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

[whole diary]

[WSW Frome]

Hi All

I volunteer my services at the "Discover Frome Information Point" (ie tourist office run by Frome Town Council FTC) on certain days. There is currently no timetable summary for Frome available and we are obliged to hand out the B1 booklet. As many know this does have a BRI^» (Bristol Temple Meads - next trains)-WEY summary in the rear but as I advise my enquirers this is not the complete service from FRO^» (Frome - next trains) which is only shown in the main table. Hardly user friendly but does show all the FRO extras.

FTC previously produced a summary leaflet for all BUS services from Frome but this has now been discontinued. So they will not be doing one for trains.

On the positive side there is indeed still a current A-Z table on display at FRO. This is a single poster size display. I will attempt a photo after my arrival on the anticipated 20.07 tomorrow and send it to Graham if it might be of use. I do a fairly regular trip from Leatherhead to FRO on many Thursdays but last time the FRO direct got cancelled (due to crew shortage!).

[grahame]

Hi All

I volunteer my services at the "Discover Frome Information Point" (ie tourist office run by Frome Town Council FTC) on certain days. There is currently no timetable summary for Frome available and we are obliged to hand out the B1 booklet. ...

It does sounds that public transport use in and from Frome could be encouraged by the provision of better easy to understand data.  Elements of that have been provided in the past - but either decisions have been taken to discontinue so doing, or they have simply fallen by the wayside.  Not sure that it's anyone's "responsibility" or even that all transport operators would be required to co-operate; at least 2 train and 3 bus to my knowledge, and I may have overlooked some.

On the positive side there is indeed still a current A-Z table on display at FRO^» (Frome - next trains). This is a single poster size display. I will attempt a photo after my arrival on the anticipated 20.07 tomorrow and send it to Graham if it might be of use. I do a fairly regular trip from Leatherhead to FRO on many Thursdays but last time the FRO direct got cancelled (due to crew shortage!).

For the immediate request for this Saturday - thank you, but not enough time to produce anything. For the longer term (release for December 2019 timetable change??) would be useful to know what destinations are currently shown - whether it's been changed from the original a couple of years back.

On Frome buses - also note that the D2 changes from next Monday - with alternate buses going each way round Frome and known as D2A.   This has caused disquiet as certain timetable sources show D2 reduced from every 30 minutes to every 60 minutes ... until the reader realises there's a new table D2A.

[bradshaw]

Ref Heart of Wessex

WEST DORSET WESTERN AREA TRANSPORT ACTION GROUP (WATAG)
Extract from September meeting

Great Western Railway: Sally Falkingham sent apologies but reported that she would be attending a meeting in Trowbridge on 27 September to discuss the future of the Community Rail Partnership covering the Weymouth to Westbury and Bristol line. Kelly Flynn would also be attending. 

https://transportactiongroup.files.wordpress.com/2018/02/111-sept19.pdf

Does anyone know anything about this?

[grahame]

Great Western Railway: Sally Falkingham sent apologies but reported that she would be attending a meeting in Trowbridge on 27 September to discuss the future of the Community Rail Partnership covering the Weymouth to Westbury and Bristol line. Kelly Flynn would also be attending. 

Does anyone know anything about this?

A little.  The Heart of Wessex CRP^▸ (Community Rail Partnership) is changing after the retirement of Catherine Phillips. The subject of how any Community Rail activities on Weymouth - Westbury - Bristol that it was undertaking are continued and in what form, funded by whom and organised / administered by whom were discussed.   Attendees were invited from, I believe, the other CRPs who operate (anywhere) in Wiltshire, GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway), and local government interested parties.   Not a public meeting by any stretch of the imagination (quite an exclusive group?) so not added to the forum diaries. With no Catherine around, I'm not sure who represented ongoing HoW^‡(resolve) CRP interests for station groups, etc.

[infoman]

featured on ITV West on wednesday 9th March approx 18:18pm
available on plus one at 19:18pm

[Mark A]

Accidentally cycled to Frome. Thankfully I'd checked the timetable, because after the 16:24, Frome has a 2 1/2 hour gap before the next train.

An hour before the train to Gloucester, there's one in the Weymouth direction, so a few people for that, after which Frome station, well maintained, spotless, was deserted. At one point, the sound of a train horn, nearby, suggested that something had just left the line from the quarry.

The cafe-in-a-shed across the road was closed (it's a tiny business, it closes at 3) and the bakery/food/drinks place had closed at three too, 'cos bakers are up early. Neither of the DIY sheds at the station has a cafe so a bit of a gap there given that the station approach if not the station itself remained busy as it's the location for a cluster of small businesses.

Cometh the hour, cometh the people and five minutes before the train was due the platform was reasonably busy, as was the train when it arrived.

The journey worked well, though not as well as returning from Avonmouth with a bike the other week. The Avonmouth train had a pretty flexible space for luggage and cycles. The Frome train was a 166, space for just 2 bikes and with a notice on the trains exterior to that effect. The official cycle capacity of 2 bikes was immediately full at Frome with myself and another who was heading for Trowbridge. The train's two bike cycle space was just too short for my bog standard touring bike, the other cycle person sat on the luggage rack and constrained his machine beneath that - and any more people travelling with bikes would have been testing whether the train manager had a pragmatic attitude to things.

Class 166s, even idling, are fantastically noisy from the platform, and Frome, with its overall roof, is a particularly good place to appreciate this aspect of their design. The racket they make isn't brilliant from within the train either it has to be said.

