From The Gazette and Herald

 
By chance I was in Devizes yesterday and had half an hour to spare so took a walk down Station Road to see what remains of the original railway.



The railway used to run under the town centre and emerge shortly before the station.

I didn't have time to explore the other end of the tunnel which hasn't been "commercialised".

Much of the station site is now a car park - and for the first time I saw a car charging point actually being used..

 
Elon Musk has penetrated deepest Wiltshire I see.

 
Left to your own Devizes, as they say... 

Paul

 
Very interesting to hear the case / background (including the third party and funding support routes) for this station at the Trowbridge DfT consultation.

The recast of the Berks and Hants regional services (as opposed to the hell-for-leather London to Plymouth+ expresses) provides a solid base of trains that could stop on a sensible pattern (frequency still for discussion for future years).  Traffic at Devizes would supplement traffic from other stations all along from Newbury to Taunton making for a better case for more rather than less trains all along, with excellent connections made off the train coming in regularly from the Reading direction via both Trowbridge and Warminster, as well as helping to secure a clock face service with connections for arrivals at Westbury via Trowbridge and Warminster headed for the West Country.

 
The most rural places I've seen Teslas are a village, or hamlet, called Hoarwithy on the banks of the Wye between Hereford and Ross, where it was parked in an open-sided "garage" scooped out of the earth bank of the roadside, and Whittington near Cheltenham, where I had the unusual experience of being overtaken by an almost silent vehicle as I laboured up a steep country lane. And non-Tesla plug-ins all over the Cotswolds.

But to address the subject of the thread, it all sounds good and I'm sure Devizes is too big not to have a station; but what's the likelihood?

 

What do we want?
A station, soon!
What are the chances?
Negligible!

 
From This is Wiltshire

 
I see Mr Kruger is still trying:

 
Two years ago but still a great gag.

 
Mr Kruger was interviewed on BBC Wiltshire this afternoon on the drive time show.  He was giving the impression that the proposal was to open the closed line to Devizes.  He was very vague on details but stated thet there would be a bus service and cycle route between the station and the town centre.  He also stated that the station would bring people from elsewhere.  Full interview available on iplayer
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0824sdx about 46 minutes in

 
I think it's clear he's talking about Patney and Chirton, or 'Devizes Parkway' as he has it. What I find puzzling is his reference to connecting Devizes with Bristol - it's hard to see a quick route from there.

 

It's Lydeway - where the A342 crossed the railway at what used to be "The Clock" Pub now, I believe, a caravan park.   All the stuff about relaying lines - no.  Re-opening a Beeching closure - no; new location.  Lydeway is closer to Devizes than Patney and Chirton, which is in the middle of a remove area with a thin web of narrow lanes unfit for station traffic.  Remember that Mr Kruger is a spin doctor.

To Bristol - aspiration is for decent connections from Bedwyn and Pewsey (and Devizes Parkway) at Westbury onto trains to Trowbridge (the county town), Bath and Bristol for commuters.  Really not good at the moment.  And also for the semifast IET to be up to hourly.   

All very sensible; everyone looking at the same case towards the same goals. 

 
From the Wiltshire Times


The local MP is Danny Kruger - pictured in a socially distanced group at a crossing in the article

 
Could I ask where is the planned new station "facilities" are planned car park taxi rank bus/s turn round?

Will it be a single sided access station or access from both sides

 

From devizes.org.uk

I'm seeing buses, car parking, and an airstrip.  Nothing marked for taxis, kiss and ride, or cycles (but that could be due to scale).  All facilities on northern side with footbridge (ramps) to access a platform on south side.

Plans can obviously be revised as subsequent iterations; MP is talking of community engagement and this being the beginning of the process.

 
The airstrip is an existing facility. Not sure how much it is used

 
Seems like an awfully long access road to accommodate an easily relocated grass airstrip, or are there noise/braking/sighting issues that place the station site so far from the main road? An interesting rail-air interchange  .

Would TonyK like to comment on a 400 capacity carpark in the airstrip undershoot/overshoot?

 

A quick look at the OS (and some knowledge of the area) shows that there is a quite steep but short cutting in the vicinity of the bridge. Siting the station as proposed would save digging lumps out of that to provide platform and road access/parking space.

