OK thanks; more trains got cancelled including mine, so I gave up and am now travelling via London! Sounds like I may have made the right choice, even though it will get me there very late.
I can only see bridges on/over the line through Cheltenham, definitely at Swindon Rd.
Maybe in hindsight I should have gone for that, though I imagine if everyone else was going for that train it would be horrendously overcrowded, given there was no train headed towards Cheltenham for the previous 2 1/2 hours!
I'm currently on this service, was delayed due to heavy loading at bhm, it left at least 200 people on the platform.
maps.app.goo.gl
Maybe, but perhaps not:
By going via London, I got a table for four to myself to Euston and an individual seat from Paddington.
but a "twisted rail" under an overbridge? I was imagining some physical damage from road traffic over a level crossing (not that I have ever heard of that.) We haven't even had the weather to cause buckled rails either.I'm guessing this is referring to Swindon Lane
Swindon Ln · Cheltenham
Swindon Lane is a level crossing.
I see that now, but strange that it didn't stand out either on Google maps or on the Bing OS map - which does actually show it. All the times I have been through there (including Weds and yesterday) on trains which stopped at Cheltenham and I haven't noticed it. I shall certainly look out for it next time.
Guessing that was the (delayed) 16.22 at Bristol Parkway. It was certainly very cosy - though I reckon we could have got 15 people into the (small) vestibule, rather than the 13 we had. Needless to say - no human presence on the platforms or the tannoys to explain what was going on.
Officially the crossing is called Swindon Road, it's the crossing where Brockhampton Lane crosses the line, it is one of the crossings supervised by Alstone. There seems to be a reoccurring problem in that area, in the last 6 months there have been multiple (at least 4 or 5) instances of track quality issues in that area.
Surely there are 2 separate crossings, Brockhampton being further N than Swindon?
There are two crossings, both supervised by Alstone. Swindon Road where Brockhampton Lane crosses the line, and south of that Morris Hill where Swindon Lane crosses the line.
Very confusing!
Thanks for clarifying - I think I and others might be forgiven for being confused.
I'd guess the faster journey times say from Cheltenham to Bristol on the Cross Country service compared with GWR and also the huge distance the Cross Country service covers will be reasons why it was very busy, particularly with it being a Friday.
I have also experienced XC this weekend with passengers not able to board a 4 car voyager at Bristol. There has been a big drop in 5 car sets on the NE to SW axis the since the summer timetable change, a big increase in the 4 cars, which unfortunately sometimes makes the difference between passengers physically being able to board to wedge into a vestibule, or not. Question is, where are all the 5 car sets hiding?....
