Trains from Exmouth to Wales.

[whole diary]

[grahame]

Posting in "Shorter journeys in Devon" but that's not so much a shorter journey.

20:24 Exmouth to Cardiff Central due 23:33
 
20:24 Exmouth to Cardiff Central due 23:33 will be delayed at Weston-Super-Mare and is expected to be 9 minutes late.
This is due to trespassers on the railway earlier today.

New through service to me ... is it just an operational convenience or something answering an identified market?   Is there a history of Exmouth to Wales services?

[Worcester_Passenger]

At one time (let's say about 25 years ago), there was a through Exmouth - Crewe service, via Cardiff, Swansea and the Heart of Wales line. Must have been at a stage when Regional Railways had a 'Wales and West' area.  The through service was there to rotate 153s between the different parts of this operation.

[PrestburyRoad]

At one time (let's say about 25 years ago), there was a through Exmouth - Crewe service, via Cardiff, Swansea and the Heart of Wales line. Must have been at a stage when Regional Railways had a 'Wales and West' area.  The through service was there to rotate 153s between the different parts of this operation.

In a similar time period, I noticed when I was waiting at Cheltenham Spa for an early morning train to London, that there was a short-lived through early morning Cheltenham - Shrewsbury service, via Cardiff, Swansea and the Heart of Wales line.  It was operated by a single-carriage DMU^▸ (Diesel Multiple Unit) with Heart of Wales livery.

I did idly wonder to myself whether anyone at Cheltenham wanting to get to Shrewsbury but lacking time for the scenic journey might have mistakenly joined it instead of using the normal much faster route via Birmingham.  Perhaps the guard would have turfed them off at Gloucester (the first stop) on seeing that their ticket was not valid via Swansea.  At least, I doubt that a ticket for Cheltenham - Shrewsbury would have been valid for that particular through train that ran Cheltenham - Shrewsbury, even in BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)) days when there were none of the 'xxx operator only' restrictions.

[grahame]

At least, I doubt that a ticket for Cheltenham - Shrewsbury would have been valid for that particular through train that ran Cheltenham - Shrewsbury, even in BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)) days when there were none of the 'xxx operator only' restrictions.

Doesn't "Any Permitted" always include through trains no matter what route they take?   There may be break o journey restrictions in places line the Fife Circle.

[Bob_Blakey]

Almost certainly operational convenience as a way of getting a Bristol-based 166 DMU^▸ (Diesel Multiple Unit) back to it's Home Depot - after CDF^» (Cardiff - next trains) the unit runs empty back to XPM - after spending the day running EXM<>PGN Devon Metro services. The unit comes down to Devon from Bristol as the 2F05 BRI^» (Bristol Temple Meads - next trains) 0525 > EXM 0720 and seems to run weekdays only.

[Mark A]

*Raises glass to the one time*... was it Exmouth to Cleethorpes service?

Mark

[PhilWakely]

*Raises glass to the one time*... was it Exmouth to Cleethorpes service?

Mark

Weren't there a number of through services from Exmouth to 'a variety of destinations' via the S&D^▸ (Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway) at one time?