Great Western Coffee Shop

After moving to two coach trains on the TransWilts at the beginning of January with Class 150 trains, today saw another increase in capacity with three car turbos now running the majority of services throughout the day.

The 05:17 from Gloucester to Westbury via Swindon was duly a class 166 today.

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Due to clearance issues south of Westbury the previous through service to Southampton Central has been split at Westbury (as has the return service in the evening).

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The hired in class 158 from SWR now seems to used for the second leg of the journey.

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The extra train at Westbury does make for a congested station if anything runs slightly late.  As well as the two trains above, there is also an HST for London Paddington and a departure to Weymouth all around 07:00.

The short platform at Melksham, and indeed at Stonehouse on the Golden Valley line, means modified door release methods at both locations.  As the turbos do not yet have selective door opening only one door on the rear coach can be used, and that is released by the guard using the outside switch - while lineside signs tell the driver to sit on his or her hands.

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It does lead to slightly longer dwell times as everyone enters and exits via one door (as has happened with the 158s in the past) but with the better performance and higher top speed on the mainline any delays are minimised with the timetable still based on a 75mph top speed.

The three car trains are in fact only temporary.  The service is likely to revert to two cars later in the year as more of the cascaded trains go through their upgrades.

Let's see if my story matches Bob's  ;D

Today - 5th February 2018 - is the first day of "Turbo" train on the TransWilts line through Melksham.  It's wonderful to see a line that was basically moribund five years back go through a rebirth trial with some only single carriage trains and now that's proven to have worked to have been switched to longer and someehat more modern rolling stock.

I was out early this morning to see te first turbos come through in passenger service - and indeed to grab a ride on the trains.

But this is but step on the road (or should I say a step on the rail?). Passenger journeys are up from 18,000 per annum to around 250,000 ... with analysis showing that we've only just started to penetrate the passenger market.  The current financial year will have flat figures - that's because there's not been room on the trains for any more passengers - but in coming years the figure should continue to rise if the capacity is provided, and trains run when and where they're wanted.

A trial service was - naturally - added on as a separate operational element when it came for 2014.  Trains arrived in the southern terminus of Westbury often just after wht would have been a useful ongoing connection had left.  Trains waited at Thingley, and at Bradford, for expresses to get the road ahead of them.   Trains leave for their journey on the TransWIlts to clear a platform for another train which has the potential of bringing us more passengers. 

The next step in the road is to join things up.  Join those trains at Westbury to the ones going further south. Umtil today, the 06:10 from Swindon already carried on today, and the real angst and upset caused to through passengers this morning confirms how important it is.  That will help platform capacity, and help us grow numbers further, but cost nothing (may even same money) - but would have been a risk that "they" weren't prepared to take while it was still a trial.   You don't glue things together if you feel there's a chance you may need to separate them again!

Numbers this morning -
06:36 at Melksham -2 +7 -> 22. 24/9
07:19 at Melksham 58 -4 +30. 88/34
07:49 at Melksham -12 +28 -> 83. 95/40
09:15 at Melksham 22 -2 +7. 29/9

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Sadly a regular occurrence, especially on a sunny Sunday!

Is it possible the through service is only split temporarily until they sort out some gauging problems further down the line, possibly at Salisbury and/or Southampton Central?

Paul

I believe so.  I don't have any real feel for how many are affected by the temporary change.  There were two sitting adjacent to me, one who was aware of the alteration and one, after he had got his laptop out at Trowbridge and powered it up, who was not.

There have also been concerns about the connection being missed.  It is just over an hour until the next train to Salisbury and Southampton.

Watch out though as not all 16xs are fitted with a local door, if one turns up without, short platformed stations will be skipped.

For some reason the short stations on the TransWilts Turbofied routes have become rear local door only, whilst the GWR standard is front local door only [whilst ATW is middle and Northern rear] this what door malarkey is confusing.

I assumed rear door was chosen as it is operated by the guard who is in the back cab and has less distance to walk to operate the butterfly switch on the outside.  On a 150 they can open one door on an internal panel.

There is a specific mode of operation in use at short platforms where the guard / conductor leaves his rear can through the staff door and opens a single passenger door using the butterfly - so this enables short but not tiny platforms to be served.  Only 3 16x units have the local door mod so far, due to a shortage of parts.   Dilton Marsh is at present an tiny platform - though due to be extended to a short one, and until that is done the 16x units cannot call there.   That is why the 06:10 from Swindon is temporarily terminating at Westbury another service (this morning formed of the SWT day hire unit) carrying on to Southampton.

