Boardmasters etc

[whole diary]

[Kernowman]

From the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) website:

To better serve customers for Falmouth Week and Boardmasters in
Newquay, we have made a number of changes to our train service.
Wednesday 11 and Thursday 12 August
• All trains between Par and Newquay from 0818 to 1914 are replaced by buses
• 4 extra trains will run from Plymouth and Par to Newquay
• On 11 August only, 0637 London Paddington to Penzance terminate at
Plymouth. This connects with an additional 0945 Plymouth to Penzance
• 0904 London Paddington to Plymouth no longer calls at Totnes
• 1004 London Paddington to Penzance terminate at Plymouth
• 1736 London Paddington to Plymouth does not run
• 1804 London Paddington to Penzance calls additionally at Castle Cary
• 1412 Paignton to London Paddington starts earlier from Paignton at 1336
• 1215 Penzance to London Paddington terminates at Plymouth. This connects
with an additional 1415 Plymouth to London Paddington
• 1615 Penzance to London Paddington starts at Par at 1717
• On 11 August only, Falmouth Town station is closed all day. Customers should
use Falmouth Docks instead
Friday 13 August
• All trains between Par and Newquay from 0818 to 1719 are replaced by buses
• 3 extra trains will run from Plymouth and Par to Newquay
• 0904 London Paddington to Plymouth no longer calls at Totnes
• 1736 London Paddington to Plymouth does not run
• 1804 London Paddignton to Penzance calls additionally at Castle Cary
• 1412 Paignton to London Paddington starts earlier from Paignton at 1336
Monday 16 August
• All trains between Par and Newquay from 0712 to 2021 are replaced by buses
• Additional trains run from Newquay to London Paddington at 0835, 1032,
1231, 1419 and 1631. An additional train also runs to Plymouth at 1758
• 0457 Plymouth to Gunnislake is replaced with a bus
• 0540 Plymouth to Penzance does not run
• 0542 Gunnislake to Plymouth is replaced with a bus
• 0637, 0804 and 1004 London Paddington to Penzance all terminate
at Plymouth
• 0712 Plymouth to Penzance is replaced by an additional 0715 train run by
CrossCountry and runs non-stop Plymouth to Liskeard
• 0815, 1015, 1215, 1415 and 1615 Penzance to London Paddington do not run.
Alternative services run from Penzance to Plymouth, where customers can
change into direct services to London Paddington
• 0945 Plymouth to Penzance runs additionally
• 1030 Penzance to Plymouth is an additional train run by CrossCountry
• 1225 Penzance to Par runs additionally
• 1404 Par to Penzance runs additionally
• 1515 Penzance to Plymouth departs at 1520 and terminates at Par
• 1615 Penzance to Plymouth runs additionally
Other service changes may be made at short notice

[CyclingSid]

Which of these will accept boards???

[TaplowGreen]

Which of these will accept boards???

It's a round figure 

[grahame]

Which of these will accept boards???

It's a round figure 

Does it strike you as ironic that the usual trains running to Newquay, on which surfboards can be carried, are replaced by trains that they are not allowed onto for the main arrival and departure times for Boardmasters?

[TaplowGreen]

Which of these will accept boards???

It's a round figure 

Does it strike you as ironic that the usual trains running to Newquay, on which surfboards can be carried, are replaced by trains that they are not allowed onto for the main arrival and departure times for Boardmasters?

Ironic is one word for it.

[Clan Line]

From the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) website:

To better serve customers for Falmouth Week and Boardmasters in
Newquay, we have made a number of changes to our train service.

As soon as I read that I just knew what was to follow ...................just like my local Barclays........"to provide a better service, we are closing this branch".

[eightonedee]

As the late Eric Morecambe would have said "it's the way you tell them"

This must take a prize for failing to communicate clearly. It starts by saying that they are trying to serve two popular events and then seems to largely be a list of cancellations!

How many would get no further than

All trains between Par and Newquay from 0818 to 1914 are replaced by buses

, assuming that the line has been closed, and you cannot get to Newquay by train?

Then there's 

4 extra trains will run from Plymouth and Par to Newquay

. Extra above what? You have just told the confused punters that there are no trains between Par and Newquay. Presumably what they mean to say is that trains will be running all the way from Plymouth to Newquay instead of just starting at Par. For heaven's sake say so, and why not give the departure times as well. It looks like a classic case of railway industry mentality "ooh, no Newquay branch trains today" was clearly at the front of the mind of the person who put this together without giving a moment's thought to how what they had just written looks to the uninitiated in the context of a revised service. 

And presumably those trains will go back from Newquay to Plymouth? It's not clear, and not something either the infrequent or  experienced traveller could be confident about.

Then there's the confusing list of alterations between Penzance and Plymouth. Surely a simple statement that a number of through services to and from Penzance will be replaced by services between London and Plymouth and between Plymouth and Penzance might give some re-assurance to passengers that this is not a butchery of the time table.

And why are random announcements about a Paignton train and buses replacing trains to Gunnislake buried in the middle of these Boardmaster and Falmouth related changes? 

