Boardmasters specials to Newquay 2019

Boardmasters returns between 7 and 11 August, so GWR will be running their special services through to Newquay as per the previous years. Just like last year, all specials will be pre-book only so anyone travellling on one of the specials to Newquay will need to have a seat reservation.

Special STP services operate on 7 August, 8 August, 9 August and 12 August. As per last year, all STP services will have extra dwell time at Exeter and Plymouth and run express from Reading - Exeter, Exeter - Plymouth and Plymouth - Par in each direction.

Presumably all specials will be operated by 9 car IETs as the 10 car IETs cannot crossover with other services at Goonbarrow Junction. It will be interesting to see how the IETs will cope with their first year operating Boardmasters specials, particular with the new luggage regulations. With surfboards banned on the trains and some aspects of the festival based on surfing, people will want to take their surfboards to the festival so I can see some people ignoring this rule.

Local shacks (Luxulyan, Bugle, Roche, St Columb Road and Quintrell Downs) between Par and Newquay will be served by bus as well as receive a limited WTT service as normal.

Wednesday 7 August

2N02 0524 Bristol Temple Meads – Newquay (WTT)
2N03 1013 Newquay – Par (WTT)

1Z30 0636 London Paddington – Newquay 1207
5Z40 1227 Newquay – London Paddington (ECS)

1Z31 0903 London Paddington – Newquay 1430
1A96 1507 Newquay – London Paddington (WTT)

1Z32 1203 London Paddington – Newquay 1736
5Z42 1803 Newquay – London Paddington (ECS)

1Z33 1333 London Paddington – Newquay 1915
5Z44 1945 Newquay – Stoke Gifford (ECS)

2N12 2028 Par – Newquay (WTT)
2N13 2127 Newquay – Par (WTT)

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Thursday 8 August

2N02 0524 Bristol Temple Meads – Newquay (WTT)
2N03 1013 Newquay – Par (WTT)

1Z30 0636 London Paddington – Newquay 1207
5Z40 1227 Newquay – London Paddington (ECS)

1Z31 0903 London Paddington – Newquay 1430
1A96 1507 Newquay – London Paddington (WTT)

1Z32 1203 London Paddington – Newquay 1736
5Z42 1803 Newquay – London Paddington (ECS)

2N12 2028 Par – Newquay (WTT)
2N13 2127 Newquay – Par (WTT)

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Friday 9 August

2N02 0524 Bristol Temple Meads – Newquay (WTT)
2N03 1013 Newquay – Par (WTT)

1Z30 0636 London Paddington – Newquay 1207
5Z40 1227 Newquay – London Paddington (ECS)

1Z31 0903 London Paddington – Newquay 1430
1A96 1507 Newquay – London Paddington (WTT)

2N08 1610 Par – Newquay (WTT)
2N09 1719 Newquay – Par (WTT)

2N10 1829 Par – Newquay (WTT)
2N11 1924 Newquay – Par (WTT)

2N12 2028 Par – Newquay (WTT)
2N13 2126 Newquay – Par (WTT)

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Saturday 10 August & Sunday 11 August

All WTT services as normal.

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Monday 12 August

5Z30 0455 Laira TMD – Newquay 0700
1Z30 0728 Newquay – London Paddington

5Z31 0616 Lairs TMD – Newquay 0841
1Z31 0920 Newquay – London Paddington

5Z32 0528 Stoke Gifford – Newquay 1031
1Z32 1053 Newquay – London Paddington

5Z33 0636 London Paddington – Newquay 1204
1Z33 1240 Newquay – London Paddington

1C74 0903 London Paddington – Newquay 1419 (WTT)
1Z34 1507 Newquay – London Paddington

5Z35 1206 Reading – Newquay 1643
1Z35 1712 Newquay – London Paddington

2N10 1829 Par – Newquay (WTT)
2N11 1924 Newquay – Par (WTT)

2N12 2028 Par – Newquay (WTT)
2N13 2126 Newquay - Par

SWTrainspottin said:

With more 800s coming into service, there have been enough to cover enough HST work I guess. 800s have been covering a lot more work because of these HSTs being used for Boardmasters.

