Great Western Coffee Shop

The 2 morning Weymouths (0804 & n0904 from Bristol) are both worked by more than 2 coaches today ;D

Excellent ... I wonder how this evening's 17:21 from Weymouth will be ...

The 0804 was a 3-car 158 plus a 150 (total 5).  The 0904 was a 150 plus two 153s (total 4).  The 08.04 left the 3 car at Weymouth to form part of the 1721 northbound making that a 5-car.  Somebody's doing something sensible!

The bad news is the Sunday timetable for Weymouth from 20th May.  The earliest FGW service from Bristol is the 1310 from Bristol and change at Westbury to arrive in Weymouth at 1545!

If you needed to be there earlier (say for a day on the beach?) you could get the 0910 from Bristol and change at  Southampton, Poole and Wareham arriving at 1408 making it a 5 hour journey!

It's a novel way to solve overcrowding on the return trip - make it impossible for anyone to get there!

Are the Warminster/Westbury - Weymouths still going to run?

There is an 0900 from Westbury but no connections from the Warminster or Trowbridge/Bath/Bristol directions.  You'd have to drive to Westbury to pick it up.  Otherwise it's via Southampton.

Looking at the online timetables / booking for June, it looks like the Summer Sunday service is as follows:

From Westbury at 09:00, 14:15 and 18:30
Returning from Weymouith at 16:15, 18:00 and 20:03

The return timings look sensible - 3 trains at 2 hour intervals to bring back people out for the day.  But there's a potential problem with the morning train in that it starts from Westbury - as far as I can tell - before any connecting services get there.

These were JUNE dates I looked at (17th) , by the way, as the system only goes 3 months ahead.

Thats a shame for anyone from stations before Westbury who wanted to head to Weymouth for the day by train which is the best way as Weymouth has a chronic traffic problem in the summer months.

First I've ever known a timetabled summer sunday service that hasnt covered stations Bristol-Westbury before heading to Weymouth. Up until recently it was down on the journey planner as having started from Bristol, allbeit rather earlier than in previous years, but now as you say it appears as down to start from Westbury only.

How are the summer Saturday services looking? Has FGW removed the additional services that Wessex ran last year: 8.54 Westbury-Weymouth and 16.42 Weymouth - Bristol?

Hello, Timmer.  On Saturdays there will be an 0658 from Westbury and an 0804 and 0904 from Bristol TM but coming back looks decidedly dodgy.  There is a 1449, 1721 and 1958.  It's going to need tactical planning!  There will never be enough carriages to cope with everybody who wants to come back on the 1721.  Five carriages is the maximum for many of the stations on that route and we don't have selective door opening.

The best bet is to go down a bit later and have a meal or a drink in the evening and come back on the 1958.  But you'll need a strong stomach because you will have to share your journey with drunken chavs  from Yeovil, Frome and Trowbridge.  The language and behaviour can be quite intimidating.

Personally I would avoid weekends at Weymouth by train (if I had a choice!).

If you want to have a look at the future timetable - it is already programmed into the NRE and FGW sites.  Just pop in your date and preferred time of travel and see what happens.

Many thanks for the update Whistleblower, sad though the news was. Also sad to say that I expected that this would be the case and that when I go to Weymouth these days it's by car now. Im sure im not the only one who would prefer to go by train, but being crammed into a 150 or 158 with dodgy air con doesnt make for a good start or end to a day out. Hardly encouraging people to use public transport for a day out/holiday. And yes the 19.58 service can be an interesting experience!

It was never the same since the ending of loco and coaches which always had plenty of space for day trippers and people going on holiday. Im not surprised this line is not one of FGW's top priorities and that they will only ever run what they are required to which is fair enough if they are maintaining the timetable that was given to them; it just doesnt encourage further usage that's all.

