Pewsey station - facilities, services / fares, incidents and user group - merged posts

[whole diary]

[grahame]

Illustration in the waiting room







Pewsey is a big success story by the looks of things - a station that had just 2 or 3 trains each way daily a few years back and now has services every couple of hours. Busy too yesterday - looks well justified.   And, I notice, largely long distance traffic too so probably a good little revenue earner!

[devon_metro]

Was the train on time 

[grahame]

Was the train on time 

Five minutes or so late at Pewsey on the way up, but an ontime arrival in Paddington - so that's "on time" by the book.   Smooth ride but seriously overcrowded with 'em standing in the aisles (and sitting on the floor in all the doorways) already when it got to Pewsey, so you can image wat it was like with another 30 or 40.  I was wondering just how overcrowded that service used to be when it was a 180, but I've checked and see it was ex Penzance, so it was probably always a 125.



Now to be fair, we were standing on a tube today too:



but at least that's for a lot shorter time and the design is intended to make standing comfortable - very awkward with the narrow gangways on a 125, with people trapsing up and down to the buffet.

Oh - for anyone who's not been to Pewsey, it's a small town with a population of around 5000 - but the station is the only one for miles and so it attracts a carpark full of drivers.   The service runs about every 2 hours to / from London (one way), with westward train serving a variety of terminal destinations such as Frome, Exeter and Penzance.


Pewsey is a very useful rail head for those who have a car ...

For three of us on a Group Save 3, no railcards, the tickets we bought on the day cost us 19.15 each return to Paddington. The greener alternative that we wished to use - going from our local station - would have cost over 100 pounds each return (there are no cheap return tickets / savers available as there are no trains after the 07:17).  Sorry - but there are times I have to put the cost to myself ahead of travelling the expensive route!

[hoover50]

"Last week, (4th March 2016) Claire Perry, MP^▸ (Member of Parliament) for Devizes and Under-Secretary of State for Transport, formally declared Pewsey Station^s very own custom-made new footbridge open.

If you thought that the old footbridge that linked the up and down line platforms at Pewsey was designed and built for that station you would be wrong.

Its predecessor had been in use at Pewsey Station since 1969  - but it was not new then - purchased as a secondhand structure brought from Cookham Station in Berkshire after seeing many years service there.

The old bridge was ^looking very shabby^ was not safe in icy conditions - despite the best attentions of station manager Trevor Bevan MBE.

The replacement is great improvement on the original structure, much wider with good non-slip steps and walkway, and lighting so that you can see where you are about to place your foot on a dark night.   

This new one cost ^465,000 - paid for by Network Rail.  It even has a built in rainwater drainage system.

Work began in July last year and was supposed to be finished by the end of October ^well before the worst of the winter weather^ - said Mrs Perry when she visited the station in July 2015.  With the icy blast whipping across the open station area this afternoon it felt that she may well be right."

http://www.marlboroughnewsonline.co.uk/news/all-the-news/5320-pewsey-station-gets-its-own-footbridge-for-the-very-first-time

[SandTEngineer]

I think the thread title is a bit misleading as Pewsey had a footbridge before 1969
http://www.steampicturelibrary.com/pewsey-station-c1910/print/675026.html

[hoover50]

A train driver overshot a station by nearly a quarter of a mile after allegedly forgetting to stop, forcing passengers to take a 22-mile detour.

The Great Western Rail (GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)) train is believed to have had hundreds of commuters on board when it failed to stop at Pewsey, Wiltshire.

The driver was forced to continue to Westbury, the next station, which is more than 20 miles away, with commuters told the train could not reverse back to the platform.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/10/20/train-overshoots-station-after-driver-forgets-to-stop-sending-pa/

[Chris from Nailsea]

Purely in the interests of accuracy, this incident occurred on Friday 14 October 2016.

[hoover50]

Purely in the interests of accuracy, this incident occurred on Friday 14 October 2016.

Indeed it was. I am rather surprised no-one has mentioned it on here up till now.

In the 80's I was on a train between Portsmouth and Southampton which overshot a station and the driver simply reversed back to the platform!

[chrisr_75]

I was on a metropolitan line train on the Uxbridge branch a couple of years ago which overshot a station by over half a train length. Similarly it carried on to the next stop, albeit very slowly. I believe it is a relatively common occurrence when the driver is faced with clear signals and simply forgets to stop or misses his/her braking points - obviously ATP^▸ (Automatic Train Protection) of whatever flavour should prevent anything dangerous happening. Somewhat more inconvenient to be over carried on the national network where the next station could be 30-40 minutes or so further down the line in some cases!

[Thatcham Crossing]

The distance between Pewsey and Westbury must also be one of the largest between 2 stations in the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) network?

[Gordon the Blue Engine]

Pewsey – Westbury is 20.25 miles.  Didcot – Swindon is 23 miles and Swindon – Bristol Parkway (probably the longest gap) is 34.5 miles.

[grahame]

Pewsey – Westbury is 20.25 miles.  Didcot – Swindon is 23 miles and Swindon – Bristol Parkway (probably the longest gap) is 34.5 miles.

What's the Castle Cary to Taunton distance?

[JayMac]

Pewsey – Westbury is 20.25 miles.  Didcot – Swindon is 23 miles and Swindon – Bristol Parkway (probably the longest gap) is 34.5 miles.

What's the Castle Cary to Taunton distance?

27.5 miles

[Thatcham Crossing]

Thanks guys - how little I know! (surprised Didcot to Swindon is that far).

Still, it's a long way to take the pax past the stop they hoped to get off at :-(

[Tim]

would the new driver's advisory system (or whatever it is called) not remind a driver that s/he needs to stop??