Great Western Coffee Shop

Today there was an STP schedule for a 6C49 Appleford-Whatley Quarry. Part of its schedule was:

Thingley East	20:16
Bradford Jn	20:29

However, the 2G91 Westbury-Cheltenham Spa via Swindon is timed:

Bradford Jn	20:15
Thingley East	20:28

 :o ??? ::)



What actually happened was:-
2G91 to Cheltenham given priority; passed Thingley East at 20:28
6C49 to Whatley Quarry passed Thingley East at 20:29; passed Melksham at 20:37
1A96 Penzance-Paddington (booked via Melksham this week) passed Trowbridge at 20:39 and halted at Bradford Jn.
2M34 Swindon-Westbury departed Chippenham at 20:43 and halted at Thingley East about 20:45
2V97 Salisbury-Bristol Temple Meads arrived Trowbridge 20:50. Due to depart same time but held at signal as 1A96 ahead.
1D91 Bristol Parkway-Portsmouth Harbour passed Bradford Jn. 20:54
6C49 exited single line and passed Bradford Jn 20:57
1A96 passed Bradford Jn. and entered the single line 20:59
2V97 departed Trowbridge at 21:00; 10 late, further delayed on approach to Bath
1A96 cleared Thingley East Jn at 21:12; now 29 minutes late (was 39 late at Paddington)
2M35 Swindon-Westbury passed Thingley East Junction 21:13
2M35 passed Bradford Jn 21:26; 27 minutes late
1A98 Paignton-Paddington passed Bradford Jn 21:33 (was due 21:13 but not delayed by 2M35 as it was running late anyway)
1A98 cleared Thingley Jn at 21:45
2M25 Westbury-Swindon passed Bradford Jn at 21:48 (didn't have to wait at Bradford Jn as it was late off Westbury)

It's not obvious why 6C49 was held at Bradford Jn. for the 1D91 to Portsmouth to pass as it should have arrived several minutes ahead of it. The freight was delayed further at Frome and arrived Whatley 103 minutes late.

The Whatley Quarry train is scheduled again on Thursday so I hope a Plan B is available.  ;D

I have been trying to work this out on the single line ... trains passing the midpoint (scheduled, actual)

20:02   19:38   6C62   Oxford to Whatley
20:22   20:22   2G21   Westbury to Cheltenahm Spa
20:23   20:37   6C49   Appleford to Whatley
20:35   21:04   1A96   Penzance to Paddington
20:52   21:20   2M34   Swindon to Westbury
21:18   21:38   1A98   Paignton to Paddington
21:32   21:55   2M25   Westbury to Swindon

22:16   23:00   6A20   Whatley to Hanwell
22:41   Cancel   6V38   Hothfield to Whatley
22:55   23:28   2M36   Swindon to Westbury

Says nothing of the chaos caused on the double track main lines at both ends when services via Melksham have to wait.

This week at Swindon ... huge, routine flows via Kemble. That used to be single track.  Time to redouble via Melksham too!!

Two track. Now!  (With due deference to originating member!)

It is a pity that the Melksham line is largely (or so it seems to me) unsignalled) apart from the junctions at both ends. I wonder if the installation of some more signals might help which would then allow one train to follow another, when possible, without the need to wait for the train already on the line to clear the branch.

Dave

When trains are running to schedule, yes, that could help.  When they turn up anywhere from 24 minutes early to 44 minutes late, as they were doing last night, it would only be of marginal help and it might tempt train planners to do "clever" things, shoehorning more services in and leading to more problems.