One upon a time, many years ago, I was giving a course in Stockport and stayed in a hotel in Central Manchester. Being before my "Rail Campaign" days, I was surprised that the train I took out to Stockport had in-train announcements on intermediate stations including Bradford-on-Avon and Trowbridge, and ended up in Waterloo.
That train most likely used the
Maindee Curve at Newport (closed 10th December 2005 -
http://www.railchronology.free-online.co.uk/Maindee%20curve.htm ) and ran through from
Bristol via Trowbridge to London Waterloo (service ceased 10th December 2021 -
http://www.passenger.chat/25368 ).
"On this day" - 10th December - a day of closures. Yes and no and "yes BUT"s. I have a natural regret at the passing of any rail service, but with modern trains - be they dual locomotive services such as
HSTs▸ , push pulls such as the loco and coaches withdrawn from TransPenine after such a short time, or multiple units, a reversal is practical along the way. So the passing of the Maindee curve is tinged with nostalgic sadness rather than being a major protest. Defending the service on the Rhubarb loop might be difficult too, though it remains vital as a diversion route and I would wish to listen very carefully to the Bristol Rail Campaign and others before accepting the loss of its parliamentary service.
Few people are going to use a through service from Manchester to Waterloo. Originally put on to connect at Waterloo with trains to France and Belgium, together with services from the likes of Maesteg and Carmarthen to Waterloo, they built - however - a strong clientele from Bristol and Bath to South London, and provided the only direct useful service from Bradford-on-Avon and Trowbridge to London. Their loss was a sleazy scheme of civil servants and/or their political masters to cut something in the south where it wouldn't loose seats and would demonstrate to the north that it was levelling up. It inconvenienced the less able members of the public travelling on tighter budgets and with difficultly making changes easily change trains due to their own physical or mental limits, the luggage they have or the lack of connectional information and fares. None of these are limitations that apply to the typical civil servants with just a briefcase (or light pack these days), an ability to trot across Paddington, and a ticket paid for out of someone else's pocket.
The loss of the Bristol to Waterloo service was a travesty - as was Bristol to Oxford in around 2004, and Bristol to Brighton in 2022. The irony is that the savings made by taking
SWR» off the Bristol to Salisbury leg have been replaced by 5 extra
GWR▸ trains a day running from Bristol to Salisbury where they end-to-end with Salisbury to Waterloo service which - err - are improved from today. The awful connections at Salisbury that resulted from the removal of the through trains from Bristol to Waterloo are much mitigated and with all trains running with compatible class 158 and 159 trains, surely it makes sense to restore through running??