[edited - url updated]
https://www.wellho.info/mouth/974_The-last-commuter-train-through-Melksham.html
End of edit


* Trial (thin but useable) service returned in 2013

* Reached it's three year target in first year

* Growth stopped by 2018 because single carriage train was full

* We now have longer trains and platform, and the service remains thin from 2013, though the biggest holes such as Sunday morning, Saturday evening, and late Monday to Friday evening have now all been fixed.

* Biggest issue is still reliability. The weekend just gone there should have been 14 round trips, but only 7 ran.  Passenger numbers up from 3,000 journeys per annum to / from Melksham to around 70,000 at present but it should be 400,000.   70,000 is a lot of journeys, but I still talk in the community to more people who don't use Melksham Station than who do, citing lack of reliability and thinness of timetable as their top two reasons to not do so.  Third reason is unfriendliness of station access. No concerns over safety or comfort of train, nor at fare level.

If I remember right The Flying Kipper ran from Tidmouth to Vicarstown. Or did it then continue onto the mainland through Barrow?

The Highwayman - I think that started from Potters Bar and ran to Newcastle.

Express service to cut Hastings to London journey times from December



* New weekday express service between Hastings and Charing Cross launches from 14 December.

* Fastest journey time of 1 hour 18 minutes from Hastings to London Bridge, and 1 hour 28 minutes to Charing Cross - around 14 minutes quicker than today's fastest peak service.

* Part of a wider December timetable change delivering more frequent services, better connections and increased capacity across south-east London, Kent and East Sussex.

South Eastern Railway will introduce an express weekday service between Hastings and Charing Cross from December, cutting the total journey time to London Bridge by 14 minutes for customers travelling from Hastings, Battle and Tunbridge Wells.

This  service forms part of a wider package of improvements being introduced across Kent, East Sussex and south-east London from December. Customers on the Hastings line will benefit from the return of half-hourly semi-fast services between Tunbridge Wells and Charing Cross throughout the day on weekdays and Saturdays, alongside additional late-evening journeys to and from Hastings. Customers on the Maidstone East line will benefit from more frequent services, additional direct trains to Charing Cross and, for the first time, a train to Charing Cross every hour on Sundays, creating a train to London approximately every 30 minutes when combined with existing Victoria services.

On the Isle of Sheppey, customers at Sheerness-on-Sea, Queenborough and Kemsley will gain trains every 30 minutes throughout the day, seven days a week, delivering the most frequent timetable on the line in 30 years and improving connections at Sittingbourne.

Other timetable improvements include:

* Half-hourly semi-fast services between Charing Cross and Tunbridge Wells throughout off-peak periods on weekdays and across Saturdays, providing more frequent journeys to Orpington, Sevenoaks, Tonbridge & Tunbridge Wells.

* Restored half-hourly services between Victoria and Ashford via Maidstone East throughout the day, alongside additional direct Charing Cross services.

* Additional 16:58 evening peak service between Cannon Street and Ashford via Tonbridge and Headcorn, providing extra capacity at the busiest time of the day

* Two trains an hour throughout the day, seven days a week, on the Sheerness branch, providing the best timetable on the line for 30 years and better connections at Sittingbourne.

* A more connected Metro network across south-east London, with almost all Metro routes operating at least four trains an hour during the daytime from Monday to Saturday and improved links to the Elizabeth line at Abbey Wood.

* More frequent services on the Bexleyheath line, including up to six trains an hour and half hourly all day direct services to Charing Cross.

The December timetable builds on improvements introduced in May this year, including additional peak-time capacity on Highspeed routes serving Canterbury West and Thanet, helping create a more frequent and better-connected railway across Kent, East Sussex and south-east London.

Southeastern has also submitted a business case to the Department for Transport for a new Metro train fleet, supporting its longer-term ambition to improve capacity and accessibility across the network.

21:16 Westbury to Swindon due 21:58
22:31 Swindon to Westbury due 23:12

22:31 Swindon to Westbury due 23:12 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

Pines Express ran between Manchester and Bournemouth West over the old, and beloved, S&DJR▸ .

Apparently so, and I believe part of £94m allocated for the three new entrances (South, East and I presume the renovations and public realm around the Midland Shed on the north side).

Yes, it's a bonkers amount of money but take a look at the photo at https://www.bristoltemplequarter.com/news/eastern-entrance-reaches-construction-milestone-with-building-shell-complete/ - there's more to it than you think, don't forget that it all had to be done around a live railway just metres away from passengers and the underpass.

Incidentally, the floating footpath to Temple Quay apparently cost £10m. I believe that was paid for by the University as a planning condition.   

Journeycheck now saying disruption is likely to last until next Tuesday (15th).

Ditto.

'Ports to Ports Express'. Need a time machine for that one.

"Clansman" was Euston-Inverness in both directions.

The only one in the list that I can recall travelling with.

The 17:50 Gloucester to Salisbury via Swindon left 27 minutes late and was still 20 late when it departed Swindon after reversing.

Service also running with no on board toilets according to Tiger.

Dunno about new vs existing, but the Portishead line's business case forecast 1.2 million extra journeys by 2040, so the way these things usually work, expect 2m by 2030.

The suggestion was that GBR/DfT» were waiting to see the results of the Scottish rolling stock procurement exercise, and then would add theirs if they liked what they saw.

Now - is that 2 million abstracted from the main entrance, or two million new customers?    And if the latter, where are the extra carriages on trains like the Cross Country ones, and the services to Cardiff and via Bradford-on-Avon to cope?