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The 1630 Padd to Taunton was diverted this evening from Chippenham, running non stop to Taunton because of a fatality south of Weston.  As a result, a few hundred pax for Bath, Bristol and North Somerset were kicked off, and the train ran empty.

If it had carried on, it could have run as far as W-S-M and the vast majority of its pax would have been spared any inconvenience.  It could even have run as far as Temple Meads and then run via Westbury to Taunton, with a non stop journey that way not much slower than the usual stopping route.

After Taunton the service runs ecs to Laira, so there isn't even a return working that the service was being positioned for.

Please can someone explain why this was better than running it normal route as far as Weston? 

I'd guess that at the time the decision was made there were capacity constraints at Bristol TM and onward to WSM.

Driver would have been out of hours @ WSM? (Assuming a driver change on usual route)

I don't know the logic behind the decision - some good suggestions given already.  I also question route knowledge via Freshford if the train is driven by Exeter or Plymouth crew, and whether (if the train had terminated in the Bristol / Weston area) whether there would have been enough capacity at St Philip's Marsh and a driver to get it down to Devon in the morning.

I also suspect "you would be lucky" with regards a non-stop journey to Taunton via Westbury. Departures from Bristol at 18:04 to Westbury and 18:22 to Portsmouth Harbour and at 18:30 to Paddington and 18:44 to Penzance (diverted via Westbury - late as it happened, and lost 43 more minutes on its non-stop schedule), and 18:52 to Westbury could all get in the way - as could conflicting movements at Bathampton, in the Westbury area, at Castle Cary, and at other more minor junction along the way.

But no simple right answer here.   As it was, the diverted train failed to serve much of its customer base at intermediate stations. It caused a 15 minute delay on the 17:36 Swindon to Westbury and an 8 minute knock-on delay to the 18:32 Westbury to Swindon (such is accepted life on the TransWilts, though!) ... but no knock-ons into this mornings peak;  a case of damage limitation which is probably suggested by the contingency rule book / guidelines.

I was one of the passengers on this service, heading for Bath. As nobody at Chippenham station seemed to be able to say whether the next services would also be delayed, I and a few others caught the regular bus service that stops outside Chippenham station. It seems to go an awful long way round to get out of Chippenham!

Hmm.  Cue grahame.  ;) :D ;D

Well I'm not grahame, but the station staff I saw were definitely telling people that the next service would be in 30 minutes and would be running normally. (It had no reason not to, as only going as far as Bristol, so wouldn't have been caught up in a problem near Weston.)

Thanks, John.  ;)

I was only suggesting that grahame could possibly offer some background information as to why that particular bus route out of Chippenham is apparently so convoluted.  ::)

Aren't all bus routes? I cant think of a bus route direct between two towns without it going via most villages en-route.

Oh - I had wondered where I came in.

There's a perfectly good train service (usually  ;D ) between Chippenham and Bath, so the bus operator concentrates his service on intermediate traffic and the residential areas of Chippenham and Corsham, then Rudloe ... over the top to Box and more wiggly stuff to pick up through Batheaston and around Bath.

In Chippenham, some chump has put the station on the UK's longest cul-de-sac behind the town centre so buses from the station have to go through the town before they can set off for the 'burbs and the 'sham.  Then in Bath, some other chumps have put a thumping great pedestrian section in that means that buses have to do a bit of a wiggle there too.

All of which means that waiting for the train 30 minutes later is still much quicker that catching the bus that's just about to leave!

There you are, then: I merely wanted to give grahame an opportunity to get that little rant off his chest.  :P ;) :D ;D

It was a bit chaotic when we all first got out, and I couldn't get any definite info to begin with, so went out to see if a bus was due, and one was. With the diverted train having been pretty full, some of us thought it possible we wouldn't be able to get on the next one anyway as it would presumably also be busy when it arrived and might not enough room.

I've used the bus a few times previously and it has always taken a fairly contorted route around Corsham and Rudloe, but the route in Chippenham has I think changed to take in more estates. I think it took 25 minutes before we escaped the confines of the town, and that was without any hold ups.

That chump would be Isambard Kingdom Brunel.  ;)

I knew he had something to do with the Swindon Village ... wasn't aware he's drawn up plans for Monkton Park too  ;D

The route the X31 takes:

Indeed.   On timing:

x31 - Chippenham Bus Station to Corsham (most central stop) - up to 31 minutes

10 - Chippenham Bus Station to Corsham (most central stop) - 13 minutes

The 10, though, runs just 4 times a day each way (Monday to Friday only) and doesn't serve Chippenham Railway Station.