Is there no "calling on" at Westbury for Class 16x to Class 15x?

Would it not make operational sense to have the terminating train stop in rear of the ongoing service to Southampton? One platform used instead of two, which allows a bit more freedom of movement for signallers at what is a busy 10 minutes with 5 passenger trains to get in and out of 3 platforms. Beneficial for through passengers too if one platform can be used for the split service.

Or reopen the fourth platform.  ;)

Permissive working is permitted on all three platforms at Westbury. Seeing as the stock for the 07:01 to Southampton comes empty from Salisbury (SWR 158) and the unit for the 07:04 to Cheltenham arrives from Gloucester, this is definitely a possibility to free up a platform.

The swap between trains in the morning appears to be to accommodate the hired in SWR 158, which now has a different diagram. The evening swap is a little curious, as one 166 unit is swapped for another one. 166210 being the first unit to run beyond Salisbury in passenger service today. Will run as a class 9 headcode both ways as they are currently prohibited from platform 2 at Southampton Central.

I travelled again on the 06:36 off Melksham today ... this time on my way to Southampton.

At Melksham, 3 off and 10 on - train left with 18.  21/13
From Trowbridge to Westbury there were 22 passengers

At least 14 passengers changed  (via the Subway) from platform 3 to platform 1 at Westbury and waited there on the cold platform while the Weymouth train left and then the SWT unit came in to form the 07:01.   One of the regulars told me "much quieter than normal" - which I have no reason to doubt; with 40% traffic loss (which is the figure for commuter changes) that suggests around 20 to 25 being the number for a through service.

I now have three reasons for the change:
1. To keep the SWT unit on a suitable diagram (now that Stroud Valley is 3 car all day)
2. Because of Salisbury and Southampton platform restrictions
3. Because of the inability of most 166 units to pick up / drop off at Dilton Marsh
Is it because of all of these, or just one or two of them?

I also understand that timetable changes "must be planned at least 12 weeks in advance" - so am at a loss as to why this change only came to our attention two working days before it came into force.  Or is there one set of rules if the TOC wants to be helpful and another if it suits them?  ;)

The T12 seems to have gone out of the window.  This came about due to insufficient 166s being available suitable due to a supply problem with parts thus the short notice.    A couple of months ago, Network Rail closed Reading over a weekend and only opened their mouths on the Thursday.   

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Reading the comments in this thread, there are some issues/potential isssues, but overall I think we should be congratulating GWR for the vastly improved rolling stock this year, than the one car we've had to ensure in the rush hours previously. Coupled with the planned platform extension at Melksham, the trains and service are a major improvement to the transport infrastructure at Melksham, and more generally on the TransWilts corridor.

Indeed, nice to see they've got their house in order to a reasonable extent on one route!

Confirmed as no. 3 / there are very few 166 units yet with the mod to allow them to call at smaller stations south of Westbury (towards Southampton or Weymouth), so Stroud Valley and TransWilts northern section are running with unmodified units.   Short term issue - parts are due in within a week and probably being fitted and tested with a month and service will be joined up again.   Thanks goodness - noting that yet again two different platforms used at Westbury (so in 3 days the incoming from Gloucester has used all three  ;D) and a further trapse through the subway and freeze job!

Thank you to my GWR contact for confirming the status and giving me this update.

Graham, Is the plan to extend the current platforms at Dilton Marsh or build new ones?

I think it is "replace" - so that would be new. But then I thought it was happening over Christmas and it didn't - so  my information isn't to be relied upon.

Yesterday, I caught the 15:28 off Warminster that calls at Dilton Marsh, and 29 got off and 4 got on.  In the morning, pupils at one of the Warminster schools use a bus (there is no suitable train) but in the afternoon there is no well timed bus and they go back by train.     Interesting thought that passenger numbers could rise at Dilton Marsh by 4,500 if only a suitable morning train called southbound in the 07:04 to 10:13 gap!   Whether that's simply regarded as abstraction is an interesting question ... as is the economic case based on how much extra money would actually be received.

Work has now started with the line being closed between Westbury and Warminster over the weekend.

Journey Check today shows back to 1 on 1736 ex Swindon

One is better than nothing  ;D

166216 was out an about earlier - I wonder that happened to it.