Rhubarb!

[whole diary]

[Bmblbzzz]

Well I became more knowledgeable about the Rhubarb today. I was at Parkway heading back to Temple Meads, oh look there's a train for Bath just about to leave, the 1554. Hopped on it and... oh, it goes round the Rhubarb rather than calling at Temple Meads. How odd. How inconvenient. How embarrassing. Fortunately the guard was understanding – actually said I was the second person on that very train to make the same mistake – as was the guard of the train I got back from Bath. Lesson learnt: always check the intermediate stations. 

Anyway, I don't think I'd ever been along that loop before, so it's an ill routing decision and all that... 

[johnneyw]

Well I became more knowledgeable about the Rhubarb today. I was at Parkway heading back to Temple Meads, oh look there's a train for Bath just about to leave, the 1554. Hopped on it and... oh, it goes round the Rhubarb rather than calling at Temple Meads. How odd. How inconvenient. How embarrassing. Fortunately the guard was understanding – actually said I was the second person on that very train to make the same mistake – as was the guard of the train I got back from Bath. Lesson learnt: always check the intermediate stations. 

Anyway, I don't think I'd ever been along that loop before, so it's an ill routing decision and all that... 

I had no idea they did that avoidance of Temple Meads.

[SandTEngineer]

Well I became more knowledgeable about the Rhubarb today. I was at Parkway heading back to Temple Meads, oh look there's a train for Bath just about to leave, the 1554. Hopped on it and... oh, it goes round the Rhubarb rather than calling at Temple Meads. How odd. How inconvenient. How embarrassing. Fortunately the guard was understanding – actually said I was the second person on that very train to make the same mistake – as was the guard of the train I got back from Bath. Lesson learnt: always check the intermediate stations. 

Anyway, I don't think I'd ever been along that loop before, so it's an ill routing decision and all that... 

Well at least you managed to 'bash' a new bit of track......

[grahame]

Well I became more knowledgeable about the Rhubarb today. I was at Parkway heading back to Temple Meads ....

[snip]

Fortunately the guard was understanding – actually said I was the second person on that very train to make the same mistake – as was the guard of the train I got back from Bath. Lesson learnt: always check the intermediate stations. 

It's  the "Parly" - used to avoid them having to go through a closure procedure on what was once a well used route.

Train managers will be understanding ... same thing has been know to happen (especially prior to 2013) with passengers at Trowbridge headed for Bath Spa ...

[Bmblbzzz]

To avoid closing the Rhubarb? I see. I had no idea there were closure procedures for individual bits of track in the same way as for stations. And I'd kind of assumed the Rhubarb was used for freight and for getting empty trains into the right place as well as whatever else might have a reason to avoid BRI^» (Bristol Temple Meads - next trains).

Another thing which struck me as odd was that it called at Lawrence Hill but not Stapleton Rd. It was a remarkably well-used train for a Parly!

[eXPassenger]

Another thing which struck me as odd was that it called at Lawrence Hill but not Stapleton Rd. It was a remarkably well-used train for a Parly!

Is that the train between Filton Abbey Wood and Bath that carries the MOD workers who were relocated from Bath?

[martyjon]

Those services that use the Rhubarb curve are a remnant of the services introduced when Filton Abbey Wood was opened together with the MOD which brought many passengers fram Bath who were transferred there from their various scattered locations in that city.

[Bmblbzzz]

That makes sense. And there were quite a lot of people who boarded at Filton, some in uniform.

[grahame]

Those services that use the Rhubarb curve are a remnant of the services introduced when Filton Abbey Wood was opened together with the MOD which brought many passengers fram Bath who were transferred there from their various scattered locations in that city.

That makes sense. And there were quite a lot of people who boarded at Filton, some in uniform.

There is a significant flow of commuters past Bristol Temple Meads - from the Avon Valley (Keysham, Oldfield Park, Bath, Freshford) and the upper Avon Valley (Avoncliff, Bradford-on-Avon, Trowbridge and beyond) to Filton Abbey, Patchway and Aztec West ... and the remaining Rhubarb train suits the inner sections of those flows, for people who have jobs which they can leave earlier than the traditional 5 p.m. finish.  So much stronger in passenger use than many "parly"s.

How / whether services from Wiltshire through to Filton Abbey Wood / stations beyond to Newport, avoiding Temple Meads, are justified in their own rights is an interesting question - perhaps a case for commuter time trains but additionally having good off peak service at Patchway, Aztec West, Pilning, Severn Tunnel Junction, Magor, Newport and St Mellons  even with a delay / reversal at Temple Meads.  That way, you have a commuter service that is relatively fast, supplemented by a service that takes 15 minutes longer for those who sometimes have to travel away from the peak.

[martyjon]

In bygone days, days of which I can remember, most, if not all, services between Cardiff and the South Coast via Salisbury / Southampton used the Rhubarb Curve as Stapleton Road was the Junction for South Wales.

