Great Western Coffee Shop

http://www.itv.com/news/west/update/2015-07-18/report-work-begins-near-bath-on-50m-rail-project/

Well actually I was at the Go-op Cooperative AGM in Chippenham as a guest speaker, but that's a story for another thread.    I took the opportunity to take the 11:17 Chippenham to Bath Spa train (route, Melksham and Bradford-on Avon) and the 12:43 return journey too in order to get a feel for the first day of diversions, understand how they're working ... and get some passenger counts not to include in TransWilts stats, but to give an idea of passer numbers passing along the Thingley Junction - Bradford Junction single line.

The 11:17 left Chippenham at 11:21, reversed north of Trowbridge from 11:40 to 11:47 and arrived at Bath Spa at 12:02.
Coach A - 74 passengers. B - 95 passengers. C - 89 passengers. D - 140 passengers.  And at that point I couldn't get through any further it was that rammed.  My estimate would be E - 140 (look like it),  K - 140; L - 15 and M - 20.    So somewhere between 800 and 900 passengers.   Major time take to unload / load at Bath - stood for 5 minutes and made it later.

The 12:43 Bath Spa to Chippenham left at 12:47, reversed from 13:02 to 13:10 and arrived into Chippenham at 13:26.
Coach A - 10; coach B - 20; coach C - 20; coach D - 39; coach E - 18; another coach B (!) - 2; 0 in the buffet / half first, and 5 in first class.  Note for pedants - first class counted on standard ticket with prior permission of train manager.  Total (just) 124 passengers.

As a first guess, those were probably two extreme cases.  A lot of very angry people on the busy train - trying out bus Calne to Chippenham and the train to Bath for a day's shopping, and squeezed in.   Also a chap from Chippenham to Bristol who thought it wasn't good enough and he should have driven.   Turned out he's visiting the Chippenham area and took 6 hour to drive there yesterday rather than his usual 4 because of road congestion, etc ... but that somehow didn't worry him where the train delays got him REALLY upset!

Interestingly I was on the first train westbound to take the diversion yesterday.

Clearly it paid to travel early. I confess I didn't do a count but I was in coach E and there were barely a dozen scattered through the coach and most were asleep. There were little more than 10 waiting at Swindon to board.

The Train Manager did a good job of warning of the reversal at Bradford North in layman's terms and reassured people not to be alarmed.

All went smoothly except for a four minute delay at Bath Spa when it was discovered the TM's buzzer didn't sound in what was now the leading cab.

I can quite imagine the alarm felt by someone suddenly waking up to find their train is going 'backwards' from when they fell asleep, and looking out of the window, only to see a trackside sign suggesting they were now somewhere North of Bradford ...  :o ::) ;D

About 10 years ago I was on the Cornish sleeper on one of the occasions when it ran via Yeovil.

A lady woke up and realised she was travelling in the reverse direction to when she had fallen asleep.  Upon seeing Ealing Broadway through her berth window she surmised we had gone to London and were now going west again and promptly pulled the passenger alarm.

Purely out of idle curiosity on my part ... how did you find yourself apparently sharing a sleeper compartment with a lady ... ?  :P

CfN, you are being deliberately mischievous.  ;D

It was the talk of the lounge car.

Well, it would have been!  ;) :D ;D

From this morning - observed a London-bound and a Bristol-bound HST passing through Melksham

Ex Bristol - 07:30 from Bristol - loaded approx 50% or perhaps a it more. So guess of 250 to 300 passengers.

Ex London - 07:00 from Paddington - load approx 75%, so guess of 400 to 420 passengers.

I have tried to under-guess ... very hard to get anything more than a very rough idea and I don't want to shout numbers that are over the top.

Does anyone have observations from the Bristol-London services on a normal day with which to compare the numbers Grahame is reporting on the diverted services?