Well Yeovil has the 'Special Brew Crew' normally 1 of which gets on with non valid tickets

Frome is normally U16 chavs (some of which come from my school)

& yes, Trowbridge is normally where quite a few 'nasty' peopl,e get on

Bristol work the 1721 do they not on Saturdays as well, 1958 is Westbury. So if you are Westbury then you have no choice about the 'rough train' in the same way Bristol have no choice about the 'busy train'

How would I orginise it?

0658 WSB - WEY 3 car, as that is busy on the way back
Make a solid diagram 5 car that does both busy Weymouths like in previous years, so 0804, 1504 from Bristol & there return journeys, run as far as Bristol Only, or detach 3 of the coaches at Bristol & couple to the next journeys unit.
0904 from Bristol (does it run Sat? :-[ ) would be 4 car, make it do a diagram that falls back to work the 1958 from WEY

Can be found in the link below.
http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/Documents/Custom/Timetables/May%2007/Book%20E/bristol-weymouth.pdf

Looks like 'whistleblower' was incorrect! There will be an eaarly Bristol -Weymouth on Sundays

Fairs fair Jim, Im sure Whistleblower doesnt need me to defend him but at the time all he had to go on was the staff rota for operations out of Westbury and the crappy journey planner which was wrong, I checked it a number of times myself. Ive been told it has finally been corrected and does now show this sunday morning service.

Personally I'm delighted to see that the sunday morning service out of Bristol has been maintained though there have been a couple of services cut that Wessex had added on Saturdays which I am concerned about, namely the loss of the 16:30 out of Weymouth. There is going to be a very heavy reliance on what will be the 17:49 service out of Weymouth. Best avoided after a long hot summers day me thinks  ::)

The early Sunday morning service from Weymouth has been cut back to operate it's winter schedule of departing from Frome rather from Weymouth. Commonsense I feel as I doubt there were many passengers wishing to travel out of Weymouth at 8.25 on a sunday morning! There is also a late sunday afternoon service from Westbury to Weymouth that is no longer running.

Didn't mean it in a nasty way, sorry if you got the wrong end of the post :( TBH, is doesn't suprise me that NRES wasn't correct & I doubt a crew diagram has even been made yet.

I know you didnt mean it in a nasty way and no offense was taken. Just hope I didnt come across as being too harsh in my reply  :) Everyone is much more friendly on this site compared to some sites these days.

Agree there! All we need to guess now is the number of carriges ALLOCATED for the services for the summer!

That is the million dollar question. Especially bearing in mind the loss of the 08:54 Westbury-Weymouth and the return 16:41 Weymouth-Bristol. It could get interesting come home time!

When Wessex stopped the loco and coaches, the 09:00 Bristol to Weymouth always seemed to run as a five coach 150/158/153. That was a few years back before they reverted to running two morning services like they do on weekdays (now the 08:04 and 09:04 ex Bristol) FGW could use their sole three car 158 along with a 150 but they would have to bolster both morning services as both will be just as busy especially the 08:04 after Westbury now the 08:54 ex Westbury no longer runs.

Another point worth noting is FGW's decision to put the evening service return departure time back from 17:21 to 17:49. Love to know their reasons for this is bearing in mind the inbound service still arrives at 17:09. (Don't tell me, so people can have longer on the beach) After mid-september it reverts back to 17:21. It also stops at Yeovil for 10 minutes and again at Westbury for another 7 minutes!!!! making it a jolly long end to the day.

That service wasn't as well used as I thought it would be to be honest, well in terms of 'norms' when the 31's did it & it terminted at Westbury, I don't know what it was like last year though.

Yes, there was indeed the 5 car combo, I used to love that, everyone was wedged in the 158, the 150 was busy & the 153 had 5 people in most Saturdays going down in the morning!

WHAT?!!!  How dare you accuse me of being ink incrre incorrek wrong.  Why, you little whippersnapper........ >:(

cheers,

whistleblower ;D

There is a 1st time for everything Lol

Well another bank holiday weekend is almost with us and the sun is set to shine once again (for a change  :)) So this means many will want to travel on the Heart of Wessex line this weekend. What sort of service are they going to get?

