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31  Journey by Journey / Heart of Wessex / Re: Saturday HST to Weymouth on: June 22, 2014, 19:48:51
Does anyone know how many people are using the HST (High Speed Train) at the moment?

I caught the 0839 to Dorchester yesterday. I would have preferred to get the HST but I wanted to walk some of the coast path near Lulworth and (lack of) public transport connections mandated an earlier start. The train was a 3 car 158. It was busy by Trowbridge and standing by Westbury. By Yeovil it was virtually wedged with just a small amount of room in the middle of the saloons for extra standees and none in the vestibules. At Yetminster a family of 4 took one look and started wandering off before the guard got out and appeared to shout he'd find room for them, as they started wandering back. He then knocked on our carriage and gestured people to move up. They eventually managed to get on.

At Trowbridge, Westbury, Frome and Castle Cary the guard made an announcement suggesting to people boarding they'd be best off waiting for the HST. I didn't see anyone get off. He didn't bother at Yeovil, presumably realising it was futile, although a few people decided to wait on the platform for the next train.
The train ended up being over 20 minutes late by Dorchester due almost entirely due to the increased boarding time at every station. The air con in the saloons remained working but when I got off the temperature in the vestibules was roasting.

The vast majority of travellers were going to Weymouth for the day. Whilst you can't force people to wait for the later train, it certainly seems once people get on they won't get off. It would seem prudent for station announcers to make it very clear to passengers the sensible option is to wait, although in fairness I don't know whether they were or not. In addition station staff might want to make themselves known on a station platform relaying this. There were large crowds at each of Trowbridge, Westbury, Frome, Castle Cary and Yeovil waiting to board and I believe all are staffed on a Saturday morning.

In addition FGW (First Great Western) might want to consider increasing publicity about the HST if they can. I did see a poster advertising it at Frome, but haven't seen anything at Temple Meads as yet. I appreciate it's only 1 return train a week, but it can't do FGW any good to have a late running 0839 where it's physically impossible for the guard to check and sell tickets. Given it's not high peak season yet, it seems likely this scenario is likely to be repeated every sunny Saturday until September.

I haven't written the above to moan at the service (and I thought the guard did as well as he could in awkward circumstances) but just to point out people may need more 'encouragement' to do the sensible thing and use the HST. Of course if that was busy as well, then the only option may be to strengthen the 0839 to 5 coaches (which probably isn't practical.
32  All across the Great Western territory / Fare's Fair / Re: Bristol - Newcastle 3/4 May and Bristol - Edinburgh 25/27 April on: February 16, 2014, 22:38:38
Many thanks for that. Not very logical pricing but certainly not unusual. I'll consult with my people ASAP for the first one and see what I can do with the second - as you say those prices probably won't last long!

Cheers again.
33  All across the Great Western territory / Fare's Fair / Bristol - Newcastle 3/4 May and Bristol - Edinburgh 25/27 April on: February 16, 2014, 19:02:47
Hi All

I've always considered myself pretty good at getting a cheap deal on the railways but I pale in comparison to some on this forum. I'm trying to buy tickets for the above return trips on the above dates as cheaply as possible. 3 people going to Newcastle who need to be in Hartlepool by around 2:30pm on the Saturday (if necessary we could go to Hartlepool first and on to Newcastle later). Flexible on the Sunday. The Edinburgh trip is also flexible with regard to time.

XC (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) appear to have their cheapest NCL ticket as ^70 each way, making a not particularly reasonable ^140 total, given the off-peak return is ^144 - 2.8% off for no flexibility. Due to engineering works of some kind the journey is an hourly longer so it's slightly quicker via London. The cheapest deal I can find is a Groupsave 3 return from Bristol to Paddington at ^35 each and then advance tickets at ^37 on the Saturday (arriving 1340, although we could arrive at 1237 for ^48) and ^27 on the Sunday on East Coast from King's Cross. So round about ^100. We only paid ^60 each for the same trip on the same weekend 4 years ago. The joys of inflation...

