At very very least, a Romsey to Eastleigh setup with double sections and the ends for Melksham, please.   The Chandlers Ford section at 6 miles is far shorter than Thingley to Bradford Junction.

 

Yes, it's Yetminster.  On the single line between Yeovil Pen Mill and Maiden Newton, and (re)opening a loop at least here would allow the service to step up towards hourly.  Care to be taken where the loops go, mind - hourly could in theory be done already, expect that the irregular spacing would mean trains having to wait to pass at existing loops.

Looking at HMG's stated desire to put loads of houses around existing stations there aren't on flood plains, I offer you Chetnole City and Thornford Town.  Hourly Weymouth <-> Westbury <-> Swindon <-> Oxford <-> Bletchely <-> Bedford service.  Change at Yeovil Junction Lower Platform for Salisbury and London. Connections across the platform both ways at Westbury onto the Southampton to Portishead stopper. Change at Swindon for Cheltenham Spa and Birmingham.

 

It's amazing how photography from a slightly different angle can make some of these non-trivial!

 

Yes, it is ... you are not the only one who puzzled a bit over that one as I clipped it quite hard.   I would suggest no need for a second track / platform while trains can turn back quickly to Topsham - though if the service ups to more than two an hour, two platforms would perhaps be needed to one train can leave as the next pulls in

 

You amaze me, staving, with your knowledge.  Spot on, and like you I see no need here for more tracks, though there would be space for two through lines in the centre.   Bit of a naughty picture to include.   For other readers - it's the only one that's that naughty!

 

I must stop trying to answer these from my phone

0: is Exmouth

 
An opportunity to see this service pass non stop through York. From Monday it will now stop there.

 
Can only assume someone was sitting in his seat.

Seriously though, sad to see this happening on the last day of HST operations on GWR or at any time on a train.

 
Courtesy of LNER, good production values, weather in their favour: an uninterrupted view from the front of the service that calls only at Newcastle on its way up to Kings Cross.

Mark


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLcZp3FhxP4

 

Some examples for the 2024/25 looking up platform lengths in the sectional appendix

1701274/113 = 15056 - Windsor and Eton - passengers per metre per annum
6510506/(195+279) = 13735 - Bath Spa  - passengers per metre per annum
655356/(185+185) = 1771 - Stroud  - passengers per metre per annum
415576/(169+173) = 1215 - Redruth - passengers per metre per annum
60930/74.5 = 818 - Melksham - passengers per metre per annum
11864/110 =108 - St Budeaux Victoria Road - passengers per metre per annum
2449/(124+126) = 10 - St Budeaux Ferry Road - passengers per metre per annum

 

I wasn't being entirely serious.

Looks like there is a bus replacement in place for at least one or two of the cancelled trips now.

 
Scarcely credible, however it's reported elsewhere that fighting broke out amongst the spotters on one of the final HST runs this morning - turfed off at Truro apparently.

One would hope that no members of this esteemed forum were involved - whoever he was, he's certainly a cheeky boy! 

https://x.com/themblades1889/status/1999819955705880721?s=20

 

In some circumstances there is more to it than that.   Human material can be infectious to other humans in ways that animal material is not.

 

For want of a bucket (+ hot water, bleach and a sponge!) the train was lost!

 
Warminster Station forecourt: pm 13 Dec 2025

I've heard of buses running late - but this is ridiculous !

 
Yep, deep clean required!  No ability to do that at Westbury seems a bit mad?

 

We also have an "unknown cause" on the later trains.  Now up to ten out of 14 cancelled.

Public post on Great Western Enthusiasts on Facebook ... here are the comments.



My guess too that it needs a deep clean.  Must have been a sudden incident - nothing awry ad it left Melksham at 09:10

 
Certainly 2 round trips to Newquay cancelled as we speak.
Possibly more to come!

 
2. Bad Kleinen (east of Hamburg). Redoubling is definitely not relevant - the line is double, and the whole station has been flattened and rebuilt in the last ten years, still with all four platform tracks (which I think are all back in use).

 
So there's passengers taken ill, crew shortage, and now to complete the set....

14:19 Westbury to Swindon due 15:01
14:19 Westbury to Swindon due 15:01 will be cancelled.
This is due to a broken down train.

15:14 Swindon to Westbury due 15:58
15:14 Swindon to Westbury due 15:58 will be cancelled.
This is due to a broken down train.

 



Plotted out from JourneyCheck - ALL cancellations across the GWR area are mapped.  I have screen captured just the central area - there's also a round trip cancelled between Newquay and Par

When I woke this morning and checked train times, everything was shown as running. I was down there to hand out Melksham printed bus and train timetables to anyone who wanted them

There were 18 Melksham passengers using the 08:02 this morning and a further 20 or so gathered at the station at a couple of minutes after 10, when the 10:10 slipped back to 10:12 then was shown "Cancelled" but perversely still showing "Calling at Chippenham and Swindon".   The reason for the cancellation was only communicated when we enquired via the help point.  This is the log thread - I will write up a "what should we learn" thread - although much should have been learned already - when I've sorted out a few other things.

 
0:Shiplake Henley branch

 

118th place for Winchester.

 
Reflecting on the responses here, I'm wondering if anyone who uses the GWML London to Bristol services can recall instances of trains to and from London seeing major delays as a result of disruption that would have been mitigated by increasing the capability of the Thingley to Bradford junctions length of line.

Perhaps the impact is managed away from the London flows and on to people travelling Bristol to Westbury, and particularly to Melksham travellers - and also to freight trains from the various quarries (unlike human cargo, aggregate is notably indifferent to the ill effects of disruption, not so the clients).

Apologies for the lengthy way of asking if the rail industry's keeping tabs on the question: "How much per annum is the current infrastructure provision Thingley - Trowbridge costing the c21st railway?"

Mark

 

Ah - I wondered where it was!

This is still my printed "bible" ... and end of Feb works out OK for final planning of trips for next year.

 

Darn.  I should have got that one, from my days working with the Severnside Community Rail Partnership. 

 
5. Barnstaple?

 

Below-the-fold comments on the social media posts of politicians are often toxic. Stepping away from the exceptionalism that prompts people to think of the railway through Bath as though it's different from any other stretch of line, people seem to have settled into being ok with the fact that electrification of the UK's rail system has been increasingly  badly handled. In England, no rolling programme of electrication, something that lowers costs and builds/maintains skills. In the west country we've ended up saddled with the sub-optimal situation where we have expensive dual-fuel trains and electrification that doesn't extend to Oxford, Bristol or Swansea. We're building an entire new railway whose trains will run on diesel and without so much as putting in foundations for the electrification that it will need. This approach really curtails opportunities for the railway to excel in what it does. Diesel exhaust from railway trains is the smell of a legacy transport system, and it should really be fading fast by now.

How to pay for it? Day to day we already are, in terms of increased overheads, and not of the electrification variety.

Mark