Great Western Coffee Shop

No, not yet another picture to guess with few clues.  ;)

Travelling back from the Swanage Railway today I took the 1410 from Corfe Castle then on to Weymouth for a break of journey before getting the 1608 GWR service back to my car at Maiden Newton.

Today, the 1608 was operated by a two car Class 150/2. Last week it was a 3 car 166. Cosier today, just about okay, but for one issue. The 150/2 had no working toilets.

To provide a train late weekend afternoon from a seaside resort with no toilets (conductor told me they were OOU off depot this morning) isn't brilliant. Well oiled adults and fizzy pop filled children were discomfited.

At Maiden Newton, where the service waits 9 minutes, I counted about a dozen people, men, women (yes, really - crouching in the bushes!) and children, making use of the bushes, platform fence, building side, and behind the token shed. I heard one person say they'd wait until Yeovil Pen Mill. I had to tell them there would be no toilet facilities there either.

Really not good GWR.

Is no toilet better than cancelling the service because the toilet is faulty?

I had a feeling that would be one of the first responses.

Of course I wouldn't have wished the service be cancelled. I was on it. What I'd like is for GWR to get on top of their maintenance so that the diagrammed Class 166 didn't fail earlier in the day. Failing that, put out an alternative with working toilets. This train (150266) apparently started the day without working loos. Not a problem for its booked diagram as it was attached to a 158 to do Cardiff-Portsmouth turns.

Agreed - lack of a train is an order of magnitude worse than lack of a toilet.   

I have really enjoyed being in Ireland for the last few days (headed back this morning) and much of the pleasure has been in the robust services and connections that have really worked as they should.   That's a pleasure that has been missing for nearly a year on the TransWilts, and indeed elsewhere on the GWR network.

Biggest delay? 20 minutes ... and that was on a train that was awaiting a connection, and then allowing time for the people making that connection - including one with mobility issues - to make the change.   How different that is to the departure of the final (Saturday) TransWilts train of the day from Trowbridge to Melksham and beyond as the connection from Bristol pulls in ... or (as was the case yesterday) having that train cancelled completely because there was no-one to drive it!

Looking at the GWR journey check for a period of a few weeks shows that this is not an isolated occurrence. It is happening almost everyday.

Another long haul without relief......

15:57 Plymouth to Penzance due 18:04
Facilities on the 15:57 Plymouth to Penzance due 18:04.
Toilet facilities are not available.
This is due to a fault on this train.

Even longer haul - that train starts out as the Bristol Parkway to Penzance service and shuttles about the far West  before ending its day at Plymouth.

.......The crossed legs Express! 😯

Wouldn't be so bad if they didn't close so many station loos so early. Just another reason to take the car. I'm an enthusiast but my patience has run out with GWR. Too many fare increases for a pretty substantial deterioration in service. It's well past a joke now.