GWR Bristol Temple Meads to Weymouth - what a joke...

[fizzwheel]

Yeovil has the ridiculous situation of being served by two stations on two unconnected routes, both of which are beyond walking distance from the town.

I'm not sure I would agree with you there about Pen Mill.

I've walked many times from the Town Centre to the station, its a 0.7 mile / 13 minute walk. The footpath takes you along the track bed from Yeovil Town to Yeovil Pen Mill.

There are plenty of people who use the footpath as well...

Also there is a bus service from the Bus Station that connects Yeovil Pen Mill and Yeovil Junction to the town centre, so you dont even have to walk it if you dont want to..

 

[70014IronDuke]

But the real Achilles heel is its poor siting of stations and routing.
....
Trowbridge is actually on the main street. But the only one like this on the line.

The main flows from Trowbridge will be to Bath/Bristol, provided by Southampton trains, surely. Trowbridge (I guess) will provide summer holiday traffic, but otherwise takings to places south of Castle Cary will be fairly limited, I'd guess.

Westbury is well out of town, to such an extent that when the avoiding line was built in the 1930s, significantly passing the junction station, it actually passed between the station and the town.

Similar comment to Trowbridge - except the real value of Westbury (for the Weymouth line) is as an interchange station. From stations such as Reading and Newbury and (via a not very good connecting service) to Melksham/Swindon.

Frome station is by the last houses on the Warminster road before it heads out into the country.

See Trowbridge comment.

Bruton is likewise on the periphery.

Bruton has to make do with what it's got. At least it contributes to the line in a not insignificant way - almost 37,000 passengers at the last annual count.

If GWR were to introduce a morning stop on an up Paddington service, and similar evening in the down, I suspect that number could jump significantly.

Castle Cary station is in the middle of nowhere. The line actually performs an arc around the town at a radius of over a mile. The so-called Station Road, the B3152, has little or no pavement or street lighting through the fields, so you could never send schoolchildren along it.

Similar to Westbury, only with more emphasis on the inter-connection both ways, including Taunton, Exeter and beyond.

Yeovil has the ridiculous situation of being served by two stations on two unconnected routes, both of which are beyond walking distance from the town. ...

Yes, far from ideal. But Yeovil is the most important place within the entire core route. Has to make do, and the connecting bus services are reasonable. More marketing (and better, and reliable services) would surely raise traffic.

Thornford has to be the remotest of all, just surrounded by fields.

Yetminster is, for once, well-sited.

Chetnole is a repeat of Thornford.

None of these stations is crucial to the line - except, I suppose, from the public service angle. Yetminster does, arguably, justify its existence. But even if they were placed in the middle of the villages they are supposed to serve, would it make a noticeable difference to passenger numbers?

Maiden Newton is OK.

Dorchester West is actually sited better than Dorchester South relative to the centre of town, but having such an irregular service to Weymouth in comparison, nobody would go there for heading south.

Fair enough. In short, the traffic from the stations along the route from Wesbury to Weymouth do not justify its existence from a receipts point of view other than as a rural line, with (as pointed out by another poster) a heavy surge of summer holiday traffic.

It's real value, and potential, is as a connecting route for longer distance traffic. But if services were enhanced to attract more long-distance passengers, some of the intermediate stations would surely see increased local usage.

 

[yorksrob]

But the real Achilles heel is its poor siting of stations and routing.

Maybe, but it doesn't seem to affect the usage of the current irregular service. I get the impression that a lot of people come from the larger settlements and interchanges.

 

[yorksrob]

It is unnecessary compared to a chord enabling direct access from Weymouth into Yeovil Junction. But installing that would - is going to - cost £££m

As a first move, I would support the introduction of an experimental service from Bournemouth (ideally) or Weymouth (the more likely) to Exeter service - even if only two each way per day, reversing at Pen Mill.

This would test the waters and cost what, about 8 minutes extra per train compared to having the chord installed. (And, it would add an extra service to Pen Mill, which is still more conveninent for Yeovil than Jcn, ie it would not be a 'total loss' of a journey.)

