Great Western Coffee Shop

GWR, Visit Somerset and Buses of Somerset invite you to a special charity event to celebrate the life and work of Bob Smart, the former chairman of Visit Somerset who sadly passed away last year. Bob was the driving force in helping visitors and residents to explore the wonders of Somerset by highlighting tourism, heritage and realising projects to increase Somerset’s profile. We at GWR will always be thankful for the strong relationship Bob built with us at GWR and the work he did.

On Saturday 13 May 2017 "The Somerset Explorer" will offer three separate options for the traveller, ranging from a fun filled land cruise across Somerset to a classic train journey from London Paddington to Minehead via Frome. The special service will be formed by a pair of 1976 HST Powercars hauling our classic MK3 carriages and will run via Frome on the outward journey before returning to London Paddington via Weston Super Mare.

Whilst On-board there will opportunities to explore the wonders of Somerset and you will be able to purchase souvenirs of the day and the Great Western buffet car will be open selling a full range of items.

All profits from the day will be donated to the Weston Hospice. On the return journey, there will be a presentation at Weston-super-Mare prior to departure.

The special service will be formed by a pair of 1976 HST Powercars hauling our classic MK3 carriages

What's interesting if you read the details is the reference to a connecting service at 0836 from Swindon via Trowbridge.  Is Grahame's long held wish to get the 0849 brought forward about to come true?

Found a discount code on Spotted:Didcot LTM6.50 which seems legit.

That's a shame after all it's a fund raising trip !. ???

Whilst there are over 100 tickets left for the whole journey, the part fares from Frome are showing only 5 available.

Edit - Now only 4. I've just bought one

Now showing more tickets from Frome, 30 plus 14 for groups of 4 or more

A bit late in posting due to work commitments but a little something exclusive for those joining us on the 13th May. A chance to meet the man himself on-board The Somerset Explorer.

Sir Kenneth will be on the train from Paddington to Taunton and will be walking through the train giving autographs for a charitable donation.

It goes without saying a huge thank you to The 125 Group for their hard work in helping us with this event.

Sir Kenneth who ? Probably not Williams or Horne who deserved to be knighted. Or even (playing devil's advocate here) someone who might be full of plumptiousness and ensure everyone has a tattifilarious time  ;D

Grange's career has spanned more than half a century, and many of his designs became – and are still – familiar items in the household or on the street

[snip]

He was also responsible for the aerodynamics, interior layout and exterior styling of the nose cone of British Rail's High Speed Train

The requested formation is 43002+LA15(or LA16)+43185 - which for the uninitiated amongst us is essentially the two 'retro liveried' power cars sandwiching one of the green sets, but this is of course subject to availability (remembering the Tarka Explorer last year which ended up with a 'normal' FGW blue set instead of the original green set as requested).

Will we know whether the requested formation is available before the day arrives?

As I read it, there's a probability that the set will be provided as requested.   However, I suspect that if the set has to be deployed elsewhere at the last minute to stand in for another train in trouble, GWR will make that switch. It would be very hard for them to cancel (say) the 19:03 Paddington to Penzance on the Friday evening because the 15:29 from Swansea has sat down at Cardiff, whilst holding back the special formation at OOC ... I suspect that the regular passengers on the 19:03 would get the set, leaving it in Penzance overnight, and the Minehead would be run by the 15:29, fixed and polished and with whatever set should have gone to Penzance.

Due to gauging issues at Watchet the HST is now terminating at Bishops Lydeard. Onward travel to Minehead will be behind D1010 'Western Campaigner' and a rake of the West Somerset Railway's Mk 1s.

Due to operational reasons, we can no longer run our HST all the way to Minehead on Saturday 13th May as originally planned. This has resulted in a change to some of the planned itinerary for your journey with our special charter on the 13th May. Whilst we appreciate the alteration to the original journey planned for Minehead, we believe the new offering will still deliver a unique experience on the 13th May for all involved.
 
Revised Itinerary:
·         HST to operate as booked to Bishops Lydeard where it will terminate 1144.
·         HST forms 1Z25 1210 service to Taunton, arr 1235. Dep 1430 as 1Z26 to Bishops Lydeard.
·         At Bishops Lydeard, Hydraulic Diesel locomotive, D1010 – Western Campaigner will work a replacement service – “Somerset Campaigner” to Watchet and Minehead departing 1200.
·         D1010 arrives into Minehead 1306. The “Somerset Campaigner” depart Minehead 1430, the service will then arrive back into Bishops Lydeard at 1537 to connect into the HST.
·         HST to operate as booked from Bishops Lydeard back towards London at 1555.
·         Tickets will be VALID on either the HST to/from Taunton or D1010 to/from Minehead.

Seating allocation adjusted ... and we are now marketing the opportunity a bit.

