Aw - you've got me dreamin' now!
Carry on dreaming and roll that dream forward to a nice sunny weekend in June or July 2008.
Saturday sees the first Melksham Station open day and the launch of the Friends of Melksham Station with a high profile comparison of the TT pre December 2006 with that post December 2007.
Bang on time the
SWT▸ Class 121 route learner, specially authorised to carry fare paying passengers for the day arrives from Salisbury carrying many supporters of the Trans-Wilts line from intermediate stations.
Passengers detrain and the Mayor of Melksham welcomes everyone and officialy declares open the First Melksham Station Open Day.
The mayor and other invired guest then embark on the Class 121 for its first of a number of shuttles to Chippenham and Swindon and return. On its return to Melksham, the Mayor of Melksham is invited to stay on the train and enjoy the delights of rail travel through the Wiltshire countryside on the first of a series of Melksham to Trowbridge and Westbury shuttles. These shuttles continue to operate throughout the day until the Class 121 unit returns to Salisbury to conclude a very successful First Melksham Station Open Day.
The Sunday morning dawns bright and sunny and by 0900 hours those Melksham residents who were lucky in the draw (the trip was heavily oversubscribed) and thus successful in getting tickets on the specially arranged 6 car SWT 159 special to Weymouth are assembling on the platform eagerly awaiting their special train.
At 0912, 3 minutes early, the
ECS▸ from SWT's Salisbury depot draws to a halt at Melksham and the passengers eagerly await the SWT crew to perform their turnround duties before borading their very own "Seaside Special". Bang on time at 0925, the SWT Conductor / Guard gives the right away to the SWT driver and the lucky people were on their way.
For reasons of route knowledge by the SWT crew, the special was routed via Salisbury, Chandlers Ford, Eastleigh and Southampton, with stops at Bounemouth and Poole for any travellers who preferred to spend their day at these locations instead.
Due to a late running
FGW▸ service which also had a stop at Upwey, the special train was 6 minutes late arriving into platform 3 at Weymouth but all passengers were happy that they were able to travel in comfort and without the hassle of traffic jams for a day at the Jewel of Dorset, Weymouth.
After a lovely day with a gentle cooling sea breeze, the day trippers arrived back at Weymouth Station to find their special train had already been platformed.
Boarding the train, the day trippers eagerly awaited their departure which came and went. With departure two minutes overdue the Conductor / Guard came on the trains
PA▸ and announced that he had received a pager message from his control advising hime that their departure would be delayed by about 8 minutes due to a late running FGW inbound service from Bristol but as soon as the FGW service arrived we would be away. 9 minutes behind time the service left, the deficit being eliminated by the time Eastleigh was passed due to pathing constaints in the Southampton and Eastleigh areas which built in recovery time to the schedule to compensate.
A signal check was made approaching Romsey as a result of to the preceding FGW Portsmouth Harbour - Cardiff Central being late departing Romsey due to the Conductor / Guard not having been informed that a diasbled passenger in an electric wheelcair and holding a reservation for the service would be boarding so he wasn't prepared to use the wheelchair ramp.
The returning Melksham special overtook the FGW service using the newly reopened platform 4 line at Salisbury. Passing SWT's Salisbury Depot there was much exchanging of horns from the driver of the special with the depot staff who gave cheery waves to the passengers.
During the run from Salisbury a collection went round the passengers for the two crews that had made the day trip possible, these crews having voluntarily given up their own time to learn the route from Trowbridge to Melksham so the trip could operate.
Approaching Westbury we came to a stand, the driver contacted the Westbury signal box from the signal post telephone and was told that there was congestion at Westbury station due to a FGW Plymouth to London Paddington
HST▸ service failing and all the passengers had to be taken off the train. The following Penzance to London Paddington had been been diverted though Westbury to pick up the passengers off the failed service. A further delay then occured due to the FGW Weymouth - Bristol Temple Meads being on time and that service having priority over the special.
When the special eventually set off again an uneventful concluding leg of the journey saw an arrival at Melksham 35 minutes behind schedule but that didn't deter the participants in thanking the organisers and questioning when's the next one.
If only.
NOW YOU CAN WAKE UP, and strange things can happen, like dreams come true.