[Bmblbzzz]

This particular train turned round at Bath. In fact the helpful guard said "Just get the next train back from Bath and explain to the guard, but it'll probably be me anyway because... " (in fact a Portsmouth-Cardiff train arrived first). And it didn't stop at Stapleton Road either, for some reason. But places change: I don't know what Stapleton Road was like "in bygone days" but I'd say now there are a lot of people living nearby but probably not many commuter destinations, whereas Temple Meads has become the centre of many office developments.

[grahame]

In bygone days, days of which I can remember, most, if not all, services between Cardiff and the South Coast via Salisbury / Southampton used the Rhubarb Curve as Stapleton Road was the Junction for South Wales.

And many of the trains carried on around the east to north loop at Newport via Hereford and Shrewsbury ... that loop was subject of a closure procedure a few years ago of the sort that would be needed if the single Rhubarb Loop train was withdrawn. Other loops in the GW^▸ (Great Western) area include Didcot West to North, served by one (XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise))) train per day, and the service from London to Bristol via the Westbury East to North curve - an experiment - was withdrawn a few days before it could no longer be classed as an experiment to avoid a closure procedure.

[paul7575]

To avoid closing the Rhubarb? I see. I had no idea there were closure procedures for individual bits of track in the same way as for stations. And I'd kind of assumed the Rhubarb was used for freight and for getting empty trains into the right place as well as whatever else might have a reason to avoid BRI^» (Bristol Temple Meads - next trains).

Yes, individual lengths of track are definitely in scope.  A couple in the London area over the last few years have boiled down to very short sections of passenger use, a good example was a train from somewhere off the GW^▸ (Great Western) via the West London line into Waterloo in the early days of Eurostar, which left a section of track a few hundred yards long, (Sheepcote Ln curve), unused by passenger services just east of Clapham Jn. 

Then there were long winded closure arguments when DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) ended XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) trains via Kensington Olympia.  Again most of the route was by then covered by other operators such as LO, but a couple of short stretches saw no passenger trains.  Initially a bus ran from Ealing Broadway via Shepherds Bush but I think DfT argued that the Central Line duplicated it, and for a short time Southern ran an offpeak short working between Shepherds Bush, (or maybe Kenny O),and Wandsworth Rd, effectively an ECS^▸ (Empty Coaching Stock) with passengers.  This covered the third side of a triangle near Clapham Jn.

The DfT’s consultation report is here: https://orr.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/3666/closures-ekw-dft-consultation.pdf

This all took place about 5 years after the XC service ceased, they probably thought they’d got away with it.  Other documents on the ORR^» (Office of Rail and Road formerly Office of Rail Regulation - about) site reveal that even London Travelwatch get confused between withdrawal of a passenger service and physical removal of a line,  DfT had to emphasise that the track was being retained for freight or ECS moves.

Paul

[TonyK]

I have rounded the Rhubarb only once from Parkway, on a train to Paddington diverted because of over-running engineering works one Monday morning. I was told I could get an earlier train and be only 15 minutes late, but my breakfast was on that one, as as it rolled into the station, I saw that the Chair of the working group I was going to was on it, so she would be as late as me. We were further diverted via Westbury - all in all a lovely excursion with all the coffee and pastries I wanted, the sort people pay good money for.

[froome]

Those services that use the Rhubarb curve are a remnant of the services introduced when Filton Abbey Wood was opened together with the MOD which brought many passengers fram Bath who were transferred there from their various scattered locations in that city.

That makes sense. And there were quite a lot of people who boarded at Filton, some in uniform.

There is a significant flow of commuters past Bristol Temple Meads - from the Avon Valley (Keysham, Oldfield Park, Bath, Freshford) and the upper Avon Valley (Avoncliff, Bradford-on-Avon, Trowbridge and beyond) to Filton Abbey, Patchway and Aztec West ... and the remaining Rhubarb train suits the inner sections of those flows, for people who have jobs which they can leave earlier than the traditional 5 p.m. finish.  So much stronger in passenger use than many "parly"s.

How / whether services from Wiltshire through to Filton Abbey Wood / stations beyond to Newport, avoiding Temple Meads, are justified in their own rights is an interesting question - perhaps a case for commuter time trains but additionally having good off peak service at Patchway, Aztec West, Pilning, Severn Tunnel Junction, Magor, Newport and St Mellons  even with a delay / reversal at Temple Meads.  That way, you have a commuter service that is relatively fast, supplemented by a service that takes 15 minutes longer for those who sometimes have to travel away from the peak.

My partner, who works in Filton, uses this service on those rare occasions when she can finish work early. It is definitely popular, and I suspect a similar service (or preferably services) running an hour later would be even more so. Large numbers commute from the Bath stations to the Filton area, not just to MoD but to numerous other local employers, or are college students at the college there (where my partner works). No doubt there is also some commuting in the opposite direction into Bath, Keynsham or Trowbridge. At present they have to commute standing up in overcrowded trains that sit around Temple Meads for a long time (especially as they often seem to get delayed while waiting there), whereas a Rhubarb route train would shorten their journey time considerably and probably give a more pleasant journey as well.