Yonks ago, and not helpful for your walk, with a friend who was on an educational placement in the area, we were exploring on bikes rather than by train. About a couple of miles east of Chetnole and just south of the village of Leigh, we visited Miz Maze, of which there was not much trace even then and possibly rather less now - perhaps ground resistance measurements would reveal it - but the day was lovely and later on we saw a purple emperor butterly.

Mark

 

Having researched further, there is an easier route from Chetnole to Maiden Newton which I may tackle tomorrow (8th May) ... and which I can do at my own pace. And if I can't keep up with myself I know there will be should be another train 2 hours later.

 
Well it flippin should be for £425
https://saphostrains.com/journey/the-golden-arrow-07-05-2025/

"The day starts as you settle into your seat with a glass of chilled bucks’ fizz..." - before 7am...

 
Golden Arrow - diesel (47) from Bristol to West London (Hanwell)  then Brittania London to Canterbury. 

 
Also reported on the BBC at https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx2w2prj470o

 
Yes - there was an announcement that a charter service was due at 0653, and I wondered whether it might be worth leaving the waiting room if it was going to be steam powered. I didn't, and it wasn't - a diesel of some sort, obviously old and 'special', but not a Deltic. It stopped to pick up a lucky few - looked like they were in for a very nice breakfast

 

Oh blimey, we were there only last week!

 
And all complete - full answers

1 Starcross - PhilWakely
2 Weymouth - paul7575
3 Kidderminster - RobT
4 Yetminster - WSW Frome
5 Kingswear - johnneyw
6 Bodmin Parkway - The Tall Controller
7 Exmouth - lymptone_commuter
8 Bradford-on-Avon - Western Pathfinder
9 Bristol Temple Meads - Kempis
10 Bathampton Junction - Timmer
11 Bath Spa - Merthyr Imp
12 Worcester Foregate Street - ChrisB
13 Liskeard - TonyN
14 Bere Alston - eightonedee
15 Bristol Temple Meads - Red Squirrel
16 Taunton - JayMac
17 Chepstow (Bridge) - TonyN
18 Okehampton - stuving
19 Newquay - Chris from Nailsea
20 Totnes - AMLAG
21 Penryn - bradshaw
22 Westbury - RobT
23 Severn Beach - Oxonhutch
24 Cardiff Bay - bradshaw

 
Wednesday May 7

A points failure:

2E80 0700 Worcester Shrub Hill to Didcot was held at Shrub Hill (+34), arrived Oxford +31 and was cancelled thereafter.

Held at Shrub Hill (+16), arrived -1.

 
Some starter questions with 2025 comments ...

Who would use it?  Would it hurt other transport (abstract?)
Would the trains be busy enough to make it worthwhile?
What trains would call there? 
Would services be reliable and not impact reliability of expresses?
Will there be line, station and train capacity?
Where would the station be located?
How would people get to and from the station?
How would it fit with future developments in the area and services?

I would guestimate passenger numbers could reach those of the similar sized town of Bradford-on-Avon with a similar population, and with a similar frequency of service to where people really want to travel to.  That's a substantive traffic though not enough to justify such a frequent service as BoA has without other stations offering traffic too. So the case for adding local service is bolstered by proposals for Grove and for Corsham - also into the future there is comment about Gablecross, Christian Malford (for new community), Box and Saltford, also for expanded communities at Lacock and Holt.

Major flows
- to Swindon, but so local that it would abstract from the bus and / or people would still prefer the bus due to frequency and ability to get on and off closer to their starting and ending goal points
- to Bath and Bristol
- to major county towns of Wiltshire - Chippenham, Trowbridge, Salisbury
- to Oxford (and I note that Oxford University owns a lot of the land)
- any inbound flows?