For Edinburgh it seems again to be slightly cheaper via London but likely to be in the region of ^120.

Also looked at planes from Nembnett Thrubwell/Adge Cutler International with Easy jet for both weekends but they're no cheaper unless we want to travel earlier or later, with the additional accommodation cost that brings.

If anyone thinks they can find anything cheaper, I'll be extremely impressed! Thanks for any help anyone can provide.


On a side note, it always surprises me XC advance singles for many trains are only slightly less than an off-peak return (and often more expensive than splitting tickets if you're doing an off-peak day return). Given they're always pushing people to buy tickets from their website online so they keep all the revenue rather than having to split non-advance tickets, I'd assume they'd make it more attractive to do so. I know many of their trains are sufficiently overcrowded they don't need any more passengers but I regularly use Bristol - Exeter on weekends and apart from during the school holidays, trains are rarely even 75% full, yet their advance tickets rarely ever tempt me to buy one over a flexible off-peak return. As the primary express operator between the two cities (off-peak anyway) I'm surprised they don't offer cheaper advance tickets.
34  Journey by Journey / London to the West / Re: Whiteball Tunnel blockade - January / February 2014 on: February 03, 2014, 22:38:07
I've just seen on another someone referring to the Exeter - London via Honiton route as 'The Mule'. Anyone know the origin of this nickname for the West of England Main Line?


My understanding is that the nickname derives from the days when the line was mostly jointed track. At speed trains would make a 'clip-clop' noise running over the joints which sounded like a mule clopping along. As most of the jointed track was replaced around 20 years ago with continuously welded rail it's somewhat less obvious now. The Barnstaple branch and Heart of Wessex lines are the main outposts round here for trains running at speed on long stretches of jointed track.

Incidentally Taunton - Reading is known as 'The Desert' - I think this is due to the fact that it doesn't really pass through anywhere substantial for most of its length until you get towards Newbury, since it bypasses Frome and Westbury - but I could be wrong about that.

35  Journey by Journey / South Western services / Re: Top award for Axminster railway station on: March 04, 2013, 01:10:25
I've wondered about the change myself. From the signs it appears that all trains now run on the left-hand side except for a handful of specified up services which use the down platform at the beginning and end of the day (up and down in the conventional sense). I don't think there are now any down services using the up platform.

The reason given on the notices which went up in December before the change was 'to improve timekeeping'. I'm certain the points at either end of the loop haven't moved - both due to deceleration by the train coming into the loop and the movement of the train entering and leaving the loop, although I've only travelled over the London end of the loop once since the change.

I can only assume that it may be due to confusing passengers since left-hand running is the rule across the network. I can't see what other reason there would be.
36  Journey by Journey / London to the West / Re: News article on main line to the south west on: February 27, 2013, 20:19:16
As I've said before, the Heathfield route was a single track branch line route with so little local traffic potential it closed in 1958, long before Beeching. Plus the half mile long Perridge tunnel has collapsed. Reopening it as part of a main line route? It's a total non-starter.

The idea of an alternate inland route from Exeter to Newton Abbot might have potential. Although any attempt to significantly reduce journey times via this route wouldn't work on its own. The 20 mile Exeter-Newton Abbot can be done in 18 minutes by Voyager and 20 by HST (High Speed Train). The 32 mile NAbbot Plymouth section takes a minimum 36 minutes by Voyager, a HST at least 40 minutes. Unless that section of route was also significantly upgraded, journey times will never be much below an hour at best.

The Tavistock route is never going to be the primary route for dempgraphic reasons. It passes through Crediton, Okehampton and Tavistock, three small-ish market towns, which aren't really railheads for any other towns (Okehampton potentially Bude and Holsworthy at a push I suppose). The Dawlish route serves the larger town of Newton Abbot which also acts as a railhead for the Torbay area in conjunction with Totnes, which also acts as a railhead for the affluent South Hams. In addition you've got towns at Dawlish, Teignmouth and Ivybridge which are cumulatively larger than the three on the old LSWR (London South Western Railway) route.

