adamcoppard
Member
- Joined
- 29 Oct 2010
- Messages
- 48
Hi folks,
Was wandering if anybody can provide some information about this rather 'interesting' service ran tonight, and the many questions I now have about it!
We started a few minutes ahead of schedule at Bristol Temple Meads (BRI) but realized the platform had changed to 5 instead of the usual 11 - was there any reason for this change?
Things got off to a bad start - there was another 2 car set infront of us as the train came from Bristol Parkway, but I think, from looking at maps we reversed out of BRI - however the driver stayed on the platform with the doors shut for the next ten minutes and mentioned something about the back two cars and their engines. Does anyone know if this refered to the set in front of us, or two in our set? Could the driver have moved with the other set on the platform? He got ridiculously close when he pulled in!
So, something around ten minutes down we leave BRI on our journey, and get literally a minute from Westbury when we stop - which we weren't informed at this point was the brakes in some collection of the cars we were on, from which we were stationary for some time - is there any way of finding out how long this was? We got into Westbury - at which point I gave up counting - and the station announcer announced a train was cancelled and all of the passengers had to get onto our train - cue waiting for this to happen.
After the Westbury debarcle we get through Frome, Bruton, Castle Cary with no incidences apart from the braking being really rather heavy. We suddenly come to a halt again in the pitch blackness, which my iPhone GPS informed we were somewhere alongside Marston Magna - where the driver comes over the intercom and informs us 'braking has gone' in a combination of carriages, just like it had outside Westbury (of which we were only told here - unless I missed something). To be honest - I was expecting us to have been kicked out at Westbury if it went wrong just before! We eventually arrived at Yeovil Pen Mill (YVP) at around 19:05, somewhere between 40 and 50 minutes down. Does anybody have this precise figure - and if so - does this constitute enough of a delay for FGW to give us anything?
Also - and I was going to speak to an on board member of staff but the issues of our journey prevented it - the only time we saw one was walking down the train whilst stationary in BRI, and not again till walking through to fix the problem was the door between carriages / sections was lose - it did not latch properly, which every time heading around the corner had the potential to hit me in the head - I would like to write to somebody / inform somebody about this - who should this be directed to? FGW customer service themselves?
As a final question, and this hasn't happened before in my journeys, a 1 car unit arrives at YVP this morning, with us all packed, they attach another at Westbury (without telling us, so we just feel jolts etc) and then the conductor comes through a few minutes later saying "Why are you all cramped up in here? There's plenty of space in the other carriage!" :roll:
Thanks for any help anybody can give?
P.S: As a positive the train caught from BTH - BRI (we split the journey) was a good show from FGW.
Was wandering if anybody can provide some information about this rather 'interesting' service ran tonight, and the many questions I now have about it!
We started a few minutes ahead of schedule at Bristol Temple Meads (BRI) but realized the platform had changed to 5 instead of the usual 11 - was there any reason for this change?
Things got off to a bad start - there was another 2 car set infront of us as the train came from Bristol Parkway, but I think, from looking at maps we reversed out of BRI - however the driver stayed on the platform with the doors shut for the next ten minutes and mentioned something about the back two cars and their engines. Does anyone know if this refered to the set in front of us, or two in our set? Could the driver have moved with the other set on the platform? He got ridiculously close when he pulled in!
So, something around ten minutes down we leave BRI on our journey, and get literally a minute from Westbury when we stop - which we weren't informed at this point was the brakes in some collection of the cars we were on, from which we were stationary for some time - is there any way of finding out how long this was? We got into Westbury - at which point I gave up counting - and the station announcer announced a train was cancelled and all of the passengers had to get onto our train - cue waiting for this to happen.
After the Westbury debarcle we get through Frome, Bruton, Castle Cary with no incidences apart from the braking being really rather heavy. We suddenly come to a halt again in the pitch blackness, which my iPhone GPS informed we were somewhere alongside Marston Magna - where the driver comes over the intercom and informs us 'braking has gone' in a combination of carriages, just like it had outside Westbury (of which we were only told here - unless I missed something). To be honest - I was expecting us to have been kicked out at Westbury if it went wrong just before! We eventually arrived at Yeovil Pen Mill (YVP) at around 19:05, somewhere between 40 and 50 minutes down. Does anybody have this precise figure - and if so - does this constitute enough of a delay for FGW to give us anything?
Also - and I was going to speak to an on board member of staff but the issues of our journey prevented it - the only time we saw one was walking down the train whilst stationary in BRI, and not again till walking through to fix the problem was the door between carriages / sections was lose - it did not latch properly, which every time heading around the corner had the potential to hit me in the head - I would like to write to somebody / inform somebody about this - who should this be directed to? FGW customer service themselves?
As a final question, and this hasn't happened before in my journeys, a 1 car unit arrives at YVP this morning, with us all packed, they attach another at Westbury (without telling us, so we just feel jolts etc) and then the conductor comes through a few minutes later saying "Why are you all cramped up in here? There's plenty of space in the other carriage!" :roll:
Thanks for any help anybody can give?
P.S: As a positive the train caught from BTH - BRI (we split the journey) was a good show from FGW.