Minimum initial service to attract people - half hourly, comprising
Hourly - Oxford to Bristol
Hourly - Swindon to beyond Westbury (Salisbury / Southampton or Yeovil / Weymouth)
As rail use continues to grow, there are extra service options that include but not exclusive to RWB

Electrification and robust timetabling is key.  Having trains that start under electric power will cut the journey time impact for each station and electrification along the entire routes described should be considered as well as at RWB.  Measures to add extra capacity to help run a robust service rather than one that's at the limit of what can be squeeze in, and can run it clockface, is encourgagre.  That includes loop platform at Chippenham, redouble or similar from Chippenham to Trowbridge, extra platform face at Westbury.

Where would the station be placed?  Ideas suggested have been on the Bath line to the West of the junction, and on the combined line on the eastern edge of the town. In railway operating terms, the latter has the advantage of being able to offer services to South Wales and perhaps a new Hullavington station in future mists, but the disadvantage that it would hit capacity and likely require loops.  To the east of the town would be a green field site suitable for a substantial station and where house are being built, to the west of the town it would be accessed from the main road on the outskirts of the town towards Lyneham, closer in but a rather more constrained site.

 

No obvious reason - it seems to have left Chippenham on time and then been stuck for 5 minutes at Thingley - however that was NOT waiting for something else to clear the single line.

Next train from Trowbridge was only a 19 minute wait ... next train from Chippenham when the unofficial connection fails is a 34 minute wait (it did connect this morning). Because it's official you can claim delay / repay for an 07:28 expected arrival to an 07:48 actual arrival into Bristol whereas you have no claim via Chippenham.  Only negatives about the Trowbridge change are the earlier start and the need to cross the footbridge which if you have heavy luggage or are in a wheelchair is not clever.

Looks like a special train went though Trowbridge while you were waiting?

 
The 06:32 service from Melksham to Southampton was uncharacteristically late this morning - departed at 06:38, which meant I just missed the (official) connection with the 06:46 Bristol service at Trowbridge. Don't know what caused the delay to the Melksham train - it left Chippenham on time, and was just described as 'running late'. Not a disaster though - caught the 07:05 Cardiff train.

First time there's been any sort of problem taking this route to Bristol for quite a few weeks. It's so much more reliable than the alternative via Chippenham, and is worth the very early start.

 
There was significant damage all the 25kV cables in the area of the fire.  This will take time to replace, joint and test the damaged sections of the cables, these cable joints are although based on COTS (commercial off the shelf) products, the 25kV are a special variant, HV cable joints are not a item your average electrical wholesaler hold.

The cable jointing is a specialist skill, there is not an acute shortage of jointers but there are only so many you can practically set to work in an area

 
A very good idea although I think that new train drivers will not be allowed to drive trains on their own till they have passed all the exams.

Not sure how long it takes to teach a driver to drive trains,but I presume the training course(including route knowledge)

 will last until the new drivers  are approaching their 19th Birthday?

  https://www.gov.uk/government/news/full-steam-ahead-young-people-take-the-drivers-seat-to-improve-train-services-and-unlock-jobs

Good luck to any young guns reading this forum in your quest to become a train driver,maybe the Grand Parents Parents and Guardians  on this forum
can advise any of their young guns of this new scheme

 
I do recall going to a meeting at RWB in the town in the mid 1990's?
Only thing I recall was that their were approx 100 local residents at the meeting

 

There were several posts here - and a few mentions elsewhere.

 
13. Liskeard

 
Royal Wootton Bassett ... a town with a population of 13,000 (2021 census) that lies in Wiltshire, though its nearest [large town / city].  It's on the main railway line from London to South Wales and to Bath and Bristol, actually at the junction of the two lines.  There was a station there but it closed in 1965 - in a period in which lots of intermediate stations as well as whole lines were being closed, leaving just express trains passing through.  History suggests that too many stations and lines closed, and there has been a modest program of re-openings since, and a far from modest program of services that have run throughout the "low period" being increased in frequency, so the extent that many parts of the network are creaking at the seams, especially because so many lines and stations have reduced tracks and platforms.

