Ah, this may be a link to the Melksham book.

12:17 Westbury to Swindon due 12:59
12:17 Westbury to Swindon due 12:59 will be starting late from Westbury and is expected to be 15 minutes late.
This is due to train crew being delayed.

Returning through Bristol on Saturday, and alongside a platform there, a refreshed set. I didn't have the chance to look at the interior, and Geoff Marshall's video from the launch event involves a train with temporary lighting in the carriages.

There's a rumour that the reservations displays haven't been renewed, but that cannot be the case as the originals have pretty well faded into obscurity in the way that those magic eye valves from 1950's radios did. OK that was a long time back but, looking it up, I was surprised to read that the Voyagers were introduced as late as 2001 - something that makes the built in and fragrant little headphone sockets even more surprising, but I suppose that that idea was being borrowed from aviation. (The 3.5mm jack socket and plug has been around from the 1950s I read, so it does thoroughly overlap with the mainstream existence of the magic eye indicator valves that the designers didn't specify for the Voyager seat reservation displays...)

THIS week, my love letter to Melksham is written from the cosy comfort of my soft blue seat on the 271 bus and celebrates the splendid range of transport connections that make Melksham so easy to get to.

Situated in the middle of some great bus routes, Melksham is something of a transport hub, with cheap and easy access to our surrounding towns and villages. You can get to Chippenham or Trowbridge/Frome every half hour on the X31 bus and to Bath or Devizes on the varied versions of the 271, 272 or 273.

With a very thorough loop around the Forest area and Bowerhill, this brilliant Bath- Devizes bus gathers up and drops off all its grateful passengers from every corner of Melksham before sailing off along leafy lanes from dawn till midnight. And thanks to an extension of the national bus ticket cap, every journey is still only £3. A smaller local service, the 14/15, winds its way around the whole of Melksham every hour, as far as Sherwood Avenue, Shurnhold, Eastern Way, Whitley and Berryfield, so pretty much every part of the town is served by bus.

Buses are clean and warm, drivers are friendly and proffessional, fellow passengers are polite and respectful, and most buses now have USB chargers in the seats so you can ensure you have enough charge for the journey and beyond.

Then there is the little-known gem of a public transport gift to Melksham.  The National Express coach leaves from the Market Place every morning at seven and will take you directly to Heathrow and London Victoria for as little at £8.10.

The jewel in our public transport crown however is Melksham Railway Station.  Thanks to campaigning by Graham Ellis and his team, the station is now served by 16 trains a day, connecting to Swindon, Chippenham, Trowbridge and Westbury, from where you can access anywhere in the country. It’s a little pricier than the bus, but advance tickets are cheaper, and the smooth, silky speed of the service allows for some spectacular sights through green and gorgeous countryside.

The excellent bus, train and coach links mean you don’t need the hassle, cost and environmental impact of running a car. And if the timetables don’t line up, there’s always the swift service and friendly chat of one of Melksham’s lovely taxi drivers.

The many bus and train timetables are all brought together in a useful booklet produced by the Melksham Transport User Group, available at the town hall, Campus and Tourist Information Centre, and on the Melksham Transport User Group website. It’s another brilliant community organisation, led by Graham Ellis, championing and promoting every type of travel in Melksham.  For more information, find the Melksham Transport User Group on Facebook and explore another great reason to Love Melksham!

Alistair Currah

Graham Ellis

Two-year bridge closure 'disaster' for businesses


Work is under way on a new bridge after it was demolished over Christmas - Image © North Somerset Council

A two-year bridge closure has caused a "swift" drop in customer numbers, local business owners have said.

The 85-year-old Winterstoke Road Bridge in Weston-super-Mare closed to traffic in November amid an £11m replacement project, which is expected to be finished by summer 2027.

Business leaders who trade near the site said they were dependent on the 20,000 daily vehicle journeys that crossed the bridge, with one owner describing the works as a "disaster".

North Somerset Council said the bridge would have been closed permanently if it was not replaced, and added discussions with businesses are ongoing.

Council chiefs added that diversion routes are in place for traffic, and a temporary footbridge has been built so people can still access local businesses.


A temporary footbridge is in place while the new bridge is being built - Image © North Somerset Council

Edward Hunt, owner of Roy Hart Motors near the bridge, said businesses have been offered no compensation. He told BBC Radio Bristol: "The whole process has been so dragged out. It was going to start two years ago, then 18 months ago and then they put up traffic lights for four or five months which was a nightmare. That made access even worse, there were accidents outside the building. It's been a disaster."

