I got the Falcon bus from Cullompton for one holiday, I think early 2023. It cost me £9 return - actually £3 in Tesco vouchers.

 
^^^ It used to be Minehead. Not only was there only one roundabout in the town, but if you were lucky enough to have a test that coincided with the end of an long weekend event at Butlins, you probably wouldn't have to do the test at more than 3 mph. The test centre closed when it got out of hand, with learners from distant Scottish islands booking there.

 
RMT Press Release

 
From Oxford Mail

 

Marylebone Panel is split into two desks - North and South. By Princes Risborough it is under the North desk - as I have dealt with them operating PR Middle (North) Box on behalf of the Chinnor Railway. I think the boundary is somewhere around High Wycombe. With low traffic volumes serving only the Oxford Branch it might be able to operated by one signaller for the two desks, but I cannot be sure and somehow I doubt it.

 
Chiltern charge off-peak fares, but I suspect have 'sponsorship' from Bicester Village Outlet that covers costs - they certainly did when they started Boxing Day services, and up to recent years.

They can also have their entire signal box operated by one shift of signallers (two I think?, but maybe just one for that one line of route) plus the few drivers required all enter a ballot to earn the generous overtime.

 

Yes, and I thank you for the correction.

 
From the BBC:

 

If you're travelling relatively light then the U2 bus to Airport Tavern is currently £3 each way.

 
Not to forget the option of through ticketing as part of a GWR rail fare.  8 of us heading to Bristol Airport later in the year and have opted for the train from Cornwall.  Should be interesting !

 
This is the first of perhaps 3 posts in this series - the overall day comprising 3 national network trains, 4 journeys on heritage buses, one rail replacement taxi, and eight miles of walking.

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New Year's Day - and the first opportunity to use public transport in the year, get some fresh air, and update my "state of the system" knowledge. 1st January is a unique day when most trains run to a normal weekday timetable, but (except in a few isolated cases) don't - not even a Sunday service.

Quiet and dark as I walked through the centre of Melksham just before 7 a.m. ... no-one else around, except for a person sleeping 'rough' in the meagre shelter provided by the entrance to Haines and Smith.  The Christmas lights twinkled through the town.  Apart from a handful of cars, the first and only person I passed on foot was walking into town in front of Cooper Tires.  I walked out to the station to the north west of the town, through the well lit subway and past the huge Merry Christmas artwork in the spiral ramp back up from it.  Station Approach, the cul-de-sac past businesses closed for the holiday, and the minivans for the SEND school all parked up in the station car park.  I arrived at the station about 5 minutes before the first train of the year was due - 07:21 - showing that it was expected at 07:23 which was going to be tight for the 4 minute change atChippenham into the Bristol train.  I collected my pre-booked ticket from the ticket machine.

Also at the station, the railway's maintenance crew, I suspect salting but certainly litter picking.  And two others waiting for the train ... another person appeared from somewhere just after me.  Then the on-platform display switch to "delayed" for our train.  No indication of why, or by how much, and no advice for passengers.  The data IS there to tell you if you know where to look online, and I did so, surmising that an early running Network Rail works train due after the passenger train had passed though a few minutes earlier, and was stopped before the junction to join the main London line at Thingley, no doubt waiting for a gap in which it could run between faster trains on that line, and in turn preventing out train following up even as far as Melksham because it'a s long single "section" and one train has to be onto the London line at Thingley before the next one is allowed to enter at Bradford Junction.  Public data showed our train waiting just to the north of Trowbridge.

Departure display changed to "07:33" ... train appeared at that time and we set off at 07:34.  Four of us had joined, four other passengers already on the train which are tiny numbers compared to the usual day.  I was reminded of the passenger count done by a Wiltshire Councillor on the first days of the new year a decade or so ago, and how that data was used to help him defund a public bus service. Please do not use my count from 1st January as evidence of anything other than how few people were using it that special morning.





No staff seen on train. No ticket check. No further delays. As we approached Chippenham, now on double track, passed a long train going "the other way" - that was the Bristol train I had hoped to connect onto.   Checking back, it was 7 minutes late ... we were 12 minutes late, so it didn't work out.  I asked the platform dispatcher if I had missed the Bristol train, and he told me that I had but it wasn't supposed to be a connection anyway.  Which at least gave me a change to grab a coffee, except ...

