passenger numbers are unlikely to have much upside opportunity.

[Richard Fairhurst]

The layout is different.  The Class 150 cab door is separate to the actual cab, whereas on a Turbo passengers would have to clamber all over the drivers seat to get out!

Good point. I should have remembered that - a Chiltern guard once let me in via the back cab after a 2hr delay on a CrossCountry service from Edinburgh to New Street almost caused me to miss the last train back to Oxfordshire of the day. Sprinted to Moor Street with negative seconds to spare...

Incidentally, David Mitchell's gone up in the world since narrating that FGW^▸ (First Great Western) training video, hasn't he? 

[IndustryInsider]

Shipton's annual figures are shown in http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/smr/SIP.html (you have to be logged in to see them).  Remember to divide by 2 for the number of arrivals and the number of departures (I don't suppose there's a significant difference), then divide by around 300 to give a number for a typical day, then see how you think they would split between the various trains.

The local council map also have specific survey figures, and they may provide extra data like the journeys being made by the people who get on and off; we've found such data highly enlightening on the TransWilts (and not what we expected) and the council will give you their data (FOI^▸ (Freedom of Information)) whereas the TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) probably won't (Commercial data)

You could apply that methodology, but to save you all the time, I'd choke on a sandwich (made with flour from the adjacent Shipton Mill) if the number of people boarding/alighting passed double figures in a given week!

[IndustryInsider]

By the way, three diagrams covered today.  The one that wasn't was a 2-car Turbo and was the diagram that covers the 07:00 OXF^» (Oxford - next trains)-PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains) and 19:18 PAD-OXF.  Ouch.  Again.

[grahame]

Shipton's annual figures are shown in http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/smr/SIP.html (you have to be logged in to see them).  Remember to divide by 2 for the number of arrivals and the number of departures (I don't suppose there's a significant difference), then divide by around 300 to give a number for a typical day, then see how you think they would split between the various trains.

The local council map also have specific survey figures, and they may provide extra data like the journeys being made by the people who get on and off; we've found such data highly enlightening on the TransWilts (and not what we expected) and the council will give you their data (FOI^▸ (Freedom of Information)) whereas the TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) probably won't (Commercial data)

You could apply that methodology, but to save you all the time, I'd choke on a sandwich (made with flour from the adjacent Shipton Mill) if the number of people boarding/alighting passed double figures in a given week!

A local source of good repute has emailed me to say:

... I use it every Tuesday, and every Tuesday there are about a dozen people waiting on the platform as we roll in. A single-figure turnout for this train at Shipton is the exception. I have no reason to think things are much different on other days, as the custom is almost invariably regular commuters to Oxford. Traffic the other way is different, as there are two return options, on the 17.15 from Didcot (the current incarnation of the return halts train) or the 17.50 from Paddington, plus the last train of the day calls as well.

[snip]

The key factor holding back the development of traffic is, rather like Melksham, the random nature of the train service provided, albeit that what trains do serve Shipton are somewhat better related to key travel times than what you have to suffer.

So I think we can infer that almost all the travel from Shipton is on that one train.

I noted that the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) figures have fluctated wildly, and already wondered if there may changing timetables, and perhaps be a fare anomoly about which means that ticket journeys sold does not match actual travel.   If - for example - there were regular Shipton users (season ticket to Oxford) who bought Kingham tickets instead, so that could travel back at other times of day if the occasion demanded and phone a partner for a lift.   The difference is only 3 pounds on a weekly season, and they would then be regular Shipton users who don't show in the figures.  This is all very theoretic stuff, but it is well documented already that DfT footfall figures already include generalities and assumptions about the use of season tickets.

[IndustryInsider]

Yes, the morning halts train in to Oxford usually gets a reasonable number joining it at Shipton, and luckily that's the one that is rostered for a 2-Car Turbo so is never affected by the issues we were discussing that affect the London bound evening service.

What you find with Shipton is that some passengers (we are talking about small numbers, but over the year they probably number in the hundreds) with travel out from Kingham, as the one train from Shipton in the morning is not convenient, but will then return to Shipton as it has three PM service options from the Oxford direction.  So, yes, the footfall is probably a little low as a result.

[IanL]

Tried the free wifi on the evening stopping service tonight (180 two nights in a row!) bit slow but worked fine. Is the wifi active across the whole 180 fleet, this was 104, and is it planned to be phased in on the HST^▸ (High Speed Train) fleet?

[Andy W]

Hi II, is the halts a normal 180 diagram or is it normally Annie and Clarabel?

[IndustryInsider]

The 'Up' one is a Class 165, the 'Down' one is rostered for a Class 180.

[Andy W]

The 'Up' one is a Class 165, the 'Down' one is rostered for a Class 180.

Thanks II must admit I assumed it would be a 165 each way (& surprised it runs past MIM)

[IndustryInsider]

Thanks II must admit I assumed it would be a 165 each way (& surprised it runs past MIM)

In terms of loadings they've got this one just about right.  The 'Up' service is pleasantly full as a 2-Car Turbo on arrival at Oxford in the morning, but certainly not crowded (unless there's been a problem with any of the preceding HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train)).  However, the 'Down' service does struggle with a 2-Car Turbo, with standing passengers until at least Hanborough and often as far as Charlbury, so the extra seats afforded by the Class 180 are much appreciated - though the resultant extra dwell times at stations are probably not!

All four diagrams fully covered by 180s today by the way... 

[Ollie]

Tried the free wifi on the evening stopping service tonight (180 two nights in a row!) bit slow but worked fine. Is the wifi active across the whole 180 fleet, this was 104, and is it planned to be phased in on the HST^▸ (High Speed Train) fleet?

It's on all the 180s. No plans for other parts of the fleet at the moment.

[Chris from Nailsea]

Thanks for that information, Ollie! 

[Andrew1939 from West Oxon]

The above comments about the numbers using small stations are quite correct but they apply to more than just Shipton on the CL. A proportion of the people travelling from Combe on the morning stopper travel home to Hanborough on earlier or later trains than the evening stopper. Some of the Combe regulars actually live at the west end of Hanborough that is a shorter walking distance to Combe than Hanborough stations. During the summer months some Combe residents take their bikes from Combe but then return to Hanborough and cycle home. It is similar at Finstock where people buy a ticket from Charlbury but travel one way to or from Finstock and I suspect that some buy a ticket from Finstock but stay on their return home beyond Finstock to alight at Charlbury where the rail bus can take them back to Finstock. What this means is that the official numbers of station users does not show the true situation and when the numbers for a small station are very small means that the offical figures can be very erroneous and imply a lower level of use than is actually the case.