In fact, I'd say a new loop at Yetminster would be a better use of any investment monies than a south-west chord at Jcn.

Honestly, under current conditions, with such demands on investment, I can't see any chord being installed without a very clear proven need. It is far from ideal, but if it can't be shown that direct [Bournemouth-Poole]-Weymouth-Exeter traffic does exist, nobody is going to risk all that dosh installing the chord.

I think small, incremental improvements stand far more chance of implementation than any 'big bang' plan: a couple of Weymouth - Exeter workings would be a small step in the right direction. I assume, of course, that there is capacity between Junction and Exeter for a couple of such trains.

I think that's an interesting idea, but I'm not convinced that a couple of irregular services a day would reflect the true potential demand of South-West travel. I think people need to develop the idea in their heads that there is a comparatively easy route to use, more or less whenever in the day they need it, before all of those who would potentially want to use it would do so. Such a state of mind is better achieved by regular good connections than a couple of irregular trains.

I don't think installing a chord on a formation that has already been largely constructed, and an additional passing loop would be an unnecessary cost for what you would get - a regular service connecting with the regular East-West service. Compared to some of the road schemes that George Osborne included in hos infrastructure plan, this seems like a modest and sensible proposal with a lot of potential benefit.

 

[Taunton]

many of us on here who have used the line have found services to be well used, or even overcrowded with the present timetable.

Overcrowding of services nowadays is most commonly caused by completely inadequate formations being provided for the service, in particular providing the same formation at all times of day, week and year, rather than any timetable issue.

 

[Taunton]

[Castle Cary] Similar to Westbury, only with more emphasis on the inter-connection both ways, including Taunton, Exeter and beyond.

I would be surprised. We have discussed this here before, and I know there are published figures for "connecting passengers" there, but my experience is zilch people changing there. Historically, West of England services never stopped there, it is only in comparatively recent years that any have done so. It has since done quite well as a railhead for Glastonbury, Shepton Mallet etc to travel to Paddington, and more seem to stop each year, but there are only two westbound services before 1630 in the afternoon.

It would be good to know the passenger split there between the Paddington services and the Bristol-Weymouth line. The last person I knew who actually lived in Cary, albeit quite some years ago, had never even used the station there.

 

[thelongestroad]

I would be surprised. We have discussed this here before, and I know there are published figures for "connecting passengers" there, but my experience is zilch people changing there.

Do you actually know what you're talking about?

I can assure you there are plenty of people who connect at CLC, and it's a complete nightmare when connections off/on the Weymouth branch run late and you have to rejuggle customer connection plans.

 

[HowardGWR]

There is a chicken and egg feature about the discussion of this line. Origin and destination data, let alone potential O/D data, are not available so we get this 'not many people use it' and 'there are too few services so not many people use it' argument.

 

[70014IronDuke]

Do you actually know what you're talking about?

I can assure you there are plenty of people who connect at CLC, and it's a complete nightmare when connections off/on the Weymouth branch run late and you have to rejuggle customer connection plans.

Taunton is normally a reliable, sober poster whose opinions I certainly take note of* - but yes, I do wonder if he had a tipple at lunchtime today before bashing this one out on the keyboard.

I could accept that the 68,000 figure for changing trains at Castle Cary is slightly overestimated (based on estimations of the split between CLC and Westbury), but clearly the station IS used by significant numbers of passengers to change trains.

* He does wax extra lyrical about Castles, Kings and Halls at times, but then all GWR fans tend to have an issue on those subjects

 

[70014IronDuke]

... Historically, West of England services never stopped there, it is only in comparatively recent years that any have done so.

I confess I hadn't known that. Do you know when they began using CLC as an Inter-city station? Perhaps around 1976 or so, the time of HST introduction?

It would be good to know the passenger split there between the Paddington services and the Bristol-Weymouth line. The last person I knew who actually lived in Cary, albeit quite some years ago, had never even used the station there.