 

Agreed - it does make sense.  The original Berks and Hants line from Newbury via Hungerford and Pewsey ran to Devizes (opened 1862) then in 1900 a cutoff was opened from a new station at Patney and Chirton (where the minor road crosses the railway on the right of this map), falling and through a cutting before bearing off to the left.



There would indeed be a fair chunk of digging out to get platforms down onto the line near the A342, and as the cutting was not built until after the end of broad gauge, the cutting is only standard gauge width - no extra slack .   Even the selected site is only halfway from the A342 to Patney and Chirton

 

"This" being 7th July 2020 for anyone who comes back to my quote out of context at a later date.  Link to

https://www.wiltshiretimes.co.uk/news/18471455.devizes-wins-government-cash-train-station-project/

 
Hopefully it will be opened by the Wurzels in due course, with a cafe selling hot meat pies and cider.

 
The Wurzels belong to Somerset ! Why not try raking in a few Moonrakers instead?

 
I doubt there's room for more than one Space Shuttle.🤔

 
ITV West covering the story on tuesday evening,available on channel 33 at 19:00pm as well.

 
But they did immortalise Devizes, I think more because of the opportunity for rhyming with it than it's rather loose association with the West Country proper.

 

That doesn't surprise me - but then again, I never get surprises! 

 

I was thinking more of a limerick with prizes and sizes.

---

The piece on ITV was a good one - and excellent to see that they found only people who thought it was a good idea on Devizes Market (mainly because it IS a good idea).    Nothing like local unanimous support to make the civil servants and ministers feel comfortable helping it move forward.   Good for Devizes (and so unlike elements of the local sentiment at some others places including one I was discussing with a member on the phone this afternoon).

Interesting to hear "we don't have public transport" from one exponent of the scheme and "buses to Trowbridge or Swindon are a real downer" from another.   The second was right and the station WOULD be used (and probably abstract very little).  Perhaps the first is too upper class to lower herself to a bus.  A third person commented that using public transport for her means driving to Great Bedwyn.

 
Reading the Wiltshire Times article I had to smile at the statement "within five years", if the progress on Portway Parkway is anything to go by you might want to add a zero to the five but then being Wiltshire it could happen because it's not Bristol !!!!

 

It's within the election cycle, with a conservative council, a conservative MP who's part of the inner circle, at a time of a conservative government, on a line with a service that could stop there, a strong local sentiment, ticks climate change and integrated transport boxes, and has what looks to me like a good business case.  The ducks might be in a line. Mind - it would be the first (re)opening in Wiltshire since 1985.

 

All sounds very hopeful. Remind us, grahame: Which Wiltshire station re-opened in 1985?

 

Me?  ...
Errr ...
Lets
Kid
Someone I know.
How does
Anyone
Manage to remember from so long ago?

 
Presumably the train which narrowly avoided hitting a person in Devizes earlier today was being transported by road at the time? Note the phrase IN Devizes.

http://www.terrascope.co.uk/images/Devizes_train.png

 
Well it is in the Devizes parliamentary constituency. 

 
Yup, on the rails!
https://www.wiltshire999s.co.uk/man-taken-to-hospital-after-narrowly-avoiding-being-hit-by-train-in-devizes/
The man was reportedly walking in the middle of the track, only jumping out of the way of the oncoming Great Western Railway (GWR) train with just seconds to spare. Continues..

 


A couple of miles from Devizes ... about a mile from Urchfont.  Lydeway is half a mile away.

///responded.kickers.professed is more accurate I suspect - the location from which the picture illustrating the article was taken, and where the A342 crossed the railway line.

 

A frequent type of error on local news websites staffed by deskbound junior reporters with no knowledge of their patch. I recall an incident at Hampstead Norreys being attributed to Newbury, eight miles away.

Another annoyance is league tables of "Reading's most expensive streets", where the top entries are in Wargrave, Shiplake and other "desirable" villages.

 
From the Gazette and Herald


There are links in the article ... however, following one of them I got the following sign-up request and I'll leave to individual members to follow the links and decide if they're happy with this, which appears to be the newspaper building up a mailing list??

 
The railway will no longer be leaving the town to its own Devizes.

