Oops


"we are unable to operate our service".  With no suggestion about what customers - that first one (the 10:02 at Melksham) is the busiest northbound of the day - should do.    This is where a volunteer presence at the station would be so helpful ... but that is a subject for a fresh thread.

 
Cancellations to services between Swindon and Westbury via Melksham

Due to a broken down train at Melksham the line is blocked. Disruption is expected until 12:00 14/01.
Train services between Swindon and Westbury via Melksham will be cancelled.

Customer Advice
A freight train has broken down on the line between Westbury and Swindon; as a result we are unable to operate our service.

 
Without trying to delve into politics my first thought on reading about this is that it was a bit light on dates and actual commitment and will probably not get built.

 
Looks like chaos on the Trans Wilts this morning. A failed freight near Kintbury on the Berks and Hants has meant that up West Country trains have been diverted over the Trans Wilts. Now though it looks as though infrastructure train 6M50 has failed somewhere south of Melksham blocking that line. 1A73 and 1J74 up passenger trains from the West Country have diverted from Westbury up to Bath/Bathampton Junction and reversed there to continue to London.

 
RTT shows that the line west of Crewkerne is closed for the weekend, with trains running Waterloo to Crewkerne. I presume that this is to what the email refers.
If the slip is west of Axminster I can only assume that terminating trains there would need at least one extra train and a long layover time.

 

The site is still there with platforms and buildings but disappointingly appears to have been earmarked for non-railway redevelopment.

 
A bit of both - but the end result is the same.

The 07:45 is normally formed from an incoming service from Bristol Parkway.   This morning that train started from Temple Meads and arrived at Westbury 14 minutes late at 07:43.   For some reason the decision was taken not to run the TransWilts service, even with a late start.

 

of if you prefer ...

 
And now ...

 

 

The IET was 1K71 - the 05:10 Bristol Temple Meads to Paddington that usually calls at Kennet Valley stations.  Got to Westbury on time (actually a couple of minutes early at 05:48, but say there until 06:14 and left headed back (16 minutes late) up whence it came, passing Bradford Junction ar 06:22 for the second time and headed, though untracked on my system, via Chippenham and Swindon - it has appeared on the trackers again at 07:28 - 21 minutes late - into Reading.

Oh for increased capacity, Bradford Junction to Thingley Junction.

 
From BBC news https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c9qeq08g70yt


Edit to clarify quoting - Grahame

 
This could be why an unexpected IET was around and delayed the [06:29/06:31].    That won't account for the scheduled change to 06:31 today ...

 
Actually the 06:46 is delayed, showing as 07:01. But that's probably going to be busier than usual, might wait for the 07:05 anyway.

 
Departed Melksham at 06:43 - will miss the 06:46 Trowbridge-Bristol, but at least the 07:05 has 3 carriages Image not available to guests

 
Well an IET just passed through towards Chippenham (at 06:28), might be related...

Don't think 06:31 is likely Image not available to guests

 
Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Reading

Due to a points failure between London Paddington and Reading fewer trains are able to run on all lines.
Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled or delayed. Disruption is expected until 07:30 14/01.

.......also broken down trains at various TV locations blocking lines. Good luck if you're travelling today.

 

There is a 2 minute "Pathing Allowance" at Thingley Junction - a "special" tomorrow; I looked at Wednesday next week and it's back to normal.  Nothing showing on Real Time Trains to need that allowance though.

 
Just buying my ticket for tomorrow morning's Melksham-Bristol commute, and spotted that what is usually the 06:29 Melksham-Trowbridge is scheduled for 06:31 (it was 06:29 on Monday). Anyone know why?

 

I remember seeing pictures of Mayfield and seem to remember it existing quite recently. any scope there?

 
Inspiration train - touring again ... at at Salisbury from 21st to 23rd February.   Book via:
https://railway200.co.uk/inspiration/

 
As the present platforms at Manchester Picc are already at high level (The Metrolink trams in the undercroft are at ground level), I would be interested to see how that would work.

 

 
Just visited SWRs web site and I can find no reference as to what this might be about.

The web site then redirected me to the Journeycheck site, which was at pains to inform me that there had been a 'Hazard to passengers' warning for Honiton on the 10th January (icy surfaces). It's now the 13th - temperatures there are between 4 and 7 degrees centigrade.

This put me in mind of the frequent station announcements at Shrewsbury last Friday that trains that had already arrived at the station would be delayed by forecasts of 'Heavy snow' on sections of route far behind them (for good measure, there were no forecasts of heavy snow on that day, that too was a day in the past...)

Mark

 
From Independent, via MSN

 
Yes, I noted that (or the lack of them), too. Image not available to guests

 
08/01/26 - Exeter To Paris
DIG 0843 (0846) > EXD 0856 (0859) : 2T10 EXM > PGN : 1 x 150/2 (2 Cars)
EXD 0916 (OT) > PAD 1128 (OT) : 1A76 PNZ > PAD▸ : 1 x 802/1 (9 Cars)
TfL» Underground Paddington > King's Cross St. Pancras (H&C Line)
Eurostar STP 1431 (1511) > PBN 1749 (1832) : Train 9O32
Tickets: DIG > PAD Senior Railcard Advance Single £37.60 x 2, Railcard TfL Underground £1.85 x 2, Eurostar Standard Single £64.00 x 2

2T10 was full and standing on arrival at DIG where 30 pax were waiting to board. Everybody managed to get on but a few intending pax at POL were, I think, unable to get on. The train emptied significantly at EXC (Exeter College students & office/retail workers). Memo to GWR: don’t put a 2 car train on 2T10 if it can in any way be avoided!