I can quite believe a good proportion of the 2,300 souls of Castle Cary have never used the train. I agree with much of your argumentation on the value of the service to locals - but obviously a good number of folks in the area use it. As you note, the bulk of trains (5 or 6 ? I think) from London start departing PDN after around 16.00. GWR certainly would not stop them there merely to get some fresh air.

 

[70014IronDuke]

I think that's an interesting idea, but I'm not convinced that a couple of irregular services a day would reflect the true potential demand of South-West travel. I think people need to develop the idea in their heads that there is a comparatively easy route to use, more or less whenever in the day they need it, before all of those who would potentially want to use it would do so. Such a state of mind is better achieved by regular good connections than a couple of irregular trains. ...

It surely wouldn't. But I don't know whether either of the two TOCs involved - both now under one owner - would find the resources to do much more.

Weymouth - Pen Mill - Yeovil Jcn could be done in one hour, a few minutes less if some stops were omitted. If the train were then coupled to a regular SWT Exeter service, it could do Exeter St Davids in another hour. Plus you would need say, 5 mins early arrival at Jcn (to lessen the risk of holding up the main line train) So one leg of the trip would be just 2.00 - 2.05 hours. Not sure what the turn round time is at Exeter, I'd assume around 25-30 mins. If so, and if a decent path can be had on the return trip between Pen Mill and Weymouth, it means a complete Weymouth-Exeter St Davids - Weymouth cycle, ready to depart Weymouth again, would take about 5 hours, maybe 5 hours 10 mins.

So a single unit could do three cycles per day. If you started one from each end, you would have six trains each way starting approx 7 and ending approx 22.00. I don't know how realistic that is from a crewing point of view.

 

[PHILIPE]

I confess I hadn't known that. Do you know when they began using CLC as an Inter-city station? Perhaps around 1976 or so, the time of HST introduction?



I can quite believe a good proportion of the 2,300 souls of Castle Cary have never used the train. I agree with much of your argumentation on the value of the service to locals - but obviously a good number of folks in the area use it. As you note, the bulk of trains (5 or 6 ? I think) from London start departing PDN after around 16.00. GWR certainly would not stop them there merely to get some fresh air.

Hardly surprising when one considers how far the station is away from the town.

 

[Taunton]

I confess I hadn't known that. Do you know when they began using CLC as an Inter-city station? Perhaps around 1976 or so, the time of HST introduction?

I can't recall, but it would have to be about then. Initially just one evening service and built very slowly from there. Was still loco hauled for quite a time. Even Newbury and Westbury had slowly increased, they long only had a couple of express services a day. I wonder if tickets for Paddington to Castle Cary at the time were valid via Bath.

Long ago, the only main line service to call at Castle Cary was the evening boat train from Paddington to Weymouth, which connected to the overnight boat. Even this degenerated into a semi-stopping service, calling at the likes of Frome and Maiden Newton as well. It was given up some time in the early 1960s when it was finally realised that Waterloo was a more effective departure point than Paddington for the Weymouth boat train. It was a historic curiosity that the WR timetable long showed the Weymouth line just as an appendage to the Reading to Taunton table, and the line from Bristol was shown separately in the Bristol to Salisbury table.

I've never known anyone to travel from Taunton to Yeovil (two of Somerset's largest towns) by changing at Cary, which would seem to be one of the few flows that would suit doing so.

 

[HowardGWR]

* He does wax extra lyrical about Castles, Kings and Halls at times, but then all GWR fans tend to have an issue on those subjects

Not all: I only wax lyrical about Stars and Saints.

If one looks at XC clientele, as I did recently on a trip from Exeter to Leeds, one sees substantial numbers of family / leisure travellers. The elderly dame opposite me knitted all the way to Brum. There were substantial numbers of young women with children and forces types going on leave, etc.

I have no doubt that the same patterns of travel take place between places like Weymouth to Gloucester or Bournemouth to Plymouth. I have met plenty of these pax when on the Heart of Wessex line. I am certain that a service such as XC offer, but, say, with a class 158 / 159 type provision would meet a demand that is presently suppressed. It's just that I only have anecdote to support it at present.

