Some time ago, I was considering starting a similar forum for Southern & SWT▸ services (not affiliated with SHRUG in any way). However, I didn't feel that I would be able to drum up enough demand.
After all, a forum is nothing without active members.
Are there decent forums dedicated to south west trains as this one is to great western?
The quick answer to "do you know of a similar forum to this which is active, for South West trains" is "no, I don't". But let me try and be a bit more constuctive.
This forum was set up in a set of circumstances specific to First Great Western - see
here. Other forums were set up too at the time, not only in relation to
FGW▸ but also to specific lines of othere Train Operating Companies. Few of the forums took off quickly - indeed if you look at our stats
here, you'll see that there were days that we too only had a handful of posts throughout 2007. However, we've obviously done something right as since then we've been averaging around 40 posts a day. Behind the scenes, it's notable how our reader figures have increased, but our posting rate is largely level, and I think that's because so many questions have been answered and our moderators have done a good job in keeping the answers categorised that we've become a reference resource, and recommended reading too, for some.
We are still working through the issues that arose when the forum was being set up (no short term solution here), and they still generate interest too. I was out buying dogfood at lunch time, and the lady in the store mentioned seeing me on the box the other week and wanted to talk trains, with issues such as the impossibility of finding a train from our local station at the time she wants to travel, and finding tickets she can afford. Taking her husband and her two children (too old for child reductions) to London for a day out, the web site quotes here 584.00, Melksham to Paddington, for 8 hours in the capital. From Chippenham, they can travel after the peak and pay just 93.00 ...
We're not alone in having bizarre ticket pricing and some very strange services that give rise to the question
"but WHY?" in this town (though we may have more here in this town than any other town served by FGW), and the forum runs on and is active. But - I don't know - is it the same elsewhere / under other franchises? I suspect that at times it is.
You'll find that there's already a tacit welcome to South Wales posts (Arriva Trains) in the South Wales board, and I would be happy - subject to moderator's team approval - to add a board covering neighbouring and overlapping franchises - SWT, Chiltern, Cross Country and Arriva Trains Wales - if there's the interest. The URL will be a bit odd, mind you ...
Let me stop there. It's the start of a discussion.
