Digital Doris can't count and fibs!

[whole diary]

[thetrout]

Well considering this is my local station, I should chime in...

There is alot to reply to, so I'll try and cover everything based on my personal experiences of the station.

Digital Doris Lying:

Sorry to say, Digital Doris was decommissioned a very long time ago. The new system, ATOS Anne, does often make significant mistakes. It does not cope very well with the few services that Terminate at Frome and reverse. (5 Services per day). ATOS Anne also struggles with coaches being added/removed during the journey, 2x Coaches were booked to be added at Westbury so where entered into ATOS Anne. Problem is this can also update to stations priorto Westbury giving the wrong impression. The same system also can't be trusted to tell you which end of the train has the First Class Coach. This is especially true of CrossCountry Trains to the point, I stand mid way and look for the "Yellow Bar" and don't bother with the announcements. They are often wrong! Regular XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) Passengers adopt a similar method.

Service Pattern:

Frome does indeed have a very random level of service. Sometimes you see trains within 20 minutes of each other, then nothing for 3+ hours. I personally think the late evening services are fairly good. The last train leaving Bath at 23:38 is pretty good in my opinion. Timewise it is also probably the most punctual service on that line. It's one of the few in my list of trains that is guaranteed to be running and highly likely to be on time. There are others I have in my list as likely late runners.

The Sunday service in IMHO^▸ (in my humble opinion) is awful. The First "Bristol bound" train leaves in the Afternoon. Considerably less than ideal and the last return to Frome being 20:49 (Bristol Temple Meads - Weymouth Train). Not great really.

This is why I no longer bother coming back on from Southend on a Sunday because of the sparse level of service in the evening. I would often when I was on PAYE and working 09:00 - 17:00 Catch the 04:Something from Chalkwell - Westbury in order to get to work for 09:30 on the Monday Morning. That is how much I detested the Sunday Service. Now I come back normally on the 10:30 PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains) - BRI^» (Bristol Temple Meads - next trains) Train which has the Travelling Chef. Being Self Employed I can often work onboard that train with pretty good 3G/4G signal, Breakfast and without too many problems.

The service could be improved. Not necessarily by extra services. But amending the provision of the existing service to offer a more clock face based timetable. Take a look at the "Off Peak Services" so to speak. The first Off-Peak Service to Bath Spa / Bristol Temple Meads is at 10:18 (From memory). The first Off Peak Bus that accepts ENCTS^▸ (English National Concessionary Travel Scheme) Passes from Frome is the 09:38 Frome - Chippenham. The first Off Peak Bus to Bath is at 09:09. This arrives in Bath before the first Off Peak Train Service leaves Frome! So which are those who have both an ENCTS Pass and a Railcard going to choose??

Access to the station:

We used to have a good Bus service to Frome Station. The First Bus decided it's 234 was to revert back to the previous route and run to Sainsburys via The Butts. (A route served also by the 161, 184 and X34 Services) Now were after left with the 53 Frome - Warminster Bus Service which only serves the station in 1 Direction. The stop is rather inconspicuous and leaves you crossing a busy road. The bus route only serves the station in 1 direction and is not suited to passengers with mobility difficulties or heavy/bulky luggage... The bus service operated by Frome Minibuses also does not link with the Train Service too well either. Any times it does is entirely by chance.

From the town centre - railway station, it can be walked in just short of 10 minutes. It's an easier to walk from the station to town as it is mostly downhill. A Taxi from the Town Centre Taxi Rank - Station will set you back around ^4.00 on Normal Time.

I too am guilty of having to get a Taxi from Frome - Trowbridge/Westbury/Bath Spa because the train service is not suited to my travel requirements. That costs me ^15.00, ^12.00 and ^25.00 retrospectively. This is a regular customer discount rate however. My Taxi Fare from Frome -  Bath Spa Station often costs MORE than my First Advance to Southend Victoria. I must stress however that if I was charged the normal rate I would be looking at ^60.00 in Taxi Fares as I normally Taxi to Bath Spa on a Saturday Morning at around 03:30AM, which is Double Time. Then wait in McDonalds for the 05:43 to London Paddington

I also use buses which are frequent enough from Frome - Trowbridge and Frome - Bath to connect into High Speed Services to Bristol/Taunton/London etc.

I envy those who can drive to Westbury and pay a few quid to park when I am faced with a Taxi to a station with increased service. It this type of situation which really shows the disadvantages of Public Transport. I am not expecting a perfect service, far from it infact. But I do agree that if the service was clock face and had the right connections to the station by buses/taxi share etc then more would be encouraged to use it and it could sustain itself. Unlike those who have a car, I have to make the best of what is essentially the situation I am found in. I won't say it's a bad situation as it could be ALOT worse! Denton springs to mind... I can't say Melksham anymore!

Finally, The TVM^▸ (Ticket Vending Machine) at the station (Ticket Machine) is MORE than temperamental and frequently breaks down. It also doesn't take cash.

[phile]

Obviously nobody told ATOS Anne otherwise.   Another point.  I was aiting at Westbury recently and it was announced the 13 08 Weymouth to Gloucester consisted of 4 coaches but it arrived with only 2.     It is booked for 4 but only forward from Bristol T.M.