The haltes below Yeovil should be considered for closure, IMO.

 

[Barclay]

My office is in Bristol, but i regularly have to travel on business to Plymouth, Exeter, Dorchester and Poole. I always go by train to the former two and only once have (never again!) for the latter.

If someone puts on a direct Bournemouth - Exeter train that would be very interesting though!

 

[Schweir]

Not all: I only wax lyrical about Stars and Saints.

If one looks at XC clientele, as I did recently on a trip from Exeter to Leeds, one sees substantial numbers of family / leisure travellers. The elderly dame opposite me knitted all the way to Brum. There were substantial numbers of young women with children and forces types going on leave, etc.

I have no doubt that the same patterns of travel take place between places like Weymouth to Gloucester or Bournemouth to Plymouth. I have met plenty of these pax when on the Heart of Wessex line. I am certain that a service such as XC offer, but, say, with a class 158 / 159 type provision would meet a demand that is presently suppressed. It's just that I only have anecdote to support it at present.

The haltes below Yeovil should be considered for closure, IMO.

I suggested in the original posts that maybe at least 1 or 2 of the halts should be closed (maybe just keep Yetminster open) and that went down well...! They are so close to each other anyway!

Maybe they can look at reducing the long dwell times that some trains experience at Frome / Westbury / Yeovil (can be upto 12 minutes) but I am sure there are valid reasons for some of these (I am not an expert by any means...)

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

I'm not sure I would agree with you there about Pen Mill.

I've walked many times from the Town Centre to the station, its a 0.7 mile / 13 minute walk. The footpath takes you along the track bed from Yeovil Town to Yeovil Pen Mill.

There are plenty of people who use the footpath as well...

Also there is a bus service from the Bus Station that connects Yeovil Pen Mill and Yeovil Junction to the town centre, so you dont even have to walk it if you dont want to..

Plus SWT have introduced a number of daily weekday direct connections between the two stations. Been around for about two years now!

 

[SpacePhoenix]

My office is in Bristol, but i regularly have to travel on business to Plymouth, Exeter, Dorchester and Poole. I always go by train to the former two and only once have (never again!) for the latter.

If someone puts on a direct Bournemouth - Exeter train that would be very interesting though!

I just stuck Poole-Exeter into the National Express website and it gives for the 1 direct service a day 3h20m, could a Poole-Exeter train (reversing at Upwey) ever beat that?

 

[Parallel]

I travel on this service frequently, and often for the whole journey (Weymouth to Bristol TM) and it has honestly got to be one of the worst routes there is.

- There are several request stops (Chetnole, Yetminster, Thornford) which a lot of the time no one will get on or off adding on several minutes.
- Several other stations (e.g Avoncliff, Freshford) no one will get on or off.
- About 75% of trains are late, often frequently 20+ minutes.
- No wifi / plug sockets.
- The stock used is awful and varies each day, GWR do not seem to understand stock allocation, sometimes there will be a 4 car service for a 11:00 service, and yet there will be only 2 cars (without adding at Westbury) for the morning peak.
- Infrequent services.

What a joke!

Thornford, Yetminster & Chetnole are request stops, so if nobody gets on or off, the train will not stop! Avoncliff anf Freshford used to be request stops but usage has improved at Freshford over the years and Avoncliff was made compulsory for operational reasons I believe. Both Avoncliff and Freshford are very lucky with where on the route they are.

The trains are frequently late on the route, but this also applies to Cardiff - Portsmouth and numerous other lines in the West. The problem with The Heart Of Wessex line is there are a few very short turnaround times after long journeys at Weymouth and Gloucester, single tracks with passing loops between Upwey and Frome mean that delays just escalate with trains having to wait at passing points. Also, these trains can get severely overcrowded between Trowbridge and Filton Abbey Wood which slows down boarding/alighting.

No 'West' units are fitted with plug sockets, though I agree they should be.