Over the bridge to the Hearty Hare, closed (I presume) just for the New Year. Three staff on the barriers - that makes a total of 4 at CPM - not quite outnumbering passengers.  At least gave me a chance to network; it seems that with them the Westbury service "often doesn't turn up" and that they are frequently arranging alternative transport.  The snack machine on the platform is no longer there, but I was assured there would be a trolley on the train to Bristol in about half an hour, or that I might be able to walk across the car park to Sainsbury's and get one there.

An opportunity taken to look around and, perhaps for the first time, I noticed that that the canopy over all three platforms has at some stage been cut back, with stanchions sticking out but no covering; the gable ends remain complete though is places clearly in need of some TLC.  The changes are not recent ones, and I suspect that they date from the time that the third platform was taken out of use or even earlier, with the middle platform having a bay cut out to the east - later restored to a full with platform but now with no canopy over it.





Anyway - the 08:09 to Bristol rolls in - a 9 carriage train and even quieter than the train up from Melksham. I was waiting "forward" and got into the second carriage - lovely and warm, and on my own in that carriage, front carriage empty too.  Even before the train pulled out, my ticket was checked; I actually celebrate such checking as it helps discourage fare evasion, and glad to see that the gent checking knew that it was a bank holiday so that off peak was valid.  In hindsight, now sure how detailed he looked.   Certainly did not advise me of my "Avonmouth connection" at Temple Meads.

No sign in the train of that trolley (as told would be there by Chippenham Gateline).  Uneventful journey to Bristol Temple Meads, note that hardly anyone waiting for the train at Bath. At Bristol, the train pulled right through the station and terminated at the far end of platform 12; rather more people around waiting to join it as the 09:00 to London. WHSmiths open in the subway, pasty shop not though shutters half up so was planning to open.  Ticket worked barrier correctly / returned to me (as it was in theory a break of journey on my way to Avonmouth).

---

Bristol Temple Meads.  Around half an hour to wait for the New Years Day only special heritage bus service 376 to Wells and Street - but where does it go from? The bus departure screen at the station showing only Airport Flyer services, for the airport and for the bus station. And a service was there, picking up a few people.  Taxis aplenty, but the pick up / drop off spaces very quiet.  And well down the ramp, an oldish looking double decker, "Sorry not in service" and a driver sitting in there. But then there was about half an hour until the bus was due (at 09:11), so fair enough.



Just before 9, I noted someone else hopping on the bus and it left; I was pretty sure it was not headed for Wells, but rather the bus station for the 09:00 start in the timetable. Would he come back onto the station approach in quarter of an hour?  An educated guess took me to the stop (T1) on the main road where I assumed that the 376 usually runs from, and indeed an A4 poster had been put up there to say it was where the New Years Day service was running from. An old boy (help - must have been about my age) comes along and we chat; re-assures me that this is the right stop, and tells me that 1 of the two vehicles to run the 09:11 service broke down during the week and may not be there. He bemoans that he had not known earlier as he (a former driver who often goes to these events) could have borrowed another bus from the day.   We chat about the economics of heritage bus running, the Stagecoach collection that was reduced, getting spare parts for old vehicles and more. I learned quite a bit - heritage buses and their operation is not my "thing" / hobby, but good to see those for whom it is.

31753 - old First bus in preservation and the one that had been on station approach pulls in ... 4 or 5 of us get on.  It's a free ride, but donations welcome. I take a seat upstairs - perhaps 30 of us on the bus as we head out towards Wells.

Stopping here and there on the way, we pick up more passengers as we head out through Bristol.  If I "characterise", most might be described as 'anoraks', mostly male.  A mother plus adult son join us for a while at an intermediate stop, and get off again along the way.  Some people know each other; others remaining aloof and perhaps felt to awkward to engage.