[Lee]

As the late Eric Morecambe would have said "it's the way you tell them" 

"We're running all the right trains, but not necessarily in the right order..."

[grahame]

As the late Eric Morecambe would have said "it's the way you tell them" 

"We're running all the right trains, but not necessarily in the right order..."

Ah ... do you remember "We've only run half the trains today [one], but it was twice the normal length so I don't know what you're complaining about".     To note - historic; don't see that reason being seen as reasonable by the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) team today!

[eXPassenger]

As the late Eric Morecambe would have said "it's the way you tell them"

This must take a prize for failing to communicate clearly. It starts by saying that they are trying to serve two popular events and then seems to largely be a list of cancellations!

How many would get no further than

All trains between Par and Newquay from 0818 to 1914 are replaced by buses

, assuming that the line has been closed, and you cannot get to Newquay by train?

Then there's 

4 extra trains will run from Plymouth and Par to Newquay

. Extra above what? You have just told the confused punters that there are no trains between Par and Newquay. Presumably what they mean to say is that trains will be running all the way from Plymouth to Newquay instead of just starting at Par. For heaven's sake say so, and why not give the departure times as well. It looks like a classic case of railway industry mentality "ooh, no Newquay branch trains today" was clearly at the front of the mind of the person who put this together without giving a moment's thought to how what they had just written looks to the uninitiated in the context of a revised service. 

And presumably those trains will go back from Newquay to Plymouth? It's not clear, and not something either the infrequent or  experienced traveller could be confident about.

Then there's the confusing list of alterations between Penzance and Plymouth. Surely a simple statement that a number of through services to and from Penzance will be replaced by services between London and Plymouth and between Plymouth and Penzance might give some re-assurance to passengers that this is not a butchery of the time table.

And why are random announcements about a Paignton train and buses replacing trains to Gunnislake buried in the middle of these Boardmaster and Falmouth related changes? 

That was my thought as well and I checked the wording on the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) site in case the wording was a spoof.

[LiskeardRich]

As the late Eric Morecambe would have said "it's the way you tell them"

This must take a prize for failing to communicate clearly. It starts by saying that they are trying to serve two popular events and then seems to largely be a list of cancellations!

How many would get no further than

All trains between Par and Newquay from 0818 to 1914 are replaced by buses

, assuming that the line has been closed, and you cannot get to Newquay by train?

Then there's 

4 extra trains will run from Plymouth and Par to Newquay

. Extra above what? You have just told the confused punters that there are no trains between Par and Newquay. Presumably what they mean to say is that trains will be running all the way from Plymouth to Newquay instead of just starting at Par. For heaven's sake say so, and why not give the departure times as well. It looks like a classic case of railway industry mentality "ooh, no Newquay branch trains today" was clearly at the front of the mind of the person who put this together without giving a moment's thought to how what they had just written looks to the uninitiated in the context of a revised service. 

And presumably those trains will go back from Newquay to Plymouth? It's not clear, and not something either the infrequent or  experienced traveller could be confident about.

Then there's the confusing list of alterations between Penzance and Plymouth. Surely a simple statement that a number of through services to and from Penzance will be replaced by services between London and Plymouth and between Plymouth and Penzance might give some re-assurance to passengers that this is not a butchery of the time table.

And why are random announcements about a Paignton train and buses replacing trains to Gunnislake buried in the middle of these Boardmaster and Falmouth related changes? 

Presumably the Plymouth to Newquay services aren’t serving the intermediate stations? So cancelled at those stations?

[grahame]

It becomes clearer - for those of us who are used to reading operational stuff - via Real Time Trains.  For next Monday, for example:



It looks like through London to Penzance trains are terminating for the most part at Plymouth, passengers having to transfer I suspect to 4 car trains which would normally be running Cardiff - Plymouth - Penzance services.   There's a couple of trains saved there with the cut back to Bristol at the moment.

I think that some of our members who feel that a five carriage train is too short for long distance journeys may be even less happy with a four car train, but in the great scheme of things those four carriage thingummies are quite nice.

[ellendune]

Is there some big event at Luxulyan next week?

[Kernowman]

Monday 16 August
• 0457 Plymouth to Gunnislake is replaced with a bus
• 0542 Gunnislake to Plymouth is replaced with a bus

The route will be interesting, I wonder if it's an amphibious bus?!

Btw for those interested, the Cornwall Railway Society website is reporting that the 06.20 Plymouth - Penzance and 09.25 Penzance - Edinburgh has been a Cross Country HST^▸ (High Speed Train) all week instead of the usual Voyager.

[grahame]

Monday 16 August
• 0457 Plymouth to Gunnislake is replaced with a bus
• 0542 Gunnislake to Plymouth is replaced with a bus

The route will be interesting, I wonder if it's an amphibious bus?!

Appears to be two buses - Plymouth to Calstock via Gunnislake and Plymouth to Bere Ferrers via Bere Alston, same in reverse.  Intermediate traffic probably light.