The stock allocation on GWR in the west is absolutely dire at the moment. Everyone is having to make to do with whatever turns up. The worst is 150/1s covering for 158s. I even saw a 153 covering for a 3-car 158 a few weeks ago. Hardly ideal. Units have been breaking down all over the place and others have to be sent away for refurbishments pre-2020. Every day the 16:40 Gloucester - Weymouth seems to be just 2 (instead of the booked 4 coaches) as far as Westbury and this gets so overcrowded that people can't board. I dread to think anyone wanting Bruton onwards as they'd have to wait three hours for the next one...
--

The line is a bit neglected. I think two-hourly Bristol - Weymouth is okay. Yeovil Pen Mill is within walking distance of the town centre, I'm thinking if a semi-fast Newbury/Reading - Yeovil Pen Mill service would be of any benefit, calling at Hungerford, Bedwyn, Pewsey, Westbury, Frome, Bruton, Castle Cary and Yeovil Pen Mill, giving the latter an hourly service. The issue is that the GWR franchise is still run as three separate companies.

Weymouth - Yeovil Pen Mill has its own flow for local traffic so a unit could be sourced for this giving 1tp2h (then somewhere else possibly via Junction) giving this part 1tph on average. I'm not sure of the passenger flows from Weymouth after towards Bristol or Southampton - Would Exeter be greater than Salisbury?

Longer trains are needed on some services to/from Weymouth, especially high summer, and also Christmas too, as many visit the markets or go shopping in Bath or Bristol and the trains are packed.

What's more embarrassing is that SWT have shown more interest in the route than GWR have, despite Warminster - Pen Mill being GWR's network. Although SWT's intention was good, Waterloo - Yeovil Pen Mill via. Frome is a bit of a backwards route with it probably being faster to just to go Junction and get a bus if travelling from Salisbury or before, and Warminster - Yeovil will never have huge passenger flows.

 

[Schweir]

Thornford, Yetminster & Chetnole are request stops, so if nobody gets on or off, the train will not stop! Avoncliff anf Freshford used to be request stops but usage has improved at Freshford over the years and Avoncliff was made compulsory for operational reasons I believe. Both Avoncliff and Freshford are very lucky with where on the route they are.

The trains are frequently late on the route, but this also applies to Cardiff - Portsmouth and numerous other lines in the West. The problem with The Heart Of Wessex line is there are a few very short turnaround times after long journeys at Weymouth and Gloucester, single tracks with passing loops between Upwey and Frome mean that delays just escalate with trains having to wait at passing points. Also, these trains can get severely overcrowded between Trowbridge and Filton Abbey Wood which slows down boarding/alighting.

No 'West' units are fitted with plug sockets, though I agree they should be.

The stock allocation on GWR in the west is absolutely dire at the moment. Everyone is having to make to do with whatever turns up. The worst is 150/1s covering for 158s. I even saw a 153 covering for a 3-car 158 a few weeks ago. Hardly ideal. Units have been breaking down all over the place and others have to be sent away for refurbishments pre-2020. Every day the 16:40 Gloucester - Weymouth seems to be just 2 (instead of the booked 4 coaches) as far as Westbury and this gets so overcrowded that people can't board. I dread to think anyone wanting Bruton onwards as they'd have to wait three hours for the next one...
--

The line is a bit neglected. I think two-hourly Bristol - Weymouth is okay. Yeovil Pen Mill is within walking distance of the town centre, I'm thinking if a semi-fast Newbury/Reading - Yeovil Pen Mill service would be of any benefit, calling at Hungerford, Bedwyn, Pewsey, Westbury, Frome, Bruton, Castle Cary and Yeovil Pen Mill, giving the latter an hourly service.

Weymouth - Yeovil Pen Mill has its own flow for local traffic so a unit could be sourced for this giving 1tp2h (then somewhere else possibly via Junction) giving this part 1tph on average. I'm not sure of the passenger flows from Weymouth after towards Bristol or Southampton - Would Exeter be greater than Salisbury?

