Weymouth SWR services 23/6/25

[whole diary]

[Mark A]

Weymouth today didn't see many South Western Railways services from mid afternoon onwards. I happened to be catching the 17:28 to Bristol and passengers for destinations east were being directed to that & with ticket acceptance in place. For some reason, there weren't many people for the South Western services, perhaps word had got round, so despite this directive, the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) service wasn't full and standing as it left on time.

A bit of a quandary for the travelling public: with few trains, well, one three carriage one, in the station, and that one locked until a couple of minutes before it departed, the posters at the station to the effect that there were no facilities at the station but said facilities, for the use of railway passengers, were available on the train, rang somewhat hollow.

In due course passengers for London were instructed to transfer to a Paddington train at Castle Cary, said train being held for a few minutes to ease the connection there.

Mark

[infoman]

Just wondering if the London bound train used the down platform at CC to make it an easier transfer.

Having said that, would that have made it harder for passengers getting off and on at CC having to negotiate the foot bridge?
Suppose its a case damned if you do and damned if you don't   

[bradshaw]

Access from the Weymouth line is only from the island platform which means a climb over the bridge.

I saw the carnage first hand at Southampton which also involver GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) on the two trains I used

https://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=30393.msg362587#msg362587

[grahame]

Weymouth today didn't see many South Western Railways services from mid afternoon onwards. I happened to be catching the 17:28 to Bristol and passengers for destinations east were being directed to that & with ticket acceptance in place. For some reason, there weren't many people for the South Western services, perhaps word had got round, so despite this directive, the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) service wasn't full and standing as it left on time.

A bit of a quandary for the travelling public: with few trains, well, one three carriage one, in the station, and that one locked until a couple of minutes before it departed, the posters at the station to the effect that there were no facilities at the station but said facilities, for the use of railway passengers, were available on the train, rang somewhat hollow.

In due course passengers for London were instructed to transfer to a Paddington train at Castle Cary, said train being held for a few minutes to ease the connection there.

Mark

Customer care at Weymouth Station has left something to be desired for a while.   I sometimes get the feeling that the railways would run much more smoothly without customers - and indeed that was proven during the earlier part of Covid lockdown.  Perhaps, now that there's no financial incentive, we'll continue to see a further reduction to a very basic service indeed in an attempt to reduce complaints and costs, without too much worry about the loss of income.  Fares can always be "simplified" up and the taxpayer help.  I have my fingers crossed that this is not the nightmare scenario planned.

The other thing of note is that Weymouth is just one station on that line - it isn't hugely busy mid afternoon, with services to London gathering substantial traffic at Dorchester South, Wareham and Poole even before they reach Bournemouth - and for those other stations, GWR services would have been no use.

If the 17:28 was 3 car - probably a turbo.  2+3 seating and plenty of standing room - that should squeeze 'em in!

[Mark A]

Thankfully the booking office was staffed and also the passenger assistance cave, with two or three staff from that also out and about being proactive. It's fortunate though that they didn't seem to have many passengers to deal with, and the lack of on train loos (cos, no trains) was an issue. There were also three police at the station, mainly dealing with one of the three alcohol / mental health I'd encountered on the 100 metre walk up the road to the station from the beach. Oh, and parts of the pavement on that road have their width massively comprimised by scaffolding, including a generous helping on both ends of the pelican crossing close to the station - something that contributed to one of said incidents.

To answer Infoman's query about Castle Cary - the station had all three platforms occupied so the train to London was in its usual place and around 20 people took the footbridge. Not sure what the provision is for wheelchair users at that station, perhaps there's a barrow crossing for accompanied use only. If not, it would have been on to Westbury... but are the lifts out of use at Westbury?

Mark

PS The lifts at Bath Spa are fully operational again now and not constrained to 2 people only.

[WSW Frome]

To add to the above comments about Castle Cary - Platform 2 (the down main) is not accessible to trains coming from the Taunton direction. There is a barrow crossing at the down end of the platforms at Castle Cary. It does have gates and ?warning lights and is only usable with staff assistance.

Anecdotally, I was once travelling on a special from Minehead/Taunton to Weymouth and beyond. The initial plan was to reverse on the crossover to the east of the station (regularly used by trains travelling east from Weymouth). Such a reversal is not a signalled move so it was never allowed, especially with a loaded train. So it was necessary to reverse at Frome instead! 

[Mark A]

Thinking of the fares, the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) ticketing site lists the 'Anytime Return' Bath Spa to Weymouth at £299, which is a bit optimistic.

Having a few minutes at Weymouth, checking the price of a Weymouth - Thurso single, I think an anytime one of those came in at £298 (and an off peak ticket at £155, though it's curious to apply peak restrictions to long distance tickets, especially *that* long distance...)

Mark

[WSW Frome]

There are indeed some absurb fares in the system for Bristol to Weymouth. The wilder ones seem to permit travel via Reading and/or London, including some eye-watering First Class versions.

I doubt these versions are a hot seller.

[eightonedee]

Intrigued (and somewhat horrified) by MarkA's post, I went to National Rail's website to check what other prices might be available. This is what I found-

I could book a train leaving Bath at 8-22 tomorrow, direct taking 2hrs 12mins, returning at either 17-28 with 2 changes and 2hrs 8mins or no changes and 2hrs 24mins for just £23-40.

If I took a train 22 minutes later from Bath (ie 8-44), taking 3hrs 31mins with 2 changes, but having a choice of approximately hourly services for the return (including he same two alternatives at 17-28, and one with one change taking 3hrs 16 minutes) for £139-50!

That almost six times more expensive! How an earth can this be justified?

I drafted this before seeing WSW Frome's intervening post. Yes, the 139-50 fare is via Reading. I might be quite fond of my birthplace, but I'm not sure I'd recommend a special detour taking over an hour to see its station if I wanted to go from Bath to Weymouth at an additional cost of £115-20!