1A76 departed EXD and arrived at PAD as scheduled. Wonders will never cease! Tickets but not Railcards were checked as the train passed Somerton. There is still a fairly obvious TSR on the Up Westbury Avoiding Line but this had no effect on the overall journey.

On arrival at STP it was immediately clear that things were not going to plan; there was a large queue outside the Eurostar departure lounge and our entry thereto did not start until a staff shift changeover had been completed. It was then announced that 9O32 would be delayed by the late arrival of the incoming service. Also the lounge was completely rammed by the large number of pax waiting for the 1504 to HamsterJam many of whom, I suspect, had switched to rail because of the ongoing chaos at Schipol (several days of snow and, apparently, they ran out of de-icer!)
9O32 eventually departed STP 50 minutes down and arrived at PBN 43 late. Quick Metro journey to the Clichy district (€2.55 2-hour ticket).

09/01/26
Retail Therapy For SWTSMBO! (€12.30 Metro All Day Pass)

10/01/26
Notre Dame (partially reopened after the fire) followed by Stade Francais v Exeter Chiefs at Stade Jean Bouin where Chiefs managed to turn an early second half lead of 0-22 into a full time loss of 27-25!

11/01/26  - Paris To Exeter
PBN 1112 (OT) > STP 1230 (1227) : Train 9O23
TfL Underground King's Cross St. Pancras > Paddington (Circle Line)
PAD 1303 (OT) > EXD 1509 (1517) : 1C83 PAD > PLY : 1 x 800/3 (9 Cars)
EXD 1551 (1552) > DIG 1600 (1601) : 2F16 PGN > EXM 1 x 165/1 (3 Cars)
Tickets: Eurostar £55.00 x 3, Railcard TfL Underground £1.85 x 2, PAD > DIG Senior Railcard Super Off-Peak Single £43.75 x 2

On arrival at Gare du Nord, at around 0950, there were massive queues in the Eurostar departures area. The pax for the 9O19 (1012) and 9O21 (1042) departures, the latter of which left about 15 late, were still being processed through immigration. When our turn came I did notice that a significant number of idiots, and I use that word deliberately, were slowing the whole process by inserting their passports into the eGate scanners the wrong way round. Eventually we departed for London on time and arrived at STP 3 early after an entirely unremarkable journey.
Our Super Off-Peak tickets had us booked on the 1403 1C84 PAD > PNZ but we made the 1303 1C83 with 4 minutes to spare. All went well, including a full ticket & railcard check, until CLC where we ‘caught up’ with the late running 1236 1C82 PAD > PGN. I knew this was going to happen as I had Traksy running on my ‘phone! 1C83 was held at CLC for 4-5 minutes and reached EXD 8 late causing the missing of the 1515 2F15 PGN > EXM connection.
On the plus side the consequent Delay Replay claim which I submitted the next morning was notified as having been approved just after midday on Tuesday 12/01. So a Gold Star to GWR for that.

 
The suggestion is that the Mayors of Liverpool and Manchester (Rotherem and Burnham) will be allowed to develop the proposals for a HS line between the two via Manchester Airport, presumably providing that they can get developers to pay for the bulk of the project, which is not inconceivable if they are left to their own devices.

As that's the expensive (and politically difficult bit of the HS2 project), the extension of HS2 to Middlewich "when HS2 is open and the NPR line is ready" is presumably a fairly cheap commitment to make, justifies retaining existing land holdings etc.

Rotherem supposedly wants the HS terminus on the Liverpool Central site, already the busiest station on the Merseyrail lines, with a rejig of Merseyrail as part of the project.   

The original plan had HS2 going to high-level platforms at Manchester Piccadilly, so will be interesting to see what the proposal is for Manchester 

 
Reading on that link that the Westmoreland proposal may have been an initiative under consideration by the GWR and LMS, you wonder whether the two of them had any intentions for Lansdown in Cheltenham (where lines adjacent to the Midland station had no interchange platforms, and even when the GWR's line to Honeybourne arrived, a station materialised some distance away, something that could be argued didn't exactly optimise the passenger experience.)

A side by side comparison on the National Library of Scotland's web site is instructive.

Mark

https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by-side/#zoom=17.8&lat=51.89920&lon=-2.09398&layers=178&right=206

 
The seventeen hour drag from Ely to Long Rock took place today; reportedly 175010.

So I think this is the situation. 175001 is the only train in passenger service and that had a door failure that should have been fixable but it was taken out of service. Back working today.

Ely Mif :8:  175004/005/008, 175103/104/105/109/110 (175008 is in two halves)

Wolverton : 10 : 175101/102/106/107/108/111/112/113/115/116

Laira : 8:  175002/007/009, 175114; 175001/003/006/011 are refurbished.

Long Rock : 1 : 175010

Updated 13 January 2026