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There are only 500 mk 3 coaches rotting away in storage and an entire fleet of hst loco doing the same. Yes indeed sir, theres a massive rolling stock shortage.
I suspect no other country in the world has so many carriages and locomotives in storage and no other country moans as a much as we do thats theres no rolling stock available
What is 2+2 these days?
Talk about telling so many lies until everyone believes them.
And then when a TOC puts a few extra trains on, people say how well they are doing.
the way we run our railways is totally insane.
Its a pity we aren't as good at running our trains as we are at brainwashing people.
No rolling stock!!
Really???

Mark62 said:

There are only 500 mk 3 coaches rotting away in storage and an entire fleet of hst loco doing the same. Yes indeed sir, theres a massive rolling stock shortage.
I suspect no other country in the world has so many carriages and locomotives in storage and no other country moans as a much as we do thats theres no rolling stock available
What is 2+2 these days?
Talk about telling so many lies until everyone believes them.
And then when a TOC puts a few extra trains on, people say how well they are doing.
the way we run our railways is totally insane.
Its a pity we aren't as good at running our trains as we are at brainwashing people.
No rolling stock!!
Really???

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I’m not sure what your point is here? The biggest restricting factor in most cases for dealing with events is not the amount of rolling stock but traincrew resource.

There’s certainly not 500 mk3 coaches in store!l; only 850 were built and the majority are still in traffic way beyond their design life.

No other country? Have you not seen the storage lines of stock and locos and France (Sotteville and Villeneuve-Saint-Georges for example) which have redundant TGVs amongst others stored in the same way our redundant HSTs have been stored.

https://www.railpictures.net/photo/502384/

http://www.railwayherald.co.uk/imagingcentre/view/426462/PL

Germany also has vasts amount of rolling stock stored out of traffic in yards.

Oh dear, has someone left their ‘tinfoil hat’ at home?

Mark62 said:

There are only 500 mk 3 coaches rotting away in storage and an entire fleet of hst loco doing the same. Yes indeed sir, theres a massive rolling stock shortage.
I suspect no other country in the world has so many carriages and locomotives in storage and no other country moans as a much as we do thats theres no rolling stock available
What is 2+2 these days?
Talk about telling so many lies until everyone believes them.
And then when a TOC puts a few extra trains on, people say how well they are doing.
the way we run our railways is totally insane.
Its a pity we aren't as good at running our trains as we are at brainwashing people.
No rolling stock!!
Really???

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That was a year ago, so now it is irrelevant.

I see that this festival has now been cancelled at the last minute due to expected bad weather.

Currently the GWR website says check back to see if the special services will remain in place or be withdrawn. I'd imagine it'll be a big operation to unwind everything at the last minute.

iphone76 said:

I see that this festival has now been cancelled at the last minute due to expected bad weather.

Currently the GWR website says check back to see if the special services will remain in place or be withdrawn. I'd imagine it'll be a big operation to unwind everything at the last minute.

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Adding to the above post here:-

Boardmasters music festival cancelled due to 'severe' weather


The Boardmasters music festival has been cancelled due to warnings of severe weather conditions.

The three-day event headlined by the Wu-Tang Clan, Florence + The Machine and Foals, was to take place in Newquay, Cornwall this weekend.

However, organisers pulled the plug due to "forecasted severe weather conditions", they said.

A statement said the decision to cancel was made after the festival consulted police and independent safety advisers.

The Met Office has issued a yellow weather warning for much of England and Wales on Friday and Saturday - with forecasters saying a band of heavy rain will be followed by heavy showers or thunderstorms and has the potential to bring disruption.

