3 routes to Paddington oddity

WHEELTAPPER · Post by **WHEELTAPPER** » Sun Jan 29, 2012 1:42 pm

I had to get to London for an early meet so obtained the following off Nat Rail site. http://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/service/p ... 7836462403
The 4.47am goes via Parkway & the Badminton route. 1hr37
The 5.20am goes via Trowbridge & Westbury. 2hr33
The 5.30am goes via the normal Chippenham route. 1hr46
I took the 5.30 as the 5.20 arrived over 30 mins later.
Just thought this was odd timetableing.

Pompey Lad · Post by **Pompey Lad** » Sun Jan 29, 2012 5:13 pm

I remember once checking the timetable for some year in the 1930s and finding that the first Bristol - Paddington train went via Devizes.

Having read so much about how great the GWR was, it was shock to see how infrequently the trains actually ran in those years, and how long they took for the journey.

Robin Summerhill · Post by **Robin Summerhill** » Sun Jan 29, 2012 5:51 pm

There was a 1430 Paddington to Bristol via Devizes as laste as the winter 1959 timetable.

The GWR was well-known between the wars for the wide disparity between the fastest trains on a route and the average times for all trains. Whilst the "Bristolian" could bowl you along the GWR main line between Bristol and Paddington in rather less than two hours, the average time for the journey in those days was closer to three.

The other obvious one was the "Cheltenham Flyer" and its timings between Swindon and Paddington with next to no load to speak of, which bore no relation at all to the times that most trains were taking.

I recall Cecil J Allen doing an article in the railway press about this in the 1960s - to save going up into the attic and trying to find it, perhaps somebody else knows the details?

the green mile · Post by **the green mile** » Sun Jan 29, 2012 9:39 pm

Wheeltapper - those 3 services you quote are effectively the first trains of the day on each of 3 separate routes. It is really only for convenience that they start at Temple Meads to pick up crew members and due to the proximity of St Philips Marsh where the sets are serviced.

The 0447 is the first service on the Badminton route providing an early service from the Bristol Parkway catchment area. A small number of customers do join at Temple Meads. It picks up only at Parkway therefore a journey from TM to Parkway is not advertised.

The 0520 is an early commuter service up the Berks and Hants. It does not stop at Bath Spa, stopping initially at Bradford on Avon. It reverses at Westbury so when the empty stock comes from the depot, it is diagrammed to run via Parkway to turn so that first class is trailing from Bristol. Because it is a stopping service, it arrives into Paddington after the 0530 departure. To encourage customers to travel on the faster 0530 service to London, the 0520 is generally described as going to Theale, although it obviously goes on to Reading and Paddington afterwards.

The 0530 is the first true Bristol - Paddington direct service.

Interestingly, one morning last week, engineering work on the Badminton route overran so the 0447 ran via Box, first stop Swindon. Because of tight turnround times in London, it wasn't practical to send the set to Parkway first to pick up customers there. They were taxied down to TM and put on the 0530 adding an hour to their journey.

jules · Post by **jules** » Sun Jan 29, 2012 11:17 pm

The 0447 is the first service on the Badminton route providing an early service from the Bristol Parkway catchment area. A small number of customers do join at Temple Meads.

Including me on occasion. I love that train - a proper early morning ghost train just like in the good old days of BR

You can also get some real cheap tickets to ride it too ...

Robin Summerhill · Post by **Robin Summerhill** » Sun Jan 29, 2012 11:24 pm

jules wrote:
The 0447 is the first service on the Badminton route providing an early service from the Bristol Parkway catchment area. A small number of customers do join at Temple Meads.
Including me on occasion. I love that train - a proper early morning ghost train just like in the good old days of BR

You can also get some real cheap tickets to ride it too ...