Carmen Hanif, from the south-west branch of the Federation of Small Businesses, said the impact had been "swift". She said: "The reality is, this work isn't due to be complete until next summer but some of these businesses will hit the wall by then if something isn't done quickly." Hanif has called on the council to provide business rates relief and urged people to visit shops and cafes in the area.

"It comes down to usage and that old adage of use-it-or-lose-it," she said. "We appreciate for some of those businesses there's going to be some extra time travelling to get to them. But please do go out and support them, it's the only way they're going to survive."


A temporary footbridge has been installed over the railway, ensuring safe non-vehicle access during the main works - Image © North Somerset Council

A council spokesperson said the new bridge will serve residents and businesses for the next 120 years when it opens. They said: "We recognise the concerns the Federation of Small Businesses have raised with us in recent weeks regarding a small number of businesses near Winterstoke Road Bridge, and we met with them to discuss their issues."

"Whilst there are diversion routes in place for traffic on Winterstoke Road Bridge, we have worked hard to maintain access by building a temporary footbridge that can be used by pedestrians to connect communities to local businesses."

Visitor numbers grow at 'world's oldest railway'


Tanfield railway is run by 170 volunteers and two paid staff - Image © Tanfield Railway

Heritage tourist attractions need to keep evolving to survive, the manager of what is believed to be the world's oldest railway has said.

Tanfield is a three-mile (5km) heritage wagonway dating back to 1725 which runs between Sunniside, Gateshead and East Tanfield in County Durham.

David Watchman said they "lost their way a bit" after the Covid epidemic but visitor numbers increased in 2024 and 2025. "We've been doing a lot of research and a more hands-on experience seems to be what visitors want," he said.

Tanfield railway once provided a link between the Durham coalfields to the Tyne and is run by 170 volunteers with two paid staff. The museum attracts about 30,000 visitors a year.


People will have the chance to drive industrial locomotives - Image © Tanfield Railway

"We lost our way a little bit around Covid but our visitor numbers went up 25% in 2024, and 5% in 2025 so we're definitely moving in the right direction now," Watchman said.

Tanfield already offers people the chance to pay to take the controls of one of its diesel trains but from the summer is adding driving a steam train to its visitor experiences.

"People don't want to be passive, they want to be able to feel, smell and touch," Watchman said. He is one of those trained to drive the engines used.

"It's such a feeling when you're on board and they're speaking to you, they've all got their own little personalities, they come alive," he said. "It's just out of this world, that feeling of being in control of this mechanical beast controlled by fire."

Historic railway bridge attraction to open


The restored bridge is now located at the Mountsorrel and Rothley Heritage Centre - Image © 'Supplied'

Work to renovate a historic railway bridge, designed and built by renowned engineer Robert Stephenson, will be revealed at an official opening this weekend.

Built in 1834, the bridge was used to move coal across the Grand Union Canal at Soar Lane in Leicester. Later, the bridge became a static exhibit at Snibston Discovery Park in Coalville, Leicestershire, and fell into disrepair after the site closed.

Mountsorrel and Rothley Community Heritage Centre in Mountsorrel, Leicestershire, has brought the bridge back to full working order, using the original ironwork, in a £55,000 project.

Steve Cramp, from the centre, said the bridge played an "important role" in Leicester's history. It was originally located in Soar Lane, where it allowed the passage of coal over the canal, until the 1950s.

The design, created by Stephenson, who had earlier designed the Rocket locomotive engine, could also be raised to allow barges underneath.


The historic bridge was used to bring coal to hosiery factories in Leicester - Image © 'Supplied'

After the closure, the bridge was first moved to Abbey Pumping Station in Leicester as a static exhibit, before later being moved to Snibston. When the site closed down, it was dismantled, as much of the wood was too damaged to save. The original ironwork was placed in storage and was donated by Leicester City Council to the heritage centre in 2020.

Rather than restoring the bridge as a static exhibit, the centre has brought it back into full working order, with a functioning winding mechanism allowing the bridge deck to rise again. Work was completed in 2025, and the attraction will officially open on Saturday and Sunday, coinciding with the centre's 10th anniversary of opening.

"It's quite a small thing really, it's only about 30ft (9m) long, but it played a very important role in moving coal from Coalville over to Leicester," Cramp said. "It really kickstarted the Industrial Revolution in Leicester. It was used many times every day, all the way from 1834 to 1957, when the wharf was closed."

Repairs costing £100k start on Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway


Engineers believe a landslip on the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway line was caused by extreme weather changes - Image © Sarah Clayton

A stretch of a heritage railway line has closed for repair work following a landslip.

In February extreme weather caused an embankment to collapse north of Cheltenham near the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Steam Railway (GWSR) line.

