Smart flyer.. As Graham says, guests and new members welcome and hopefully trains will be running on time!

Our next public meeting will be at 7:00pm on Tuesday 11th September 2018 at the Civic Centre in Warminster. Our speaker will be Matt Barnes, GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) Regional Development Manager, who will be giving a talk entitled 'GWR to a New Franchise'.

The group is now under new management! - do please come along to hear GWR's plans and ask questions. Further details on our website www.wwrug.org.uk


Edit to add to calendar - GrahamE

Your comment noted. It's probably not deliberate - could just have been a time constraint as many speakers have to catch a train home? The group does welcome visitors, and some could even join as members. You don't have to live in West Wilts - just have an interest in improving the rail service! Apparently the 230's are only proposed for the initial Taunton to Swindon service, when the service is extended to Nuneaton the proposal is to acquire CAF Civity DMUs^▸ (Diesel Multiple Unit).

Thank you for posting this Grahame - not much I can add! To quote from the website: "Our next public meeting, our AGM^▸ (Annual General Meeting), will be at 7:00pm on Thursday 22nd March 2018 in the coach house of the Swan hotel, Bradford-on-Avon. Formalities will be kept brief and will be followed by a talk by guest speaker Alex Lawrie of "Go-Op" co-operative. Go-Op have aspirations to run an open access train service from Taunton to Nuneaton via Westbury, Trowbridge, Melksham and Chippenham" - I understand using Vivarail class 230 DEMUs^▸ (Diesel Electric Multiple Unit). Our last few public meetings haven't been particularly well attended, so do please come along to hear about this interesting new development for West Wiltshire!

Date for West Wiltshire Rail Users Group AGM^▸ (Annual General Meeting) - to be followed by talk by Nick Read which will cover arrangements for the early April Bristol to Bath line closure - is 16th March 2016. Venue once again is to be the coach house of the Swan hotel in Bradford-on-Avon.

Thanks to Graham for posting this in plenty of time for the next meeting. Just an update on this - and quoting from the WWRUG^» (West Wiltshire Rail Users Group - about) website:

"Our next public meeting will be at 7:00pm on Wednesday 20th January 2016 at Trowbridge Town Hall. The speaker will be Phil Dominey, stakeholder relations manager for business development for South West Trains. In a change to the advertised subject (on the flyers) - due to Phil's involvement in preparing Stagecoach's bid for the new South Western rail franchise he will not be able to speak about South West Train's current services or their proposals for the new franchise due to confidentiality. Instead, he will give us a talk on the process of bidding for a rail franchise which will give us an insight into this process which forms a key part in the operation of the privatised railway."

So, unfortunately no questions about SWT^▸ (South West Trains) service provisions at this meeting - but still come along and learn all about franchising!

The next public meeting of the West Wiltshire Rail Users Group will be at 7:00pm on Wednesday 25th November 2015 at the Civic Centre in Warminster. The speaker will be Matthew Collins, Operational Standards Manager, Central Region, for Great Western Railway. The talk is entitled "I want to be an Engine Driver". The Civic Centre is situated near Morrisons supermarket in the town centre and approximately 15 minutes walk from the station. The address is Sambourne Road, Warminster, Wilts, BA12 8LB. Further details and a copy of the flyer for the talk can be found on the website at www.wwrug.org.uk

On 24th March 2015 the West Wiltshire Rail Users Group are holding their AGM^▸ (Annual General Meeting) - which is normally kept brief and followed by a talk by Methodist minister, Rev David Hardy who is a railway chaplain living in Bristol. His talk entitled "Some confessions of a Railway Chaplain^ will be about the work of the railway chaplaincy. Also, being a keen photographer there should be some railway slides taken in the greater Bristol area. The venue for the AGM is the coach house at the Swan Hotel in Bradford-on-Avon. Coffee / tea served from 7pm for a 7.30pm start.
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Further details include train times to / from the venue are detailed on the flyer which is on the website: www.wwrug.org.uk.


