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

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.

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