..............he's moved further West today! 

Cancellations to services at Hungerford

Due to trespassers on the railway at Hungerford trains have to run at reduced speed on all lines.
Train services running through this station may be cancelled or delayed.

Disruption is expected until 11:30 21/04.

 
Thanks for the heads up.

That change to the weekday Swindon evening peak from 17:35 to 17:45 is a pain - it means arriving at Melksham at 18:09 instead of 17:59. On a Monday evening I need to leave the house at about 18:35 for band rehearsal in Bristol, and by the time I've walked the 1.6 miles back home from the station it's already a bit tight. It doesn't help that it's not unusual for that service to be delayed by a few minutes - 2 mins yesterday.

Looking at earlier options from Bristol (currently 17:00) - both the 15:00 (via Chippenham) and 15:45 (Trowbridge) have scheduled connection gaps of only 5 mins, which isn't ideal. I'll take a look at the bus timetables to see which might provide the best plan B.

 
From The Guardian

 

Easy. A couple of beat bobbies positioned to identify the guilty, radio connected to a few more officers a little further along the way to effect the detention (using bicycle stingers if necessary). I take the view that if all such 'low level' offending is initially addressed with suitable financial penalties, and these outcomes are suitably publicised, it stops. 

 

Yes, if necessary. First option should always be physical removal of the miscreant as rapidly as possible by as many trained operatives as required. But if said trespasser resists.....

Negotiation should never be involved.

 
1. Melksham Transport News - a four page bus and train newsletter filling you in on many current travel issues in and around Melksham - available to view / download at: https://www.mtug.org.uk/newsletter_202604.pdf  . Easy print-at-home format.



2. Melksham Public Transport Timetables for the summer and autumn - back from the printers yesterday and available to collect from tomorrow morning at the Tourist Information, Library, council offices and other outlets. For those of you who run halls, community groups, etc - happy to supply a quantity of these for you to help distribute too. 40 pages including the timetables of all six operators. Buses current now; new train timetable from 16th May. NOT easy to print-at-home - please pick up a copy but it *is* online at https://www.mtug.org.uk/mrug_ttbook_202605.pdf

 
The answer is, they all still use the extensive, crowded but cheap network of suburban railways that serve the city. I remember briefly travelling on one (being careful to avoid rush hour!) on a short stay there at the end of my only visit to India almost 40 years ago to the day. Not sure anyone had considered a risk assessment for what I recall were the doors being kept open as we sped along....

This thread prompted me to check it out on Wikipedia. The information there is a bit contradictory,  but it appears to handle between 6 and 7 million passengers a day. It also seems like they replaced most of their trains at about the time the metro opened in 2014, and now run mostly 12 and 15 car trains.

 
I rather suspect that passenger numbers will increase over time, especially if nudged on by a few tweaks in the service.  The "sparks effect" is a general principle rather than a universal constant.

 
Chris, hope you didn't miss this as a result of a mishap. Sometimes it's good when someone merely catalyses such an adventure.

Mark

 

Trespassers had been reported on the railway in the London Paddington area.

The person has now been removed from the railway. Train services will be reinstated where possible, please check your journey.

Hooray! 

 

 

This is a bridge strike at Langley.

 
Now there’s a new ‘railway emergency’ that has brought trains to a standstill at Burnham

 
It is marked on this 1920s 25inch O S map

https://maps.nls.uk/view/106029043

 
Taser.

 
Yay! Severn Beach!

Mark

 

LNER faced a similar issue last week, reportedly someone climbed a gantry, and the resulting disruption affected train services for two days. I’m not sure what the solution is, but it seems wrong that a single individual can cause such widespread inconvenience to tens of thousands of people.

 
This does seem to be rather ridiculous.

 
20/04/2026




RTT reports that the 1523 Paddington was cancelled because it had been "replaced by a slower train"

 
From Rail Advent[/utl]

 
A bit past historic now, but, for the record, here's the disruption caused to OWW services 20/4/26 by the lengthy trespass incident "near Paddington"

1W11 Paddington to Great Malvern was cancelled throughout

leading to

1P18 0856 Great Malvern to Paddington return working being cancelled throughout

 

Delays now until 6pm

"The person has been on the railway since the early hours, and despite Police negotiation they remain on the railway"

.............surely by now they could have been physically removed?

 
By portishead it was one guy and a pork pie! Currently awIting an X10 to Yatton. This is a bit 'Mornington Crescent, the bus edition'...

Mark

 
Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Reading

Due to trespassers on the railway between Reading and London Paddington fewer trains are able to run on all lines. Disruption is expected until 13:00 20/04.

Train services between London Paddington and Reading may be cancelled or delayed.

Cancellations to services between Reading and Newbury

Due to trespassers on the railway between Reading and London Paddington fewer trains are able to run on all lines. Disruption is expected until 13:00 20/04.

Train services between Reading and Newbury may be cancelled or delayed.

 
I was at Portbury footbridge at 1037 awaiting the 1000 from Bristol bus station, but no-one got off, so I came home again...I now see it was my mistake for not reading the instructions clearly enough. Apologies and sorry I missed you all, in the hope it was more than three men and  a dog....Rather more interestingly, I saw 2 Roro car carriers cross off Portishead  (Cross?  at the speed they were going I think both masters were furious!) and discovered using marinetraffic,com, that the outgoing one was bound for Port Said in Egypt. From Port Zed to Port Said!!

 
I saw some of last week's episode, and it was entertaining, and eye opening. They took Michael into a maintenance shed for the bullet trains, except it was more like a laboratory; no sign of any dirt or grime anywhere:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m002v46g/great-japanese-railway-journeys-series-1-4-kanazawa-to-kurobe-gorge
at about 7 mins in.

 
Pill has provoded a variety of experiences but at the moment I'm trying to leave the place, so far unsuccessfully.

Mark

 

 
The decison was in at the tail of last week, and I have been giving key stakeholders a head-up.  We have not been granted funds under CCIF, which - GWR indicate - was oversubscribed and they had to make difficult decisions.  I had been back in touch with GWR who have given me three specific elements which reduced our chances, and those are documented - together with a look forward - at https://www.mtug.org.uk/iats.html. It also covered in less depth as late news at https://www.mtug.org.uk/newsletter_202604.pdf.

 
Yesterday's glorious weather found me in Great Bedwyn in Wiltshire, from where I walked to Wilton Windmill and then into the picturesque village of the same name (not to be confused with its namesake close to Salisbury). Then  I walked close to the site of Dodsdown Brickworks.

In 1902 a two-mile light railway (but marked on Ordnance Survey maps as a tramway) was constructed from Grafton and Burbage Station to the Brickworks to convey bricks for the building of Tidworth Barracks, which was completed in 1910, the line being dismantled just after. See Journals – Bedwyn History Society.  In August 1907 Richard Haldane, Secretary of State for War, confirmed in the House of Commons that the War Office had rejected bricks made at Dodsdown because they did not comply with specifications.

Unsurprisingly given its short life there are no signs at all of the tramway, though I gather a brick kiln remains on private land.

There's so much history crammed into the locality, with the Kennet & Avon Canal (including the Bruce tunnel and Crofton Beam Engines), evidence of the complex MSWJR junction with the GWR, memorial plaques from the original monumental masons in Great Bedwyn, Wolf Hall, Savernake Forest and the Duchess of Somerset's Hospital in Froxfield.