Southern route for FGW hst's

[whole diary]

[Louis94]

is the old passing loop still serviceable ?

Yes it is, its used once or twice a day for early morning trains that are out of the hourly pattern. I also think it is being used for some of the altered South West Trains services during the diversions.

[vacman]

Am I right in thinking Yeovil PM to JN is worked by a Token?

Be very interesting to see anything go between Junction and Pen Mill without stopping.

Is still token worked but theoretically no need to stop at YVJ station as the signal box is beyond the platforms, although when stopped at the box the rear power car is still in the platform, at Pen Mill the tokens were being exchanged without coming to a stand!

[The Grecian]

I travelled on the 1609 from Axminster to Castle Cary yesterday (it was quicker to go that way to Bristol than my normal route via Exeter). For some reason there seemed to be a built in stop at Chard Junction even though we didn't pass anything and used the fast 'up' line (as far as I know Chard Jc has bidirectional lines, with the down line being used for the first train in either direction so the second train may not have to stop). As the train was scheduled to take 27 minutes to Yeovil from Axminster, this seems to have been built in.

I think Yeovil Junc - Pen Mill is token worked as is Pen Mill-Castle Cary, as the train had a few minutes wait at Junction before a scheduled stop at Pen Mill to collect tokens. It had a pretty meandering 64 minutes scheduled from Axminster to Castle Cary for what's a journey of about 37-ish miles. But that's engineering works and single line working for you.

[Louis94]

I travelled on the 1609 from Axminster to Castle Cary yesterday (it was quicker to go that way to Bristol than my normal route via Exeter). For some reason there seemed to be a built in stop at Chard Junction even though we didn't pass anything and used the fast 'up' line (as far as I know Chard Jc has bidirectional lines, with the down line being used for the first train in either direction so the second train may not have to stop). As the train was scheduled to take 27 minutes to Yeovil from Axminster, this seems to have been built in.

I think Yeovil Junc - Pen Mill is token worked as is Pen Mill-Castle Cary, as the train had a few minutes wait at Junction before a scheduled stop at Pen Mill to collect tokens. It had a pretty meandering 64 minutes scheduled from Axminster to Castle Cary for what's a journey of about 37-ish miles. But that's engineering works and single line working for you.

The reason for the stop at Chard was to allow the Waterloo train ahead to clear the section between Chard and Yeovil.
Also the reason for the huge amount of time between Yeovil and Castle Cary is because the HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)) are limited to 40mph compared to a DMUs^▸ (Diesel Multiple Unit) 75mph on the section between Pen Mill and Castle Cary.

Hope that clears everything up for you. 

[The Grecian]

Cheers - that does answer a few questions.