... Frome is as much on the main line as Westbury ....
Cough! Splutter, spills coffee over keyboard.
Ironic that the downgrading of the Waterloo-Exeter service resulted in a better service for small towns between Salisbury and Exeter, ...
That's because the LSWR route has these stops as its core raison d'etre. After significant efforts were made to close it from Sherborne, somebody realised that by running a regular service, even with lumbering, underpowered Cl 33s + Mk 1s - you could actually attract passengers without going at 125 mph.
... while concentration of expresses on the GW route resulted in similar sized, or bigger, towns being (literally) bypassed, ...
There you go! Hoisted aloft on one's own petard! Not on the main line then, is it?
I don't know why there seem to be so many Frome haters on here. ....
Someone shouted rude words at me once in Frome. That was 35 years ago, but I've never forgiven them for the trauma. I was very impressionable then.
(only joking)
... What's wrong with suggesting a better service for a decent sized town?
Nowt. I would love to see Frome have a better service. If nothing else other than more trains via Melksham to Swindon. And Weymoth. And even to Yeovil Junction.
But the powers at be back in 1962 decided the Hants and Berks was all about whizzing folks from PAD to Exeter and Plymouth and beyond. As a result, they didn't really want to be bothered with stopping their super expensive, fast, heavy trains at biggish villages like Frome.
Anyway, it's got its own Sunday service to Waterloo now - you should be rejoicing over small mercies
As for Westbury being Frome's railhead, if that were an acceptable situation, why not close Frome station altogether?
Shhhh! No need to give people ideas. Even fully paid-up members of the Frome Haters International wouldn't go THAT far.
... How many places are there where the inhabitants of a larger town have to travel to a smaller town several miles away to get a train on a line that passes their town?
Dunno. You could always start a [Trivia] thread on the subject?
If Paddington-Exeter had been provided with a semi fast service akin to Waterloo-Exeter the intermediate stations could have a better service (including some which could be reopened) and West of England expresses could generally run non stop from Reading to Taunton.
Yeah. But even the semi-fasts might miss out Frome, because, er .. it's not on the main line. Time penalty, conflicting movements etc.
Frome - forever doomed to live in the shadow of Westbury