Brakes was the announcement on the train, as told by a colleague who was there. Although with 143's it's normally the doors until they get a good kicking.

We sat outside Bradford a good 10-15 mins waiting for it to clear, so things were obviously quite busy by the time we hit Bath. This train should have been Filton only but finally became the Cardiff train, so full and standing and much confusion at BTM^▸ (Bristol Temple Meads (strictly, it should be BRI)).

Along with all those who tried to get on the 1822 off Bristol last night.

It was only marginally relieved, as it was also running late, by some quick thinking by FGW^▸ (First Great Western) who decided it was prudent to stop the next 125 at Keynsham and Oldfield park so there was a bit of a rush to platform 13.

0723 Warminster - Cardiff was looking good recently with two 158's, until this morning when two 143's turned up. Thankful for small mercies as at least there were two.

I don't know if it is an old sticker but I spotted a small notice on a 158 yesterday with the words Third World Western, very nice job it is too, anyone know anything about them?

150's were occasional visitors even with Wessex, but that was due to 158 failures. They were quite interesting journeys with a trolley on-board.

It's another ball game completely if FGW^▸ (First Great Western) are going to start running them regularly.

Even luckier then as FGW^▸ (First Great Western) don't have the option.

From my view of Filton a 143 attached to a 158 to make up 4 cars to Cardiff is  not an uncommon sight. Whether that particular diagram should have been all 158's it's difficult to tell.

Lucky it wasn't a 143, the normal replacement around Bristol if the 158's are a bit poorly,

I'll come to Friday evening's BTM^▸ (Bristol Temple Meads (strictly, it should be BRI)) chaos in a moment, but this is interesting from the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) website when looking for train delays at 1345 today.

ROUTE FILTER
The route filter has been disabled due to the high demand for this service. The normal service will resume once demand has reduced sufficiently.

This is not the first time that delay information on the web has 'gone down due to excessive demand'. It would be interesting if there were hit statistics from either FGW or NexusAlpha (data suppliers) on their 'live delay' and 'live departure' boards traffic pre and post Dec 10.

Filton departures has been down more than once due to excessive traffic, and the demand due to continued unreliability is unrelenting.

Which brings me on to last Friday.

Big sigh of relief at seeing a Friday 1722 BTM - Portsmouth consisting of 2 x 158s, this soon evaporated as the TPE^▸ (Trans Pennine Express) element of the stock had 1 coach with total electrical failure. Never mind, 3 coaches could just about accommodate the Friday passenger (sorry customer) load full and standing and give the local announcement team their due all Bath Spa passengers were informed of the HST^▸ (High Speed Train) service which relieved the load a tad.

20 crushed min later it was decided that the stock was going nowhere and we all detrained. I decided to drown my sorrows in the bar, only to see that the stock had been split and those poor souls remaining depart on the ex Wessex stock, oh well the 1822 will be along soon.

Was it hell, earlier 'technical' problems had taken at least 2 sets out of service therefore there was nothing coming from Cardiff, a delay while FGW managed to find a working 158 from St Phillips depot. Average loading on this 2 car, but I hate to think what Cardiff/Newport passengers were going through.

If I don't hit the snooze button too often I've managed to catch that one and it's pretty good as you say. I normally aim for the 0723 off Trowbridge but this can be a bit troublesome coming from Weymouth, and if delayed tends to fill with early arrivals for the 0738, which then becomes a near ghost train. Worth waiting an extra couple of minutes for.

Fun on the 0758 this morning which normally divides at BTM^▸ (Bristol Temple Meads (strictly, it should be BRI)), with the rear portion (if it's running as 2 x 158s) going on to Cardiff. Knowing this at Trowbridge means no shifting around, just a wait for 15 min while the units are persuaded to part on the curve on platform 5. Not this morning as this portion had engine problems, (and this on the an Ex TPE^▸ (Trans Pennine Express) unit) and all the clever ones had to move.

0723 Warminster/Cardiff surprisingly ran with two 143's this morning, and was on time from Trowbridge, all was not well though. As we arrived in Bradford the engine in the last coach stopped and didn't want to restart. Just emergency lighting in the carriage is not an issue in these lengthening days, and the lack of engine noise only heightens the awareness of the general din that the 143s make. We finally made it into Bristol a few minutes down, which turned into quite a few more while staff did a watering can hunt to top up the coolant which was obviously the cause of the engine problems. Filton 17 minutes late

I understood the additional diesel hauled service was rented 'by the hour' and was affordable for the times it ran as a suppliment on the Friday. There is still some info on the old Fragonset website, albeit the company has finally gone into administration.

http://www.fragonset.co.uk/archive.htm

Just a follow up to blogs/posts elsewhere.

http://oldfieldparktrains.blogspot.com/

I was also on the 1722 and it was diabolical. Although arriving in BTM^▸ (Bristol Temple Meads (strictly, it should be BRI)) about on time a single 158 was never going to cope on a Friday afternoon. FGW^▸ (First Great Western) should have been aware of what weekends are like, why on earth did Wessex hire the 31's to do the Brighton run for. 

Train should have left at 1722, it was announced that it wasn't going to be the first Bath train and anyone who could get through the doors should dash to platform 13. HST^▸ (High Speed Train) duly departed before the 1722. It was full and crushed all the way to Trowbridge, where a female with young child with seat reservations were nearly denied access to the train. Her husband was busily writing complaint letters before the train finally pulled out, 20 min late.

What's that, may cause problems.  It was a bit of a mess by the time anything arrived in Trowbridge 25 min late.

This was the problem earlier at Oldfield today...

http://oldfieldparktrains.blogspot.com/

I arrived at Trowbridge for the 07.58 which arrived just before the 08.23 from Weymouth. Fortunately the Pompey train had 4 coaches, 1 x 158 plus a 150 in new colours. Thinking this was going to take all the pressure off the following train I decided to wait 2 min till the Weymouth train came in. (also in new vinyls)

Hate to think what that was like on the run into Bristol taking both train loads. Also believe it was pulled at Bristol like the earlier Cardiff train and everyone for onward stations had to catch other trains.

Doesn't get any better does it.