Since I left the railway in 1979 the only time I'm ever up at 0447 is when I haven't been to bed yet

the green mile · Post by **the green mile** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 1:39 pm

Which links nicely into the other thread with the gentleman who doesn't want a depot near him so he can get a good night's sleep. Who does he think works hard to make sure early morning trains are available should he need to use them. When I get home at 0730, I like to get a good day's sleep not disturbed by young mothers on the school run yacking outside my bedroom window. Or bin men noisily sorting out recycling into the various bins on their wagon. Or neighbours deciding to get the lawn mower and hedge trimmer out. Or a bus sitting outside waiting time because his schedule is too slack. Sadly, these are things you have to put up with as a shift worker and you just have to put up with it. I am actually quite lucky because my neighbours are sensitive to the comings and goings of my car to know when I am on nights and they generally adjust their activities accordingly.

Robin Summerhill · Post by **Robin Summerhill** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 2:48 pm

the green mile wrote: .... When I get home at 0730, I like to get a good day's sleep not disturbed by young mothers on the school run yacking outside my bedroom window. Or bin men noisily sorting out recycling into the various bins on their wagon. Or neighbours deciding to get the lawn mower and hedge trimmer out. Or a bus sitting outside waiting time because his schedule is too slack.....

I understand exactly where you're coming from.

When I worked nights at Bath Road I knocked off at 0700, home by 0730 and, as long as I could doze off by 0800 I was fine. If I couldn't, all the types of row that you describe would keep me awake all morning!

That was one of the major reasons I packed the job in and went off to learn how to be a Surveyor instead!

the green mile · Post by **the green mile** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 3:03 pm

It took me 20 years to come up with a successful sleep formula for working nights. Sleep from 0800 to 1200. Have dinner then potter about all afternoon so as not to completely waste the day. Sleep from 1700 to 1930 then get up and have breakfast before going back to work. Seems to work for me but then I do go into sleep deprivation after about the 4th night. The human body was not designed for rotating shifts and you have to carefully regulate how much tea and coffee you drink after 0200 for obvious reasons.

stopblock · Post by **stopblock** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 4:44 pm

I'm not sure if it still runs but there was a cross country service to the north that started at Bath in the mornings. Rumor was because the manager lived that way at the time. But it may have a couple of reasons for running in certain directions.
The main one will be crew rout knowledge I'm not sure about First group but thhere are various compliocated rules now on what knowledge a driver can and cant keep on his route card and how days they have to go over that route.

On the shift note I try not to have anything to drink after midnight but you can bet that after being in bed a few hours I need the loo and I can put a horse to shame with the flow

Robin Summerhill · Post by **Robin Summerhill** » Mon Jan 30, 2012 7:34 pm

the green mile wrote: you have to carefully regulate how much tea and coffee you drink after 0200 for obvious reasons.

When working nights at Bath Road with Pat Lewis as the Running Foreman that was easier said than done. He'd have tea made every hour on the hour

the green mile · Post by **the green mile** » Tue Jan 31, 2012 1:35 pm

If you're not careful,you can also be out of bed on the hour every hour, especially on cold days. Caffeine can be a problem too and you can end up high as a kite trying to get to sleep.

the green mile · Post by **the green mile** » Tue Jan 31, 2012 11:28 pm

That Cross Country service from Bath Spa has been running for a few years now, changing ends at Temple Meads for a 0627 departure to Glasgow. At the time it started, there was indeed a rumour about it being put in to accomodate a senior manager's daily commute to Birmingham. However, if you turn this on its head, maybe a senior manager convinced the powers that be that he had identified a sensible commercial opportunity in an early morning through service from Bath to Cheltenham and Birmingham.

stopblock · Post by **stopblock** » Wed Feb 01, 2012 12:30 pm

Correct me if I'm wrong but isnt there something about claiming revenue with other operators over the smae stretch of line.

the green mile · Post by **the green mile** » Thu Feb 02, 2012 11:07 am

Probably! I'm not an expert on this by any chalk. However it is the first passenger train of the day from Bath To Bristol and does allow a through journey northwards.