Longer trains are needed on some services to/from Weymouth, especially high summer, and also Christmas too, as many visit the markets or go shopping in Bath or Bristol and the trains are packed.

True they will not stop, but they still have to reduce speed significantly adding time. The lack of passing loops is a significant issue, on many ocassions the evening service from Weymouth to Bristol is held at Yeovil due to late Bristol services going towards Weymouth.

You are correct, overcrowding is at its worst during the christmas market period, school holidays, and the summer, surely it would not hurt to add 1 or two more carriages... The stock really is poor, you are very lucky to get a 158, the only time I see them is on the two rush hour services going from Bath/ Bristol to Weymouth, else it is just the usual horrid 150/1, which are the most cramped trains I have ever been on.

Contrary to what I originally posted, I do not think they necessarily need to introduce more services, but make the ones they already do at least run on time most of the time, and with decent stock and a suitable number of carriages (i.e >2)

 

[PHILIPE]

True they will not stop, but they still have to reduce speed significantly adding time. The lack of passing loops is a significant issue, on many ocassions the evening service from Weymouth to Bristol is held at Yeovil due to late Bristol services going towards Weymouth.

You are correct, overcrowding is at its worst during the christmas market period, school holidays, and the summer, surely it would not hurt to add 1 or two more carriages... The stock really is poor, you are very lucky to get a 158, the only time I see them is on the two rush hour services going from Bath/ Bristol to Weymouth, else it is just the usual horrid 150/1, which are the most cramped trains I have ever been on.

Contrary to what I originally posted, I do not think they necessarily need to introduce more services, but make the ones they already do at least run on time most of the time, and with decent stock and a suitable number of carriages (i.e >2)

I think you'll find there may be more 150/2s than 150/1s working the route.

 

[Parallel]

True they will not stop, but they still have to reduce speed significantly adding time. The lack of passing loops is a significant issue, on many ocassions the evening service from Weymouth to Bristol is held at Yeovil due to late Bristol services going towards Weymouth.

You are correct, overcrowding is at its worst during the christmas market period, school holidays, and the summer, surely it would not hurt to add 1 or two more carriages... The stock really is poor, you are very lucky to get a 158, the only time I see them is on the two rush hour services going from Bath/ Bristol to Weymouth, else it is just the usual horrid 150/1, which are the most cramped trains I have ever been on.

Contrary to what I originally posted, I do not think they necessarily need to introduce more services, but make the ones they already do at least run on time most of the time, and with decent stock and a suitable number of carriages (i.e >2)

Turbos (165/166) are on the horizon for most routes around Bristol in due course including the Weymouth line. They offer a slightly better ambiance to 150/1s but currently retain the rows of 2+3 seats. I don't know what the length of the trains will be but there are a fair amount of 3-car 16x units which may make it onto the Weymouth line.

Regarding wifi - It is fitted to class 158s and 150/2s, whether it works or not is another thread in itself!

I think you'll find there may be more 150/2s than 150/1s working the route.

From my observations, it seems to be about a 50/50 split. 150/2s are far superior to the route though and of course 150/1s didn't run in the SW in Wessex Trains days!

 

[gazthomas]

I do think sometimes that market failure kicks in - would this service run in a purely privatised world?

 

[LiftFan]

The service from my experience can be very unreliable. Constant short formings plague the route. I don't feel the huge need for a socket when on these trains as I always carry a power bank with me and even travelling on the Southern Rail parts I rarely see them. However, the 150/2s do have wifi onboard now and I feel they are better suited for the route than a 158 is due to the fairly close proximity of station stops which is a pain when walking all down the carriage through a narrow door at each end. 150/1s are on their way out now anyway and I do hope the turbos can do better. The stations down the line mainly seem to have their uses - Trowbridge is right in the town centre, Westbury gives onward connections to other destinations (even if forced to wait for an hour+), Frome is close to a few fairly large and new housing estates (and serves the public after the buses finish at 6), Castle Cary serves as a connection further west to Taunton and Exeter and I'm not too familiar with much past there.

