"First Great Western regret that the 19:51 service to Cheltenham Spa has been cancelled .... alternative arrangements ... sorry for any inconvenince".    So stated the pushbutton automated departure system at Melksham station at 19:45 last night when I went up to the station to see how the train was loading - I want to give First the benefit of the doubt and to encourage their timing if they have indeed found a market I'm not aware of.

After the regrets, etc, the announcement carried on "The next departure in the direction of Chippenham will be the 19:51 service to Cheltenham Spa" and the announcement finished.  Sure enough, the train turned up. 3 passengers got off and four remained on; no-one else joined.

"Carrying fresh air around" and "it would be cheaper to give them each a hire car" come to mind and, yes, that was the case last night. So should this service be running?   YES IT SHOULD ... as a part of a service that lets people travel up AND DOWN the line, and at reasonable interval too.  I recall that when I started to take more of an interest that just travelling on the line, back in summer '05, the Sunday trains had a loading of around 30 people per train.  It's not that those people have gone away / don't want to travel any more - it's that the travesty of a service now offered prevents them from making complete journeys.

The conductor of the 19:51 couldn't offer me any customer service logic for the timing of the near-empty 153 box, yet the absence of any return workings at all.  It must be really touch being a member of First's train operations teams at the moment - I have a great deal of time for these men and women who are doing their level best in an absurd situation.