This has always surprised me - even with previous closures south of Exeter - why FGW insist on starting replacement buses at Exeter and put up with the city centre traffic rather than starting the buses at Tivvy Parkway which is so convenient for the motorway that coaches can make rapid progress to places such as Newton Abbot and Plymouth. I can imagine that coaches leaving St Davids at 5pm Mon-Fri could take as long as 30 minutes just to get to the motorway.

Sure, terminate the train at Exeter, but make the bus connections at Tivvy Parkway.

FGW^▸ (First Great Western) is now reporting....
Due to flooding near Taunton a two hourly service will operate between Exeter St Davids and London Paddington, diverted via Honiton and calling additionally at Pewsey.

And just to add insult to injury to the SWT^▸ (South West Trains) route (although not directly affecting FGW) is that a fallen tree is blocking the line at Sherborne! Plus, of course, the landslip at Crewkerne will require 5mph running

Returning to the Exeter to Paddington services..... I notice the 'can they/can't they run services over the SR^‡(resolve) line' question appears to have been resolved and that FGW^▸ (First Great Western) services will now run again all the way from Exeter to Paddington, but still over the SR route despite Whiteball being available again, using the same timetable as per the last three weeks.

quote from SWT^▸ (South West Trains) website....
Monday 10 February
First Great Western services are currently diverted via our route between Yeovil Junction and Exeter St Davids. We have been advised that this will continue on Monday 10 February 2014.
To allow this to occur we will be operating an amended timetable......

Sounds laughable, but given the current circumstances, which would you prefer if you were travelling from Exeter to London...... bus to Yeovil Junction/Castle Cary or straight up the motorway to Bristol? Probably slightly quicker on the motorway. I just feel sorry for people travelling to Westbury/Newbury/Salisbury/Basingstoke/Southampton from places south of Newton Abbot!

Just to add to the existing challenges, there has been a landslip near Crewkerne, so that route is now blocked!

Hopefully, this is nothing more than a hypothetical question, but... assuming that the flooding of the railway on the Somerset levels between Castle Cary and Taunton is still bad enough to close the line on Monday, would the Paddington to Exeter services still be routed over the SR^‡(resolve) or will it be train to Cary, bus to Taunton then train to Exeter given that the Whiteball route will be available again?

I agree entirely, but historically the South West has been treated almost with disdain by successive governments. You'd almost believe that nothing exists west of a line drawn between Southampton and Bristol! Each time proposals to improve the A303 road have been put forward, they have effectively been brushed under the carpet; the rail electrification proposals clearly ignore the South West; the Economic Assessment produced for HS2^▸ (The next High Speed line(s)) clearly showed parts of the South West having a negative outlook; and proposals for doubling even short stretches of the SR^‡(resolve) route are given the cold shoulder. 

I fear that it'll be nothing more than 'a few million' for political expediency to be seen to be doing something. but nowhere near enough to do anything other than repair the damage.

Far easier to reinstate the Okehampton to Bere Alston link and make it usable at reasonably high speeds. The old Teign Valley route has been virtually obliterated and was only single track suitable for 14xx with Auto coaches.

As I said on the Whiteball Tunnel thread...
What with Whiteball and Dawlish at the moment, I can almost hear the computerised station announcer at Plymouth saying "the train now standing at platform 3 is the 10:30 to London Waterloo, calling at Tavistock, Okehampton, Exeter Central, Yeovil Junction, Salisbury and London Waterloo"..... if only!

What with Whiteball and Dawlish at the moment, I can almost hear the computerised station announcer at Plymouth saying "the train now standing at platform 3 is the 10:30 to London Waterloo, calling at Tavistock, Okehampton, Exeter Central, Yeovil Junction, Salisbury and London Waterloo"..... if only!

A reasonable assumption. In fact, from what I can remember of the last lot of scheduled weekend diversions at the beginning of 2012, they were originally advertised as 'not stopping', but by the third weekend, the stops were appearing on the revised local timetable.

Many thanks for that link. Most useful. Last time the diversion was used extensively (every weekend during Feb/Mar 2012 I think), all trains were officially booked to stop at Honiton, Axminster and Yeovil Junction. I notice that is not the case this time, but the working timetable identified above shows a 15 minute stop at Honiton, which can only be at the platform, so why is it not properly advertised as a stop?

There is much talk on here of the 100+ revised timetable tome issued by FGW^▸ (First Great Western), but can anybody point me in the right direction for a [non-public] Working Timetable for the through trains between Paddington and the Westcountry via Yeovil Junction please?