Frome station - facilities, services, improvements, events and incidents - merged posts

[whole diary]

[bobm]

It has.

Original problem caused by a freight or engineering train running through the points.

[grahame]

I got somewhat carried away answering a Facebook post based on a Frome Times Article

Frome Town Council, led by resilience manager, Anna Francis and cllr Sheila Gore, are lobbying Somerset for a  better railway service.

Anna recently attended  Somerset County Council’s rail workshop for regional directors in Taunton. She was there to highlight the need for better rail services and links in Frome and the wider area. Somerset only has nine stations and Frome is the only town with a station in Mendip.

I'm not sure whether Somerset County Council are the best or only people to lobby but anyhow I wrote:

On Monday, trains leave Frome with final destinations of London Paddington. Cardiff, Filton Abbey Wood, Weymouth, Bristol Temple Meads, Swindon, Warminster and Yeovil Pen Mill.  Trains arrive also from London Waterloo and Yeovil Junction, but there are no direct trains from Frome to either of those. Looking across a whole week (and at times that engineering works are not reducing train runs), there are also trains or from Bristol Parkway, Weston-super-mare, Gloucester, Worcester Shrub Hill, Worcester Foregate Street and Great Malvern. Ironically, the only place not served by a direct train whe it could be is the county town of Taunton.  Many of the services are slow. None of them is frequent.  And chances are that if there's an outbound one that suits you down to the ground, the return service won't be so perfect and you may need to change trains.   Fares are at best erratic - there are some excellent / sensible fares, and some that will make you squeal in horror - but it's not all that easy to see the wood for the trees, in other words to discover how you can change your plans a little to save a lot using the fares that the railway markets - so (in theory) wants you to use.

Is this situation right / appropriate for the residents and businesses of Frome, and for people wanting to visit the town?  If not, can it be improved? 

I live in Melksham and visit Frome from time to time - so I'm not unaquainted with the town, and travelling to and from there.  Melksham is broadly comparable in population to Frome but (can you believe) five years ago we had just two trains each way per day.   Miss the 07:20 to Swindon and the next train was 19:47, miss the 06:38 to Westbury and the next train was 19:15. We have managed to have our service improved - it must be admitted only up to about the level that Frome enjoys - but we are seriously talking with the parties involved in specifying and providing the service about the next steps. It can be done. Key for us has been singleness of purpose - we have been specific in routes and requests, and co-ordinated around the town. We have worked closely with our council even though they have been budget constrained and not always as rail aware as we would wish.  We have worked with other towns up and down the route and indeed beyond to help put forward united suggestion that mean that one train serves multiple flows - not all of them Melksham. And we now have an established track record of improvements on which to build further.

South Western Railway under its new franchise that started last year was required to report to the Department for Transport on what to do about the Yeovil to Bristol corridor - and they ran a consultation looking for inputs in January.  I hope you made your views known. But if not, don't worry; things don't change overnight and if the town gets consistently lined up behind enhancement proposals they have a better chance.  Do your groups all work with the Heart of Wessex CRP^▸ (Community Rail Partnership) which has a mandate for your line and station?  Are you members of TravelWatch SouthWest - the region's campaign and partnership co-ordination group?  If not ... timing is perfect as their general meeting is next Saturday in Taunton. http://travelwatchsouthwest.org


Members thoughts here (and signups for Taunton  ) most welcome

[paul7575]

Incremental improvements are needed,  after all, Frome wasn’t built in a day...
 
Paul

[TonyK]

A very good analysis, grahame.  The service for Frome is a bit like the Severn Beach was in the Olden Days, where you had to work some pretty unusual hours to be able to commute. That got mended, but Frome might be a bit more awkward, being on that loop. All roads do not, alas, lead to Frome.

[WSW Frome]

For the sake of completing the normal and wide destination list from Frome. The 17.24 FRO^» (Frome - next trains) continues to WAT via WSB^» (Westbury - next trains). The 15.06 FRO after arriving at Yeovil Pen Mill continues swiftly to the Junction and WAT. Another destination is SOU on Saturdays (06.49) and on many Bank Holiday Mondays!

For the anti-clockwise SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) services, the electronic systems tend to show the destination as WSB, when in fact they all continue to SAL or WAT. The services receive a new reporting number at WSB so never mind the customers!

The article in the "Frome Times" was a little strange. This may reflect journalistic licence or alternatively some aspect of the actual meeting held at Somerset County Council. Having participated in the Somerset Travel Consultation exercise, I noted that it contained some rather strange aspirations especially with budgets very constrained. For rail, priorities included some wilder re-openings and the "Race to the West" saving a very few minutes. However, there were other positives.

I hope to speak to the representatives from Frome Town Council to find out exactly what happened.

[grahame]

09:25 Frome to Cardiff Central due 11:36
09:25 Frome to Cardiff Central due 11:36 will be started from Bristol Temple Meads.
It will no longer call at Frome, Heywood Road Jn, Trowbridge, Bradford-On-Avon, Avoncliff, Freshford, Bath Spa, Oldfield Park and Keynsham.
This is due to a problem currently under investigation.
Additional Information
There will be a replacement bus for this service which will operate between Frome and Trowbridge where passengers will be able to board the 11:06 Trowbridge - Cardiff Central service.

