In the interests of continuity and ease of future reference, I have moved and merged several topics here.

These posts all relate specifically to the 'Strawberry Line': as ever, nothing has been deleted and the original topic headings have been retained where possible.

I do hope my consolidation of various historic information into this one definitive topic helps our readers.

Also, I should declare something of a personal interest here: the Strawberry Line is local to me, it is a great cycleway, and their cafe at Yatton station is excellent: if you find yourself in North Somerset with some time to spare, please do give it a go!

CfN. 

 
Ah hmm. Point of order m'lud https://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=29650.msg359540#msg359540 

 

 

15 bikes, so you are happy for your exit to be blocked in an emergency then? I was infamous in Wessex days for enforcing the 1600 to 1800 no bikes rule.

Yes, I agree it's a disgrace regarding bike storage on IETs being abysmal but that was chosen by the "experts" at DaFT.

Dear Passenger,

When you get home do you close your front door and then block it with luggage /pram/bike?

No?

So why do you block a door as soon as you board a train?

One of the dispatchers at Barf was abused so much by cyclists he had to be supported in the 6 bike rule, if not then probably 10 plus in the van, again blocking the emergency exit.

 

Or else it is a very easy promise to make, since by the time Old Oak Common station opens there won't be any Great Western Railway. And as an operational timetabling matter, I would doubt any promise so far into the future, even from the provisional GBR, was worth much.

 

Claire Young is MP for Thornbury and Yate, in a constituency which includes a section of the main London to South Wales line on it with a single station which at present does not have a regular scheduled local service to London, being served by only by trains from Cardiff running to and through Bristol toward the West Country - indeed as far as Penzance.

Are the 26 trains mentioned a fresh announcement or are they the class 175 units which will be very welcome.  The use of the word "additional" suggests to me a net fleet growth, but other reports including from GWR suggest that some of the trains in this transfer are not additional but rather as replacement for other trains being withdrawn.

 
Then either none do & the current timetable would still work on the main lines, OR this will mean that there will be fewer paths available per hour as some stop (so the more 'locals' - Cotswolds, Bristol (poss not, as XC direct would be quicker than via OOC), Cardiffs, WSMs) while others don't....

 
Screenshot of performance data displayed at Reading station, via an account from one Ed Fielden on Bluesky.

(Bluesky's an open system, so, to view posts, no need for an account. X has changed and while it supplies content to search engines, an account's needed to view the content)

Mark

https://bsky.app/profile/coriniumtv.bsky.social/post/3ljru5m5yzs2k

 
Bluesky post from an MP, an update on Old Oak Common services.

"After much lobbying from @libdems.org.uk MPs, I am glad to confirm Great Western Railway trains travelling from the South West to London Paddington will not stop at Old Oak Common as standard - as had been proposed - and that there will be an additional 26 trains added to the fleet."

Mark

https://bsky.app/profile/claireyoungmp.bsky.social/post/3lkgyydpypk26

 
From the BBC:

 
tl:dr - a good if slow-across-the-ground day out, if imposing it on others, I'd make considerate choices though...

Needing a public transport fix, it turned into one of those Saturday mornings where the connections fell awkwardly, but working with what was available... Bath's bus system not cooperating, so a walk to the station, just missing the 9:29 to Swindon so, on to the 9:43... which at Swindon allowed 50 minutes for a quick walk to the bus station, which is within a month or five of being closed for good, and then across the forthcoming arrangement for buses to the shops and back.

Debenham's corpse is unfortunately very visible and, with scaffolding sheets torn and slatting in any breeze, drawing attention to itself. In the fenced off space in front of it was one of those automatic security things that looks as though it's going to taser intruders (and may be capable of barking instructions at people who approach, as I found out once...)

The cafe between the bus station and what was an underpass is closed too, either for good or for a refresh.

