Southern route for FGW hst's

[whole diary]

[dayranger57]

A snap shot of times at a few locations:

08.53, 10.53, 12.53, 14.53, 16.53, 18.53  at HONITON   (UP FGW^▸ (First Great Western) hst's)

09.06, 11.06, 13.06, 15.06, 17.06, 19.06  at AXMINSTER  (UP FGW hst's)

10.08, 12.08, 14.08, 16.08, 18.08, 20.08  at CASTLE CARY (UP FGW hst's)

This is only an 'UP' guide, and you must check before you set out.
dayranger57........                  Saturday 19, Feb and Saturday 26, Feb.

[Louis94]

Running Saturday and Sundays until the end of March. Some services on Sundays even non-stop Honiton!

[Timmer]

Looks like the reduced service is already struggling to cope judging by these reports from the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) website:

07:00 London Paddington to Penzance due 13:54
This train has been revised.It will call additionally at: Yeovil Junction.This is due to an unusually large passenger flow.

07:00 Penzance to London Paddington due 13:44
This train has been revised.It will call additionally at: Yeovil Junction.This is due to an unusually large passenger flow.

07:14 Plymouth to London Paddington due 11:40
This train has been revised.It will call additionally at: Yeovil Junction and Pewsey.This is due to an unusually large passenger flow.

09:15 Penzance to London Paddington due 15:39
This train has been revised.It will call additionally at: Yeovil Junction.This is due to an unusually large passenger flow.

09:42 London Paddington to Penzance due 15:56
This train has been revised.It will call additionally at: Yeovil Junction.This is due to an unusually large passenger flow.

11:15 Penzance to London Paddington due 17:51
This train has been revised.It will call additionally at: Yeovil Junction.This is due to an unusually large passenger flow.

11:37 London Paddington to Penzance due 17:53
This train has been revised.It will call additionally at: Yeovil Junction.This is due to an unusually large passenger flow.

Looking at today's timetable their are only 7 direct trains between London Paddington and Plymouth/Penzance instead of the usual 13 so you can hardly say this is due to an unusually large passenger flow as the West of England line is busy all year round when a normal timetable is running. Are they not able to increase the frequency of services diverted via Yeovil/Honiton now the new double track is available?

[bobm]

Shame the live departures board can't cope with it!

11:37 London Paddington No report
12:05 Reading No report
13:32 Castle Cary No report
13:34 Yeovil Junction On time
14:38 Axminster 13:58 40 mins early  
14:52 Honiton On time
15:08 Exeter Central On time
15:21 Exeter St David's On time
15:42 Newton Abbot On time
16:29 Plymouth On time
16:54 Liskeard On time
17:08 Bodmin Parkway On time
17:20 Par On time
17:27 St Austell On time
17:45 Truro On time
17:58 Redruth On time
18:06 Camborne On time
18:17 St Erth On time
18:27 Penzance 23:48 321 mins late

[super tm]

Looking at today's timetable their are only 7 direct trains between London Paddington and Plymouth/Penzance instead of the usual 13 so you can hardly say this is due to an unusually large passenger flow as the West of England line is busy all year round when a normal timetable is running. Are they not able to increase the frequency of services diverted via Yeovil/Honiton now the new double track is available?

SWT^▸ (South West Trains) are running an hourly service which is taking up the available paths.  Previously SWT would almost run no service.

[anthony215]

I think they need to add more passing loops or more double track along that route.

[Chris from Nailsea]

... and by the way:  Welcome to the Coffee Shop forum, dayranger57!

Chris 

[grahame]

"Mopping up" ... I understand that the extra loop allows an hourly service to Exeter as a maximum - and at diversion weekends, that means a FGW^▸ (First Great Western) service every 2 hours and a SWT^▸ (South West Trains) every 2 hours.  Also, my understanding of "unusually large passenger flow" is that it's shorthand for "lots more people wanting to use this or another train than happens on a normal day".  And that could be because Yeovil Town have made the FA cup final and their fans want to travel  ... or because there are fewer trains on the route in question ... or because other train routes are cancelled / curtailed and people are flowing in unusual directions.

[JayMac]

And that could be because Yeovil Town have made the FA cup final.....

Where they will meet Exeter City! 

[Louis94]

Judging by looking at LDB the information being fed to it is not correct. Yesterday it was showing no FGW^▸ (First Great Western) services calling at Yeovil, however this morning about 0500 Yeovil junction and pen mill stops appeared also some of the times at certain SWT^▸ (South West Trains) stations altered. However during today Pen Mill stops have disappeared on some services!

I'd imagine the change of times at some SWT stations will be down to the SWT information system being connected to LDB and information being different, than what trust said! Then i'd imagine the addition of the Yeovil stops being FGW as i understand they were always ment to call there, but fgw didnt make them public in journey planner so that the trains didnt fill up with people from there.

[JayMac]

And rather weirdly, both SWT^▸ (South West Trains) and NRE^‡(resolve) say there is engineering work between Yeovil J and Exeter SD today and tomorrow. Surely it's a case of amended timetables rather than engineering?

[paul7575]

How SWT^▸ (South West Trains) explain it on their engineering pages:

Engineering work will affect the First Great Western route between Exeter and London Paddington all weekend.
A revised South West Trains service will run between Exeter and London Waterloo all weekend to accommodate the diverted First Great Western trains.

Please use these links for timetables of altered trains services and replacement buses:

http://www.southwesttrains.co.uk/uploads/110219exeter.pdf
http://www.southwesttrains.co.uk/uploads/110220exeter.pdf

So it is an altered SWT service, hence about 1.5 tph (each way) combined - suggesting once again that a 2 tph service is not possible due to the position of the existing loops.

Paul

[JayMac]

Aha, that's on the monthly summary pages. Click on an individual calendar day (19th or 20th February) and it says:

Engineering work between Yeovil Junction and Exeter St Davids on Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 February 2011

[paul7575]

Aha, that's on the monthly summary pages. Click on an individual calendar day (19th or 20th February) and it says:

Engineering work between Yeovil Junction and Exeter St Davids on Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 February 2011

I just go by their summary pages, because there is usually far more accurate more info and pdf timetables.  The calendar just repeats whatever useless description Network Rail happen to be publishing, it's a pretty stupid setup really.

Paul

[SandTEngineer]

I don't follow the argument about only an hourly train service being allowed by the infrastucture.  Firstly why provide a dynamic loop at Axminster that can hold up to three trains in each direction on each line.  Secondly the normal hourly timetable normally only uses Axminster loop.  The main constraints are the single line between Pinhoe and Honition and Chard Junction and Yeovil Junction.  Close examination of the sectional running times shows that at a pinch a 30 min interval service in each diection could be provided with crossing moves at Chard Junction, Axminster and Honiton.  However, there would be no room for late running, but that then was one of the reasons for the capacity in the dynamic loop at Axminster.