[brooklea]

The Sunday service in IMHO^▸ (in my humble opinion) is awful. The First "Bristol bound" train leaves in the Afternoon. Considerably less than ideal and the last return to Frome being 20:49 (Bristol Temple Meads - Weymouth Train). Not great really.

I quite agree with you thetrout that the Sunday service at Frome is poor, although not quite as bad as you suggest - the first train to Bristol leaves at 0925 (0939 from 8th December). Granted, miss that and it's almost a six hour wait for the next one.........

Some good news for any Christmas shoppers is that an additional train is running to Bristol leaving at 1101 for the next three Sundays 

[thetrout]

My Bad... I was thinking of Bruton and the 15:08 service which is then the 15:21 from Frome. I forgot about the 09:39 which starts at Frome IIRC^▸ (if I recall/remember/read correctly)?!

So yes... A gap of well over 5 hours!! That makes the evening gap for return services to Frome look small. That gap is just over 3 hours! 17:43 and 20:49 from Bristol Temple Meads both to Weymouth call at Frome. The 20:49 is also the last service to Frome from the North end of the Heart of Wessex (HoW^‡(resolve)) line and also the last Sunday train of the day.

Monday - Friday the last train from Bristol Temple Meads to Frome being 23:20 (2C36) and Saturday slightly EARLIER at 23:11 (2C38)

Why FGW^▸ (First Great Western) don't keep that train consistent Monday - Saturday I'll never know. It catches an awful lot of people out, myself included... Annoyingly the earlier trains run mostly the same times as the weekday service...

Saturday is also the busiest day for this service and is rarely more than 2 Coaches. Often a Class 150/1 with a seating layout totally unsuitable HoW services

Weekdays is usually a 3 Coach Class 158 with a couple of units locked out of use as part of a stock me.

[grahame]

So yes... A gap of well over 5 hours!! That makes the evening gap for return services to Frome look small. That gap is just over 3 hours!

I quite agree with you thetrout that the Sunday service at Frome is poor, although not quite as bad as you suggest - the first train to Bristol leaves at 0925 (0939 from 8th December). Granted, miss that and it's almost a six hour wait for the next one.........

Some good news for any Christmas shoppers is that an additional train is running to Bristol leaving at 1101 for the next three Sundays 

I'm noticing that the new TransWilts service on a Sunday has a significant layover / turn around time at Westbury, and should the 11:38 from Swindon run through to Frome, and the 13:32 from Westbury to Swindon start back from Frome in a future timetable, a gap will usefully be filled and there might be a bit of traffic generated by an otherwise idle unit.  Of course, I can't speak for driver rest periods, track availability on the main line, whether the crew would get bored waiting around in Frome, etc ... but the Heart of Wessex folks might like to ask.

[rogerpatenall]

It's all part of a big, complex equation. I can remember glowing press reports of the early success of Southampton Parkway, (and to a lesser extent, Bristol Parkway) based on passenger numbers. But a large proportion at both were believed to be passengers extracted from further west travelling at a lesser fare to London and beyond. Paradoxically, Frome probably doesn't fall into that profile. . . But it really makes no sense stopping WofE trains at both Westbury and Frome.

[Lee]

So yes... A gap of well over 5 hours!! That makes the evening gap for return services to Frome look small. That gap is just over 3 hours!

I quite agree with you thetrout that the Sunday service at Frome is poor, although not quite as bad as you suggest - the first train to Bristol leaves at 0925 (0939 from 8th December). Granted, miss that and it's almost a six hour wait for the next one.........

Some good news for any Christmas shoppers is that an additional train is running to Bristol leaving at 1101 for the next three Sundays 

I'm noticing that the new TransWilts service on a Sunday has a significant layover / turn around time at Westbury, and should the 11:38 from Swindon run through to Frome, and the 13:32 from Westbury to Swindon start back from Frome in a future timetable, a gap will usefully be filled and there might be a bit of traffic generated by an otherwise idle unit.  Of course, I can't speak for driver rest periods, track availability on the main line, whether the crew would get bored waiting around in Frome, etc ... but the Heart of Wessex folks might like to ask.

Other operational issues not withstanding, perhaps running through to Castle Cary might address the crew boredom issue.

On the outward journey, this could potentially provide connections from Frome/Bruton towards Taunton, Exeter & Paignton by changing onto the 1324 at Castle Cary.

On the return journey, this could potentially provide connections from Penzance, Plymouth, Exeter & Taunton to Frome/Bruton by changing from the 1232 arrival at Castle Cary. Also, connections from Frome/Bruton towards Reading/London could potentially be provided onto the 1354 at Westbury.

Of course, find a way of adding a stop at Westbury in the 1057 London-Penzance service, and you could potentially end up with a "full house" of Frome/Bruton connections. Whether one would want to push one's luck that far, though...

[grahame]

Of course, I can't speak for driver rest periods ...

I understand that on the current driver rotas, it's the lunch break, and it would be very tight to get to Frome and back and have the required stop for lunch in the rota ... so on that basis, Castle Cary would cut into the minimum mid shift break.  Not to say rotas couldn't be changed, I suppose, but on a Sunday morning ...