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Graham Ellis
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I suppose we shouldn't expect the first day of a new timetable to go perfectly should we? And it's going to be even worse with engineering works up at the Swindon end.
I was watching the 18:51 from Chippenham on live departure boards .... and saw it reach Westbury, eventually, at 19:45. So I rather expected that the 19:38 from Westbury up to Swindon, off which I was meeting a customer at Melksham at 19:56, would be a bit late even though there was no indication of that on the departure board web site. Best get to the station on time, just in case it's a different train!
The information point tells me about the train to Chippenham and makes no comment about it being delayed. Good - that usually means "on time". But 19:56 came and went, 20:00 came and went, and no train. And the information point, when called, tells me that no train will be calling at this station in the next 99 minutes ...
Of course, I've learned not to believe everything I'm told - so I phone up National Rail Enquiries ("How do you spell that?" he asks about Melksham - I really must improve my diction!) and he's surprised that the train hasn't shown up - asks for my number to call me back. Top marks to him - he did , about 10 minutes later, to let me know the train had just left Westbury.
So due Melksham, 19:56. Actual 20:32 .... and with perhaps 15 people on it. 2 got off, no joiners ... but then with the train terminating at Chippenham tonight, and chaos all around it seems, it's not exactly a typical evening.
I rather suspect that the freighliner locomotives and Network Rail wagons that rolled through, southbound, at about 10 past 8 had something to do with the delay. A good reminder to stand well clear of the edge, even on a desolate night on an apparently obscure section of track. Obscure? Maybe - but damned useful to all and sundry!
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