Once on the train, there was something that might have been a sobering continuation of something from the cycle ride. From Bath to Frome I'd used the Sustains path from Radstock much of which is on the old railway. Somehow, it shares the railway with the track, which has not been lifted, but after the weather of the last few years the installation is a monument to the flexibility of earthworks and indeed railway track. The track itself has in many places slowly moved itself - particularly to the inside of curves on embankments, where it now teeters on the edge of the earthwork. Turning to the cycle path surface, it appears to have been laid without a membrane beneath it - which can help mitigate earth movements - and the surface is in many places torn longitudinally as the earthwork has settled and spread. In the forty years or so since the line has seen a train, several of the under bridges now preserve the original trackbed levels while to either side the trackbed has dropped a few inches.

Which brings me back to the return on the train, and experiencing the same issue but on a live railway line. Between Westbury and Trowbridge there were a couple of places where the train rolled and spiralled noticeably giving the impression that we were on a piece of track with, thanks to this summer's heat and drought, a issue of subsidence and sideways displacement.

Mark

[IndustryInsider]

Lots of routes have very poor track quality at the moment thanks to the extremely dry summer.

I can’t remember a time since the aftermath of the Hatfield crash and the ‘cyclic top’ chaos when there have been more TSR^▸ (Temporary Speed Restriction)’s across the network.  It makes keeping time so much more difficult so is impacting on performance. 

And if there’s no TSR needed it’s a still a rocky and bumpy ride in places…though a good excuse to try and blame ‘the new trains’ for ride quality I suppose!

[Bmblbzzz]

From Bath to Frome I'd used the Sustains path from Radstock much of which is on the old railway. Somehow, it shares the railway with the track, which has not been lifted, but after the weather of the last few years the installation is a monument to the flexibility of earthworks and indeed railway track. The track itself has in many places slowly moved itself - particularly to the inside of curves on embankments, where it now teeters on the edge of the earthwork.

I've never been to Frome on the train but riding alongside the old track still, more or less, in place, is one of the best aspects of that particular path.

[Mark A]

It does, and I'm trying to think of another example. Some of the over bridges on the line from Radstock are quality constructions too.

It's curious that if we count the moribund track on the line to Radstock, what was the Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth railway network, despite its occasionally poorly sited stations, has retained track over practically its entire length.

I didn't realise that the Frome avoiding line was opened as late as 1933. It's not even seen its centenary, let alone any catenary.

Mark

[CyclingSid]

I like the phrase

Accidentally cycled to Frome.

I presume like when the other half asks where I am going on the bike, "I am following the front wheel". Potential for seeing some where different, or differently.

[stuving]

I like the phrase

Accidentally cycled to Frome.

I presume like when the other half asks where I am going on the bike, "I am following the front wheel". Potential for seeing some where different, or differently.

My first thought on reading that was Frank Spencer ...

[infoman]

Due to a fault with the signalling system at Frome fewer trains are able to run on some lines.
Impact:
Train services running through this station will be cancelled or delayed. Disruption is expected until 07:30 01/04.
Customer Advice:
Due to a track circuit failure at Blatchbridge Junction , some trains from Frome maybe cancelled or delayed. GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) apologies for any delay to your journey today.
GWR apologises for an delay to your journey that this may cause you.
If you arrive at your destination 15 or more minutes late because your GWR train was delayed or cancelled, you can claim Delay Repay compensation.
https://www.gwr.com/help-and-support/refunds-and-compensation/delay-repay

ALSO problems between Swansea and Cardiff due a power supply issue.

[bradshaw]

Journey chech shows a Westbury -Frome shuttle is in place this morning, while the Weymouth services travel via the avoiding line
Sounds like a good idea

06:18 Yeovil Pen Mill to Filton Abbey Wood due 08:29 (not calling at Frome)
06:38 Weymouth to Gloucester due 10:02  (not calling at Frome)
06:50 Westbury to Weymouth due 08:23  (not calling at Frome)
07:25 Westbury to Frome due 07:34 (additional service)
07:33 Weymouth to Gloucester due 10:56  (not calling at Frome)
07:44 Frome to Westbury due 07:55  (additional service)
08:03 Bristol Temple Meads to Weymouth due 10:32  (not calling at Frome)
Additional services as below
08:25 Westbury to Frome due 08:34
08:25 Westbury to Frome due 08:34
08:52 Frome to Westbury due 09:03
08:52 Frome to Westbury due 08:59
09:15 Westbury to Frome due 09:24
09:15 Westbury to Frome due 09:24
09:30 Frome to Westbury due 09:41
09:30 Frome to Westbury due 09:37

[GBM]

Cancellations to services at Frome
Due to a fault with the signalling system at Frome fewer trains are able to run on some lines.
Train services running through this station will be cancelled or delayed. Disruption is expected until 10:00 01/04.
Customers at Frome heading towards Bristol Temple Meads and London Paddington are advised to travel onwards to Westbury, where there is a shuttle train service operating between Westbury and Frome. The same advice applies to any customers at Frome looking to travel South towards Weymouth of Portsmouth.

[Witham Bobby]

Cancellations to services at Frome
Due to urgent repairs to the track at Frome the line is closed.
Train services running through this station may be cancelled. Disruption is expected until 17:30 04/09.
Customer Advice
Due to the closure of a section of track near Frome for engineering works, we are currently unable to serve Frome station for the time being, in either direction.

Specialist teams from Network Rail are on site trying to resolve the situation, but in the mean time if you are boarding at Frome, please make use of the Help Point to speak with a member of staff.

We apologise for the inconvinience this afternoon.
Further Information
If you require further information please speak to our staff at the station or on the train, use the Customer Help Point, tweet us @GWRHelp or call National Rail Enquiries on 03457 484 950.
Last Updated:04/09/2024 16:48

So it seems that trains can run on the Avoiding Lines, but not through the station on the Main