The statement from Boardmasters said: "The safety of you, the fans and attendees, as well as performers and crew comes first, and the potential risk is too severe for the event to go ahead at this time."

Refund information will be shared "as soon as possible", it added.

Boardmasters, a live music and surfing festival, usually takes place every year in and around Newquay.

It can trace its heritage back to 1981 and more than 50,000 people attended in 2018.

Other acts who had been set to perform at the festival site in Watergate Bay between 9 and 11 August included Razorlight, Dizzee Rascal and Jorja Smith.

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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-49259812

Yes I remember after Adele concerts were cancelled at Wembley the special timetable still ran carrying around fresh air (albeit formations were shortened where possible) - the downstream impacts on positioning, scheduling, maintenance, diagrams, staffing etc if you tried to unwind it all are just too complex at short notice I am sure. I would have thought even more so on a long distance basis

I also have a feeling that some people may choose to travel anyway

I feel so sorry for GWR after all the planning that went into covering this event

dk1 said:

I feel so sorry for GWR after all the planning that went into covering this event

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Me too, it is quite sad seeing hard work that took several months to plan being flushed down the drain last minute over something out of their control. All the buses ordered, trains shuffled around, extra staff pulled into cover which will now lose them money.

dk1 said:

I feel so sorry for GWR after all the planning that went into covering this event

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That's life on the railway.

700007 said:

Me too, it is quite sad seeing hard work that took several months to plan being flushed down the drain last minute over something out of their control. All the buses ordered, trains shuffled around, extra staff pulled into cover which will now lose them money.

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From a business point of view there is a good chance it won’t lose them as much money as you’d think as most people will have already purchased tickets, many of which are non refundable. GWR now have to ask themselves whether they should allow zero admin fee refunds on these tickets and find a balance between customer service and profit.

robbeech said:

From a business point of view there is a good chance it won’t lose them as much money as you’d think as most people will have already purchased tickets, many of which are non refundable. GWR now have to ask themselves whether they should allow zero admin fee refunds on these tickets and find a balance between customer service and profit.

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their all over twitter at the moment demanding refunds for advance tickets

Tony43 said:

their all over twitter at the moment demanding refunds for advance tickets

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Looks like they’ve seen sense or they’re watching.

All tickets including advances are refundable from point of purchase.

Well done to them.

robbeech said:

Looks like they’ve seen sense or they’re watching.

All tickets including advances are refundable from point of purchase.

Well done to them.

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I hope this doesn't set a president. Why is Boadmasters more important than any other cancelled event?

dk1 said:

I hope this doesn't set a president. Why is Boadmasters more important than any other cancelled event?

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I do also understand this opinion. The people going will potentially be waiting months for refunds to complete from the festival itself. Many people can only afford to go to one each summer now due to the increasing prices (I’m not suggesting the prices are justifiable) I think for these types of event it’s likely the right thing to do. GWR are strict about it, it’s Newquay tickets only within a limited timeframe. I think the more important and sensible relaxation is them allowing people with advances for getting home AFTER the event to use them to get home before hand thus not leaving them stranded there.

dk1 said:

I hope this doesn't set a president. Why is Boadmasters more important than any other cancelled event?

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Quite - what about things like postponed football matches that fans have bought advanced purchase tickets for to get to the march?

(BTW, it's "precedent' not "president" )

Mag_seven said:

Quite - what about things like postponed football matches that fans have bought advanced purchase tickets for to get to the march?

(BTW, it's "precedent' not "president" )

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Do you know I kept thinking it didn't look right. Thats a French cheese that sponsors Come Dine

dk1 said:

I hope this doesn't set a president. Why is Boadmasters more important than any other cancelled event?

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Well, you are wasting your hoping time then - because the president has indeed been set.

Just waiting for the Liverpanchester FC fans to make their claim when their game against Tottsea FC is called off cause of waterlogged pitch. Or TB. I meant, TV. Or indeed, TB.