 

[Wilts Wanderer]

Regarding 150/1s; these were never ideal for the route and a combination of First's aggressive under-bidding and DfT's complete lack of rigour in predicting demand flows combined to the situation we have today, where a large number of good quality 158 sets went to Northern to potter around East Yorkshire branch lines whilst the West Country ended up with third-hand commuter trains from the Midlands on busy long-distance regional services. Although in terms of the Weymouth line in the Winter it was common to see a single 153 working through from Bristol and it wouldn't be taxed by the passenger load on offer - a massive difference compared to now!

 

[MG11]

Given how busy the trains are, it's not surprising that they can get away with charging that much.

GWR are a business and not a charity. I would probably charge much more if I was the owner of First Group.

 

[Parallel]

Trowbridge is right in the town centre, Westbury gives onward connections to other destinations (even if forced to wait for an hour+), Frome is close to a few fairly large and new housing estates (and serves the public after the buses finish at 6), Castle Cary serves as a connection further west to Taunton and Exeter and I'm not too familiar with much past there.

Trowbridge is closest to the town centre, though it’s still on the outskirts of it. It’s about a 10 min walk to the actual town centre through The Shires shopping centre - But it is ideally placed for the people who use it, which will generally be people from the housing estates of Seymour, Studley Green, Newtown, College Road, Broadmead and Longfield as well as anyone who lives in/ near the town centre.

Obviously the main flow is towards Bath, Bristol and Filton but there are numbers that travel to Yeovil and beyond. There are some times of the day when changing at Castle Cary is the fastest way to get to Exeter and beyond - especially when the HST calls at Castle Cary and not Westbury.

Last year, I was on a short formed train (just a PRM-mod 150/2) on a peak morning summer service to Weymouth. Standing room only after Trowbridge and some people at Westbury we’re unable to board; and nobody from Frome onwards could board. Their next train was 2 hours later and typically about 10 people wanted to board at Thornford. Standing for nearly 2 hours on a regional/local service wasn’t ideal. I felt so bad for the guard, at every stop people left on the platform were shouting at him - but what else could he do, the train was stuffed!

 

[Westcombe]

West of England expresses started to stop at Castle Cary in, I think, 1971. Prior to about 1961, there was a service of three or four direct trains between Weymouth and Paddington. Two of the down services were provided by slip coaches off the 1030am ('Limited') and 330pm down WofE services. These were slipped at Heywood Road and run into Westbury by a pilot loco for attaching to existing services. The evening service mentioned earlier was only for a short time a boat train service. For much of this time that service was a dedicated Paddington, Westbury, Yeovil, Weymouth Quay service. (The up train called at Frome instead of Westbury giving a service to Bristol via Radstock). The normal evening train was the 6pm Paddington - Weymouth, first stop Newbury. These services ran with excellent restaurant cars.

I do not see a case being made for the redoubling of Yeovil - Dorchester. However, redoubling between Castle Cary and Yeovil would increase capacity and also contribute positively to the frequent use of this route as a diversion between Westbury and Exeter.

 

[HowardGWR]

I do not see a case being made for the redoubling of Yeovil - Dorchester. However, redoubling between Castle Cary and Yeovil would increase capacity and also contribute positively to the frequent use of this route as a diversion between Westbury and Exeter.

Welcome. This line is getting a good crack of the whip here. I suggested on another thread, re-opening Sparkford with passing loop there, and indeed, I believe there is scope for through services from Swindon to Exeter via Yeovil, and not just as occasional diversion either.

 

[nanstallon]

There must be scope for a through train service between Exeter, Taunton and Weymouth, reversing at Castle Cary. Possibly an experiment could be run in summer with one of the 'mini HSTs' soon to be created with the coming of the IEP. I remember from my youth some BR literature concerning travel between Devon and Weymouth, and a footnote saying that as the train from the Westcountry didn't stop at Castle Cary, people had to go via Westbury and to pay a higher fare, which struck me as rather stingy! It does show a potential demand.