Is that services like the 07:17, 07:36, 08:18 and 09:21 which are probably the ones you travel on, or does it extend to services such as the 06:59, 08:00 and 09:02?   How about services later in the day such as the 12:15, the 13:40, the 19:46 and the 20:43.   I suspect that "Full at Warwick Parkway" applies to the first group - which run express from around Banbury to Marylebone, and doesn't apply to the second group which stop at Bicester and arrive into Marylebone just a minute ahead of the first group.  As for the third group ... are they really that full?   As an educated guess, I would be surprised if more that 15% of services southbound from Warvick Parkway with destination Marylebone are "packed and there is no room to squeeze more on", and those are likely to be the ones that don't stop further south anyway.  Sources / counts / specific data please 

For example

http://www.shropshirestar.com/news/2013/08/01/historic-wem-signal-box-will-be-demolished/

A station at the point where the East-West line crosses the London-Birmingham line?  How sharp is the Oxford - London curve?  Could a platform be built on that curve to be in effect a triangular station like Shipley?

All you need to do then is move Bicester Village Outlet centre a mile to the new station (I've look at that on the map / just an estimate of the distance!)

Melksham Railway Development Group is funding the insertion of "Trains from Melksham" trifold brochure in the next issue of the Melksham Independent News, which is the free newspaper delivered to each household in the town. These brochures have been supplied to us (free of charge, Thank You) by First Great Western.  They include a complete current timetable for Melksham station, including connections to and from London, Bath and Bristol, and various day out opportunities which are available on Bank Holiday Monday, and every Saturday thereafter.

The TransWilts is about very much more than just Melksham. But this particular marketing piece is very much Melksham specific, and fills a significant gap in available information.

Ah - I wondered where that picture had gone 

I have split upcoming meetings off into a separate thread, at

http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=12746.0

Very encouraging indeed ... there are indications that the various elements needed to run a successful service (in addition to the timetable slots) have indeed been taken properly into account.  There's some joined up thinking going on. I'm very positive indeed, but just not counting chickens for fear of breaking eggs by doing that counting.  I considered moving this thread to "The Rumour Mill", but that wouldn't be appropriate with the multiple independent sources pointing in a similar direction.

A true celebration would be at 10:46 on Sunday, 8th December, as the first train on the enhanced service draws in.   Before that, we have the busiest of Autumns in getting ready at / via the CRP^▸ (Community Rail Partnership) and I'm really looking forward to it. We're working closely with technical experts at the council and the TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company).

Not entirely unexpected, Paul.  There has been a lot of activity in recent months - big-time cooperation between various parties with a view to something like this.  You'll note CRP^▸ (Community Rail Partnership) activity building up, for example.  I'm remaining quietly optimistic as various clues emerge, but at the same time I'm remaining cautious as I'm aware that remembering that planned things can and have changed with as little as two weeks notice in the past.

It's no longer a question of if a more frequent service of trains on the TransWilts line should be provided - it's now when and how, and how to ensure when that service is running that it's done properly, and integrates with the community of users, businesses, residents, tourists and other transport systemsso that the very best use is made of it.

The TransWilts Community Rail Partnership has been running as an informal grouping for several years now ... we have held back from formalising under a constitution while so much has been up in the air.  However, with things moving forward, we're working every closer between the rail industrty, local government and the community and a statement of what we are, how we're formed, and how we operate is necessary for the future.

A draft constitution has been drawn up, by the community, based on other Community Rail Partnership experience.   It's been amended in the light of constructive suggestions both from First Great Western and from Wiltshire Council.  And it's going to be formally adopted at a special general meeting on Saturday 31st August from 10 a.m. (introduction / update) or 11 a.m. (formal adoption of constitution)

We welcome signups from organisations (please take this to organisations you are a member of) and individuals (as "supporters") ... please take a look through the information that's on the web site http://atrebatia.info , the draft constition at http://atrebatia.info/TWCRP_Constitution_095.pdf  and please add your support at http://atrebatia.info/joinus.html

Thank you!


