Recent content by JohnRegular

Think they may even have them at Paddington P8/P9 (whichever pair is ungated).

It's an absurd state of affairs we find ourselves in where the airport is immediately adjacent to the railway, but with no direct links between the two. However, we are where we are, and very few are going to travel to/from Aberdeen via Dyce when the existing bus does the job. Perhaps to/from...

I was travelling with my Grandfather on the Bakerloo line a couple of years ago. The 73 stock has 'No Smoking' roundels on many of the windows. So of course he says to me "Every station... 'No Smoking'"

Seems absurd doesn't it? Working AC on a 166 is a rarity; in hot weather I always head for the 165 (if there is one).

Is a gondola connecting to Nailsea and Backwell/Parson St/new station going to provide a better service for airport passengers than the bus? The gondola might be frequent but the heavy rail service isn't, and with the best will in the world will never be turn-up-and-go. Enjoy beautiful Parson...

Bristol, like many cities in the UK, could really do with a proper metro - or at least a high quality mostly segregated tram/light rail system. The airport would be the first objective for a metro. I can't see that a solution using the existing heavy rail network could provide a more frequent...

The Severn Beach line through to platform 1 at Temple Meads could be done, at the cost of the through workings to Weston. Really could do with as much double tracking that can be achieved before going to the trouble of wiring it, though.

I think the 'what stops could be pulled from the Portsmouth-Cardiff services?' discussion has been had before, and IMO the answer is probably none of them. Filton isn't some wayside halt, it is a well used station next to a large employment site (MOD), close to a university campus, and...

Whether or not a new station is a good idea, Frome is badly underserved by rail and definitely justifies hourly Bristol trains. From probably also justifies 1tp2h semifast to London, which is outside the scope of this thread, but might mean reopening the second platform would be required.

Platform alterations at Temple Meads are a frequent occurrence also. It's by no means the worst station to change at, but as discussed above there are significant cross-Bristol flows, certainly including Filton Abbey Wood. I don't personally think it's worth having the Portsmouths skip it for...

I was under the impression there was some MoD interest in maintaining direct trains between Filton Abbey Wood and Warminster (and possibly Portsmouth?), although I have no source for that (other than 'I think I may have read that on these forums once upon a time').

A Portsmouth-bound train has also now passed, can confirm the line has reopened. On a speculative thread there has been discussion about doubling and additional chords on the Melksham line - would have been valuable this week given the diversions.

The eastbound line was reopened relatively quickly - by the time of your post at least one train had made it through. Some westbound trains were diverted via Melksham.

If the existing service could go hourly, have good connections at Chippenham/Trowbridge, and most importantly run reliably, the train starts to look like a reasonable option between Bristol/Bath and Melksham. However, a handful of cancellations or missed connections will be enough to put off...

Poor Melksham really suffers from an unreliable and infrequent service that doesn't go to Bath and Bristol - I can't imagine anyone commutes between these stations. I wouldn't want such a service to come at the expense of the existing Swindon-Westbury (hopefully extended to Salisbury) though...