The Tavistock route could complement the GWR (Great Western Railway) route and be useful for diversions but it'll never become the primary route to Cornwall.
37  Journey by Journey / South Western services / Re: No local knowledge apparently on: January 30, 2013, 20:26:05
Having lived in Bristol for a few years, the description 'one of the warmest and sunniest cities in the UK (United Kingdom)' does not come to mind. Certainly it's comparatively mild in winter, but given the amount of grey cloud coming off the Bristol Channel to dump its load, sunniest does not come to mind.

I'm equally puzzled as to why the Clifton Suspension Bridge has been moved into the centre. Bit of a folly really.
38  All across the Great Western territory / Media about railways, and other means of transport / Re: New railway series on BBC2 - Locomotion - Dan Snow's History of railways on: January 22, 2013, 23:23:17
I did like the fact that in tonight's episode talk of Mr Peto taking railway technology to the land across the Atlantic featured a view of the Isle of Wight from Old Harry Rocks in Dorset for no apparent reason. The first time I've ever seen the USA compared to the isle across the Solent.
39  All across the Great Western territory / Across the West / Re: Mass disruption due to flooding - December 2012 on: January 14, 2013, 19:40:19
Just for clarification I was referring to the second period around Christmas when the SWT (South West Trains) route remained open throughout, which would have been far busier than the one in November. I wasn't suggesting that FGW (First Great Western) passengers should all have been directed onto that route or that more trains should have been run, but was commenting that it was interesting how the local media seemed to present it as the south west being completely blocked off when it would be more accurate to state the main route was closed but the other route was still open. It reminded me of how if you read the national press during periods of snow and ice when third rail lines are struggling, you'd believe the entire network was affected even when the rest of it's still functioning fine.

As it was, plenty of people did find out about this and I believe SWT services were often extremely full so diverting all London passengers would probably have been a tad tricky to say the least.

I travelled from Bristol-Exeter during the first closure and Bristol-Axminster during the second (rapidly changed from via Exeter to via Salisbury to via Yeovil stations). The only experience I had which I suspect would have prejudiced the view of irregular passengers about the railways was getting from Exeter to Tiverton Parkway by bus on the first trip just in time for the HST (High Speed Train) in the platform to pull out as everyone was getting off the bus. Needless to say the station staff got some abuse from a few people for that one regardless of the fact it wasn't their decision. Fortunately the next train pulled in a few minutes later and even though it wasn't going anywhere for 40 minutes, it was more comfortable than anywhere else in the vicinity.
40  All across the Great Western territory / Across the West / Re: Mass disruption due to flooding - December 2012 on: January 13, 2013, 22:17:04
They weren't actually cut off the second time anyway as the Waterloo route remained open - although not so useful for people coming from Bristol or the north. There didn't seem to be many announcements in the media that you could still get from London to Exeter by train without a change, although I believe that Waterloo services were sufficiently busy anyway that directing everyone that way would have severely overloaded things. FGW (First Great Western) seemed to deal with it like split ticketing - if you ask we'll tell you, but you have to ask. Whilst the Waterloo route takes around 3h15m to Exeter and the Paddington route is 2h20m on average (variable), the time taken on a bus from Taunton to Exeter (particularly getting in and out of the urban areas) coupled with the inconvenience of changing would probably have persuaded most people to swamp the Waterloo route if it was advertised more.

I believe crosscountry trains (the route not the company) used to run Exeter-Yeovil-Castle Cary-Westbury-Bristol in the past when engineering work dictated, but I assume XC (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) haven't got the route knowledge to run that way even if they wanted to - and it would probably take longer that a bus link from Exeter to Taunton.
41  All across the Great Western territory / Across the West / Re: Mass disruption due to flooding - December 2012 on: December 23, 2012, 18:48:37
There's the same quantity of standard class accommodation in a 6 car 159 as an 8 car HST (High Speed Train) - 5 carriages (4 and 2 halves to be precise), although First Class is down to 2 half carriages and there's no buffet.

