Well .... that happened all so quickly!

The 05:52 - the first train back after the 9 day break - was a 158 unit (2 coaches) in Transpennine colours.  15 minutes late off Melksham, held for a few minutes at Wootton Bassett, about 20 late into Swindon. (I know the on line tracking systems said "2 late" for Melksham, but that is simply what they had hoped the delay would be ...)

Our "group" of 8 hard soles joined at Melksham (2 x groupsaver tickets return Swindon); 6 others joined at Melksham and there were others on board already making 18 into Chippenham. 2 left the train, quite a lot joined and I counted 42 on the train approaching Swindon.

Journeys being made included Westbury to London, Trowbridge to Heathrow. The point was well made to me that the bus is NOT an alternative at this time of day, as there are no buses early enough. 

Return trip, delayed by late running of incoming train and then having to wait for an express to clear; 18 people on the train including our group. 1 off, 2 on at Chippenham. 10 off and 5 on at Melksham.  Arrived Melksham (I believe the tracking system in this case) 18 minutes late.

Notes ...

on the way up ...

One traveller who I happened to spent a few minutes with will not have any viable public transport route to work after December.

Even on this early train, we had at least one traveller on a non-specific ticket (a Rover ticket) so that will NOT be counted in line usage stats in any form as I understand it. Also one traveller who uses the service regurly from Westbury, changes at Swindon to London as there's no alternative at that time of day.  Once again, I suspect that his journey will not appear in the figure of 109k journeys per annum that I've been quoted.

on the way back ...

I spent time talking with a regular from Chippenham to Warminster by this train, who's mighty releived that it's in the new timetable - all be it 10 minutes earlier, and she'll have to change at Westbury (I don't know hoe long she'll have to wait there). She returns on the train that gets to Chippenham at around 17:20 and had understood that service also to be safe since it's a busy, rush hour one.   Oh - I wish!  She was not happy with the nearest alternative at 19:35 from Westbury, nor with the change-at-Bath option which she described as inconvenient as an interchange and adding 30 minutes to the journey.

These are just a couple of individual stories, and I appreciate that a service cannot run for just a couple of individuals.  But they're the people I cam across and each and every one on the 109k journeys per year is made by people like these - because they want or need the services.  And they want and need the services EVEN IF they don't happen to be quoted in the stats!

It's also worthwhile noting that cutting the train service to 40% of its current level won't just cut the passenger count by 40%.  It'll be worse!   You notice that one of the passengers I spoke to current goes 'down' on a safe train and back on one that's being canned.  Do you think that person will use one service 'down' and a totally different one 'up'?  No - I suspect they'll switch both journeys.

A HUGE thank you to everyone who came along to join us - it's really appreciated.  We HAVE got the train back (and a very nice one too, thank you First) for a couple of months and we have't had an "Etruria" done on us.  And I got more, far more, high user stats that I ever imagined I would.  Makes me all the more determined to do whatever I can ...

Enjoyed the trip this morning, what a delight to see a '158' pull into the station (perhaps Andrew Griffiths had something to do with this ??)  The trains this morning were the only two out of the current 5 round trips a day that I have never used.  The point was proven that many people rely even on these two early trains for their journeys and connections and that there will be no practical alternatives if they are cut.  I left Melksham station wondering how much untapped potential usage there could be along the line with a two hourly service and smart 158 trains like we had this morning. I'll be trying to get a few more letters out by the end of the week.

Here are some pictures ...

Part of our group at Melksham station at a quarter to six:


Paseengers on the 05:52 train - and you'll notice that (a) the train is busy and (b) not one of the people in thsi first picture is part of our group - these are regular users ....


More passengers ... this time, you'll recognise 4 of the faces but the rest are other travellers going about their day by day business.