West Wilts to Oxford - an impractical rail journey requirement?

[whole diary]

[willc]

 

the wrong Oxford-Reading trains stop at Didcot. 

Which 'wrong' trains would these be? The ones that don't stop are the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) fasts and XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)), which, in the case of South Coast services, are overcrowded much of the day.

And I think you might find that post-electrification, there's a bit more than 'tweaking' of the timetable. A complete recast more like, to take account of far superior acceleration.

[grahame]

I know Melksham has its own special issues, but Oxford's connectivity from the West is in general not great ...

You've basically got two sets of issues in one journey.   West Wilts to Didcot ... (Warminster, Westbury, Trowbridge as well as Melksham) and how the service fail to connect (miss by five minute at Chippenham or dogleg at Bath) to get to Didcot in the first place, then when you get to Didcot ...

I was speaking with a journalist at lunchtime "are you commuting from Wiltshire to Oxford by train" she asked.  "No - I've stayed over in a hotel to avoid 4 hours of travelling round trip ...."  just 60 miles from home

[grahame]

P.S.  ... of course, from December Goco are planning a direct Swindon to Oxford service; route now tweaked to run from Westbury not Yeovil, so somewhat more frequent, and this should improve West -> Oxford.   But with another open access operator just ceasing to carry passengers, it's probably not the most positive of weeks for those trying to set up other such operations.

[eightf48544]

It's funny West Wilts never seems to have been well served by either the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) or BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)).

I seem to recall reading in I think "Country Railways" that even when both the Calne and Malmesbury branches were open it could take around 2 hours to get between the two by train despite breing only around 15 miles by road.

Even being on the main line didn't give you a very good service particularly in later BR days hence all the small stations on the South Wales and Bristol Direct Line and the Main Line being shut. Leaving only Swindon and Chippenham open on the main lines.