Great Western Coffee Shop

There should be a train every  to Penzance from Ashford/Dover every two hours. What do you think? Becuase, it is very difficult for passengers from the South East who want to travel to the South West. Only route is:
1. Ashford Int-Eastbourne
2. Eastbourne-Lewes/Brighton (Trains continues to London or Brighton)
3. Brighton-Barnham/Ford (train continues to Littlehamton or Bognor)
4. Ford/Barnham-Portsmouth
5. Portsmouth-Westbury/Bristol
6. Westbury/Bristol-South West England
Therefore you have to change 6 times or more.
Thats absolutely pathetic. I don't mind changing once or twice but 6 times, carrying baggages with you (maybe 2 or 3 suit cases or 2 or more children - even worse).

You cannot expect a 2 hourly service over such a long distance. The longer the distance, the longer the frquency for most examples. Only between centres with high populations would there be enough business to make such a service financially viable.
Any way, what's wrong with Ashford to London St.Pancras, Tube to Paddington and then Paddington to Penzance - only 3 changes and this would seem to me the most conveniant and obvious route.

Dover/Ashford - London Waterloo East
London Waterloo - Exeter St David's
Exeter St David's - Penzance

2 Changes with no steps or tube, one of which is cross platform, and a frequency of 1 per hour as far as Exeter.

Done this many many times, or more precisely Canterbury West to Exeter

What route would it take?
Who would operate it?
Would anyone actually use it for the purpose you propose?

What's wrong with South Eastern High Speed to St Pancras, tube to Paddington and then First Great Western down to Penzance?

In the 1980s there was a service from Reading to Dover via Kensington Olympia. Not sure how many years it lasted but it was never hugely popular.

As an aside I travelled on it on day one as part of a press party. I felt so sorry for the BR staff on board. We forgot to call at Slough and thundered through the station with the mayor and more press standing on the platform. You can tell it was the 80s, we were allowed to wait for them at Langley while they caught up thanks to a stopping service. Then at Kensington there was no relief guard initially. Happy Days.

PS I'm not a mod but Super Sprinter could you reduce the size of your avatar? It really slows things down when viewing on a smartphone.

Seconded. Ta muchly Super Sprinter (and bobm!).

on the subject of display pictures, every time i view this site on my phone ollies dp makes me think that an ants on my screen lol

I wouldn't mind seing a direct service from Portsmouth/Southampton to Plymouth & Penzance again, this would however have to wait til there are enough spare dmu's or paths available either via Westbury or via Axminster

southampton-exeter is probably possible by adding a 158 onto one of the waterloo services and splitting the train en route, but is the market there

The other point is that AIUI very few Eurostrars now stop at Ashford, most stop at Ebbsfleet.

I've always thought that a service from at least Southampton/Bournemouth along the coast to Ashford would be good, but it would  require Ore Ashford to be electrified and upgraded, otherwise you are running DMUs for  miles over electrified tracks. Plus you've got the problem of two reverses, at Brighton (limited) and Eastbourne and without a third reverse you can't serve Portsmouth without a change..

Well that is currently possible with just one change at Brighton - at least from Southampton. From Bomo requires two changes.

I looked at this route when planning a trip to the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway. The 'Route: Barnham' fares are extremely good value from as far west as Salisbury to as far east as Ramsgate. The SVR is just ^29. That's some serious mileage for very little dosh! Long journey mind.

I'm happy with the longer journey time if it means I save oodles of cash! So, I'm going this way to Folkestone (bus then to Hythe) from Bristol with a ticket split at Salisbury.

would anybody from south west (who have plymouth) or portsmouth people  travel to dover by train when they have Portsmouth ferry terminal on their doorstep, and french train services from experience are generally more comfortable, reliable, quicker and cheaper?

There were new sleeper coaches built during the 80's for a Plymouth - Paris eurotunnel service. Some 37's were refitted for hauling the stock over to Ashford (I presume).

This scheme was then knocked on the head and the sleeping cars flogged off to Canadian Railways :(

Do you mean the 'Nightstar' stock?

If so, they were to run from North England / Scotland too. I wondered where the stock had gone.

They were very high spec with showers etc and once in Canada they were named Renaissance trains.

There are some details here http://www.viarail.ca/en/trains/atlantic-canada/montreal-halifax-ocean/train-cars#h3_1 (http://www.viarail.ca/en/trains/atlantic-canada/montreal-halifax-ocean/train-cars#h3_1)

There would be no demand for a service from Kent to the west. It is almost certain it would always be quicker via London. And anyway it isn't a good use of rolling stock, but perhaps one from the Solent/Brighton might be a good idea.

Running west of Southampton I can almost agree with, but now that there is an hourly Brighton - Southampton service all week FGW's extended services are basically a waste of a unit per day. 

That unit would be far better used in FGW territory, where there are many services that could be justifiably strengthened, or have their frequency increased - and that's before you even mention the Melksham issue...

Paul

I saw this the other day:

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/brishort.jpg)

Which rather seems to confirm your view, Paul .... best to have the unit in place in the regular FGW territory than running late on the 17:00 peak hour service from Brighton?

If you do the sums, it would only have been a few minutes late by the looks of things!

yeah but the crews may have needed a break, and it may have got later as it progressed on its journey, like many late trains.

Total stray off topic (though I think the original had dried up)

The Romney Hythe and Dymchuch makes a comeback after extraordinary times

You can do it with 3 trains with step free access to planforms

Penzance - Padd (GWR)
Padd - Kings Cross St Pancras (LuL)
St Pancras Int - Ashford (SE High Speed)

Very old thread ...

I suspect that the number of passenger travelling through from Penzance to Ashford was and is very very limited. However, chaining services end to end can make sense where a significant number of passengers make what would otherwise be a connection.   

Look at Cardiff Central <-> Portsmouth Harbour.  As you pull out of Cardiff, look for anyone going right through to Portsmouth and more than likely you wouldn't find anyone.  But there are passengers "across" the major intermediate calling points at Bristol (Temple Meads) and Southampton.