Westbury - engineering works from 24th December 2024 for 30 days

[whole diary]

[Mark A]

The Cornwall Railways site has a good collection of photos of Westbury, including 'Before' ones. Any others?

Getting dangerously technical, the platform road / frieght loop combination depended on a (expensive & maintenance-heavy otherwise accident prone) diamond crossing. Is the need for one of these a the major obstacle to reinstating the platform road while retaining the frieght facility?

Mark

http://www.cornwallrailwaysociety.org.uk/witham-to-westbury.html

[Witham Bobby]

The Cornwall Railways site has a good collection of photos of Westbury, including 'Before' ones. Any others?

Getting dangerously technical, the platform road / frieght loop combination depended on a (expensive & maintenance-heavy otherwise accident prone) diamond crossing. Is the need for one of these a the major obstacle to reinstating the platform road while retaining the frieght facility?

Mark

http://www.cornwallrailwaysociety.org.uk/witham-to-westbury.html

I don't see wht the diamond crossing would need to be put back as it was.  A little ladder of turnouts leading from the Down Main into the platform road, and then onto the goods look and then to the sidings beyond would suffice, surely?

[grahame]

I don't see wht the diamond crossing would need to be put back as it was.  A little ladder of turnouts leading from the Down Main into the platform road, and then onto the goods look and then to the sidings beyond would suffice, surely?

Agreed - as far as I can see it can be a far, far simpler layout than it used to be.  At the same time, I wonder whether we have a fear of complex pointwork in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom),  and we'll never see anything like this again in the UK:

[Bob_Blakey]

Looking at the relevant area via Google Maps it appears that, the building currently shown as the base for Pete's Cars taxis aside, there are no impediments to reinstating the platform road and providing a separate freight line should it be deemed necessary. It depends on what budget is available.

[grahame]

Looking at the relevant area via Google Maps it appears that, the building currently shown as the base for Pete's Cars taxis aside, there are no impediments to reinstating the platform road and providing a separate freight line should it be deemed necessary. It depends on what budget is available.

[Timmer]

Services up to and including Friday 3rd of January are now showing on RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website).

No trains serving Westbury, only buses.
London services that normally stop at Westbury stop at Frome instead.
Portsmouth services start and terminate at Salisbury.
Trowbridge two trains an hour to Bristol with one continuing to Cardiff.
Transwilts buses only apart from one peak service each way weekdays only.
Warminster served by hourly bus services between Trowbridge and Salisbury.
Weymouth services start and terminate at Frome with very limited services direct to Bristol in the morning peak

What happens after that, we’ll have to wait till further times are uploaded.

This is a very basic summary gleaned from me looking at RTT on random days between 27th of December and the 3rd of January. For a more detailed look, visit RTT to select the date and station you wish to see what services are available. Hopefully GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) will soon be providing a much more detailed summary than what I’ve managed to do above from looking at RTT!

[Timmer]

Train times, or should I say bus times! now showing on RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website) up to and including 10/1. From a brief look, appears no different to the week before (see summary in above post).

[Timmer]

Times up to and including 17/1 are now available to view on RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website). Just one more week to go and we’ll have the entire set of bus and train times for the duration of the work at Westbury.

[Timmer]

Times up to and including the last day of the work on the 23/1 are now available to view on RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website).

GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) have now put some information on the Wessex Engineering work page:
https://www.gwr.com/travel-information/travel-updates/planned-engineering/wessex

Track renewal work will affect all train services via Westbury, plus structural repairs will also impact trains between Warminster and Salisbury.

Trains between Reading and the south west will stop at Frome instead of Westbury.

Trains will still operate between:

Cardiff Central and Trowbridge
Salisbury and Portsmouth Harbour
Frome and Weymouth

A few trains will be diverted via an alternative route between Trowbridge and Frome – not stopping at Westbury.

Trains between Westbury and Swindon will not run, however other trains will still be running between Chippenham and Swindon.

Replacement buses are planned between:

Trowbridge and Westbury, Frome or Salisbury
Chippenham and Westbury or Frome

As an alternative, valid rail tickets can also be used to travel free of charge on the following bus services in the area:

Bus number   Route
49   Swindon – Trowbridge (via Devizes)
D1   Bath – Bradford-on-Avon – Trowbridge – Westbury – Warminster
D2   Bath – Frome (via Radstock)
X34   Chippenham – Melksham – Frome
24   Salisbury – Warminster – Frome

These buses may be delayed by additional traffic diverted away from the A36 due to an ongoing road closure at Limpley Stoke.