Problem being lack of passenger facilities at Heywood Road Junction 

09:25   Frome   Not Stopping
09:49   Trowbridge   Not Stopping
09:55   Bradford-On-Avon   Not Stopping
09:58   Avoncliff   Not Stopping
10:00   Freshford   Not Stopping
10:12   Bath Spa   Not Stopping
10:15   Oldfield Park   Not Stopping
10:22   Keynsham   Not Stopping
10:40   Bristol Temple Meads   10:40
etc

So that's "catch the train 77 minutes later" at Trowbridge.  But good on JourneyCheck for giving that specific information. What is the advise for people who would have started at 09:49 at Trowbridge?

TransWilts is bustituted again today - finishing off works at Westbury ... I would have hoped that 12 13 days would have been enough!

[RA]

09:25 Frome to Cardiff Central due 11:36
09:25 Frome to Cardiff Central due 11:36 will be started from Bristol Temple Meads.
It will no longer call at Frome, Heywood Road Jn, Trowbridge, Bradford-On-Avon, Avoncliff, Freshford, Bath Spa, Oldfield Park and Keynsham.
This is due to a problem currently under investigation.
Additional Information
There will be a replacement bus for this service which will operate between Frome and Trowbridge where passengers will be able to board the 11:06 Trowbridge - Cardiff Central service.

Problem being lack of passenger facilities at Heywood Road Junction 

09:25   Frome   Not Stopping
09:49   Trowbridge   Not Stopping
09:55   Bradford-On-Avon   Not Stopping
09:58   Avoncliff   Not Stopping
10:00   Freshford   Not Stopping
10:12   Bath Spa   Not Stopping
10:15   Oldfield Park   Not Stopping
10:22   Keynsham   Not Stopping
10:40   Bristol Temple Meads   10:40
etc

So that's "catch the train 77 minutes later" at Trowbridge.  But good on JourneyCheck for giving that specific information. What is the advise for people who would have started at 09:49 at Trowbridge?

TransWilts is bustituted again today - finishing off works at Westbury ... I would have hoped that 12 13 days would have been enough!

Set booked to stable at Frome overnight. Unfortunately the set had to run empty back to Westbury sidings as Frome station was under an engineering possession. This would have been fine if the lines through Westbury weren't in another engineering possession all day Sunday!

[grahame]

I have a request for a leaflet to hand out this Saturday to promote services from FROME.    It seems to be in B10, B1 and T7 from GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) and table 20 from SWR^» (South Western Railway - about).   No Heart of Wessex line guide this year as I understand it.  Any suggestions?   Surely I have missed something!

[martyjon]

I have a request for a leaflet to hand out this Saturday to promote services from FROME.    It seems to be in B10, B1 and T7 from GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) and table 20 from SWR^» (South Western Railway - about).   No Heart of Wessex line guide this year as I understand it.  Any suggestions?   Surely I have missed something!

Grahame, when I showed you a A4 leaflet on yellow paper, black print, you said you had one. This was in connection with a previous statement regarding the non production of a Heart Of Wessex Line Guide this summer. Would that cover the request made to your goodself.

[grahame]

I have a request for a leaflet to hand out this Saturday to promote services from FROME.    It seems to be in B10, B1 and T7 from GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) and table 20 from SWR^» (South Western Railway - about).   No Heart of Wessex line guide this year as I understand it.  Any suggestions?   Surely I have missed something!

Grahame, when I showed you a A4 leaflet on yellow paper, black print, you said you had one. This was in connection with a previous statement regarding the non production of a Heart Of Wessex Line Guide this summer. Would that cover the request made to your goodself.

Sounds like the Bradford-on-Avon sheet.  An excellent local timetable for that station.   

If I or someone had the time ... a black and white print on a pastel paper document could be produced - estimate volunteer work time 1 day - good thought that you lead me towards.   Problem to ensure accuracy.   Seen too many cases of inaccurate leaflets that are a laughing stock and worse, even with "E&OE" on them.

[grahame]

Been mucking about ... http://www.passenger.chat/frometrains.pdf ... difficult bit is how to automatically cover intermediate stations!

[ChrisB]

You could make it a lot more use by including arrival times at the destinations you have listed.

One of the most common queries is "I know what time I want to be where....but what time do I need to catch a train to get there then?"

[grahame]

You could make it a lot more use by including arrival times at the destinations you have listed.

One of the most common queries is "I know what time I want to be where....but what time do I need to catch a train to get there then?"

Totally agreed.  And sadly I could take a 20 minute automatic exercise forward into a whole day's project ....

Just quickly plotting sources and destinations is interesting ... shows what a presentation nightmare Frome is. The exercise is based on a fairly casual enquiry - I can take it further should it be further encouraged, otherwise I have plenty to do!   But IMHO^▸ (in my humble opinion), Frome does need a good local sheet - to include details at far end and at key stations for all services - Westbury, Trowbridge, Bath Spa, Bristol Temple Meads, Filton Abbey Wood, Bristol Parkway, Cheltenham Spa, Yeovil Pen Mill, Dorchester West, Reading.

[ChrisB]

Is there an A-Z destination sheet(s) at Frome? If so, start off by taking a phone photo of it/them & using that data?

[grahame]

Is there an A-Z destination sheet(s) at Frome? If so, start off by taking a phone photo of it/them & using that data?

I'm not sure if there currently is - the issue of information for Frome station arose in the good old days when Catherine was the HoW^‡(resolve) CRO, I did the job on TransWilts, NR^» (Network Rail - home page) was station manager at Westbury and AM was in publicity at GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway); we got together to produce the first A-Z for Frome; a small station for such as sheet but one of a handful of special cases where it's logical.

I did wonder about seeing if there's still a sheet available - but scale is an issue and there never was a corresponding Z-A (there or anywhere).  Really something for the people who have taken over from all four names listed above to do, or decide that it's not a good use of their resource to do.