Great Western Coffee Shop

What a let down. No clockface even service. 71 minute gap  between 14.49 and 16.00.

Context?   Main line??

The December 2019 is the mainline plan for 2 trains an hour, but even then it won't be half hourly. Alternate trains will be (almost) all stations and semi-fast which will make them a bit uneven at some point, and they also need to be timed to not meet head-on on single line sections.

May may be a frustrating wait in Cornwall ... it feels on present plans like a stay of execution on the TransWilts.

As Graham says, December is a much more balanced interval service (if it gets approval), May is just doing what they can without tearing up the existing long-established timetable.

A wider issue than just Devon and Cornwall, but when is the new timetable going to be published (by which I really mean put online)? I have been looking at potential trips/timings for another all line rover tour in June, and it all services that I have looked at (except Trans Pennine and GWR) are now including the new timetables on their websites.

While the full Cornish main line service won't be introduced in May, there will still be around seven extra trains each way, Mons - Fris, which is a big improvement on now.  GWR have worked very hard to get these extra trains in.

In December, as you say Graham, that's when the 2 train an hour service comes in, Mons - Sats.  Again, much effort is going in to make it as clockface as possible given the infrastructure, even with different calling patterns. 

They are available online now (https://www.gwr.com/plan-journey/train-times) - a complete set, AFAICS.

Thanks for that - clearly I ought to have checked before I posted, but I can honestly say they weren't there last night!  ;D

https://www.gwr.com/plan-journey/train-times

Looks like a much better service to me!

...and to me.  Still some odd gaps but nothing too substantial from previous years.

Ah ... having just seen those now, yes, there are some very good gaps plugged in May and perhaps I was unduly dismissive of the changes next month in the few South West (sorry about that) - they do look like a good step with some significant gaps plugged. And - as RichardB and others confirm - a step up to a consistent two per hour come December, subject to approval.

Note to Mods: Could the Thread title please be changed to make it clear its the GWR May 2019 timetable we are discussing, and not our current Prime Ministers departure plan ;D

Done ... for archive, original title was "May timetable" ... and I really wonder if even Mrs May understands / knows her own timetable ...

Maidenhead & Crossrail? - I doubt anyone understands/knows the timetable for that...

Thanks, Grahame.

Would it be a good idea to move it to "Across the West" because it is having little to do with Plymouth and Cornwall specifically?

Interestingly, renaming a thread requires moving it (unless my fellow mods have discovered a trick I'm not aware of) so I have already moved it elsewhere, renaming it in the process and then moving it back.   And at the time, I wondered to myself "move back to where??".  I concluded that as we were talking about the changes in May which primarily effect Plymouth to Penzance, the original placement remained the best - though I appreciate it's a close run thing.

The signalling was improved and the track redoubled in recent years for the promised improved service between Plymouth and Cornwall. A 71 minute gap is not an encouragement to visitors, shoppers or commuters.

I'm afraid i don't understand the reasoning behind the point you are trying to make.  Can you elaborate a bit and tell us which gap you are referring to and where?

That's pretty much a one-off and the half hourly service comes in in December.  Everyone locally (and in GWR) would have liked it to be sooner but December is the earliest it is possible.  As mentioned previously, there are those seven extra trains each way Mons - Fris from 19 May so that's a good start.

_{(fixed quote - RS)}

The current 15:56 to 17:25 gap off Plymouth for Bodmin and beyond - 89 minutes - has been filled from 20th May and there are other steps in the right direction. It's a step in the right direction, but there is consensus and planning for a solution to further augment and tune the service from December, and a further extra train off Penzance would/will reduce your 71 minutes down to perhaps 40 minutes maximum daytime gap which - agreed - should encourage passenger numbers to blossom.

Please forgive slight feelings of jealously from here in Wiltshire, where our 07:50 to 10:02 gap for the 27 minute run into Swindon looks like it's increased from 132 to 150 minutes from December - 07:52 to 10:22, largely due to having to fit our trains around the enhanced London westward services which are an element of bringing your improved Cornish mani line services.

[RichardB posted while I was writing; I think I say much the same thing, but will leave it there to show the slightly different perspective too]

Pocket timetables arriving in ticket offices today, well in Cornwall anyway!

Which I never understand why GWR are now always one of the last TOCs to post the new timetables on their website when they would have gone to print several weeks ago. They used to be one of the the first to do so.

None available at St Austell when I asked earlier!

Available at Newton Abbot if you ask at the ticket office. Apparently won't be in the racks until 19th May when the new timetable starts.

Pretty much the norm in GWR land. Other TOCs I’ve seen on my travels put theirs out 2-3 weeks before the change over.

For some reason the powers that be at GWR appear not to like timetables. Last to put them on their website; last to put them in the racks.

Are they worried people will only steal them?

GWR’s argument for placing them at the stations at the last minute is that passengers would assume they are current before they come into force. 

I accept it’s not perfect but we have tried to add additional services onto the existing pattern in a way which brings significant benefit to many which most correspondents have commented positively on.

It’s a shame the best ever timetable for Cornwall cannot be welcomed with the promise of further enhancements in December.

I agree.  Having now lived in the Far Southwest for the past 35 years, its the best ever timetable for Devon and Cornwall.  A couple of days ago I happended to come across my copy of the May 1972 to May 1973 Western Timetable and looking through Table 4 the service has late starts, early finishes and sometimes two or three hour gaps in local services.  It also on average took 6 1/2 hours to get from Paddington to Penzance (Edit to add: And no resturant car/buffet car West of Plymouth). So, lets not complain too much about 'gaps' in the new 2019 timetable.

"And no buffet car/restaurant west of Plymouth"

We now have no buffet car on any part of any service, how is that for progress ?
The Pullman restaurant is excellent, but is available on fewer services than in the past and not west of Plymouth. So no improvement there.

Broadgage, I knew you would bite (pun intended).

…..but if he wants to bite, he will have to do so before leaving Plymouth!  ;)

On an allied subject.  The last HST Pullman restaurant leaves Paddington at 13:03 tomorrow.  It is fully booked.

... entirely by member 'broadgage'.

 ;) :D ;D

Well not entirely.  I have two seats.   ;D

Had the day working at the Brunel Quays residential estate, adjacent to the mainline at Lostwithiel Station yesterday, the first time I have done so for a while.  Spending all day working in the gardens next to the line, the enhanced frequency of services was very evident as was the diverse range of rolling stock working the route.

Well done GWR and CC for making that happen.