Well if they try and travel on a sunday none at all until the afternoon as we are still on winter timetable and FGW have removed the Warminster-Weymouth morning service that used to start running early May in advance of the summer timetable.

If anyone is travelling/working this line this bank holiday weekend do let us know how things turn out passenger wise along with what stock FGW provide. Have they made plans to cover for the extra journeys????? all will be revealed. Happy travelling.

Am I not going on FGW trains then ;D

Lol, I must have said that more in hope I think Jim.

An interesting post from the Save The Train Forum (link below.)
http://www.savethetrain.org.uk/forum/index.php?topic=2338.msg5358#msg5358

All due respect, but some of that article is a load of tosh!

1)There is now a morning (Sunday) Bath - Weymouth, leaves BTM at 0915!
2)It was on Sunday, along with at least 1 other service
3)Has the person ever been on a St IVes train in the summer

With regards to the second letter that appears on this link. Lance Cole of FGW saying they have added an extra service at 9am from Westbury. This is in fact the same service that used to start from Warminster before heading for Weymouth so that is not true to say its an extra service as far as previous summer timetables are concerned; its actually a service which has been cut back!

Clever bit of spin me thinks here. Yes it's extra in terms of what runs in the winter but no different to what has run in previous summers.

In fact, FGW have made cuts to the previous year's summer Sunday services: A morning service that used to start from Weymouth leaving at 8.25 now starts at Frome and an afternoon service that used to run between Westbury (dep 16.05) and Weymouth in the summer no longer runs, so FGW are in no position to be blowing any trumpets right now about services on this line on Sundays. However they can redeem themselves by operating a loco and coaches over the summer  ;)

I was reminded of the fact that the 09.15 didnt appear on the journey planner until a few weeks ago and certainly doesn't appear in the National Rail Timetable. It wasn't until FGW published their timetable books (quite late this time round and still riddled with errors) that it was certain that this service was running this year.

When Mark Annand wrote to the Chronicle at the time there was no sign of the 09.15 despite enquiries being made. I decided to wait until FGW published their timetables before making comment and sure enough it was there.

P.S There now appears to be confusion regarding the Saturday evening service from Weymouth. FGW's TTs says it's 17.49 during the summer, the journey planner says 17.21 just like it has been in previous years. So if you are travelling from Weymouth on a Saturday evening beware as you may miss your train if you think it leaves at 17.49.

All in all I have a great deal of concern for the future of printed timetables as the ones FGW publish now tend to be riddled with errors and timings of some services are incorrect which is not good when people rely on them for when a service is meant to run. I'm not wanting to intentionally bash FGW on this but their timetables need to improve on their accuracy as this has slipped in the last year.

Timettables have always been ridled with errors, some of them quite funny!

The Sunday morning trains to Weymouth were indeed a last minute addition according to confirmations now to hand.   Mark Annand's letter was 100% when it was written and it's naughty (to put it mildly) for anyone to suggest that he was wrong, or to claim loads of credit for offering a better service than he suggested would be available while "rubbishing" him.

Remember this tactic.    If you are running 12 trains but you really only want to run 10, announce you're going to cut  back to 8 services.   Then you'll be seen as the white knight when you - at the last minute - run 10.  Of course, you've managed to sneak in the cuts you wanted to make in the first place ....

Update: FGW have now put up posters at stations informing customers that the 17.49 now leaves Weymouth at 17.21. Are train managers informing customers travelling on saturday services to Weymouth of the 'earlier' departure time as well?

The interesting thing about this error in timing was that in the main section of timetable 'E', it shows the right time from Frome onwards towards Bristol, but in the Weymouth to Cardiff timetable at the back of the book and in the pocket timetable shows the wrong time. Shame these things aren't spotted before they send it to print.

I teach people about databases, including design (http://www.wellho.net/course/mqfull.html) and one of the key things is that data should only be held ONCE in a database to avoid inconsistencies in presentation. Perhaps I should ask someone if they need a course?

