Great Western Coffee Shop

According to the usually reliable Oxford Clarion on twitter https://x.com/OxfordClarion/status/1742528741627007417?s=20 (https://x.com/OxfordClarion/status/1742528741627007417?s=20) GWR have asked permission to start an Oxford to Bristol sevice from Spetember 14th 2024.
Service will start as 2 trains a day on a Saturday calling at Radley, Culham, Appleford, Didcot, Swindon, Chippenham and Bath.
Operated by Class 802 trains.

That's fantastic news. Let's hope it's the start of a fuller service.

Even as someone who used the old Thames/FGW service when it ran, I have been genuinely surprised several times recently by the number of people you can see at Didcot making their way between Bristol trains and Oxford Turbos.

Hmmmmm, thought there was no spare rolling stock?

Guess that is why it is September, following the end of the peak summer services to places like Newquay and Pembroke Dock.

I wonder as to why the Didcot call.  Didcot is already well served to Bristol and Oxford and using the West Curve would save considerable time and a reversal.

I expect time will tell.   With planned calls at intermediate stations between Didcot and Oxford (but not, I note, between Bath and Bristol) I'm guessing in might be taking the path and contractual service needs of those stations. Releasing a turbo ...

That might be diagrammed Banbury Didcot, the Oxford Bristol service filling the void while the Oxford Banbury is ran .......................... just a wild outta box thought

May well have to do with pathing - but also either provides an extra service between Oxford and Didcot or is simply running in the path of an existing one.

My bet is that is running in place of the turbo, to release the other one still in the Saturday timetable. The OXF-BAN service could also be run by an IET if they chose to.

Meanwhile the Didcot call maybe either a) to complete those OXF-DID service calls, and/or b) to wait time somewhere in order to wait a suitable path.

GWR will have between presented with a budget cut for next financial year & this may be one way of finding some of that - by releasing that turbo.

I'm sure you're right that it's replacing a Turbo service - you wouldn't stop at Appleford otherwise! So the Didcot call supplies connections to/from the Thames Valley local stations.

Interested to see (in the Clarion's second tweet) that GWR are citing "consistent country-end overcrowding experienced on Bristol–London Paddington services".

Indeed.

When you think about it, hardly a shock. At the start of 2020, plans were for 4 trains an hour from Bristol Temple Meads to London (Paddington).  But that's been cut back to 2.  I know that Bath and Chippenham still only had two an hour to London, but those Pesky Bristol to London people are filling the trains.

They could…but a TM would need to be provided (with the associated route learning cost).

GWR Press Release
https://news.gwr.com/news/great-western-railway-planning-to-restore-direct-bristol-oxford-services (https://news.gwr.com/news/great-western-railway-planning-to-restore-direct-bristol-oxford-services)

Yep, and Tom has sent me an email to let me know.   Really interesting development and I'll be making full local comment later.   This is a flow that I know has very great potential; I used the service in the past so I'm not totally green on it.  But it also needs to work today as sentimentality won't pay for it.

Only one of those it seems will call at Didcot - the one that states that it does - otherwise the others would too.

So on its own, it won't release a turbo.

Regardless, it would need to operate several more trips a day to release a Turbo anyway.

Hi all,

Found an interesting article stating that GWR are planning to run direct IET services from Bristol Temple Meads to Oxford via Didcot Parkway. I have attached the article below. What does everyone think about these plans? I think it would be very beneficial for passengers travelling down from Bristol and stations in between and it would be an effective way to get more people using the rail network.

https://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/24035352.new-direct-swindon-oxford-trains-planned-great-western-railway/?ref=fbshr&fbclid=IwAR3DWWG1r_EqrqsTeDZZ_LZPwC9zfPCtj1kZ0JM-eWcXYxGsFakbBaXq9CU

Thanks all,
GWR 158

Yep, I have moved a couple of things around and merged that with a topic that started a couple of days ago "Across the  West" to keep all the discussions together.  This board is probably the right one for it - it's so long since we had this much-wanted service that it had go into the  more general place!

Will it be flood proof?

Kennington (south of Oxford) hasn’t shut for flooding since alleviation works were carried out some years ago.  The route to Bristol via Box does close for flooding occasionally but is nowhere near as vulnerable as the route via Chipping Sodbury.

Interesting to see Swindon, Bath Spa and Bristol Temple Meads all in the top 15 ticketed passenger flows from Oxford http://www.passenger.chat/flows.html?stn=3115 . Chippenham is in the top 50 too.  Really a good flow considering the Didcot Dance that has to be done to make these journeys.

Certainly busy on Saturday with Reading playing at Oxford, almost got trampled as the herd migrated between platforms.

GWR confirm that the services to which this thread refers are *not* stopping at Didcot & are all using the west curve. In both directions.

Being run with a 5car IET GWR said yesterday.

That is helpful, and very interesting.