Weymouth Wizard via TransWilts

[whole diary]

[paul7575]

What about Westbury to Chippenham via Melksham    I have been on a number of diverted Exeter to Paddington HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) via the Trans-Wilts route. Diverted for any number of reasons as well as engineering work.

Good point - and I've no idea...

Remarkable if they've included Reading to Waterloo (via Staines I believe) which has hardly ever operated, but not the Trans Wilts.

Grahame will probably know why...

Paul

[grahame]

What about Westbury to Chippenham via Melksham    I have been on a number of diverted Exeter to Paddington HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) via the Trans-Wilts route. Diverted for any number of reasons as well as engineering work.

Good point - and I've no idea...

Remarkable if they've included Reading to Waterloo (via Staines I believe) which has hardly ever operated, but not the Trans Wilts.

Grahame will probably know why...

Paul

Thanks you of that confidence in my Paul, but actually I don't know why it's not listed

a) Could be an oversight
b) Could be because no extra timing points involved (too small to mention, like the Swindon to Oxford Chord at Didcot
c) Could be because the undergrowth needs cutting back on the curve at Staverton at the moment
d) Could it be because the electric to diesel switch at Thingley Junction has been cut from the budget?  An odd one this, as the diesel line is going off the side of the electric line rather than off the end which most (but not all) others are.

[paul7575]

Perhaps though, (and clutching at straws!) as a single line maybe it is already gauge cleared, even if there would be problems if redoubled?

Unlikely that Melksham platform is cleared of course,  though thinking about it that might be fine tuning...

Paul

[PhilWakely]

What about Westbury to Chippenham via Melksham    I have been on a number of diverted Exeter to Paddington HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) via the Trans-Wilts route. Diverted for any number of reasons as well as engineering work.

And indeed, as if on cue.........
http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=16136.msg181269

[grahame]

Unlikely that Melksham platform is cleared of course,  though thinking about it that might be fine tuning...

It's quite a leap from train to platform ... through the platform is on a corner, so that may indeed be an issue with longer carriages.

[grahame]

I'm hoping to be able to travel on the final "Wizard" next Saturday from Bristol to get some comparative passenger numbers for the regular route before coming up with an overall report and perhaps suggestions as to whether a "via Swindon" routing would be good next year.   It was certainly a major opportunity to reach newcomers to rail, and people who weren't aware of the TransWilts in Swindon and Chippenham - and early (deadline tomorrow) we have submitted the social media campaign into the RailFuture awards.

Citation:

The work to electrify the Great Western Mainline through Box Tunnel and Bath in August of 2015 meant the summer Saturday only HST^▸ (High Speed Train) service from Bristol to Weymouth was diverted through Swindon and Chippenham.

This opened up new journey opportunities for those towns who in 2013 had not been able to make a daytrip to Weymouth on the direct route along the TransWilts line and in 2014 had to make do with a one carriage train for the initial part of the journey and change at Westbury.

The HST afforded 500 seats and, importantly, for a family day out a through service at convenient times with space to store pushchairs, beach equipment and picnic baskets.

The opportunity was used to reach out to people who do not usually travel by train to try the service and then hopefully use the railway again.

The Facebook campaign targeted different stations along the line in a series of messages and quickly responded to questions posed.

Volunteers then rode on the trains to count numbers and assess where people had learned of the service.  Initial figures showed 35% had seen the campaign rising to 50% in the later weeks.

And the backup document to that is at http://atrebatia.info/railfuture2015_8.pdf

It's stated that the judges will take a look at websites / campaigns over the next 2 months.   I fear we may have given them a problem with this one as the campaign is completed and all that's left are the happy memories of the people who rode on the train, knock-on uses of the line into the future, and monies from ticket sales in the tills.   Anyway - we'll learn on 7th November if the judges managed to find enough to judge us on, and found us worthy of mention.

[phile]

I doubt FGW^▸ (First Great Western) (or GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)) would entertain running the train via a circuitous route when things back to normal.   Due to the recent diversion, possible passengers from stations between Bristol and Bradford-on-Avon (including a possible large pick up at Bath) have missed out.  Swings and Roundabouts.

[grahame]

I doubt FGW^▸ (First Great Western) (or GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)) would entertain running the train via a circuitous route when things back to normal.

Ah but normality with this train is the abnormality / changes to how the summer peak has been handled over the years 

Edit to add - 5th September 2015.   I rode on the final run of the year from Bristol via Bath this morning to provide some figures to compare. Not really fair to the regular route as it's no longer a peak weekend, and they had just the one service to market in this series against our 5 (became 4).  Weather - overcast but pleasant.

09:06 BRI^» (Bristol Temple Meads - next trains) to WEY, 8 car HST^▸ (High Speed Train)
ex BRI 5 + 4 + 29 + 20 + 20 + 2 + 1 + 9 = 80
+20ish, -0 at Keynsham
+6 -3 at Oldfield Park
-55ish, +6 at Bath
ex BTH^» (Bath Spa - next trains) 4 + 5 + 4 + 15 + 10 + 2 + 6 + 13 = 59
-4 +4 at Bradford on Avon
No specific count at Trowbridge
ex TRO^» (Trowbridge - next trains) 3 + 5 + 5 + 16 + 16 + 8 + 7 + 12 = 72
initially -5 +4 @ WSB^» (Westbury - next trains)
then about 25 extra joined - ex London connection.
Train departed with between 95 and 100 passengers

Notes ... intermediate traffic BRI - BTH, but other trains just ahead and behind would have catered for that flow had it not run.
Only a handful of family groups
Strong on "rail interest" people - note numbers in declassed 1st (all above counts started at coach A).

Following (30 minutes or so) was a 4 car unit train (150/2 + 150/1)
10:29 (TRO time) BRI to WEY
4 cars, approx 100 passengers (counted 2 coaches; 35 + 20 + ? + ? TRO-WSB); not through corridor between units)

[grahame]

Our "Weymouth Wizard via the TransWilts" was entered into the "Best Marketing Campaign" category of the ACoRP^▸ (Association of Community Rail Partnerships) annual awards ... and at Thursday evening's gala dinner, we learned that we had been placed first.  Considering how stiff competition was all evening across the various categories, this is no small achievement - with much help coming from members here, with one in particular responsible for the postured postered at-station side of the promotion which brought in around a half of those hundreds and hundreds of passengers.

Entry description from the winners booklet: http://atrebatia.info/bmc.pdf

edit to correct link and typo

[Chris from Nailsea]

Absolutely brilliant - congratulations to you and all those involved in that latest success story, grahame! 

[grahame]

Absolutely brilliant - congratulations to you and all those involved in that latest success story, grahame! 

The designation of the TransWilts and its inclusion in the ongoing franchise beyond the trial period (12.13 to 12.16) establishes what's currently a trial service as the new permanent base, and allows for continued ongoing development of passenger numbers and facilities to handle those passengers.