Great Western Coffee Shop

From FGW website

17:03 ex Padd cancelled at Tiverton Parkway
18:03 ex Padd currently shown as delayed before Taunton
19:03 ex Padd currently 46 mins late at Taunton.

how will xc accepting tickets help?

From the BBC (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-13569578):

so has no rail replacement been laid on ?

Not a lot. Services from Glasgow and Manchester cancelled and one from Edinburgh 90 mins late.

Looking at live departures it looks like the 19:03 ex Padd may have gone via Honiton missing out Taunton and Tiverton Parkway.

so what happens if you came from glasgow do they just throw you off and say make your own way?

There's another Edinburgh service behind it which probably mopped them up at Bristol Temple Meads.

this isn't a dig at fgw more at cross country but how come first are willing to divert its trains but cross country will just drop them

Because FGW traincrews have the route knowledge to go via Honiton and XC dont.

I don't know for certain that FGW did divert but it isn't really an option for XC. Even if the drivers knew the route, which I'm sure they dont, they've had to run to Taunton, change ends, run back onto the Berks & Hants and then change ends again to gain the Honiton line before changing ends again at Exeter St David's. It just wouldn't be practical.

driver knowledge is a good point which i didn't think of, but they used to do it some how  http://www.flickr.com/photos/pwakely/5570191221/

That was in the days of a "joined up" railway when everyone worked for BR. Wouldn't happen now.

I did not see any actual or promised replacement buses or other transport.
Was on the 18-03 from Paddington travelling to Taunton.
Delayed outside Taunton, and on arrival at Taunton there was a large unhappy crowd in the station car park, hoping for buses or taxis.
I saw one actuall punch-up and several threats of violence, over taxis. There was no queue, just a large crowd milling around.
I would estimate as many as 500 people.

I wisely retreated to a pub not too near the station, and telephoned for a taxi to come from Minhead and collect me.

unbelievable! so out of two operators nothing was done?

I presume that they eventually did something, but it seemed very badly organised when I was at Taunton.
I was not there for long, but understand that many others had been there for over an hour.
My intention was to alight at Taunton and take a taxi in any case, so apart from a long wait for a taxi to come from Minehead, rather than taking one from the rank, I was not badly affected.

Many others had however been ordered off cross country trains that terminated unexpectedly at Taunton, I heard no announcements advising these passengers as what if any other arrangements were being made.

The staff on the 18-03 were very helpful, and the pullman was of the usuall high standard.

(not certain that the pullman crew appreciated my little joke though "are you taking breakfast orders yet ?")

 ;) :D ;D

I was on the first down service that was stopped by emergency NRN message shortly after leaving Tiverton. The TM explained the reason for the sudden stop, then explained that we would be going forward to the signal preceding the fire, and then told us that the fire involved LPG containers. So I was not surprised when we were told that we would be returning to Tiverton and terminating there.

The TM and customer host on that service were excellent - good info and complimentary teas and coffees.

We were on the mainline at the loops south of Tiverton and the following Penzance service had pulled up alongside us, in the loop. We eventually made our way back to Tiverton (thank you for reversible signalling) and detrained there. As the service I was on was an Exeter terminator, there were only about 50 people on it, so no great problem in looking after them. The staff at Tiverton were very good - asked everyone to remain in the hall and said they would advise about road transport when they had more information.

As an ex-FGW station manager, I was well aware of what would be going on behind the scenes. First Rail Support would have been asked to arrange coaches, and would be struggling to get any at 1900 on a Thursday evening in Devon.

There were two other HSTs south of Tiverton, both for Penzance/Plymouth. If these were also to set back to Tiverton, the staff there would have 800 plus customers to deal with. Thats 16 buses/coaches!

I'm not surprised that other services were terminated at Taunton, and that AXC was offloading its customers there. AXC pays GW to provide customer service at stations operated by FGW - they operate very few of their own - and seem entirely happy to dump a trainload of customers on a station such as Taunton. If there were another 500 customers there, thats another 10 coaches that would be needed. So thats 26 coaches needed immediately in the down direction. Lets say 20 were needed for up services, and its not difficult to realise why road transport is not a practical alternative in such circumstances. Which is why I get very annoyed by comments such as "so has no rail replacement been laid on?". Trains are mass movers - coaches and taxis cannot offer a replacement service at short notice.

My sympathies were with the station staff - maybe two at Tiverton and three or so at Taunton. Its asking a hell of a lot of station staff to handle such situations. No doubt on call managers were called out to assist - but they too have few options available.

I don't know how this was resolved - my mate drove up to Tiverton from Exeter to pick me up, so I was one of the first to get away. I can only empathise with the staff on the ground and reflect on the wisdom of my decision to retire earlier this year!

sorry all i wanted to know is.... what would happen to me if this were to happen and i was on board and didnt have enough money for taxi or hotel? im not denying that rail replacement busses are a logistical nightmare, but the stories i was hearing from else where is that nothing was being said on board a xc service... just get off basically