GWR May 2019 Timetable

[whole diary]

[grahame]

Note to Mods: Could the Thread title please be changed to make it clear its the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) May 2019 timetable we are discussing, and not our current Prime Ministers departure plan

Done ... for archive, original title was "May timetable" ... and I really wonder if even Mrs May understands / knows her own timetable ...

Thanks, Grahame.

Would it be a good idea to move it to "Across the West" because it is having little to do with Plymouth and Cornwall specifically?

Interestingly, renaming a thread requires moving it (unless my fellow mods have discovered a trick I'm not aware of) so I have already moved it elsewhere, renaming it in the process and then moving it back.   And at the time, I wondered to myself "move back to where??".  I concluded that as we were talking about the changes in May which primarily effect Plymouth to Penzance, the original placement remained the best - though I appreciate it's a close run thing.

[REVUpminster]

Note to Mods: Could the Thread title please be changed to make it clear its the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) May 2019 timetable we are discussing, and not our current Prime Ministers departure plan

Done ... for archive, original title was "May timetable" ... and I really wonder if even Mrs May understands / knows her own timetable ...

Thanks, Grahame.

Would it be a good idea to move it to "Across the West" because it is having little to do with Plymouth and Cornwall specifically?

The signalling was improved and the track redoubled in recent years for the promised improved service between Plymouth and Cornwall. A 71 minute gap is not an encouragement to visitors, shoppers or commuters.

[SandTEngineer]

I'm afraid i don't understand the reasoning behind the point you are trying to make.  Can you elaborate a bit and tell us which gap you are referring to and where?

[RichardB]

The signalling was improved and the track redoubled in recent years for the promised improved service between Plymouth and Cornwall. A 71 minute gap is not an encouragement to visitors, shoppers or commuters.

That's pretty much a one-off and the half hourly service comes in in December.  Everyone locally (and in GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)) would have liked it to be sooner but December is the earliest it is possible.  As mentioned previously, there are those seven extra trains each way Mons - Fris from 19 May so that's a good start.

_{(fixed quote - RS)}

[grahame]

The signalling was improved and the track redoubled in recent years for the promised improved service between Plymouth and Cornwall. A 71 minute gap is not an encouragement to visitors, shoppers or commuters.

The current 15:56 to 17:25 gap off Plymouth for Bodmin and beyond - 89 minutes - has been filled from 20th May and there are other steps in the right direction. It's a step in the right direction, but there is consensus and planning for a solution to further augment and tune the service from December, and a further extra train off Penzance would/will reduce your 71 minutes down to perhaps 40 minutes maximum daytime gap which - agreed - should encourage passenger numbers to blossom.

Please forgive slight feelings of jealously from here in Wiltshire, where our 07:50 to 10:02 gap for the 27 minute run into Swindon looks like it's increased from 132 to 150 minutes from December - 07:52 to 10:22, largely due to having to fit our trains around the enhanced London westward services which are an element of bringing your improved Cornish mani line services.

[RichardB posted while I was writing; I think I say much the same thing, but will leave it there to show the slightly different perspective too]

[old original]

Pocket timetables arriving in ticket offices today, well in Cornwall anyway!

[Timmer]

Pocket timetables arriving in ticket offices today, well in Cornwall anyway!

Which I never understand why GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) are now always one of the last TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) to post the new timetables on their website when they would have gone to print several weeks ago. They used to be one of the the first to do so.

[njt]

Pocket timetables arriving in ticket offices today, well in Cornwall anyway!

None available at St Austell when I asked earlier!

[PhilWakely]

Available at Newton Abbot if you ask at the ticket office. Apparently won't be in the racks until 19th May when the new timetable starts.

[Timmer]

Apparently won't be in the racks until 19th May when the new timetable starts.

Pretty much the norm in GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) land. Other TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) I’ve seen on my travels put theirs out 2-3 weeks before the change over.

For some reason the powers that be at GWR appear not to like timetables. Last to put them on their website; last to put them in the racks.

[stuving]

For some reason the powers that be at GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) appear not to like timetables. Last to put them on their website; last to put them in the racks.

Are they worried people will only steal them?

[bobm]

GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)’s argument for placing them at the stations at the last minute is that passengers would assume they are current before they come into force. 

[MarkHopwood]

I accept it’s not perfect but we have tried to add additional services onto the existing pattern in a way which brings significant benefit to many which most correspondents have commented positively on.

It’s a shame the best ever timetable for Cornwall cannot be welcomed with the promise of further enhancements in December.

[SandTEngineer]

I accept it’s not perfect but we have tried to add additional services onto the existing pattern in a way which brings significant benefit to many which most correspondents have commented positively on.

It’s a shame the best ever timetable for Cornwall cannot be welcomed with the promise of further enhancements in December.

I agree.  Having now lived in the Far Southwest for the past 35 years, its the best ever timetable for Devon and Cornwall.  A couple of days ago I happended to come across my copy of the May 1972 to May 1973 Western Timetable and looking through Table 4 the service has late starts, early finishes and sometimes two or three hour gaps in local services.  It also on average took 6 1/2 hours to get from Paddington to Penzance (Edit to add: And no resturant car/buffet car West of Plymouth). So, lets not complain too much about 'gaps' in the new 2019 timetable.

[broadgage]

"And no buffet car/restaurant west of Plymouth"

We now have no buffet car on any part of any service, how is that for progress ?
The Pullman restaurant is excellent, but is available on fewer services than in the past and not west of Plymouth. So no improvement there.