[grahame]

As an alternative, valid rail tickets can also be used to travel free of charge on the following bus services in the area:

Bus number   Route
49   Swindon – Trowbridge (via Devizes)
D1   Bath – Bradford-on-Avon – Trowbridge – Westbury – Warminster
D2   Bath – Frome (via Radstock)
X34   Chippenham – Melksham – Frome
24   Salisbury – Warminster – Frome

These buses may be delayed by additional traffic diverted away from the A36 due to an ongoing road closure at Limpley Stoke.

Good.   But why does this list NOT include the 271/2/3 from Melksham to Bath?  One in six rail journeys from Melksham are made to or via Bath Spa, and these buses run from the closest operational stops to Melksham Station (note - NOT an interchange) to Manvers Street just across the road from Bath Station.

The alternatives offered for these journeys as "rail replacements" are pretty clunky and slow and to add insult to injury, there aren'e even any engineering works on the section of line that the passengers would be travelling over ...

[grahame]

Good.   But why does this list NOT include the 271/2/3 from Melksham to Bath?  One in six rail journeys from Melksham are made to or via Bath Spa, and these buses run from the closest operational stops to Melksham Station (note - NOT an interchange) to Manvers Street just across the road from Bath Station.

Posting here on an obscure  forum does not, of course, pose the question to GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) so I have done so by the official public way they encourage questions on Facebook, and I will keep Coffee Shop members and local residents / passengers in Melksham posted.

[grahame]

Good.   But why does this list NOT include the 271/2/3 from Melksham to Bath?  One in six rail journeys from Melksham are made to or via Bath Spa, and these buses run from the closest operational stops to Melksham Station (note - NOT an interchange) to Manvers Street just across the road from Bath Station.

Posting here on an obscure  forum does not, of course, pose the question to GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) so I have done so by the official public way they encourage questions on Facebook, and I will keep Coffee Shop members and local residents / passengers in Melksham posted.

Exchange with GWR / "official" answer:

https://www.gwr.com/travel-information/travel-updates/planned-engineering/wessex - looking at alternatives for Melksham over Christmas and January to Bath and Bristol.  In appears no trains and train tickets valid on the x34 bus to Chippenham and to Trowbridge but NOT on the 271/2/3 to Bath.  With one in 6 train journeys from Melksham to or via Bath, could these buses not be included in the alternatives you offer?

Hi there, sorry to hear that. Only the alternatives on the page are agreed at this time - Ryan

Thank you.  Noting "at this time" - might the 271/2/3 be added?

We don't have access to that information I'm afraid. If it is not on the page, you can assume it won't be added - Ryan

[bobm]

Trains between Westbury and Swindon will not run, however other trains will still be running between Chippenham and Swindon.

That is correct - but there will be two morning trains from Trowbridge to Swindon and one back in the evenings (Mondays to Fridays).    The evening service continues to Weymouth after reversing at Heywood Road and not serving Westbury.

[grahame]

Trains between Westbury and Swindon will not run, however other trains will still be running between Chippenham and Swindon.

That is correct - but there will be two morning trains from Trowbridge to Swindon and one back in the evenings (Mondays to Fridays).    The evening service continues to Weymouth after reversing at Heywood Road and not serving Westbury.

Thanks for that, Bob, and I'm glad we still have *some* services.  In the early days of the restored services from 2013 onwards, it was the morning trains to Swindon and the evening one back that grew rapidly to the extent that they were filled to capacity and we had to let up somewhat on the marketing.    These days, though, many of the other trains have been doing very well and the line no longer has the same peak hour bias.   What a pity that during the  Christmas and January stoppage when nothing else will be on the line that alterate Bristol to Trowbridge shuttles are not to be extended to Chippenham or Swindon through the day.

[Timmer]

Trains between Westbury and Swindon will not run, however other trains will still be running between Chippenham and Swindon.

That is correct - but there will be two morning trains from Trowbridge to Swindon and one back in the evenings (Mondays to Fridays).    The evening service continues to Weymouth after reversing at Heywood Road and not serving Westbury.

I was surprised when I read that as my early investigations using RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website) showed a morning and evening peak Transwilts service. Perhaps GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) should correct this sentence to reflect this as its important that those who use the peak services in the morning and evening are still running.