70014IronDuke said:

Well, you are wasting your hoping time then - because the president has indeed been set.

Just waiting for the Liverpanchester FC fans to make their claim when their game against Tottsea FC is called off cause of waterlogged pitch. Or TB. I meant, TV. Or indeed, TB.

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Floodgates left well & truly open Unfortunate phrase at the moment I know.

What about all those folk who may have travelled to Cornwall for other reasons, but couldn't because all the tickets had gone? Can they get a refund/exchange/purchase-at-original-low-price? It's a very fine balance that will probably upset a lot of people either way.

Tony43 said:

their all over twitter at the moment demanding refunds for advance tickets

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Bad luck on those planning to go. As for refunds GWR have said this:
https://www.gwr.com/about-us/media-centre/info

GWR said:

Boardmasters Music Festival Cancelled
Due to forecast severe weather, we have been advised by the event organisers that the Boardmasters Festival, due to take place from Wednesday 7th to Sunday 11th August in Newquay, has been cancelled.

Train Service Alteration:

GWR are planning to operate a special timetable during the event, with extra trains to and from Newquay to convey the large passenger numbers expected. We will still operate extra trains but some may be altered, please ensure you check the GWR website to remain up to date with the latest train service information before travelling.

Ticket Easements:

Any passengers who have already travelled to the event, and hold a ticket dated for 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th or 12th August, may use their ticket for an earlier return journey. Existing tickets are valid after 09:30 Thursday 8th & Friday 9th - any time Saturday 10th & Sunday 11th - and after 09:30 Monday 12th August. Any passengers who have decided not to travel may be entitled to a refund on their ticket.

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Dave

Despite the cancellation of the event, GWR did run all four of their special IETs through to Newquay as planned. Instead of returning empty, two of three workings became passenger services to enable people who had already arrived for the festival to leave. Will have to see what happens with the other special services on Thursday, Friday and Monday, by judging by a statement from GWR, it seems like all specials will be runned as planned!

Anyhow, just for the records...

7th August

800303
1Z30 0636 London Paddington - Newquay
1Z40 1227 Newquay - Plymouth

(1Z40 was a VSTP service to Plymouth vice ECS to London Paddington)

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802011 (5 coach vice 9 coach)
1Z31 0903 London Paddington - Newquay
1A96 1507 Newquay - London Paddington

(With this being 5 vice 9, it's just as well the event was cancelled!)

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802019 - 802014
1Z32 1203 London Paddington - Newquay
1Z42 1803 Newquay - Plymouth

(1Z42 was a VSTP service to Plymouth vice ECS to London Paddington. Also this was the first time a 10 coach IET has made it to Newquay in service; second time overall)

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802110
1Z33 1333 London Paddington - Newquay
5Z44 1945 Newquay - Stoke Gifford

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Unidentified 150
2N02 0524 Bristol Temple Meads - Newquay
2N03 1013 Newquay - Par
2N12 2028 Par - Newquay
2N13 2127 Newquay - Par

(In between workings, it was in Par Chapel Siding. It worked 2Z46 to Penzance which would usually run from Newquay)

dk1 said:

I hope this doesn't set a president. Why is Boadmasters more important than any other cancelled event?

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Have to completely agree with this.

Anyone who takes British holidays, or chooses to partake in outdoors events, should know only too well that Britain’s weather is notoriously unpredictable, that long-range forecasts are generally rubbish, and that this is a fact of life no matter what time of year.

Just one of those things we have to suck up. It can be heartbreaking when it happens for sure, but a risk that simply has to be factored in.

I know this more than most as my holidays are almost exclusively in the UK, often in the more notorious parts like Wales and the north-west. On top of this about 90% of my activities are outdoors or semi-outdoors, and I do quite a bit of photography so like to have decent light.