Repairs costing £100,000 are now being carried out on the line between Gotherington and Bishops Cleeve, with trains running to a revised timetable on weekdays until 14 May.

"We are dealing with assets that are well over a century old," said Sarah Clayton, GWSR's infrastructure manager.

The landslip happened on the vacant side of the embankment, away from the track, meaning it has been safe for trains to pass at slow speeds. Engineers believe the slip was caused by a very hot summer last year followed by heavy rainfall.

"We noticed cracks forming along the top of the embankment in September, so we have been monitoring the area for potential movement since then," Clayton said. "In January, we suffered prolonged and intense rainfall, which appears to have triggered a sudden failure which happened late in February."

It is not the first time the railway has collapsed. In 2010 a major embankment failure at Gotherington left the track suspended in mid-air. Engineers have since enforced measures to mitigate future risk, including the installation of remote monitors to alert the railway to small ground movements.


Work is expected to finish in the middle of May - Image © Ian Crowder

The railway, which was built in the early 1990s and has six stops between Broadway and Cheltenham, has altered services while work takes place. It said services operating during the week will run to a revised timetable between Broadway and Winchcombe with stops at Toddington and, for some trains, also at Hayles Abbey Halt. Weekend services will continue to Cheltenham Racecourse as normal, running at five miles per hour past the affected section.

In a social media post, Churnet Valley Railway stated: "An investigation has confirmed that this incident was not caused by any single factor. Instead, it resulted from a combination of multiple, minor and otherwise manageable elements aligning in a particular set of circumstances. This type of occurrence, sometimes described as the “Swiss cheese model”, is recognised across safety-critical industries. No individual issue has been identified that, in isolation, would have led to a derailment, and there is no single point of failure to attribute. Track repairs resulting from the derailment have been completed.

Why are thousands of bins stacked at Littleport railway station?


Some 6,000 black wheelie bins and 10,000 food waste caddies are being stored at the back of Littleport railway station's car park - Image © Qays Najm/BBC

If you arrive at one railway station in Cambridgeshire, you might be forgiven for thinking you had accidentally arrived at a waste management site. About 16,000 black and food waste bins are piled high at the car park in Littleport, ready to be delivered to households. But what is it all about?

Up until now, people across the East Cambs district have been asked to leave their general rubbish (destined for landfill) in bags outside their homes - one of the last council areas in the country where this happens.

East Cambs District Council says it has wanted to give their residents black plastic bins for some time, but decided to wait for the government to clarify its new rules on weekly food waste collections for all homes in England. While it did not meet the 31 March deadline to introduce them - blaming high demand for specialist vehicles and bins from other councils up and down the country - it will be rolled out by 1 June.

"It's a really big project for us," says Cat Sutherland, the council's senior waste management officer. "There are about 45,000 houses in our district... every property will be changed."


The bins will be in the car park until the end of May - Image © Qays Najm/BBC

When recycled separately, food waste can be used to produce electricity. This reduces the amount of waste rotting in landfill that releases greenhouse gases.

In East Cambs, homes are due to get a small kitchen caddy and a larger outdoor caddy for food waste collections, a year's supply of caddy liners, and a new black bin for non-recyclable rubbish. Soft plastics, like carrier bags and vegetable packaging will also be able to go into existing recycling bins. All of this change across East Cambs comes at a cost of more than £3m.

"People, sometimes, are a bit reticent to change, but when we talk about it with them they tend to kind of understand it," says Sutherland. "They're willing to give it a try, but we also do have things for residents who can't accommodate the bins and we're able to flex the service for them."

She says she has been encouraged by the questions households are asking, adding: "My favourite so far has been about [what to do with] oyster shells. That's why I love my job as well because there's always something that we don't necessarily know the immediate answer for." And those shells? In with food waste, please.

The council does not have enough space at its depot for the thousands of bins needed and the vehicles delivering them, so a temporary distribution depot has been set up at Littleport's unstaffed railway station - on the Fen line between Cambridge and King's Lynn. It needs security 24 hours a day, from when they first started delivering bins last month to the end of May. Much of the car park remains open to the public.

John Exley, managing director of Kee Environmental and the man responsible for distributing the bins, says the car park "creates its own challenges, being such a tight spot, but at least it's good ground".

"I've distributed bins off beaches in the past," he says.

The bins arrive, are piled up high and then teams of three in vans go out and deliver to individual properties in what is predominantly a rural district centred on the small cathedral city of Ely.

Exley says that on the doorstep he has heard "mixed reactions" from residents, but the majority are "embracing it".

"But we do have the odd one that thinks it may be a waste of money or something," he says. He says that in the first 11 days they have delivered about 14,000 bins, making them "ahead of schedule".

(BBC article continues)