And so - Pensford, Thorpe Cloud, Chewton Mendip and Wells.  The 376 runs along the main road all the way - not a service that also doubles as the service that provides transport for housing estates by diverting through them at the expense of journey time as we see at home in Wiltshire.  And so into Wells, where we pull in to the Bus Station alongside a number of other somewhat more historic vehicles.  There are onward services via Glastonbury to Street, but I had decided to stop for an our or two in Wells - "the smallest city in England".

---

Wells - not been there for many years, and I took the opportunity to wander around.   The Town Centre was busy with pedestrians - people out to on New Years Day and Coffee shops open for the most part, though other shops closed. The old buildings, swans on the moat of the Bishop's Palace and the Cathedral quite out of scale with the size of the city make it an attractive destination, and I expanded my "what can I see in an hour" standard to a second hour, together (at last) with having that coffee I had been hankering for since Chippenham. The cafe I chose had a line of electric points and I downloaded pictures from my phone to my laptop, and charged the phone a bit.

Another day and a longer trip at some point, and in summer when it's warmer and the days are longer, and it might be worth a paid visit to The Palace. For New Year's Day, very expensive per minute just for a quick walk through, but I did stroll out of town onto the Tor for some pictures.

 
Final scores for yesterday:

1W13 06:48 London Paddington to Great Malvern : departed +14, arrived Worcester Shrub Hill +27 and cancelled thereafter (RTT : "due to an issue with the train crew (TH)")
1W02 11:48 London Paddington to Hereford (14:44) : held Oxford (+12), arrived Great Malvern +19 and cancelled thereafter (RTT : "due to a points failure (IB)")
1W29 14:48 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate St (17:04) : on time Hanborough, but arrived Charlbury +85, arrived Shrub Hill +88 and cancelled thereafter (RTT : "due to a passenger being taken ill (VD)")
1W31 15:48 London Paddington to Great Malvern (18:26) : arrived Oxford +10 and cancelled thereafter (RTT : "due to a passenger being taken ill (VD)")
2E14 17:05 Didcot Parkway to Evesham : cancelled after Oxford (RTT : "due to a passenger being taken ill (VD)")
1W03 17:19 London Paddington to Hereford (20:25) : cancelled after Worcester Shrub Hill (RTT : "due to the train operator's request (TB)")
1W36 18:48 London Paddington to Great Malvern (21:18) : Oxford +14, arrived +31.

1P20 09:56 Great Malvern to London Paddington (12:36) : started from Shrub Hill
1P30 15:18 Worcester Foregate Street to London Paddington (17:36) : held Charlbury (+74), arrived +73.
1P32 15:18 Hereford to London Paddington (18:36) : started from Great Malvern (+69), arrived +65.
1P38 18:02 Foregate St to London Paddington : started from Shrub Hill (+30), arrived +18.
2E16 18:51 Evesham to Oxford (19:50) : cancelled throughout
1P40 19:02 Great Malvern to London Paddington (21:36) : started from Oxford (+18), skipped Didcot, arrived +19.
1P46 22:00 Hereford to London Paddington : started from Worcester Shrub Hill.

 
The fares quoted for the Bristol airport buses are single fares not returns which cost £15

 
To bring this tale (or rather its author) back to base, the Newtown - Merthyr bus made it to Brecon and caught up with its timings, switched drivers and for some reason the bus's electronic ticket machine was dysfunctional from then on, greeting joining customers with a very loud bell and a farcical announcement. The bus tracking also ceased to work. I did know that the route south on the A470 to Merthyr was at altitude but it hadn't twigged with me that said altitude is 1400 feet. In the event there had been no snowfall so the road was ok.

Merthyr bus station. Very new, situated in a large spread of paving, and no signage for the station which is out of sight about 6 minutes walk away. No signage whatsoever as to how to get to it so I was glad I'd rehearsed that on both mapping and street view.