The Heart Of Wessex Rail Partnership have criticised FGW on this and other matters (link below.)
http://www.rmtbristol.org.uk/2007/05/frustration_at_fgw_weymouthbri.html#more

Quote :

"The line needs more investment and more attention. We hope no more services are lost in the winter timetable."

With just over a week to go before the extra Weymouth service on summer Saturdays, FGW have done b*****r all in advertising this service. Do they want people to use it? It's not showing up on the journey planner. Is it just going to be a plain relief service without any advertising?

Ah ha, someone else who has picked up on this problem!

Don't ask me!  I only work for them ::)

We've heard nothing - as usual :-[

Yes indeed. Makes you begin to wonder is it really going to happen?????

Rang up CS today (about the website, which was giving the GBRf home page!) and remembered just in time to ask, but the bloke didn't know anything either!

oh its 101% happening, but if no one uses it it'll be a good reason not to do it next year!!

So a bit like Soton stoppers then, run it 4 mins infront of a fast in to Westbury and you can have nobody on it, so they can scrap it

That's what I was thinking and thats concerning because how can people use it unless they know about it? Do you know why FGW aren't promoting this service?

Perhaps the Bath Chronicle and the Bristol Evening Post needs to be informed of this lack of advertising of this service by FGW which is an opporunity to 'Blow their own trumpet' in view of all the critism that they have attracted since last December's timetable changes.

Not even a mention of it in a press release on their website either.

Incidently, for a few hours yesterday http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk was coming up with the home page of GBRailfreight, even their website can't escape the cock-ups.

The DfT & FGW had already agreed that the Southampton - Westbury "shuttle" service would only run until December 2007. The key question was what would replace it. This is explored in the link below.
http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=248.msg617#msg617

I would be more confident to do that if this service appeared on the journey planner. Upto now it has not.

It probably WOULD be a good idea to help with the publicity for this service.

You might like to know that I'm taking a group from Melksham to Weymouth on SUNDAY 5th August. We can't practically do Saturday without bussing both ways to / from Melksham STATION, but none the less First wrote to me and suggested Saturday, 4th as the "loco hauled train will be running" and telling me that they expect it to be much more comfortable ...  if you would like the exact wording of their text, source, date, etc, please email me - graham@wellho.net - and I can forward it; it provides evidence from First (at regional manager level) that the train will be running and should make you more confident in any press coverage request.

12/08/2007

Anyone wishing for a day at Weymouth today arent in for much luck, good job you chose last Sunday to make the foray with your Melksham people Grahame.

From the FGW website ;-

11:09 Weymouth to Westbury due 12:36
This train has been cancelled.

Replacement road transport will be in operation.

09:00 Westbury to Weymouth due 10:28
This train has been cancelled.


Does this mean that road transport will be in operation for only the Weymouth to Westbury service ?????

Does anyone know why the 13.52 Bath Spa to Weymouth doesnt start as BTM? Seems a bit unusual for it to start at Bath Spa.

Engerniering work till about 1500 ment lack of paths, twas single line working between Bath and Bristol

I had a feeling its single line working this Autumn as only 'West' services are operating between Bath and Bristol with London services replaced by buses between Swindon-Bath-Bristol until 15.00 though this has been moved earlier to 11.00 last weekend and next as Network Rail arent doing as much work as planned.

There was single line working and on another forum it was reported that trains were arriving at the "opposite direction" platform and departing before passengers had a chance to make their way from where they were waiting to the "wrong platform". More adverse publicity for FGW as if they needed it.

Yes FGW need to sort that out that they ensure when SLW is in operation that passengers know which platform to use. I am however glad to see that Network Rail have finally resumed SLW between Bath and Bristol rather than closing both lines though London services don't run as there must also be work going on between Bath and Swindon which may not have the right signalling to operate SLW.

Well I can belive it, but the Westbury guard did wait on the 0934 Frome-Bristol