A further update, from the BBC:

 

Customer care at Weymouth Station has left something to be desired for a while.   I sometimes get the feeling that the railways would run much more smoothly without customers - and indeed that was proven during the earlier part of Covid lockdown.  Perhaps, now that there's no financial incentive, we'll continue to see a further reduction to a very basic service indeed in an attempt to reduce complaints and costs, without too much worry about the loss of income.  Fares can always be "simplified" up and the taxpayer help.  I have my fingers crossed that this is not the nightmare scenario planned.

The other thing of note is that Weymouth is just one station on that line - it isn't hugely busy mid afternoon, with services to London gathering substantial traffic at Dorchester South, Wareham and Poole even before they reach Bournemouth - and for those other stations, GWR services would have been no use.

If the 17:28 was 3 car - probably a turbo.  2+3 seating and plenty of standing room - that should squeeze 'em in!

 

Blimey!  Did they not have access to a spirit level when they built that?   

 
An update, from the BBC:

 
I'm on an experience-gathering mission. Most of the time things run fine, but in every system / on every railway things can go wrong and delays happen. And it's interesting to see how connections work too.  I will leave it to the knowledgable reader to contrast and compare to the UK way in such circumstances.

Zilina Station is being rebuilt. There are only half of the tracks in use at present, and access is via a single long subway which is crowded with people as train platforms are only announced a few minutes ahead - standard practise in Slovakia and when you see how narrow the platforms are, you'll understand why you really don't want people waiting on them. 

Our 07:44 departure was called a couple of minutes before it was due to leave and it left about 3 minutes late - because of the trek out to the platform, and the incredible crowds - it would appear that all the young people here have broken up from school and parties are being taken for school trips - days and summer camps - and the station and trains were crowded to the extent they added to delays.

A further couple of minutes were lost as we snaked our way east along the remaining operation line through the building site that's the station throat at the moment, and we arrived in Vrutky around 5 minutes late.  Oops - "short connection" according to the journey planner, but the onward train to Banska Bystrica was held, people who needed to do so made the connection, and it then left - around 3 minutes late.

A lovely ride to Banska Bystrica, but the beauty is another story.  We were due there at 09:25 and can't have been far off that though I did not note the time - I left the station for a cup of coffee and a cake and returned in good time for my next train - the 10:17 diesel service to Margecany.

Arriving back into the station at Banska Bystrica, now caffeined up, an electric train - the 10:15 to Bratislava which starts from there is waiting. The incoming diesel - due at 10:12 - pulls in perhaps 4 minutes late but the Bratislava train waits until passengers have transferred before leaving.  Meanwhile another electric train, this from Bratislava pulls in and people come across to the diesel train, a modern 2 carriage train, and we set off a handful of minutes late on the 3 hour 36 minute (scheduled) journey to Margecany.  It's a thinly served line - just two trains go the whole way on winter weekdays, boosted to four trains at weekends and in summer.

We toddle along - not part of this story - until we get to Cervena Skala high in the valley we have climbed and just before the watershed into the next valley.

Everyone else is getting off and I do know that some short workings terminate here but, no, the line to the next station is closed for engineering works and we are transferred to a bus.  As one of the last people to leave the train (I don't speak Slovak) the staff helped ensure I found the bus, and I got just about the last seat in amongst a typically teenage population in there with bags, cases and camping gear. And we set off.

Not a very long drive - to Telgart where the bus drove up the station approach and parked to allow up off near the platform.  No train waiting, but a couple of minutes later one arrived, passenger going the other way got off and transferred to the bus, and our gang joined the train.  I would estimate that we pulled out around 15 minutes behind schedule.

Many more stations, little and big, people off and on. I had chosen the opposite carriage to the school parties so I don't know where they left us, and a sparsely occupied carriage got busier as we headed down the next valley, more people getting on than off. We pulled into Margecany - scheduled 13:53 still a little behind schedule.  Ongoing passengers for the local train onward to Kosice transferred over (it may have been held a couple of minutes) and the local train to Strba called too a few minutes later, with the return train up the valley picking up its connecting passengers before it left - back on time, I think - certainly a planned connection that made.

I took the express back along the main line to Zilina (it was a loop I had done) and it left on time.  We were around 15 minutes late into Zilina - delay caused by some single line working past engineering works; we had to wait for a train coming the other way, and then a very slow approach to Zilina itself as the train snaked in over the few tracks currently in place.

So there you have it - for me as a passenger, it worked as I would have wanted it to.  All connections worked and there were no unplanned long waits.  Necessary track-work carried on without wholesale closure, bus help was provided where needed and the whole thing was a very pleasant experience.  And, no, I really wasn't worried about being 15 minutes or so late back into my digs.

 

That needs to be a GWR invite I'm afraid as numbers are of necessity limited.   I'm pretty sure reports will appear on the Coffee Shop - indeed if I manage to connect (two connects pretty poor here) I'll tell you about it. I have chosen today as a non-travel day for the purpose.

Edit to add - as backup, I should also receive a recording to watch when better connected ... this hostel seems to have WiFi with a traffic limiter, so the Coffee Shop with its "thin" design works well but other things don't!

 
More training runs today between Plymouth and Newton Abbot 5D01, et seq..

 
Perhaps questions for the GWR "VIPs" at the Community event tonight - along with asking why we are now moving from a situation where they don't provide sufficient staff to run their services at weekends, to a place where we have weekday, peak services regularly cancelled for the same reason, and what are they doing to address it? 

 
... in English. 

CfN. 

 
Hi Grahame

Can you supply a link to the community rail conference.

Thank you.

 
Access from the Weymouth line is only from the island platform which means a climb over the bridge.

