More trains originating/terminating beyond bedwyn for Hungerford and Bedwyn?

[whole diary]

[adelante]

Personally, I think the Westbury - London shuttles would have to be 180.

[Conner]

Personally, I think the Westbury - London shuttles would have to be 180.

Shame that we don't have any 180's from December.

[Btline]

You never know, I assume HST2 will mean that the Vomiters will be available soon ......

[swlines]

Right - looking at the Bedwyn diagrams, the only candidate currently that could be extended by any degree is 11.18 Padd to Bedwyn, but only as far as Pewsey and then reverse at Woodborough. This forms the 13.12 off Bedwyn...

[qwerty]

You'd need to recruit some new blokes (and women!) first though!

I'd bet that it is easier to attract and keep staff in rural Wiltshire than in Reading where they train staff up and then they leave for more money down the road at SWT^▸ (South West Trains).

[adelante]

Right - looking at the Bedwyn diagrams, the only candidate currently that could be extended by any degree is 11.18 Padd to Bedwyn, but only as far as Pewsey and then reverse at Woodborough. This forms the 13.12 off Bedwyn...

I think you are wrong there; you will just need another train.

[Btline]

Obviously any extension would need more rolling stock (hopefully electric).

[swlines]

Right - looking at the Bedwyn diagrams, the only candidate currently that could be extended by any degree is 11.18 Padd to Bedwyn, but only as far as Pewsey and then reverse at Woodborough. This forms the 13.12 off Bedwyn...

I think you are wrong there; you will just need another train.

And you're going to magic that out of where?

[qwerty]

Personally, I think the Westbury - London shuttles would have to be 180.

In which case the increased leasing costs (assuming any could be found) would kill the idea stone dead.

The way to increase services at minimum cost is to integrate additional services within the existing structure.

Better use of crew resources and elimination of ECS^▸ (Empty Coaching Stock) workings could mean additional services are possible with little investment.

I have already mentioned using Westbury Crews to work the first trains of the day as passenger trains from Westbury to London as opposed to ECS trains from Reading to Bedwyn. That gives you additional services for free.

An examination of the unit diagrams would show some units not used outside peak periods. These could be used to extend Bedwyn services to Westbury off peak.
 
There are always thing that can be done. At the moment the separate nature of West and LTV^▸ (London [and] Thames Valley) within FGW^▸ (First Great Western) would be an obstacle but, what was the point of the merger if not to exploit the opportunity to get a quart from a pint pot?

[grahame]

There are always thing that can be done. At the moment the separate nature of West and LTV^▸ (London [and] Thames Valley) within FGW^▸ (First Great Western) would be an obstacle but, what was the point of the merger if not to exploit the opportunity to get a quart from a pint pot?

I think we are seeing some elements of gains from the merger - with long distance trains filling in where appropriate (and some would argue to excess!) at Keynsham, Bedwyn and Ivybridge.  But, yes, I'm sure more could be done.

I'm minded as I read this thread to recall that the original new FGW franchise had the Bedwyn service extended to Westbury throughout the day, but with a halved frequency of calls at some of the Berks and Hants stations.  This was quickly punched out of the plans by a campaign that threatened judicial review and all sorts of things.  Some very effective people use Bedwyn as their railhead!

[adelante]

I know about that but what stops were these?

[grahame]

I know about that but what stops were these?

Kintbury and Bedwyn - Michael Ancram (MP^▸ (Member of Parliament, or Mile Post - a method of measuring the railway in miles and chains from a starting point - usually London, depending on context) who's constituency includes Bedwyn station, and two others in Wilsthire) and the Newbury MP who covers Kintbury worked on this one together, and got the new timetable changed back to an hourly Bedwyn terminator rather than a service going further, but with only alternate trains stopping at the two stations.

Having travelled last night on the 18:06 Paddington to Frome as far as Westbury, which calls as follows:



I was left with the impression (on a totally unreprsentative sample of one journey!) that it is rather important to have a good service at Bedwyn - a lot of people got off the train there and vey few indeed stayed on.  Mind you, the 18:36 from Paddington is 20 minutes quicker to Pewsey and Westbury, but does not call at Frome.

[adelante]

Right - looking at the Bedwyn diagrams, the only candidate currently that could be extended by any degree is 11.18 Padd to Bedwyn, but only as far as Pewsey and then reverse at Woodborough. This forms the 13.12 off Bedwyn...

I think you are wrong there; you will just need another train.

And you're going to magic that out of where?

A few 180s.

[swlines]

Right - looking at the Bedwyn diagrams, the only candidate currently that could be extended by any degree is 11.18 Padd to Bedwyn, but only as far as Pewsey and then reverse at Woodborough. This forms the 13.12 off Bedwyn...

I think you are wrong there; you will just need another train.

And you're going to magic that out of where?

A few 180s.

You mean those ones which will be on the East Coast only from December? Didn't know you could clone units, please let me know how. I'm very interested and I think most railway professionals would be too!

[Btline]

MML^» (Midland Main Line. - about) and Hull trains cloned some.

And LM^▸ (London Midland - recent franchise)/Chiltern/LO are at the mo!