When this thread started in 2009, all trains through Royal Wootton Bassett were diesel powered, and with the exception of 5 services a day were long distance expresses.  A service of 2 more local trains each way per day - to Swindon and to Westbury - was unlikely to provide a service of much use - in the unlikely event of the outbound service being of use to get to work, a second unlikely co-incidence of time was needed later in the day to get home.  We suffered the same issue in Melksham - a town twice the size of Royal Wootton Bassett, and passenger numbers were appalling.  So there was, potentially, a demand but one that would not be met by simply building a station for the minimal local services.  The idea of stopping long distance expresses between cities with millions of residents at a town with one hundredth of that in population wasn't a flyer.

So come 2018, with the TransWilts service running every 2 hours or so, rather than twice a day, it was worth an updated list.  But the shorter a journey, the more frequent a service needs to be to make it attractive, and passenger number forecasts if they did miraculously well would flood the peak trains off Swindon for the first ten minutes of their journey, perhaps turning people away who wanted to go further.  So all sorts of issues there.   This is not a time to look back 7 years with a detailed analysis - things have moved on and a back-analysis would be interesting but only partly relevant.

So what has happened since 2018?

Some of the things
- Electrification through the site and service changes
- Bristol to Oxford
- Restore your railway / Corsham and Wantage Road
- Bristol Metro
- Need for TransWilts to go hourly (already gone 7 days including evening, but thin)
- Extra population
- Covid and other societal changes
- Environmental awareness and need for action
- Soaring complexity and costs

 

Good thought, but, no. I have been slow in following up here - busy day doing an IT consultancy day to do with historic data .... it's the museum at Kidderminster Town - RobT got in right earlier.

As did The Tall Controller for Bodmin Road Parkway and Chris from Nailsea for Newquay.

Just No. 13 left. 

 
Is no.3 Yeovil Town or Devizes? 

 
You are always 'in' with BRTA if you have cash in your pocket.

Great discussions of "money no object" schemes. Dream on.

 
I have just taken a phone call from one of the key organisers of BRTA concerning Saturday's meeting, in which I confirmed I am no longer a town councillor.   My caller came across as very disappointed when I told him that I had probably been the most public transport advocating councillor and that it was unlikely that I could persuade any of the new crew to go along to replace me.   There was no invite / question as to whether I would still like to attend.

I am probably far more forward looking (and informed) than the vast majority of elected representatives, and actually consider the likes of BRTA useful in terms of putting voice to future possibilities that are so far "left field" that they do not get more than a rolling of the eyes and smirk behind the scenes.    I have been there - an interview 20 years ago on BBC Radio 4 had the rail minister making fun of any attempt to bring a decent train service back to Melksham.  So I have a sympathy.  However, I am not about to boast past achievements and push forward to attend on Saturday; pragmatically I have too much else to do.

Should any elected (or not elected - there without a vote because you got in un-opposed) or local government team members wish to go on Saturday, please let me know and OI will introduce you.   And it *is* a public meeting so it stays in the diary and others who are "just" community supporters/advocates will, I'm sure, get an interested welcome.

 

Thanks

 
19.  Newquay.

 

I am certain that he did, Steve ... anyway let me add my welcome.

Steve - you are following up on a thread that could well benefit from an update. Much water has flowed under the bridge since then, and I'll come back and set a modernised scene in the next 24 hours. Just wanted to jump in and say "welcome".

 

Ah, yes, my mistake, I thought that all the wooden fence had been removed..... although I think that can't be far off now.

 
I think what ChrisB meant to say was 'Welcome to the forum, SteveBaconRWB'!

 

I'm sure that the whole timetable will be run to fit in with the TransWilts afternoon Peak!

 
Thank you - I have booked.

 
People are being invited to try a short stretch of VLR in Coventry from late May in order to provide feedback about the experience.
There's more detail in this BBC article.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c5ygn69p943o.amp


Admins, if you can find a suitable existing thread for this feel welcome to move it.