(.....I'll get my coat)

 
From the Gazette and Herald

 
The last weeks ... new year, no-one going out, best shows on TV worn out over Christmas ... there has been a lot of online activity, with people reading social media and papers online and based on what they have (skim)read been making comments and asking questions.   Although there are background information sites for some of these projects, they tend not to be "FAQ formatted" for the new reader, even if the project newcomer goes to the site.   So there are some daft ideas that come up, but spiced in there are some which merit addressing - either because they could actually make sense or because they've not been addressed elsewhere

"A station three miles out of the town wouldn't be near enough for anyone to use of it and it would be a waste of money - why not run the train into the town where it used to go then loop back to the main line?".

Hmmm ...



As a corollary, why (when the line through Urchfont and Lavington was built) didn't it branch off to the west of Devizes anyway along the proposed new route?   Answer - heavy gradients just outside Devizes not suitable for long distance expresses.  Twisty bits in Devizes an issue too.    In modern day, Gradients not an issue (but 120 years ago they would have been) and if the train is string and restarting, the sharp corner not a problem.

Big problem ... cost.  Around 10 times the cost of even a quite substantial station as proposed ... also the trackbed though Devizes has been reclaimed from the railway in part. 

 
Also not sexy enough politically, in an area where a hatstand with a blue rosette on could get elected - Certainly not an East-West Rail or Ashington in terms of Central Wales Line "Look at the marginals on that" territory.

 
ITV west did a feature on Devizies Parkway on friday evening local news,maybe at the expense of Corsham re-opening.

 

Different line, different catchment areas, different constituency, different services, different case ... there probably will be trade-offs in terms of unitary council officer's time and perhaps some budget elements, but the headline should not be a tradeoff between the two.

Last new station in Wiltshire 84 years ago, only one station re-opened since then and that was 36 years ago.  Either would be a miracle in this county ... though there are effective players involved and a miracle could happen.

 

It could have been worse – they could have suggested taking the line back downhill again by repurposing Caen Hill flight 

These sorts of comments are frequent amongst the ill-informed or non-informed on general comment boards, and indeed in person too.

I used to have an arguing partner in South Africa who actually came from Bognor and went over there for the UK winter like me. One day we were having a discussion about some SPAD or other that had happened in the UK and got into the national press. He came up with what he thought was the perfect solution – “Simple innit? What they need is something that puts the brakes on if a driver passes a red signal.”

This was the same geezer who one day was complaining about the squeal of the wheels of trains entering Fish Hoek from Simonstown on a tight radius cure. Said he “they should put a bit of oil on that...”

 

https://www.gazetteandherald.co.uk/news/19050560.2-000-respond-devizes-station-survey/

 

https://www.wiltshiretimes.co.uk/news/19090536.connecting-rail-services-bedwyn-devizes---views-sought/

 
From the Gazette and Herald

 
An update on the new Devizies station on ITV West local news at 18:08pm on Wednesday 20 July

Available on ITV plus one

 
A new station at (or nearish to) Devizes has go itself caught up in the need for a fourth platform face at Westbury which (surprise) cannot be justified based only on the extra station / traffic at Devizes.   It strikes me as the same issue that the study of specifying from Newbury to Westbury came up with when the costs were loaded onto the two electric trains a day that would terminate at Westbury, and in contravention of the need to look at the whole picture including the net zero agenda.

More in another thread (I will copy elements here) and on Facebook (here)

 
Devizes Parkway study released by Network Rail
This report simply concludes that it is not economic as a standalone station due the impact on the wider railway. The implication is that it has to be oart of a larger scheme to introduce a stopping service along the B&H, and beyond, which will need reinstatement of the platform at Westbury

https://www.networkrail.co.uk/running-the-railway/our-routes/western/devizes-gateway-feasibility-study/

See also Paul Clifton on Twitter
https://twitter.com/paulcliftonbbc/status/1641718630227296257?s=61&t=VlafMC5gF9tidw36b1Y8JQ

 
A very comprehensive and well written report.  Hopefully it will pave the way (eventually) for a platform 0 at Westbury and reinstatement of the Bedwyn<>Paddington service to extend to it and serve a new station at Devizes as well as better serve Pewsey.

It’ll be quite a wait though I fear.