P.S. ... here's the base form letter that will be circulated over the next few days ... it's a little different to the text above in that it defines / states the case in a way that's intended for people / organisations who are much more train users rather than being as much in the picture as readers of this forum typically are ...

As you may imagine, I keep a fairly close eye on various copyright issues including photographs, current event text, text about things other than current events.   And I also note the differences where things are merely quoted, quoted and acknowledged, quoted to allow others to review and comment on them, and quoted for the person quoting to review and comment.  I do ... prefer ... shorter quotes rather than longer ones to be pasted in, but in many ways you can't win on this one;  a shorter quote can lead to suggestions of selective editing to make a point not intended by the original article - something that occurred as recently as yesterday on another thread on this forum.

It's not only about strict copyright law, though.  There are times that articles (and even pictures) are acceptable without being our copyright, and without individual permission in each case.  The ones that particularly come to mind are the British Transport Police (BTP^▸ (British Transport Police)) reports, where the whole purpose of sending the pictures around is to get them out as widely as possible.

A lot of this, ultimately, would fall on my shoulders if something went wrong and I didn't act on that in a reasonable time. And if you look back over the years this board has been running, you'll find some occasions where I have asked posters to pull material, or (on very rare occasions) pulled material myself.  The admin and moderator team tends to err on the side of safety here - if we're unsure I would rather material was removed, and therefore any such removals cannot be seeing as an admission that anything was actually out of order.   There was a classic example of that a few months back, when we were asked to pull a newspaper quotation about parking disputes and how the council handled the complainant  in Bedwyn from public view.   There was nothing wrong with the original post at all, but parish council proceedings are a long way away from our main purpose, and sometimes it's better to simply give way without admission in the interests of harmony, and to save an awful lot of hassle.

I am - very - interested in the "photography on stations" issues, and of the request for enthusiasts to sign in.  I remember looking at a picture taken within recent years of a steam engined train leaving King's Cross, platforms awash with photographers, and wondering how long they had all queued to speak to the Network Rail reception desk. Some of it's about what the law specifies.  And some of it's about applying it sensibly.

I'm not sure either ... but "brrrring brrrring brrrring brrrring" seems a bit too persistent to be "hey I'm here" and is rather more "get out my ****** way you *****" to me  .    Quite happy with the "brrrring" brigade

Bit of a double-edged sword, though ... it means that you're not permitted to catch an earlier train out of Paddington if you happen to arrive in KX on time and then get an excellent connection to Paddington.

Are the 08:12, 08:27, 08:38, 08:47, and 08:55 from Paddington made up of 2 units?   And do they need to be two units west of Maidenhead as they have become contraflow trains?  It might ... even ... be that the right stock is in the right place at the right time, and the paying access charges back into Paddington is an attractive alternative to paying access charges out to Reading. Now to sort out crew, paths, and complaints from the good people of Twyford that they've still only got slow trains, and from people on the faster trains that they're paying a lot more money per minute!

But on the other hand, extra stops can be inserted and if the train starts on time it will arrive on time. A Penzance to Plymouth service the other day made extra stops at St Germans, Keyham, Dockyard and Devonport ... and was still forecast to be on time into Plymouth.

We are still in the early days of documenting and forecasting delays in these systems ... the human mind is still much more likely to come up with a sensible forecast that the computers.

I think I've read somewhere that the 2 hours is a safe figure to quote right across the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) because there is / was eventually just one TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) who's machines weren't online and just got updated every couple of hours.     For the rest - it was much more like electronic speed.

I've been denied tickets for tomorrow after 9 p.m. at the Paddington manned ticket desk (they've got special permission to not sell the full range), denied the ability to buy from a machine directly (as I wanted a split), so sat on a seat, ordered online and collected 10 minutes later.   Where there's a will, there's a way!

Does anyone know if one TOC is still doing batch updates?   And if so, which one?