Loadings, cancellations and other issues

[whole diary]

[grahame]

Saturday, 15th March

13:48 Melksham to Chippenham.  13 passengers into Melksham; 4 off, 1 on making 14 passengers using the Trowbridge - Chippenham section. 4 or 5 off at Chippenham.

14:53 Chippenham to Melksham. 14 passengers from Chippenham to Melksham; 3 off, 1 on making 15 passengers using Chippenham - Trowbridge section. 6 of the passengers from Chippenham actually joined the train there.

Weather - bright, sunny late winter day.  Notable that all Melksham passengers walked to / from station.   Arriving 3 were headed for Beechfield House, for Peacocks, and for the Assembly Hall.    Conductor has been working the single car services all morning; this was his last trip and "very much the quietest"; that's very much what I would have guessed as people have gone out for the day and aren't yet coming back.

[grahame]

Further ...

18:03 Melksham to Trowbridge. 16 on into Melksham, 4 off and 1 on.  17 passengers on the Chippenham - Trowbridge section

18:47 arrival in Melksham from Trowbridge.  16 on into Melksham again, 9 off and 8 on (!). 24 passengers on Trowbridge - Chippenham section

Predominantly younger people travelling this evening.

Other reports (from other users who can count / friends met on the train )
11:47 Melksham to Chippenham = 7 on into Melksham +5 - 0 = 12 passengers on Trowbridge - Chippenham section
08:37 Melksham to Chippenham = 10 on into Melksham + 15 - 0 = 25 passengers on Trowbridge - Chippenham section

Noted that conductor looking to sell and check tickets of people joining at Trowbridge on the 18:38 from Trowbridge only just got through the train as it arrived at Melksham.  And note numbers getting on at Melksham. 

[Lee]

That's 15 on at Melksham on the 0837, just to clarify?

[grahame]

That's 15 on at Melksham on the 0837, just to clarify?

Yes, it is.   10 from Trowbridge rose to 25 from Melksham on the train.

[grahame]

08:22 Westbury to Swindon due 09:06
This train will be cancelled.
This is due to a member of train crew being unavailable.

[bobm]

08:22 Westbury to Swindon due 09:06
This train will be cancelled.
This is due to a member of train crew being unavailable.

Now re-instated...

[bobm]

However later in the day..

15:06 Westbury to Swindon due 15:50

This train will be cancelled.
This is due to earlier signalling problems.

[grahame]

However later in the day..

15:06 Westbury to Swindon due 15:50

This train will be cancelled.
This is due to earlier signalling problems.

Good job we didn't finish the meeting in time ...

[grahame]

08:22 Westbury to Swindon due 09:06
This train will be cancelled.
This is due to a member of train crew being unavailable.

Now re-instated...

And I understand that there were 12 people on it into Melksham ... 1 off and 2 on ... making a total of 14 people using the Trowbridge - Chippenham section.   Whether it's valid to log that as a usage figure I don't know ... cancelling a train so that passenger go off and make other arrangements, then re-instating it and saying "look how empty this is" reminds me of the sort of tricks with statistics that were used in the olden days to manipulate results.    I am NOT saying that there was any dark motive here - just that I don't know whether it's valid to include the figures in our stats.

Certainly recordable. 09:02 Melksham to Westbury (approx 7 late due to an HST^▸ (High Speed Train) sent through ahead of it still being on the single line) - 1 off and 10 on at Melksham - left with 27 on board.   Which makes 28 people using the train on the Chippenham - Trowbridge section..

16:32 Westbury to Melksham.   12 passengers Trownbridge to Melksham, where 5 got off and 3 more got on making a total of 15 passengers using the train on the Trowbridge - Chippenham section.

[bobm]

Just for the record the train was cancelled and then re-instated in the space of nine minutes, of course how many people saw it in that "cancelled" period we will never know.

[John R]

Given a previous observations this month of 15 boarding the 0822 at Melksham, only 2 getting on might suggest that some were put off. Unless of course it was the 15 that for some reason was unusual.

Though it's interesting that earlier this month there were twice as many passengers on the 1632 Westbury to Melksham as were seen today, so there does appear to be quite a lot of volatility in Saturday loadings.

[grahame]

Reported here for logging purposes - a very reliable source (retired railwayman, now very active in signalling on a preserved railway ... very much an accurate counter, I would say!)

Graham,
 
            I travelled back from Swindon last night on the 17.36 to Westbury, as far as Trowbridge.  I thought you might be interested in the train loadings.
 
        Swindon - 50 on.
  Chippenham - 5 off, 17 on, passengers standing.
     Melksham - 12 off, 1 on.
   Trowbridge - 29 off, 5 on.
 
I left the train at Trowbridge.
 
 Hope this is useful,
 

I make that 63 users on the Chippenham - Trowbridge section.

[bobm]

From Journeycheck

10:47 Swindon to Westbury due 11:33

This train will be cancelled.
This is due to a train fault.

Last Updated :28/04/2014 10:57

11:47 Westbury to Swindon due 12:36

This train will be cancelled.
This is due to a train fault.

Last Updated :28/04/2014 11:16

[bobm]

The 19:32 from Westbury to Cheltenham Spa was 43 mins late into Chippenham after being trapped on the single line when the 18:30 from London Paddington to Weston-super-Mare ran into mechanical problems at Thingley.

Edited to add: 19:32 then terminated at Gloucester due to late running, with the return working - the 22:01 Cheltenham Spa to Gloucester also cancelled.

[John R]

Although realtime trains shows the 1830 clearing Thingley at 2020 (and at Bathampton by 2025), yet the 1932 didn't pass Thingley until 2040.  Puzzled as to why there would be a further 20 minute delay.