Metrowest Status

[whole diary]

[SandTEngineer]

Well, I hope they have done a good study into the new Bristol East Junction layout as thats going to be a real 'pinch point'.

[Bmblbzzz]

Extending the scheme to Gloucester is a nice ambition but I wonder if it's not overreaching. Moving the goalposts so they can extend the pitch without having enough grass or paint for the lines.

[Celestial]

Extending the scheme to Gloucester is a nice ambition but I wonder if it's not overreaching. Moving the goalposts so they can extend the pitch without having enough grass or paint for the lines.

Isn't this what we've heard is in the latest Direct Award anyway - a half hourly service to Gloucester?  So achieves an ambition with the added benefit of not having to put in the turnback at Yate, which would probably take 5 years and cost a crazy amount of money given how things seem to work these days.

[Red Squirrel]

Hourly services between Portishead and Bristol Temple Meads with new stations at Pill and Portishead

Interesting map, showing Portishead trains through Bedminster, Parson Street, Nailsea and Backwell on their way to Pill and Portishead, and all trains to the South West passing through Weston Milton and Weston-super-mare.  I would "give" them the latter if the map showed purely regional trains, but it doesn't - it included long distance expresses with arrowed off routes to London from both Bath Spa and Bristol Parkway.

Mmm.

We've amended the version on the FoSBR^» (Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways - site) website, and asked WECA^» (West of England Combined Authority - about) if they'd like to correct the original...

_{Edit: Quote grahame to clarify what I was responding to..!}

[martyjon]

Mmm.

We've amended the version on the FoSBR^» (Friends of Suburban Bristol Railways - site) website, and asked WECA^» (West of England Combined Authority - about) if they'd like to correct the original...

Not quite, still shows all services to SW through Weston, needs Weston Loop added.

[Red Squirrel]

I think that's fair enough actually - it's a map of MetroWest services. Maps are always a compromise: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwprznh3d-o

[grahame]

I think that's fair enough actually - it's a map of MetroWest services. Maps are always a compromise: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kwprznh3d-o

Interesting link, though not quite what I expected.

But ... more a "diagram" than a map, may I venture? "Maps represent a scale model of the world" says a page I looked up help me clarify this.   And I will "give" you that on a scale map a railway line (for that's what we're talking about) needs to be drawn far wider than it usually is, otherwise the reader will be looking for a marking that's thinner than a hair!

[Bmblbzzz]

It's not just of Metrowest services though. It also includes arrows to London, South Wales and South West, so giving the misleading impression that a Cross Country service to Plymouth will pass through Weston-super-Mare. I don't think it needs to show anything beyond WsM, just show a divergence at Worle with "South West" on the other line.

[grahame]

It's not just of Metrowest services though. It also includes arrows to London, South Wales and South West, so giving the misleading impression that a Cross Country service to Plymouth will pass through Weston-super-Mare. I don't think it needs to show anything beyond WsM, just show a divergence at Worle with "South West" on the other line.

One passes through at 11:33 on its way from Manchester to Paignton though ... and at 15:33 on its way back from Exeter St David's to Manchester (from timetable / not running at present).

As ever - "what does the map show"?    As it stands, it's unlikely to mislead whereas it could have mislead passengers hoping to change at Nailsea on their way from Weston to Portishead, now that there's no direct line between the two.

[martyjon]

It's not just of Metrowest services though. It also includes arrows to London, South Wales and South West, so giving the misleading impression that a Cross Country service to Plymouth will pass through Weston-super-Mare. I don't think it needs to show anything beyond WsM, just show a divergence at Worle with "South West" on the other line.

One passes through at 11:33 on its way from Manchester to Paignton though ... and at 15:33 on its way back from Exeter St David's to Manchester (from timetable / not running at present).

As ever - "what does the map show"?    As it stands, it's unlikely to mislead whereas it could have mislead passengers hoping to change at Nailsea on their way from Weston to Portishead, now that there's no direct line between the two.

Well if its as you say, Metrowest routes why put arrows with the directions farther afield on the map in the first place ?

By the way, why all the fuss about the provision of a turn back at Yate, it exists anyway, in both directions at that.

[TonyN]

One Issue with the current turnback arrangments may be that they are ok if the train consists of one unit as the driver can walk through.
However if the train is formed of say 2 class 165 or 166 units provision needs to be made for a walking route to change ends.

[TonyK]

It can probably be done if the train extends beyond Westbury to Frome as that makes better use of the platforms at Westbury, but I would not  like to be certain after the fiasco at Bristol Parkway trying to get local trains in and out.

Terminate and lay over in the platform at a three platform Westbury?  - I have my doubts.   But then ... 3 local trains an hour into Westbury from the top right corner - two from Bristol and one from Swindon, and three local trains out - one all stations via Salisbury, one all stations to or via Yeovil Pen Mill, and one to Frome with a Radstock aspiration and you've no longer got anything platform blocking.

So - do we reckon that something will get started one day ever, or will MetroWest just keep getting added to on paper, with new maps, until it reaches Scunthorpe and the Isle of Wight?

[martyjon]

One Issue with the current turnback arrangments may be that they are ok if the train consists of one unit as the driver can walk through.
However if the train is formed of say 2 class 165 or 166 units provision needs to be made for a walking route to change ends.

Walking routes exist at Yate, the platforms, terminate, change ends and return or back into the siding with the conductor/guard/train manager riding shotgun in the leading reversing cab, easy.

[MVR S&T]

As far as I know, as I asked an SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) driver on this point, the driver must always be in the leading cab for all movements, there may be a union requirment too, that the guard etc, would have to be trained and paid a drivers wage for that day, when carying out a drives role.

[grahame]

So - do we reckon that something will get started one day ever, or will MetroWest just keep getting added to on paper, with new maps, until it reaches Scunthorpe and the Isle of Wight?

The map may cut short at the end of the logical travel-to-work area, but the local services might run on to reach as far as Great Malvern, Brighton and Penzance.