Early departures

[whole diary]

[James158]

Hi

This evening I was looking at the Weymouth live departure board. The 20:01 arrival at Weymouth from Weston-super-Mare departed Worle 3 mins early and Yatton 2 mins early, is this allowed. If so what if I missed this train because of this, would FGW^▸ (First Great Western) have had to lay on a taxi to my destination (say Weymouth) as the next train to Weymouth is not untill 20:50 from BTM^▸ (Bristol Temple Meads (strictly, it should be BRI)).

Thanks

[John R]

No, it's not allowed, so it would be an interesting challenge. Whether anyone on the ground at Bristol could confirm the early departure and arrange a taxi is debatable.

[James158]

No, it's not allowed, so it would be an interesting challenge. Whether anyone on the ground at Bristol could confirm the early departure and arrange a taxi is debatable.

Thanks John for your reply. So if a staff member at BTM^▸ (Bristol Temple Meads (strictly, it should be BRI)) saw for themselves it left early they may put on a taxi for me.

[devon_metro]

Probably discrepancies in the Working and Public timetable.

Just asked somebody able to access Trust and apparently 2O94 is the 1710 Weston - Weymouth. On that basis it left ontime.

[James158]

Probably discrepancies in the Working and Public timetable.

Just asked somebody able to access Trust and apparently 2O94 is the 1710 Weston - Weymouth. On that basis it left ontime.

But it left Worle 3 mins early and Yatton 2 mins early. What if I was running late and rushed to Worle or Yatton station only to find out on my mobile phone it left early. That would be so annoying.

[devon_metro]

How do you know it left Weston Milton on time? It simply says 'No Report'

[John R]

Who mentioned anything about Weston Milton?

[devon_metro]

Who mentioned anything about Weston Milton?

Good question, blame a day spent revising.

Weston Milton does have some importance afterall as Public departure time is 1710 however that is the working departure time from Weston Super Mare so it appears the timings have been "messed up" when being entreted into the online systems. Odd but not rare!

[inspector_blakey]

Also possible that the reporting points don't coincide exactly with the station platforms. Bottom line is I'd be very surprised if this train really did leave early. But who knows, perhaps the hordes of passengers who turned up at Worle with only two minutes to spare were denied their late evening out in Weymouth... 

[Phil]

1. Any "early departure" that was witnessed was probably the train before running late.

2. Oh dear, a whole hour to wait for the next train! Can't hear too much sympathy from the residents of Wiltshire, where a 12 hour wait (followed all too often by a cancellation) is par for the course.

[grahame]

James - you might find it interesting to read back through a very old thread that covered a lot more on early running of services - see here with specific references to the Weston to Temple Meads stretch

Oh dear, a whole hour to wait for the next train! Can't hear too much sympathy from the residents of Wiltshire, where a 12 hour wait (followed all too often by a cancellation) is par for the course.

Phil - I know what you mean in terms of waiting sympathy - an hour is irritating but pales into insignificance beside some other situtations.    I came back from "le Continent" on Saturday and was on the train from Southampton to Cardiff ... which got to Trowbridge at 15:16.  Guess what time the onward train to Melksham left?  15:12 (no - just missed that  )   And the next train?  17:15 the next day!

I couldn't have been an hour earlier at Trowbridge - there wasn't another boat to connect into the train earlier that day. To the "common passenger" it looks as if that Saturday Afternoon timetable has been thoughtlessly designed (good scenario) or intentionally designed (conspiracy theory scenario!) to prevent a good connection being made

Would there have been any traffic for the connection?   In a three car 158, I was seated at one end of one carriage.  One chap asked the conductor about getting to Swindon and was told to change at Bath, one young lady was on the phone arranging a lift for herself, and Lisa came across to Trowbridge to pick me up (heavy baggage, or I would have walked into town and got the bus).  And as I get off, a cheery "hello Graham" from another Melksham area resident and her friends who had somehow got to Trowbridge for the train. So even in that microcosm of an area, you see plenty of demand!

[John R]

1. Any "early departure" that was witnessed was probably the train before running late.

2. Oh dear, a whole hour to wait for the next train! Can't hear too much sympathy from the residents of Wiltshire, where a 12 hour wait (followed all too often by a cancellation) is par for the course.

1. Trains do run early. I've seen trains leave Nailsea 3 minutes early, and having just got off it, was not confusing it with a later running earlier service. The original poster was not basing his question on observation, but the OLDB, which clearly would eliminate any confusion with an earlier train.

2. The fact that a certain town doesn't enjoy an appropriate level of service doesn't mean that sloppy working should be condoned elsewhere. Anyone missing that train because it ran early could have had any number of connections at Bristol which they then missed, resulting in serious knock on delays to their journey and maybe additional cost.

I found this post unduly sarcastic and dismissive, particularly coming from a Moderator.

   

[inspector_blakey]

Probably discrepancies in the Working and Public timetable.

Just asked somebody able to access Trust and apparently 2O94 is the 1710 Weston - Weymouth. On that basis it left ontime.

But it left Worle 3 mins early and Yatton 2 mins early. What if I was running late and rushed to Worle or Yatton station only to find out on my mobile phone it left early. That would be so annoying.

No, it didn't leave Worle or Yatton early according to Trust which is the definitive source. Live departure boards have some limitations as pointed out by devon_metro above. In this case it would seem that there was a discrepancy between the two, with the live departure boards being incorrect.

It is certainly true that trains do sometimes leave early and that this is indeed slack operating (putting it kindly), but my strong suspicion in this case is that it did not happen so there's not too much to get upset about.

Trust is also the database that staff will check if a passenger claims that a train left early - I know, because it's happened to me before now, the staff confirmed that the train had departed before time and arranged alternative transport.

[willc]

Trains certainly do run early on occasion. Happened at Moreton-in-Marsh last month when I was trying to put my brother on a London train on a Saturday afternoon. Arriving at XX.44, the train was already in the station, although not even booked to arrive from Evesham until XX.46 and depart at XX.48.

As my brother stepped out of the car at XX.45, off the train went, leaving behind him and two other people who had also just arrived at the station.

Had we arrived at a time when one might expect the doors to be being locked, fair enough, but that most certainly wasn't the case here and it wasn't as if there was anywhere to get to in a hurry, with Saturday trains being allowed a leisurely 40 minutes to reach Oxford with three stops. A Turbo can take five or six minutes off that without being stretched.

I contacted customer relations about this and they actually had the good grace to admit it left three minutes ahead of time and to offer to pay compensation, though my brother had binned his ticket by then and fortunately wasn't in a rush to get somewhere on the day in question.