John, I agree with you entirely on this one - with specific reference to the regularly crowded 1753 BTM^▸ (Bristol Temple Meads (strictly, it should be BRI)) to Nailsea. Folding bikes, which compact to the size of a (large) suitcase, perhaps fair enough - but to the full size mountain bikes, which some people force onto the carriages, scraping your legs with all the muck from the tyres without so much as an 'excuse me' - No!  As you say, one mountain bike, let alone two or three, takes up the space of three standing adults and prevents three more people from using the fold-down seats.  Bikes that do not fold down should be barred from such peak commuter services.

As to their stowage on HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) ... well, FGW^▸ (First Great Western) themselves have admitted that the rather Heath Robinson arrangement in the guard's van was 'over-engineered', so hopefully those will be removed to make room for a more sensible rack soon!

I do.  I believe that First Great Western are indeed transforming travel.


 

Logistical difficulties, though: the branch line to Princetown was dug up YEARS ago ! 

There you are, Jim: they've gone from "It'll be better next week" to "It will be better by the spring" to "You will notice a difference by the early summer."  Even then, will it be a difference for the better - or a difference for the worse?   

Thanks, Grahame!

IIRC^▸ (if I recall/remember/read correctly) - If I remember/recall correctly  (I had to look that one up externally, and even then, when I used it quite proudly here, it turned out I hadn't 'remembered correctly' at all!) 

That's a good point, actually: if they're quite happy for us to stand like sardines (sorry, but you know what I mean!) in the vestibules, why can't we bring along a suitcase / camp stool / armchair to sit on?

Oh, I don't know: perhaps he could claim their salary for the day, on the basis of him being quoted, rather than them ... 

Hmmm .. ferries seem a bit dodgy: think I'll take the Eurostar! 

Sorry, d_m, but I'm struggling a bit with this: are you possibly referring to the pre-December 2007 timetable?

In those 'good old days', the 1746 BTM^▸ (Bristol Temple Meads (strictly, it should be BRI)) to Taunton via Nailsea was indeed the Paddington HST^▸ (High Speed Train) - generally reliable, and plenty of room for us commuters as most of the remaining Paddington passengers got off at Bristol!

However, the new timetable gives us a 1753 which originates at Cardiff: unfortunately, rather prone to problems with signalling at Cardiff and soggy conditions in the Severn Tunnel area generally causing more delays / cancellations.

From what I've seen, a lot of the Paddington services that used to extend beyond Bristol (to Weston or Taunton, for example) now terminate at Bristol, to form services starting from Bristol to Paddington.  A lot of the previous continuity seems to have disappeared.

On the other hand, I may have completely misunderstood your point - in which case, sorry!   

Yes, fair comment, d_m, it was a figure of speech!  However, I was thinking of a non-PTS^▸ (Personal Track Safety) contractor who is more likely to leave ladders, planks or scaffolding lying about on the platform, to the temptation of 'bunking off' schoolboys to throw onto the track, for example?

I agree with Smokey; in terms of safety, it's better to have some structured control over trackside maintenance work, rather than 'let's just get a local contractor in'!

Thanks, John: I'd put it slightly higher, at up to 250 (now we're out of the Christmas / New Year lull) for a service with 147 seats (two car 150).  But, as you say, we can all get on (just about, and provided we don't have bikes, for example), and of course after Nailsea it's fine.


Agreed, John, but some of this overcrowding on the 1753 seems to be due to the rather weird timetabling: services departing from Bristol Temple Meads to Nailsea are as follows:
1718 - then, just seven minutes later,
1725 - then 28 minutes until
1753 - then 29 minutes until
1822 - then, just three minutes later,
1825

As I understand it, the Bath - Westbury line has much more regular intervals between trains - and I mean more regular, not more frequent??

Thanks, Smokey!  A similar observation in a similar vein from me, if I may?  Why do they insist on using SDO, for the front three carriages only, when the five car 0846 Cross Country to Newcastle / Bristol Temple Meads stops at Nailsea and Backwell?  All five cars are very comfortably 'platformed' ( ) so why not open all of the doors???  It just means the commuters waiting by the ticket machine / shelter have to walk up the platform towards the front of the train, get on, and then walk back down the length of the train to find a seat, because this sort of nonsense has apparently been happening at previous local stations?  Yes, Nailsea and Yatton have 'short' platforms - but not that short!

Thanks, d_m!  Maybe it just feels like they're going through at 125, when I'm hiding in the perspex shelter from the wind, rain and turbulence!

However, whether it's 125 or 100, even when I'm on the platform, I'm sometimes surprised at how quickly they appear.  As I wrote earlier, there's no way they could stop in time if Bob the Builder had left his ladder on the track!

Lee, I'm sorry if I'm being a bit thick, but I've trawled through that link you gave and I can't find Insider's answer to that question: which bit of it do you mean?  Sorry! 

Sorry, Shazz  , but to be fair, at Nailsea and Backwell, for example, the non-stopping trains go through at anything up to 125mph.  The station's on a slight curve, too, so there's no way they could see and stop in time if there was anything like a ladder or scaffolding on the track.

On the other hand, I can't remember the last time I saw anyone actually doing any maintenance work at Nailsea ...