This year has been a complete arse in all honesty. Despite having had quite a bit of flexibility to flex dates and adjust work dates to fit, since the second half of May there hasn’t been a run of really nice weather at all. We managed to make the most of some brief good spells in April and May (albeit in the former case being lucky that our chosen area was the only part of the country where such good weather actually happened), and even here there were plenty of poor days. Both these trips has to be rescheduled at short notice as the weather on the originally planned dates was poor, in one case resulting in considerable extra hotel expense. Our June holiday was rescheduled twice then cancelled altogether, we managed to get a week in Buxton where out of nine days only two had really decent weather, and our July holiday to west Wales was again rescheduled but still ended up being a bit of a flop - we were able to use some of the time productively but ended up coming back early (getting a partial refund thanks to the goodwill of the hotel, which I didn’t *expect*). We’re now pinning hopes on a good September, but given the trends it doesn’t look promising.

For all this flexibility we book refundable hotel rates, paying quite a bit extra in the process. And there’s been plenty of occasions over the years where things haven’t gone to plan and we’ve been stuck in the hotel for days on end and basically had to make the best of it and write off the cost.

This is all a fact of life. I still wouldn’t do anything else as U.K. holidays in my view beat anything else hands down when the weather does behave. But forgive me if I’m unsympathetic to people who choose to partake in an outdoor event, gamble on the weather, book non-refundable transport or accommodation deals, and then grumble when they can’t get their money back. I’m more sympathetic to organisers and hotels who put the effort in, lose the business but still have to bear costs.

(rant over!)

I don't know why some folk who've booked travel and a hotel, don't just make the best of a bad job and...go anyway? Do people really lack such imagination?

Ianno87 said:

I don't know why some folk who've booked travel and a hotel, don't just make the best of a bad job and...go anyway? Do people really lack such imagination?

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To be fair, some places can be pretty miserable in the wind / rain, especially if one isn’t content to just amble around pubs, cafes and restaurants.

From my point of view, there’s little point going on holiday if the weather’s going to be below par (especially if it's going to be exceptionally bad, for example storms), as I tend to have a definitive agenda of things to do, so I’ll end up going back at a later date anyway. There’s only so much one can do somewhere like Berwick-upon-Tweed or Carmarthen for two weeks in poor weather!

Nonetheless, I agree with your general point. If one has booked to go somewhere for a couple of days then what’s the issue making the best of it?

dk1 said:

I hope this doesn't set a president. Why is Boadmasters more important than any other cancelled event?

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Perhaps it should set a precedent. In the past the railway wouldn't be making money from people unable to travel because they wouldn't have bought tickets. Fares have now been hiked up to extortionate levels so the only way ordinary people can afford to travel is by booking in advance - which also means the TOCs take all the money even if the event is cancelled and they haven't actually carried the passengers.

158756 said:

Perhaps it should set a precedent. In the past the railway wouldn't be making money from people unable to travel because they wouldn't have bought tickets. Fares have now been hiked up to extortionate levels so the only way ordinary people can afford to travel is by booking in advance - which also means the TOCs take all the money even if the event is cancelled and they haven't actually carried the passengers.

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Isn't that what Insurance is for? People buy cheap advance train tickets in the same way I book cheap non-refundable hotel rooms. It means just that doesn't it?

158756 said:

Perhaps it should set a precedent. In the past the railway wouldn't be making money from people unable to travel because they wouldn't have bought tickets. Fares have now been hiked up to extortionate levels so the only way ordinary people can afford to travel is by booking in advance - which also means the TOCs take all the money even if the event is cancelled and they haven't actually carried the passengers.

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However in this case the trains have still run, and there's an obvious cost to this.

I certainly wouldn't expect to get a refund on a non refundable air fare should an event be cancelled. I've not seen any airline offering refunds on their Newquay flights.

Ianno87 said:

I don't know why some folk who've booked travel and a hotel, don't just make the best of a bad job and...go anyway? Do people really lack such imagination?

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I guess in this case, there is no hotel, so going anyway isn’t really an option.