For London / Reading passengers... there's also an opportunity to travel on the train from London to Frome (10:33), from where Buses of Somerset are arranging a mystery tour prior to rejoining the train at Weston-super-mare for a 17:00 departure.      I highly commend this option - there's places to see and you'll not be in the coach all the time. I'm privy to where it's going and it looks to me as if certain places along the way are being very generous in what they provide.

If the generous options include a Welho cream tea at a certain establishment in Melksham, I would recommend it very highly indeed ..and not just on a special occasion. Just be warned the proprietor might just try to sign you up to become a TransWilts member ...whatever that is  ;D

Due to gauging issues at Watchet the HST is now terminating at Bishops Lydeard. Onward travel to Minehead will be behind D1010 'Western Campaigner' and a rake of the West Somerset Railway's Mk 1s.

An insider (GWR employee)  told me on Tuesday that gwr were unhappy with the condition of track, and had told WSR they'd only run beyond Williton if the track was replaced for the full route.
The gauging excuse doesn't sit with me as they've been several times before

An insider (GWR employee)  told me on Tuesday that gwr were unhappy with the condition of track, and had told WSR they'd only run beyond Williton if the track was replaced for the full route.
The gauging excuse doesn't sit with me as they've been several times before

The suggestion is that D1661 North Star will now be the loco. However reports now state that D1010 is now fixed so that we shall have to wait and see what shows up on the day. The Hymek is also available.

I'm not complaining about the change, provided that the WSR train has ample coaches.  However the return time seems to conflict with a schedule service steam train.  I have emailed them to try and obtain the revised timetable.  Any further information welcomed.

as I'm firing the afternoon train from Minehead that leaves after D1010 at 1455.

A real shame the HST can't make it through to Minehead tomorrow. Sadly I won't get to see it at BL as I'm firing the afternoon train from Minehead that leaves after D1010 at 1455. Hope everyone has a good day!

I saw the green set with Sir Kenneth on the London end go through Twyford earlier today - I hoped they were going to have the IC Swallow power car on the set as well?

08:36 London Paddington to Bishops Lydeard Ws Rwy due 11:40

An additional train service has been planned to operate as shown 08:36 London Paddington to Bishops Lydeard Ws Rwy due 11:40.

Did someone forget to apply the brakes?

Been a while since the Fastnet Rock has featured.  ;D

No sign of BNM but he may have been lost in the crowds.

It has indeed.  For new members who haven't come across the Fastnet Rock service, it's where trains that are headed to destinations not in my little database go or start from.  They're train service I'm trying to elimate, so when I see one pop up I add a record to the database.  However, if I'm not around it may take a while for me to get to.

Good evening all,

Just to summarise the events of Saturday which in my eyes proved to be a success given the challenges in the planning most of the activities on the day went to plan. Even with an extended stay at Taunton and a minor fault on the way back to Weston everybody on the train had a smile on their face at one point or another.

The main aim for the day was to create something special in memory of Bob Smart former Visit Somerset chairman, with his relatives on the train too we pulled out all the stops and by all accounts they had a great day and his sister asked if she could be invited to the next outing!

Alongside this, the aim was to break even with operating costs and raise a profit to which the revenue would be donated for Weston Hospicecare.

At a first glance the revenue raised from pre booked tickets standing at £8,682! Minus the fees the total is £8,137.56. On the day we had 193 people on the train and there is an outstanding amount to be added that makes the total raised from ticket sales alone £10,537.56.

In conjunction with this we had a merchandise trolley with the use of my personal decommissioned catering trolley which was packed to the rafters. At a first count we raised £1,820.02 on the day. The 125 group were also loaned a 1st Class Trolley and they raised £252 for Weston Hospicecare which is already with the charity.

We also had prizes donated on the day by attendees which was amazing and the positive feedback was overwhelming. Along with the requests to do something similar again.

The land cruise option proved a big hit although lessons learnt from the maiden voyage that it was a lot to do in one day but very positive comments about our extended First Group family and how professional our colleagues were. This is something that we are ooking to schedule on a regular basis and provide a packaged day out for all using exsisting GWR train services to Somerset.

There was also involvement from the Trans Wilts partnership. They in turn provided great promotional items across social media and the relevant forums which really helped spread the word and fill those seats.

I must thank everyone for their feedback. From a personal point of view I would love to do something similar again but with the massive change in rolloing stock, at this moment in time we cannot put anything in stone. Although with hthe changes comes more oppertunities and we will do what we can within our power to create another explorer.

If anyone did take a picture at Taunton, please feel free to send it to me as I would like to get some copies made and distribute to each attendee via email and use it for our business case for future charters.

Once we have a final figure we will of course make a further statement to inform you all. Once again a massive thanks to everyone involved and hope you enjoyed partaking in the this special day. Look out for possible charters later in the year....

Best wishes Guy,

Guy Watts | Fares Implementation Manager - Major Projects | Great Western Railway |4th Floor | Milford House | Milford Street | Swindon |SN1 1HL

... change in rolloing stock, at this moment in time we cannot put anything in stone. Although with hthe changes comes more oppertunities and...