Regular HST service via Westbury avoiding line from May 2011

[whole diary]

[anthony215]

Just read this  on page 18 of the November 2010, issue 107 of ''Todays Railways'' (UK^▸ (United Kingdom) edition)

the 17:06 London Paddington - Westbury will be diverted and run via the Westbury avoiding line serving Trowbridge & Bradford on avon before Bath & Bristol, it seems like it will still serve most stations along the Berk & Hants just not Westbury it seems.

There is even a article on the HST^▸ (High Speed Train) special via Avonmouth & Portbury

[Louis94]

Wonder what train will form the 1917 stopper hst from westbury back to London! Not unless they cut that or start it later and from the Frome hst set which would normally run in service to westbury and then empty to bristol.

[XPT]

That is interesting.  Will this be a Monday-Friday and/or weekend service?

There was such scheduled services, albeit temporarily on one Saturday just a couple of years back.

1218 London Paddington-Bristol Temple Meads. Calling Slough, Reading, Theale, Thatcham, Newbury, Hungerford, Pewsey, Westbury, Bath Spa, and Bristol Temple Meads. Arrival time Bristol 1456.

1535 Bristol Temple Meads-London Paddington. Calling Bath Spa, Westbury, Pewsey, Bedwyn, Hungerford, Newbury, Thatcham, Theale, Reading, Slouth, and London Paddington. Arrival time London 1807.

[Louis94]

Was that during engineering works or something as that appears to be very near if not exactly the same path and calling patterns as the 1C83 1218 PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains) to TAU^» (Taunton - next trains) and 1J99 1523 TAU to PAD. Although 1J99 is a bit later, although this was changed very recently.

[paul7575]

Current Modern Railways describes the new [weekday] 'peak return' service for Bradford and Trowbridge as follows:

'The current 0608 from Westbury will start back from Bristol TM^‡(resolve) (time not given), while the 1706 from London will be extended to Bristol. The evening service will miss out the Westbury call using the little used Westbury East Loop Junction to Hawkeridge Junction curve to avoid the station '

Paul

[Gordon the Blue Engine]

I'd always thought that the "Westbury avoiding line" was that between Heywood Road Junction and Fairwood Junction ie the line used by Padd - West of England trains not calling at Westbury, which of course is many HST^▸ (High Speed Train)'s each day.  It is the line between Westbury East Loop Junction and Hawkeridge Junction that will be seeing the new HST service.

As ever I stand to be corrected .....

[paul7575]

No you are quite right, I left the detail out of my post for brevity only because I thought it was implied by the overall route.
Now amended.

Paul

[Gordon the Blue Engine]

My point was addressed more to Anthony215's original post: I take To-day's Railways and the item on page 18 of the November edition makes no mention of "the Westbury avoiding line".  It in fact states "The 1706 Paddington-Westbury will divert to Bristol and run via B&H^▸ (Berks and Hants - railway line from Reading to Taunton via Westbury), Heywood Road Jn-Hawkeridge Jn and then serve Trwobridge...".

Maybe Anthony saw an ealier version which was later edited/corrected?

[Gordon the Blue Engine]

My version of Simsig (a great signalling simulation game) for Westbury includes a Timetable for Summer 2002, which I think is suppoosed to be based on the real thing.  It shows a weekday train 1C09, timed:

Southcote Junction  0805  (so presumably about 0730 ex Padd)
Newbury                0828
Heywood Rd J.        0854
Hawkeridge J          0857/0900
Bathampton J         0920

Does anyone know if this train really existed? 

[Zoe]

It is the line between Westbury East Loop Junction and Hawkeridge Junction that will be seeing the new HST^▸ (High Speed Train) service.

Indeed, this line is actually known as "Westbury East Loop" or WYL.

[XPT]

1706 London Paddington-Bristol Temple Meads.  Calling Twyford, Reading, Theale, Thatcham, Newbury, Kintbury, Hungerford, Bedwyn, Pewsey, Trowbridge, Bradford On Avon, Bath Spa, BRISTOL TEMPLE MEADS.  Arrive Bristol 1941.

And the morning service...

0520 Bristol Temple Meads-London Paddington.  Calling Bradford On Avon, Trowbridge, Westbury, Pewsey, Hungerford, Newbury, Thatcham, Theale, Reading, LONDON PADDINGTON.   Arrive London 0753.

These two services will be on my "to do" list of FGW^▸ (First Great Western) London-Bristol services(and vice versa) which are a pleasant interesting change from the norm.

Can't really see what the fares for these services will be like yet though.  The 0520 service from Bristol should have advance fares for ^22 or less I would have thought.   But will the 1706 from London-Bristol have reasonably priced fares on offer, bearing in mind the journey time is a lot longer?

[devon_metro]

Why would they have reasonably priced advance fares. They are simply the Berks & Hants commuter services starting from Bristol instead of Westbury. Both of which are fairly busy trains.

[XPT]

Why would they have reasonably priced advance fares. They are simply the Berks & Hants commuter services starting from Bristol instead of Westbury. Both of which are fairly busy trains.

I did post a sensible response to this explaining why I believe the services could have ^24.50(or even a little cheaper) advance fares available.  But for some mysterious reason, my post was deleted without any explanation.

We will just have to see what the prices are I guess.

EDIT: I've just received a polite message from one of the mods informing me my message was mistakenly deleted and for me to make the post again if I wish.  I will do that tomorrow,...well later today as it's Sunday now!

[JayMac]

I think a public apology is in order. It was me that accidentally deleted XPT's post. 

Sorry XPT.

[XPT]

No problem Bignosemac.

I'll make the posting again, albeit a little shorter than my original posting.

Why would they have reasonably priced advance fares. They are simply the Berks & Hants commuter services starting from Bristol instead of Westbury. Both of which are fairly busy trains.

Advance fares on the 0447 service from Bristol-London are available at ^10 single.  For the 0530 and 0600 services, ^22 advance fares are available.  For the current 0608 service from Westbury-London, ^24.50 advance single fares are available.  So I think on that basis, advance single fares on the 0520 from Bristol-London should be available at ^24.50, or ^22 or a little less likely cheaper still.

For the return journey on the 1706 service.  Advance single fares to Bristol on the 1700 and 1730 services are available at ^24.50.  And currently ^22 advance singles are available on the 1706 service to Westbury. So I would think that ^24.50 or ^22 single fares should be available on the 1706 service for those travelling to Bristol, when it commences on May 23rd.