The new bus street arrangement thing looks all very well but might impose more of a hike for people changing between train and bus - or even between bus and bus. At the station, three platform staff at platform level had been having a loud anti-passenger conversation, which wasn't ideal. I asked one of the staff staffing the barrier if the bus station was still where it was and he let me know that he was having a bad day which wasn't exactly ideal either.

On to the bus to Cirencester. For some reason, Stagecoach's buses seem to have stopped accepting Bathnes diamondcards but the driver was fine with this.

After a spell on the dual carriageway the bus serves Cricklade, and at Latton, allows a glimpse of an odd unexpected culvert beneath what is now a motorway in all but name, and the bus then threads its way through part of what's branded as the Cotswold Water Park, which is always surprising to encounter in what was until recently very much rural and somewhat remote country.

The final approach to Cirencester, the town particularly submerged in traffic, was complicated in that there had been an odd road traffic collision at the roundabout on the bypass by Waitrose. It looked to be driver of an SUV exiting the town via the grass strip in the middle rather than the road, and somehow clobbering a lamp post at speed, pulling that clean out of the ground, both car and lamp post on to the roundabout, stopping the job as it was no longer driveable, but no other vehicles apparent. Police were still there, along with a flatbed truck and ramp, and also a tech team to make the lampost supply safe.

So, a bit delayed, nevertheless the connection was ok for a bacon butty and then the several-times-a-day bus to Stroud.

Leaving the Stroud bus at Coates, at a stop that I'd last used in August 1970** time for a walk through the village and along a footpath to check if the Tunnel House pub is still there.

(It's still there but is currently not a pub. The building is ok but its surroundings are a bit building-sitey. Also, the collection of holiday huts for which I think the Bathurst estate gained planning permission hasn't happened yet).

Rather than walk across to Sapperton for the bus back to Ciren etc etc, Kemble Station was becoming a particularly attractive vision, so down into the canal's cutting and a little contemplation of the canal tunnel, the portal looking rather whiskery for the time being. Heading to Kemble would also allow me to repeat a previous walk that had been ruined by the need to care for the safety of a stray dog, something that was eventually achieved by confining it in the garden of a nearby house. As the garden also contained several geese, the improvement in safety of the dog may have been somewhat relative...

The towpath heads off conveniently in the general direction of Kemble and so did I, the clear water in the canal penned in by the stop planks at Tarlton bridge, the bed dry and thirsty thereafter. Copious snowdrops escaping from the garden in the forever roofless roundhouse there, a momento from the time that the building was an (inconvenient) home.

Eventually thrown off the canal towpath by recent barbed wire into the meadows, past the source of the Thames (or perhaps not) and later, a large pool just upstream of the Foss Way's crossing of the valley (and a nod to the location and time that I managed to wind an extinct form of MZ motorcycle up to 63 mph thereabouts...)

The site of the canal company's wind pump by Thames Head bridge is presumably now beneath the modern road, but east of the bridge, a larger pool that was generating a little flow in what for a couple of hundred yards was very much a stream bed before it petered out once again.

A pause, at least concerning anything resembling flowing water, before what is presumably something called Lyd Well took charge, filling the Thames with a copious flow. The river, very much established as a thing, heading across more meadows to pass beneath the road and Cirencester's railway's vanished bridge, at which point a convenient footpath leads to Kemble Station, where the start of the branch and small quarry has been turned over to pay-by-app car parking.

So, Kemble Station, and around 25 people for the 16:49 on a Saturday which is good to see. The bookiing office and cafe closed and who can blame them. The nearby pub open, but no time before the train. The bus from Cirencester is very infrequent and little indication as to how the people had arrived at the station as about half were not of driving age, (which is also good to see).

The return trip, straightforward. Both IEPs had the deep-vein-thrombosis-seat-defect but that risk only kicks in after 45 minutes sitting, so, not a problem. Swindon has automated stair announcements that I can't tune out, but these now make me think ' Ian Walmsley who writes for Modern Rail - what would he say?'