Many thanks - I have linked that to our calendar too - Graham

Next meeting of West Wiltshire Rail Users Group is next Thursday 29th January at Bridge House in Trowbridge. Speakers from Network Rail and FGW^▸ (First Great Western) - subject is the Great Western Electrification. 7pm for 7.30 start. Further details on the website.

As before all welcome, and refreshments served from 7pm. Meeting held in the main hotel as the coach house (where AGM^▸ (Annual General Meeting) is normally held) is still being dried out following the flooding over Christmas .

You can join by contacting the membership secretary, Rob Brown, on (01225) 864221 or for more information, contact the chairman, Roger Newman on (01225) 762337. All being well, the new website should be up and running in the New Year. Richard.

I've passed this question to the committee and can advise that Melksham is being considered as a venue for future meetings. With five west wilts towns and normally 4 meetings / year it's clearly not going to be possible to hold meetings in all the towns every year - but hopefully Melksham will see its share of meetings in the future. Suits me too, since I work in Melksham! As for future WWRUG^» (West Wiltshire Rail Users Group - about) meetings:

The next meeting of the West Wiltshire Rail Users Group will be on Wednesday 22nd January 2014 at Bridge House, Stallard Street, Trowbridge. Guest speaker will be Dan Okey, Regional Development Manager for First Great Western.

Talk starts at 7.30pm, and coffee is served from 7pm. All are welcome to come along regardless of whether members of WWRUG or not.

Further details, if required, from WWRUG chairman, Roger Newman on Trowbridge (01225) 762337.

Looking further ahead, the AGM^▸ (Annual General Meeting) is scheduled for Thursday 27th March 2014 and will be at the Swan hotel, Bradford-on-Avon. Guest speaker will be Catherine Phillips from the Heart of Wessex Rail Partnership.

Great to hear that people found the recent talk by Richard Harrington of RAIB^▸ (Rail Accident Investigation Branch) interesting and informative, so here are details of the next WWRUG^» (West Wiltshire Rail Users Group - about) meeting coming up in November!

The next meeting of the West Wiltshire Rail Users Group will be on Thursday 21st November 2013 at Civic Centre, Sambourne Road, Warminster, BA12 8LB. Guest speaker will be Ian Mundy, Publications Manager for First Great Western.

Talk starts at 7.30pm, and coffee is served from 7pm. All are welcome to come along regardless of whether members of WWRUG or not. The Civic Centre is in the town centre, next to the car park of Morrisons supermarket. It is within walking distance of Warminster station - allow around 15 minutes.

Further details, if required, from WWRUG chairman, Roger Newman on Trowbridge (01225) 762337.

The next meeting of the West Wiltshire Rail Users Group will be on Wednesday 25th September 2013 at Bridge House, Stallard Street, Trowbridge. Guest speaker will be Richard Harrington, Inspector of Rail Accidents, from the rail accident investigation branch of the Department for Transport.

Talk starts at 7.30pm, and coffee is served from 7pm. All are welcome to come along regardless of whether members of WWRUG^» (West Wiltshire Rail Users Group - about) or not. Bridge House is near Trowbridge railway station - at the top of the steps leading to the town centre.Further details, if required, from WWRUG chairman, Roger Newman on Trowbridge (01225) 762337.

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Edit by Graham I have split this thread off from the previous WWRUG event discussions {here}.

Amongst others I spoke to you! Wasn't a problem getting a ticket 'on the day' for the 09:05, certainly the first car (the 153) had plenty of free seats. I imagine things got busier later as the 16:08 was strengthened to 5 cars! Thanks to Severnside community rail partnership and FGW^▸ (First Great Western) for organising and running these trips - over 25 years since I last had a trip up the branch. Took a bike ride up the gorge after to get some pics and examine the remains of the final 3 miles to Portishead. There is still some track in situ varying from some very good condition flat bottom rail on concrete sleepers, to bullhead on rotten wooden sleepers under the motorway. Lets hope the re-opening goes ahead.