Bristol to London - via Trowbridge

[whole diary]

[matth1j]

Apologies if this has been discussed before...

I was checking the live trains from Trowbridge for my commute to Bristol early this morning, and noticed that there was one whose destination was London Paddington

Did a bit more digging and discovered that the 05:10 from Bristol Temple Meads goes direct to London Paddington like many other services, but unlike any of the others (I think), takes the scenic route through Bradford and Trowbridge after Bath, then onwards from Westbury.

I couldn't find any services taking that route in the opposite direction.

Is there any interesting history behind this?

[Mark A]

Now when did that start running... it passes through Bath but it doesn't stop there, something that must be good for a quiz question.  The 7:40am arrival into Paddington from Bradford and Trowbridge must be pretty useful for people that need it, though it still takes a little over two hours from Bradford.

When the Bristol - Waterloo trains were axed, various people who should have known better made a play on "It's OK, BoA^» (Bradford-on-Avon - next trains) and Trowbridge still have a through service to London", omitting to mention that it runs at, for the target market, silly o'clock & with peak time fares (and didn't run to Waterloo for that matter, and indeed, no through train for the return).

Mark

[froome]

Now when did that start running... it passes through Bath but it doesn't stop there, something that must be good for a quiz question.  The 7:40am arrival into Paddington from Bradford and Trowbridge must be pretty useful for people that need it, though it still takes a little over two hours from Bradford.

When the Bristol - Waterloo trains were axed, various people who should have known better made a play on "It's OK, BoA^» (Bradford-on-Avon - next trains) and Trowbridge still have a through service to London", omitting to mention that it runs at, for the target market, silly o'clock & with peak time fares (and didn't run to Waterloo for that matter, and indeed, no through train for the return).

Mark

Oh bugger. When I read the first previous comment I immediately thought I must try that out one day. 

[grahame]

Is there any interesting history behind this?

Yes.

When the IETs^▸ (Intercity Express Train - the now official name for the replacement for HSTs (manufactured by Hitachi in Kobe, Japan)) came in, the first one of the day was put on this route, really to provide a commuter service from Westbury and the Kennet Valley into London, and that service survives.  The return service took the curve and avoided Westbury, again very much a Kennet Valley service and quiet by the time it got to Trowbridge.

That Westbury avoider had no regular passenger service prior to this train starting, and so it ran as an "experimental service" and was pulled a few days before it had been running for three years to avoid getting into a permanence that would make it somplex to close.   The train now calls and Westbury and terminates at Frome, then runs back to Westburt and on, Empty, to Bristol.


To .... this is why I am careful to always say (well, not to the Amazon delivery man) that Trowbridge was no direct train service from London.

[WSW Frome]

IIRC^▸ (if I recall/remember/read correctly) these services ran in the HST^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)) era but I do not know the start dates. They did indeed mainly constitute the Kennet Valley commuter services. The evening service was the c17.05 from PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains) and initially used the avoiding line as Graham indicates. The actual FRO^» (Frome - next trains) service has always been c18.05 PAD and whilst it returns in service to WSB^» (Westbury - next trains), it then runs empty to Bristol.   

[matth1j]

Oh bugger. When I read the first previous comment I immediately thought I must try that out one day. 

If you had, you'd have been disappointed/annoyed if you'd tried it today - cancelled due to a train fault. We've jinxed it