I'd managed to become too thirsty and the wait at Swindon was just long enough to hammer across to the convenient Queens Tap pub opposite and down a pint of lime juice and water. Then, refreshed, on to the train back to Bath, reflecting on how pleasant it is to be able to use public transport to set up a walk that doesn't involve returning to a vehicle or, even worse, a vehicle shuffle.

Mark



** or rather, hadn't used as the last bus, a bit after nine at night I think, had seen fit to run early, and we missed it, but that is another tale and for that matter, one that's probably been told here already.

 
Very much a group setup and organisation session

 
Newer reports correct that to a TER not a TGV, and the vehicle was a car with one other occupant who is seriously injured. This was a very violent collision, with the vehicle thrown forward against a house and then a steel stanchion.

 

Indeed not anywhere near Wiltshire - actually this points failure mentioned by GBM elsewhere on the forum https://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=28556.msg359538#msg359538, which was in Cornwall.

 
Yet another collision at a level crossing in France this morning. Initial reports say that a TGV struck a vehicle (perhaps a bus) carrying soldiers, two of whom were killed. This was at crossing 85 on the line between Arras and Lens, at the D49 from Thélus to Bailleul-Sir-Berthoult. Why the TGV was on that line, and where it was going, I don't yet know.

 
Booking links for in-person and online now available via:

https://www.travelwatchsouthwest.org.uk/

 

Have to love this - NOT a points failure anywhere near us but a knock on delay from

 
If you're using a foot crossing on foot, it's useful to consider if you're what the railway might call an 'Encumbered' pedestrian - for example, if you're carrying something, wheeling a bike, have a dog, carrying a canoe, accompanied by a child or have a pushchair (or both) and if you are, it's useful to know to risk-assess that aspect of things before proceeding.

(Photo is a footpath crossing at Coates on the approach to Sapperton)

Mark

https://postimg.cc/1VQGRjKs/f6b26b41

 

Yes - I do not believe we have the full story here; various things don't add up.

I am very gingerly speculating ... a lot of people walk around and to and from the village in Pewsey, and the typical route is along footpaths and over that wooden footbridge on Hollybush Lane before the dropping down to the lane itself and they go under the bridge on the lane.   With the footbridge closed, they are left with the options of either a long walk around to then come up Hollybush lane from the main road to the south, or taking the alternative path / level crossing over the railway.

Block one route, and people will diversity to the next easiest - which is the pedestrian crossing; there remain other alternatives, but for people on foot they are more substantial diversions.

 

A photo of Batheaston/Swainswick bypass's river spans from beneath to follow.

Some years previous to the bypass being built, the bus service up the Swainswick Valley (number 210, hourly to the village) ceased as the buses could no longer maintain the timetable given the standing traffic on the A46. When the bypass opened, there were hopes that it would be reinstated, but nooooh.

And yes, a more economical bypass would have been good and enabled improvements elsewhere on the route. Including for people on foot. Thinking now of the feed into Melksham's bypass-that-isn't, which has murderous tendencies if you're on foot and don't know the road. One of the bus stops near the station is a good hike from... the station, and if you then innocently trot along the pavement in the direction of said station, the urban pavement, without any notice that it's going to do so, thins out slowly to nothing, and on a blind bend for good measure. Google streetview here: https://tinyurl.com/mwuw2nsb

Mark

https://i.postimg.cc/CxkWG8kC/A4-Batheaston-bypass-bridges.jpg

 

There is also a small wooden footbridge over the same lane (Hollybush Lane), 20 m from the railway. And oddly, it's owned by NR and got its "Railway Authority" plate to prove it. But I can't fathom what that, or any other footbridge, has to do with crossing the railway near here. A key piece of information is missing.

 

I am seeing what I'm pretty sure is some good-natured bantering there, but it does remind me that the railways showed startling levels of reliability when there were hardly any passengers travelling during covid - but I then remind myself that there was hardly any income to the railways either and in the continuum there is a need for income, even if it requires the harding of a wide range of passengers.

