There's something about Bradford

[whole diary]

[Richard Fairhurst]

A nickname for the service is an excellent idea - probably for the service rather than individual trains - as the start of a marketing strategy.  As I recall it was my shorthand that first used the name "TransWilts" for Swindon to Salisbury services ... but nothing has stuck that shorthand chord yet on these.  I refer to them sometimes as "The Waterloos" but whilst that's understood in West Wiltshire and WECA^» (West of England Combined Authority - about), it feels almost designed to be a headscratcher in Mandrin (Horseferry Road dialect) which is the big place across the way they catch their half-hourly train home to Chessington, Haslemere or Virginia Water.

I'm sure there must be a possible portmanteau à la Bakerloo. Avonloo? (Or should it be Cubaloo these days?)

[grahame]

Petition to rename the 05:35 departure the 'Bradford Executive', yes?

The "Bradford-on-Avon Executive" is suspended from Monday due to a shortage of staff ... having lost the Waterloo services last month, the solitary Paddington service (1K71, a five car IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train - replacement for HSTs (manufactured by Hitachi in Kobe, Japan))) ran this morning for the last time for a while - I really hope not a long while.

With changing journey metrics, perhaps it would be worth asking for the train to run at 09:35 rather than 05:35 when it returns, and for one of the return journeys to Frome in the late afternoon to be redirected to Bristol and stay in passenger service north of Westbury?

[brooklea]

With changing journey metrics, perhaps it would be worth asking for the train to run at 09:35 rather than 05:35 when it returns, and for one of the return journeys to Frome in the late afternoon to be redirected to Bristol and stay in passenger service north of Westbury?

Perhaps, although as there’s only one of those (also removed from the timetable from next Monday), in so doing you deprive Frome of it’s one direct train a day from London Paddington (Frome does of course still have two direct trains from London Waterloo, so maybe the Paddington train is unnecessary duplication…?)!

[grahame]

With changing journey metrics, perhaps it would be worth asking for the train to run at 09:35 rather than 05:35 when it returns, and for one of the return journeys to Frome in the late afternoon to be redirected to Bristol and stay in passenger service north of Westbury?

Perhaps, although as there’s only one of those (also removed from the timetable from next Monday), in so doing you deprive Frome of it’s one direct train a day from London Paddington (Frome does of course still have two direct trains from London Waterloo, so maybe the Paddington train is unnecessary duplication…?)!

I was ... somewhat ... out of date in my thoughts, remembering back to when there were two evening trains from Paddington to the Westbury area ... the second one used to run directly from Pewsey to Trowbridge but then when the avoiding curve was closed to scheduled trains, it got redirected to terminate at Westbury as I recall, and then (?) extended to Frome.