Great Western Coffee Shop

I'm off to westbury today and as I live in sidmouth and got a lift to the station digby seemed logical, 20 mins after the train was due I find out that it has been cancled now these things happen but as there is no public address and is not staffed would it not be a good idea to have the ticket machine warn you of problems? It's in a penalty zone so apart from season tickets everyone should use it!? Btw I'm now on the bus cries

You could have called National Rail or the Operator.

I had a similar situation about a year ago with FGW at Bruton station. The train was cancelled and the next one wasn't for 2 hours. I contacted national rail enquires who told me to call a taxi to Castle Cary and claim it back from FGW providing I got a receipt. Which I did ;D

Sorry to rub salt into the wounds Relex ;)

Sorry to hear that, Rolex123. The sad fact is that when you live near a station like that, as I do in Melksham, you get used to routinely checking whether trains are actually running before you set out, since there's often no way of finding out once you're actually at the station waiting (except as suggested above by phoning up someone, or using the internet on your phone).

I also have to say that my experience of Journey Alert, "a new free service where we will text or email you if there are any cancellations, alterations or route disruptions with your First Great Western train", has also not been that brilliant either during the past 8 months or so that I've been signed up to it. Every day I get emailed an identical message saying there are no disruptions reported on my registered route (to and from Melksham), and yet all too often I have subsequently heard there's been delays and cancellations.

(both my son and my daughter used to commute by train daily from Melksham, which is why I signed up to the alerts, but as they now respectively get the bus and drive to their eventual destinations due to the fact that the timings of the trains from Melksham render them unusable for commuters, my interest now is merely academic, apart from the two or three times a month when I get the train myself)

Digby is not in a penalty fare zone.(yet). The signs are up, but it cannot be enforced. ???

In common with all FGW stations outside the Thames Valley I think - certainly they can't be enforced in the Bristol area yet, despite the profusion of threatening yellow notices at stations. The ones at Keynsham just seem to cause confusion, since both S&B ticket machines have been removed (apparently permanently) due to vandalism.

OK Digby? Wo ist das?

I've found a shut one on the Lincoln  - Sleaford GN - GE joint!

Digby and Sowton I am guessing: http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations/DIG.html

There's some information about Digby & Sowton (to give it its full name) in the "Station Comparator" link at the top of this forum, 8f mate

http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/smr/DIG.html

ok im back home now  :) apart from the missing the early connection and having to wait for an hour and the bus ( the replacement coach was full) it was actually a good journey! got a seat with no problem the traveling chef was onboard!  and ran to time, just to clear things up i have the network rail application for my iphone which i checked upon leaving sidmouth all was ok ten mins after the train was suppost to arrive i rechecked the app and it noted that the train was canceled but the exmouth bound train was still running so i was going to pass the time by running up and down on that however this one was also canceled but was still on the system further more the next train to exeter was also listed as running... how can it be if the exmouth bound train would later form this service, turns out there was some kind of obstruction on the line so services were not running anyway... this i found out from the taxi company when i rang them out of desperation.. i realise i could have phoned the number however what if i lived in digby and traveled to work in say crediton on that train every day, would i have to phone the number every day? sorry guys im just going off on one now so will finish off the public address situation at stations on the advocate line... interesting things that happened today ... a class 142 at central to paignton with the rare ''so many seats to chose from'' exeter st davids seemed dead... it was so quiet! ive never been there at 9 in the morning before is this normal? there is a new class 150 now at the yard dont know where its going to be used? any ideas... last thing i also saw a class 47 at westbury with a rake and the taunton- cardiff lhs at taunton...funny how i have read about all of these things in this forum and never seen any of them until today.... im hungry tea time  :) :D

Named (partly) after Digby Hospital -http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/hospitalrecords/details.asp?id=290&page=17 (http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/hospitalrecords/details.asp?id=290&page=17) - which was formerly the Exeter Mental Asylum.

Not that there was any particular reason for pointing that out, though... (http://www.millan.net/minimations/smileys/innocentsmily.gif) (http://www.millan.net)

what a nice man you are  :D

Thanks for info. How new is it? It's not in my 1992 Baker, but a look in my 2002 Complete List of Station Names does show it.

From wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digby_and_Sowton_railway_station):

1994 i belive

Hi

Digby & Sowton is also closest station for those of us in the North Devon area, to get to /from Exeter "International" airport by rail, albeit the final leg by pre-booked taxi.

Now if FGW pushed for the next passing loop at Cranbrook ....... re-open station, shuttle etc would be possible.... anything not to have to use their "airport bus-link" from EXD.

Fecks

is whimple not closer? mind you once you have changed trains you may as well get a taxi from st davids

Im sure Pinhoe would be alot easier to get there, and cheaper as its  much shorter to the airport than from Digby.

And the passing at cranbrook would be down to SWT, and there wouldnt be a shuttle as SWT are running an hourly service that way from december.

just out of interest as i still dont know what was the obstruction on the line?

The dynamic loop proposed for Cranbrook (similar to the Axminster loop) would allow an hourly SWT service to run alongside an hourly local service to Axminster (i.e. SWT on the hour & local service on the half hour)  At the moment this is still a Devon County Council ambition I believe and as the new town at Cranbrook appears to be on hold for the moment it may be some way off.

Railway sleepers, apparently.  ::) :o >:(


For the full article, from the Exeter Express and Echo, see http://www.thisisexeter.co.uk/news/Commuters-train-staff-escape-injury-service-hits-sleepers/article-933752-detail/article.html

thankyou chris