* Those with heavy luggage.
* Those bringing a bicycle with them
* Those who need customer information
* Those who require boarding assistance
* Those who'll want help buying a ticket
* Those who can't read and understand signs and notices in English or Welsh
* Those who wish to have a guaranteed seat
* Those who are otherwise limited for health or other reasons

Would you restrict the use of the railway to people without certain needs?  Make additional charge for some of those items?

Declaration of interest - I ALWAYS fall into one of these categories, and for certain journeys have fallen into most of the other too.

 

Looks like a 'false' report - just 1 minute late off Westbury in the end

 

 

Certainly the A46 coming down off the M4 through Pennsylvania now dumps the traffic between Batheaston and Bathford ... with onward routes south for smaller vehicles through Bradford-on-Avon who love all the traffic they get - not sure how much is long distance stuff.  Other traffic carries on via Box - eastwards rather than south, and if it's headed south joins the A350 at Chippenham or Melksham.  I would not describe the Batheaston bypass as "wasted" investment, but I would agree that it misses an element that would have made it much more valuable.

 
I think, with hindsight, and a fairly straight face, it is not unreasonable to say that if the money wasted on what was done at Bath had been (better ?) used to bypass Melksham and Westbury then the M4 to Warminster bit of this "strategic" route would now have a reasonable road. Only the A36 to, and round, Salisbury left to do 

 
Alterations to services between Reading and Maidenhead
Due to a points failure between Reading and Maidenhead some lines are closed.
Train services running to and from these stations may be delayed or revised. Disruption is expected until 11:30 17/03.
Customer Advice
A problem with some points (the means by which trains move from one track to another) in the Twyford area means that we have to reduce the number of train services operating over that section of line.

As a result, train services between London Paddington, Reading and Oxford will operate to a reduced frequency in both directions. Any customers travelling between London Paddington and Oxford (and vice versa) may utilise Chiltern Railways services between London Marylebone and Oxford (in both directions) as an alternative. GWR tickets will be accepted on those services and also on London Underground services between Paddington and Marylebone in order to facilitate this.

Train services between London Paddington and Newbury will not operate between London Paddington and Reading. Customers to / from these services will be required to change trains at Reading.

Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience this may cause.

 
It's not particularly famous 'cos few people will care and any narrative is lost to time: does anyone else recall this photo? I think in the station at Abingdon, a tank engine with a canvas canoe sort-of strapped alongside the boiler. The reason why being lost in history...

Mark

 
Due to a points failure between Plymouth and Penzance the line towards Penzance is blocked.
Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled, delayed or revised. Disruption is expected until 09:30 17/03.
Customer Advice
We're sorry for the delay to your journey.
-
A set of points at the Royal Albert bridge at Plymouth have failed. Network Rail colleagues are on site investigating.
As a consequence services from Plymouth to Penzance will be disrupted, however services towards Plymouth, Exeter, Bristol Temple Meads and London Paddington will run.

05:03 Penzance to London Paddington due 09:56
05:03 Penzance to London Paddington due 09:56 will no longer call at Taunton.
It has been delayed between Liskeard and Saltash and is now 30 minutes late.
This is due to a points failure.

1A73 0503 Penzance to London Paddington is now non stop between Exeter and Reading.
A rarity surely?

 

Given that Bath's in the top ten and possibly the top five in terms of revenue generating stations for GWR that's a little ungenerous.

Thinking of the maximum number of bikes I've seen in an HST bike space, yes, that Sunday evening when at least 15 teenagers off the Bristol to Bath path happily piled a collection of wheeled things aboard for the trip home was memorable, and even if there were far too many of them they were helping to pay the railway's wage bill (and everything went aboard because the space was somewhat flexible and everyone including staff were in a good mood, confident, and generally less under the cosh). Of course the DfT has now sorted this out with cycle accommodation on the IEPs that's not particularly useable at all.

Mark