Great Western Coffee Shop

Have had a great trip down from Reading today on the Cornish Riviera.  Clean, fast, full but not packed, no intermediate stops until Exeter, etc, etc.

Once again always hugely disappointed with having to change onto a 153 at Plymouth, simply to connect to Lostwithiel, with the 50 minute additional journey time this entails.

Can anyone shed any light on why Lostwithiel seems to be the only town on the main line of any size in Cornwall, that the London trains do not stop at ?

I am aware that they fulfil a useful 'Cornwall Commuter' role at Peak times, but it would be useful to know the criteria by which FGW, or others decide what stops here and what doesn't.

Acceptable journey times.....

If you compare Lostwithiel with St Germans and Saltash. St Germans and Saltash both have an active rail users group campaigning for better services. I do not know of an active rail users group for Lostwithiel. The service at Lostwithiel would probably be better if more journeys were recorded from the station.  The journey time to Par and St Austell makes it difficult to sell tickets for every passenger within this time.

The Riviera doesnt stop at Lostwithiel because it's an express service! the only reason it stops at Hayle is because its in the franchise spec for some reason, this service doesnt call at any of the "shacks".

1406 Paddington - Penzance, 0541, 0645, 1600 Penzance - Paddingtons and the Down Night Riviera all call at Lostwithiel.

Interesting stuff, although those very services are the one I suggested were providing the 'Cornwall Commuter' services, and their stopping at Lostwithiel and other smaller stations is not primarily to facilitate travel to and from London.


So what defines a shack?  Lostwithiel has a significantly larger population within sensible walking distance than Bodmin Parkway, yet Bodmin gets every service stopping.  Where is the logic in that ?

I think the term shack refers to the waiting accomodation at the respective stations, rather than a derogatory comment about the communities served.

Bodmin Parkway serves a significant area beyond the environs of the station, with regular bus connections and significant car parking at the station too.

Bodmin Parkway I believe is used by quite alot of people in North Cornwall, due to it being the only station for miles.

Does seem a bit as if FGW can't win sometimes... They get a lot of stick from some quarters for the relatively slow journey times of HSTs that make most of the station calls on the Cornish mainline, but also take flack from others if a particular train doesn't run directly to their destination.

Lostwithiel are also served by Cross Country trains, Saltash and St Germans are not. You'll find they are pretty well served.

I know we have demand for the down Sleeper to call at Saltash both for long distance travellers and those wanting to get to the west of Cornwall earlier in the day.

Firstly the term "shack" is not derogatory it is railway jargon for unstaffed stations, Bodmin Parkway serves a huge area as a railhead and this is reflected by it's far greater footfall than many other stations in Cornwall, of the HST's that do stop at Lostwithiel there are very few who travel to London.

All understood and thank you for the replies.  I am of the opinion that FGW have done wonders for rail travel in Cornwall, but what with the specification for the new franchise being compiled, I suppose what I am trying to figure out is how to improve the service we get at Lostwithiel.

Have you / can you proved the demand exists?

ChrisB makes an important point.

If there is demand, then there are avenues that one can go down to make representations in an effort to see an improved service/calling pattern.

You can contact your local FGW Customer Panel (http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/Content.aspx?id=98) member. There's local councillors and/or your MP. There's also TravelWatch SouthWest (http://www.travelwatchsouthwest.org/new/). Those are just a few of the avenues you could explore, if you have the time and inclination. You could also test the water with a letter to a local newspaper. 

Campaigning for improved services is however very much a long game..... just ask one of this forum's Administrators, grahame!

Was heading to Devon today via the Cross Country 9:40am Penzance service - on arriving at St Erth I checked Rail Planner Live only to find the service cancelled and starting from Plymouth - not an unknown occurrence.
I was therefore surprised when the service arrived on time and a tad annoyed when it ran through at line speed.
Station Manager at St Erth could only suggest that it ran fast to Plymouth as it had no TM but it certainly had one on the way down to Penzance.
I've known XC to cancel services from Penzance before but then the service never entered Cornwall.

   

This is the message from XC control that got sent at 06:09 this morning.

   NEW    1    XC:Alteration: 09:40 from Penzance.    03/11/11 06:09

Alteration to the 09:40 Penzance to Manchester Piccadilly due 16:59 run on 03/11/11.

This train will be started from Plymouth at 11:50.

It will no longer call at: Penzance, St Erth, Hayle, Camborne, Redruth, Truro, St Austell, Par, Lostwithiel, Bodmin Parkway and Liskeard.

This is due to a member of train crew being unavailable.

Many thanks - TM out of hours then.

...or taken ill or operating incident or... ?

Interesting stuff.  Been speaking to various people in Lostwithiel over the weekend, and there does seem to be some interest in trying to improve the number of services that stop here, although the majority are commuters not IC passengers.  Won't have a chance this year, but will certainly try and do something with this in the new year.

Thanks all for your input.