Once at the platform, not much of a wait so again a tight connection out of the bus with no time to get lost while finding the train, the  1909 arrived and within a few minutes set off back to Cardiff, extremely well lit, petite, clean (or had been at the start of the day and still was, mostly) an engaging interior design with plentiful tables, bays of four, and that curious engine section thing at the centre of the train. Down to Cardiff on time and then on to the 20:30 Cardiff-Portsmouth train back to Bath, which actually became the 20:40 as it was late in. This gave me a chance to head for the concourse which was a food and drink desert - everything was shut. The redevelopment outside the station has turned that into a desert too, but a helpful guy on one of the barriers pointed in the direction of a tesco express that was not far away but completely concealed whan looking across the void from the station entrance, so that provided a 'Support sandwich'. The Portsmouth train made up time and gave an easy connection into the evenings-only hourly bus up the hill.

I should pull together some overall impression of the day. I still don't know what would have happened to the people who were caught up in TfW's woes. Some on the Newtown train would likely have been heading for South Wales and very joined up thinking might have sent that long distance bus to the station itself for them.

Mark

 
Another update, from the BBC:

 
We travelled back home from Yorkshire, via KGX as usual, yesterday (02/01) afternoon / evening. Boarded the 1552 to PNZ having noted that PAD was, comparatively, deserted. To describe our train, a 9 car IET,  as lightly loaded would be an exaggeration! Similarly RDG was the quietist I have ever seen it. During the journey between PAD & RDG the TM advised that some delay after Reading could occur due to a track examination, but did emphasise that the issue was affecting the London-bound track, although only because of the close proximity of maintenance staff.

Arrived at EXD about 5 late, but without further drama, to be greeted (not literally!) by a huge crowd of intending passengers on P1. It very quickly became apparent that pax trying to get to either RDG or PAD were being told to use the 1826 1L72 SWR service to WAT and change at BSK. Just as well the train was a 6 car consist but even that was virtually full on departure.

 

Yes.  And I could back that up (if I were allowed to reveal personal data) with specific examples of people who no longer use the service.   You asked "to some degree" so the answer is "yes", and it is a significant factor.  But there are other factors too - both down and up.

 


Graham do you think that the decline in journey numbers on the Transwilts from Melksham could be due to some degree to customers perceiving it as unreliable, given the number of cancellations etc?

 
06:12 Penzance to London Paddington due 11:49
06:12 Penzance to London Paddington due 11:49 will be started from Plymouth.
It will no longer call at Penzance, Camborne, Redruth, Truro, St Austell, Par, Bodmin Parkway, Liskeard, St Germans and Saltash.
This is due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time.
Will be formed of 5 coaches instead of 10.

 

 
It was just about visible from the ridgeway above Wantage, but the moon was too bright to see it well. 

 
But they’ve just spent a small fortune building a new drop-off car park!

They know full well that despite hiking up the charges that people will still use the drop-off car park and they can watch the cash roll in. People will moan about the cost but will still use it as it’s quick and convenient.

Parking and retail is where airports, particularly regional ones make their money.

 
Now that this is on its way to being cleared, I look back at the gap between trains and see that it's far less than I'm used to when a single train through my local station is cancelled.   The difference - by several orders of magnitude - is the number of people inconvenienced, and also the number of trains left in the wrong places.

 
Wiltshire has named its 18 Gritters too

Grit Me Baby One More Time
Gritty Gritty Bang Bang
Sir David Attenbrrrr
Gritty Rascal
Buzz Saltyear
Licensed to Grit
Moonraker
Snowood House
Wiltshire Born and Spread
Saul T Roads
Ready Spready Go
Thaw Enforcement
Grit Happens
Grittersaurus
Anneka Ice
Arnold Schwarzegritter
Usain Salt
Spready Mercury

 
To the South of London, the London Chatham and Dover has termini at Victoria and Holborn Viaduct for the West End and City.  The South Eastern Railway had termini at Charing Cross.  The London, Brighton and South Coast Railway had termini at Victoria and London Bridge. The London South Western Railway had a terminus at Waterloo and then The Drain to take people to Bank.  By contrast, to the west of London, the Great Western Railway petered out rather in W2 with everyone headed for the Wet End or the City needing onward travel.

Lessons

- no great surprise that with trains running once again through Paddington (they use to on the Met), passenger numbers ending at Paddington have plummeted

- Paddington is not Waterloo - far from it, a different place and case - and it was a dis-service to withdraw Bristol and Bath trains to Waterloo.

 
Ransom strip, much?

Mark