If they have sufficient stock then you can run 9 carriage trains, increasing standard accommodation to 7.5 carriages. However the last 3 carriages wouldn't be able to be platformed between Exeter Central and Salisbury. I suppose it might be possible to direct local passengers to the front 6 coaches and long distance FGW (First Great Western) passengers to the back 3.

Any 3 coach trains out of Exeter towards Waterloo between 3.30pm and 6 used to often be full and standing, particularly on a Friday or Saturday. However the hourly service may have helped reduce this as there's now more services available.
42  Journey by Journey / London to the West / Re: Dawlish and Dawlish Warren sea defences - ongoing concerns and issues discussion on: December 04, 2012, 22:06:02
As I've posted before, there's almost zero chance of the Teign Valley line reopening as:
a) It was a single track branch line built on a low budget and the infrastructure - including two tunnels, one nearly half a mile long, reflects that;
b) It would barely generate any local traffic when not used for diversions - it closed in 1958, 5 years before Beeching, due to lack of use;
c) The half mile tunnel at Perridge has collapsed and the BRB(resolve) have permission to infill it, though they haven't yet.

Given that it wouldn't be suitable for fast running and would require major work just to restore a single track tunnel, I can't see it. Given the lack of political will to do anything about the slow speeds west of Newton Abbot it hardly seems a viable solution as diverted trains would probably take longer than a rail replacement bus. Any inland route would really have to be a new one. If the old GWR (Great Western Railway) plan of the 1930s was viable it would seem the best bet to take advantage of the fast running along the Exe and the Teign.
43  All across the Great Western territory / Across the West / Re: Mass disruption due to flooding - December 2012 on: November 26, 2012, 20:19:06
Well Exeter's about to be reconnected in one direction:

http://www.southwesttrains.co.uk/alerts.aspx

Wonder if they've got enough units to run 9 car services? I suspect Great Western passengers may want to make use. I know that barely any platforms can accomodate more than 6, but SDO (Selective Door Opening) means it shouldn't be a problem. I've been on a 9 car late night service going back to Salisbury where only the front 3 were in passenger use, so I assume there's no infrastructure problems running them.
44  All across the Great Western territory / Fare's Fair / Re: I'm a little confused when buying train tickets ... on: November 04, 2012, 12:47:06
I'm surprised Axminster-Bath is 34.50, as a journey I frequently make, Axminster-Bristol TM(resolve), is 'only' ^25.90 SVR. It's valid on any permitted route - via Exeter, Yeovil and Castle Cary or Salisbury. The route via Exeter is fastest if you get a good connection at Exeter, but there's only a few a day (you'd need a Manchester rather than Edinburgh service) and it's normally a 40 minute wait. Otherwise there's not much in it with the Salisbury route. If you're going to Bath though you'd need to go via Salisbury or you'd need to buy another ticket.
45  All across the Great Western territory / Across the West / Re: "The InterCity 125: The Age of the Train" BBC Four 9pm 13/09/2012 on: September 14, 2012, 21:08:37
A good programme, but I did get annoyed by the fact that the facts about the APT (Advanced Passenger Train) were tailored to the story of 'HST (High Speed Train) good, APT bad'. The APT ran as a scheduled service in 1984, whereas it was implied it was quickly scrapped after the bad press of December 1981 (it wasn't mentioned that it was the coldest winter for many years, which impacted badly on the brakes). It probably could have been developed into BR (British Rail(ways))'s idea of a 'squadron' but the political will had gone. It also had the problem that 155mph running isn't much good if other trains ahead of you are only doing 110mph. Plus I'm sure the rivalry with the HST engineers existed, but the APT was entirely dependent on the government funding electrification across the country, something they've historically been very reluctant to do in case high speed trains can be powered by another source by the time electrification is complete (not yet and it doesn't look likely).

Anyway, a good programme other than the sniping at the APT.
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