New Oxford - Bristol direct service, ongoing developments and discussion

[whole diary]

[Mark A]

I knew we could rely on you. The Beaufort scale of train carriage loading.

Mark

[froome]

Hmm - I think 'Rammed' = 110% plus....so full & standing

Got me thinking - load definitions

0 to less than 5% - "Fresh Air"
5% to less than 15% - "Light"
15% to less than 25% - "Quiet"
25% to less than 50% - "Comfy"
50% to less thsn 80% - "Busy"
80% to less than 95% - "Nesting / Nearly Every Seat Taken"
95% to less than 110% - "Full and Standing"
110% to less than 125% - "Rammed"
125% to less than 150% - "Stuffed"
Over 150% - "Stupid"

$64,000 - by a seat being occupied, are we counting bums, or bums and bags?

Are you including First Class seats in those figures. If so, anything above 80% could easily include full and standing in Second Class.

Which leads me to the question: At what point does a train manager decide to allow standard class passengers occupy first class seats?

[eightonedee]

The Beaufort scale of train carriage loading.

This could also have Beaufort-like descriptions of what to look for to avoid having to count seats (like the "white horses begin to appear on waves at sea" or "some trees lose branches" notes you used to see).

Suggestions - for "Busy" - "passengers begin asking anyone with bags on seat to move them or saying "is anyone sitting there"?

For "nesting/nearly every seat taken" - "Announcements made that there are still a few seats available at the front/back of the train"

For "full and standing" - "on-board train staff no longer walk along the train, anyone with a bicycle in a vestibule gets black looks from fellow passengers".

"Stuffed" - "Between Paddington and Reading".

[IndustryInsider]

Which leads me to the question: At what point does a train manager decide to allow standard class passengers occupy first class seats?

Hardly ever in these days of bargain advance first class fares.  First class occupancy, percentage of seats wise, is often the same or even more than standard class on many trains.

[Richard Fairhurst]

Being reported locally that there are Oxford<–>Swindon hourly ECS^▸ (Empty Coaching Stock) paths in the December timetable, which is intriguing:

https://bsky.app/profile/oxfordclarion.bsky.social/post/3lv6cv2p3gk2o

Maybe these are route-learning runs as per II^▸ (IndustryInsider - a respected member of this forum)'s suggestion above that Oxford crews will sign as far as Swindon?

[ChrisB]

Bit worrying that they're the only services featuring on that day though!

[Mark A]

The Saturday service recommences on the 20th September, yes?? Realtime Trains lists it from that date.

Mark

[ChrisB]

Yes, that's the date for the winter service

[TaplowGreen]

Which leads me to the question: At what point does a train manager decide to allow standard class passengers occupy first class seats?

Hardly ever in these days of bargain advance first class fares.  First class occupancy, percentage of seats wise, is often the same or even more than standard class on many trains.

"Bargain" doing some extremely heavy lifting there! 

[grahame]

From https://www.facebook.com/MelkshamTUG

From this Saturday, 20th September 2025, the Saturday through train from Chippenham to Oxford returns.  Connection at 10:09 from Melksham, 10:44 from Chippenham, arrive at Oxford at 11:27.  Return service direct to Chippenham from Oxford at 17:12, or return to Melkshan at 16:30, 18:02 or 20:05, changing at Didcot and Swindon.

Day return fare - £21.80 each, or £14.50 each with a railcard or in a group of 3. Same fare also applies if you want to go on from Oxford to Bicester Village, and it's the same fare from Melksham or Chippenham.

Tickets can be purchased prior to departure at the ticket machines at Melksham or at Chippenham Station, or from the ticket office in Chippenham or if you are paying in cash on the train from Melksham.

[grahame]

Chippenham to Oxford this morning was fine bus ...

15:18 Bristol Temple Meads to Oxford due 16:29
17:12 Oxford to Bristol Temple Meads due 18:23

17:12 Oxford to Bristol Temple Meads due 18:23 will be cancelled.
This is due to a short-notice change to the timetable.

[bobm]

Real time trains blames a planning error.

[grahame]

Chippenham to Oxford this morning was fine bus ...

15:18 Bristol Temple Meads to Oxford due 16:29
17:12 Oxford to Bristol Temple Meads due 18:23

17:12 Oxford to Bristol Temple Meads due 18:23 will be cancelled.
This is due to a short-notice change to the timetable.

Real time trains blames a planning error.

Yep, I suspect that the train path was in the timetable until it was notices that it was missing a physical train, a driver or a train manager, at which point the timetable was changed

Whichever - this is what it lead to at Oxford



and this was the sort of thing people then had to do at Didcot



As I came through Didcot, I noticed that helpful announcements were being made directing people off the train from Oxford to go through the subway and turn left up to platform 1 to head west.    Only those of us in the know would have carried on through the barrier's wide gate, right, around the outside, up the slope and then back in through the sloped wide gate.   One couple were trying it but struggling for at least 5 minutes with the barrier which was unstaffed, closed, and by the looks of things reusing their ticket.  I know there was probably a help point / button they probably weren't aware of.  What a wonderful way to encourage custom.

[Mark A]

Fortunately (for certain defined values of 'Fortunately') after we briefly enjoyed what the Turf PH had to offer, I needed to abandon Graham to further explorations of Oxford and head for a shop, then an earlier return than the through train offers.

For good measure, I chose the option to head through the walkway beneath the lines at Osney rail bridge, along the Botley Road across the Thames (impressive building site for most of the way and most photogenic photo opportunities now blocked by hoarding). After negotiating that, I headed to the bus stop for Swindon, enjoying the journey on a more or less empty top deck of a double decker bus via Faringdon.

It's safe to say that rail staff who in the dim and distant past worked the branch to Faringdon would not recognise the approach to the town now, with a retail park built beside the route, while the road approach to the town, built on top of the branch, runs alongside new housing estates. At a later stage in the journey, the bus route provides an opportunity for canal spotting, and if anything, there's rather more to be seen of that than there is of the branch line to Faringdon.

At Swindon, the old bus station is already starting to fade out of existence - even more than it faded when it was in use that is. Pulling up in the bus boulevard and heading for the railway station, I quickly learned that it's best to cross to the western side of Milford Street to avoid some not brilliant paving, it's a little further, but it wasn't a huge hike. There's mapping on the funded-by-advertising bus-stops-with-seating that puts the place in context, though I didn't quite investigate what signage there is between station and buses - in either direction. Perhaps it's fine. The bus boulevard didn't feel like an enormous hub of activity, but maybe that's just 2025 Swindon new town centre for you, even at ten to five on a Saturday afternoon.

Mark

[grahame]

Funnily enough, I took the opportunity of an arrival in Swindon with a LONG wait for the next Melksham train to walk up to the bus boulevard for a first look, then took the 49 to Devizes and the 273 on from there to Melksham.  Now recovering from the long day as I walks substantially on having parted company with Mark.