I saw the carnage first hand at Southampton which also involver GWR on the two trains I used

https://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=30393.msg362587#msg362587

 

I stand corrected.


The only cancellations in the region - notable that alternative transport is actually flagged up (rare but not unheard of) and the delay stated is 43 minutes.

Passengers onwards toward Weymouth hoping to connect with the 18:50 off Westbury  to Frome will have to wait for the 19:45 - a 55 minute late arrival - and for Weymouth the next train isn't until 21:40 as far as I can see

The Journey Planner IS offering you the train-bus combo at £9.80 single Swindon to Westbury and also offering a 17:22 getting to Westbury at 18:34 which will connect with the 18:50 onwards - 13 minutes earlier from Swindon, a useful alternative, and getting there 15 minutes after the cancelled train would have done - but they are pricing a £19.80 - that's right, £10 more.  Whatever happened to the promise that if a train via Melksham was cancelled and passengers had to travel via Bath that the via Melksham fare would be honoured?. It feels like an immoral thing to do to commit to providing a train service, cancel it, and then ask people to pay more for the journey because of your failure to deliver.

 
Some pictures I took yesterday showing very clearly what a difference community adoption of stations can make - and young people being encouraged by their communities to use the train.

 
Footnote - both of us two hours late at destination station.  Both saying "so what" ...

 

Gosh - how can I do that? 

CfN. 

 
Just wondering if the London bound train used the down platform at CC to make it an easier transfer.

Having said that, would that have made it harder for passengers getting off and on at CC having to negotiate the foot bridge?
Suppose its a case damned if you do and damned if you don't   

 

The weather was exceptionally hot yesterday ... but, yes, people's personal habits can be inconsiderate!  Unbuttoning your shirt and spraying de-odourant into your armpits is another "please don't" for me; I was not quite so unhappy with the young lady who laid out a box of false nails on the Paris express the other week and proceeded to glue them all onto her finger nails.   Using your phone as a makeup mirror has become commonplace - I'm sure some of our members do that, and there may be some things I do thoughtlessly that irritate others.

Also yesterday - a young lady who was quite pretty (am I allowed to say that?) when she arrived proceeded to "enhance" her lips with some sort of paint-on sickly looking layer that reflected light and left her looking very false indeed and far less pretty in my personal view.   She the proceeded to break pieces off a chocolate wafer biscuit and had to open her mouth wide to stuff the pieces in without damaging the work she had done to her lips.

 
2. Strong trackside growth that means pictures taken from trains get blocked by foliage ...



That's a lovely little church overlooking a lake with beautiful hills all around

But then the modern day does allow up to take hundreds of pictures at a sensible price in the hope that some may come out OK ... and I am not averse to selecting the odd frame from a video occasionally.

 
https://youtu.be/Or7ht9527LI

175002 at Newton Abbot 23 June 2025 on it's third training run reversing in platform 3. The previous two had reversed in platform 1/

 
Weymouth today didn't see many South Western Railways services from mid afternoon onwards. I happened to be catching the 17:28 to Bristol and passengers for destinations east were being directed to that & with ticket acceptance in place. For some reason, there weren't many people for the South Western services, perhaps word had got round, so despite this directive, the GWR service wasn't full and standing as it left on time.

A bit of a quandary for the travelling public: with few trains, well, one three carriage one, in the station, and that one locked until a couple of minutes before it departed, the posters at the station to the effect that there were no facilities at the station but said facilities, for the use of railway passengers, were available on the train, rang somewhat hollow.

In due course passengers for London were instructed to transfer to a Paddington train at Castle Cary, said train being held for a few minutes to ease the connection there.

Mark

 
I chose the wrong day to venture to Southampton to meet a friend. Decided to travel via Crewkerne for old times sake - and because it was slightly cheaper. An off peak day return with railcard came in at £17.88.
The day started well with the 12.19 from Crewkerne on time there and at Salisbury. However the GWR connecting service was 16 running late into Southampton. At least that was a delay repay.

The return was far more difficult. Signalling problems at Wimbledon saw the Exeter service tuning around at Basingstoke and then it seems that lineside vegetation was causing a problem at Portsmouth so the 18.10 from Southampton to Cardiff was turned around at Fratton, arriving 26 late at Southampton. Seemingly too late to connect with the Exeter service at Salisbury. It was held at Salisbury Tunnel Junction for the Exeter service to go in front and, since this had to split a set, caused more delay with the Cardiff service eventually arriving 26 late. With the Exeter service leaving at 1903. This meant a connecting service 60 minutes later. Fine for delay repay but not ideal.
At least I made the right choice of route the only trains to reach Dorcester were the 1755, 2004(1849) and the 2036 and  2103 both running an hour late.

I had hoped that control would have regulated the Exeter service to run behind the GWR into Salisbury.

 
It is uncouth to wear a sleeveless vest on it own (i.e. not under a shirt) indoors including on public transport.
An exception could reasonably be made in  truly exceptional heat, but normally JUST DONT !

 
Ouch! That is a seriously intensely used route - akin to Borough Market Jnc in London - and the latter has more than a couple of tracks. Expect severe disruption.

 
From the Bristol Post:

 
From the BBC:

 

You would have thought something would have been arranged by the TOC/NR given the circumstances but it would appear that the delivery driver was "hired" by one of those on board the train who felt like he was being "slowly cooked".

It was rather fortunate that the job went to someone with such an accurate arm!

 
Perhaps it made more sense to engage the available personnel in getting the passengers off the train rather than providing water? I doubt you can do both at the same time.

 

Perhaps they hired / subcontracted the delivery driver??