Some interesting examples.

Personally I believe the best option is a loop away from the station itself.  Given the length of some freight trains you would very quickly be outside the station limits if sited there.   An ideal location would be near either end of the single line.  This would have the added benefit of being able to get a train off the main line to prevent it blocking the path of other services while it waits for a slot through to the other end.

At the very least an intermediate signal between the junctions so trains, in the same direction, could be "flighted".

Of course the perfect solution would be double tracking throughout....

 
Bridges and lifts at stations are expensive to provide - but if we want to increase the number of trains calling at Melksham, a single line all the way from the outskirts of Chippenham to the outskirts of Trowbridge won't pass muster.  Here are various ways from around Europe - including tbe British Isles - that multiple services can call at stations in each direction at more or less the same time.  Some of these would have the powers that be throwing their hands up in horror. Others are not very passenger friendly. But there are some that are proven to work in a British environment.

Two tracks (i.e a passing loop) with a diamond crossing to bring each to a long platform


A narrow outer platform used by the train which is going to have least passengers joining


A long platform with a loop past one half.  Train arrives into looped platform, second train arrives into other end then leaves around loop, first arrival then carries on


Ditto - but British example showing that this CAN be done in the UK. And there would be space at Melksham


Another example of an outer platform with a flat crossing - in this case the second platform is much wider


Where more passengers will cross the line, level crossing barriers can be provided and that's sometimes doe for a significnat number of passengers.


Single platform and bring in two trains end to end, have all the through passengers swap over, and then both trains go back whence they came.  There is a British example on the Great Orme Tramway, and an example of passenger swap both ways at Mockava.


Have a platform on each track, but simply use a slope up to an existing bridge that carries a public road / right of way for passengers to cross over.

 
Line between Bath and Chippenham now open meaning Bristol to London can run their booked route.

 
From Timeout London


I remember the journey on the 229 - which is/was more or less the route the SL5 takes - when we went shopping from Petts Wood to the Arndale Centre in Croydon.  A messy journey with the 94 bus into Bromley and a changed to the 229, or the train Petts Wood - Beckenham Junction - Crystal Palace - West Croydon.

On low flows a single bus route covering all stops makes sense. Once the travel volume gets over a certain level and there's no adequate rail service, either fast and slow services, and/or services that fan through different intermediate routes and share out the traffic and the lower volume stops.  In Wiltshire, the 231 takes an hour and 15 minutes from Chippenham to Bath and serves just about every shack along the way; it runs twice and hour, but once a strengthening of the service was added, it was in the form of a limited stop, shorter route x31 service every hour - taking just 45 minutes (so 2 extra vehicles not 3 which an extra 231 every hour would be) and being much faster and more attractive to main-stop passengers such as Chippenham to Corsham and Corsham to Bath.  These faster buses are known as whippets

Now where I see a screaming need for a Superloop is between main London termini that are not directly tube connected.  Shall we say Paddington - Marylebone - perhaps Baker Street - Euston - St Pancras - King's Cross - Old Street - Liverpool Street. Could run through the east end - perhaps to Bow Church - perhaps call it the SL205

 
Friday's rain, and SWR ran everything Waterloo - Exeter on time. Not saying that to throw shade on GWR as yesterday's weather was a challenge, but as we all know there's something to be said for having two independent lines available - useful 365 days of the year, but on these occasions, particularly useful.

(Not dared look to see if the Exeters were all three carriage sets, hopefully not...)

Mark

 
Going to make travel to Twickenham/Cardiff more difficult - International matches at both venues today.

 
When I saw the picture ChrisB posted last evening of the line at Corsham, I thought there’s no way that will be open this morning and it isn’t and wouldn’t be surprised if it’s all day if any line side equipment is damaged.

We’re travelling up to London today for a long weekend, fortunately not time sensitive and from Westbury. We go knowing that there will be diverted Bristol to London trains sharing the B&H tracks up to Reading on a very short notice timetable, so there may be a delay to our train.

After the amount of rain that fell yesterday, totally understandable and I commend GWR for the plan they’ve put together overnight to run trains as best they can around both flooded areas of track.

 
15th November ... lines still closed due to flooding with GWR taking actions to divert / shorten / provide service where they can. Many are shortened / diverted - Swansea to London train becomes Swansea to Bristol (Temple Meads), London to Taunton becomes London to Chippenham, train from Bath to Swindon replaced by a bus which takes 80 minutes - three times longer than the train.   

Thank you - GWR - you are at least doing something to help; I have no evidence to tell me if you are doing as much as you possibly could, or if you are working to a (tight?) replacement and diversion budget - and indeed what proportion of travellers will still be travelling in spite of the weather and disruption.   Personally, discgression is the best part of valour and I am not carrying on with my plan to visit the Horniman museum, nor replacing it with anything else - though I may go shopping at Lidl.  Partly put off by the weather and not wanting to add a wanted but needless passenger to what they have to cope with, but also put out by doubt as to how / when I would get home:


Weather, sure, understood ... noting "shortage of train crew" so we'll employ bus or taxi crew instead.  Rum system!

 

Indeed.  So remaining Swindon - Chippenham services that carried on to Westbury were more important than usual.  Some cancelled from an already thin schedule and I suspect complex staff interworking caused this.

And for today ...


and

 
With quarrying restarting at Meldon, depending on where the 'Quarriable' stuff is, the excavations could do worse than make some passive provision for the route that the railway will need to take for the new structure that will enable a faster alignment & also bypass the historic viaducts.

Mark

 
Ok, the line there is in the bottom of a valley, but that's a surprising sight, wondering if the aqueduct overtopped. Also wondering where the start of the 1:100 gradient down through Box Tunnel might be.

Mark

 

It was an very unfortunate evening for a Swindon - Westbury (18:44) and a Westbury - Swindon (20:06) to be cancelled, wasn't it?

There is an ability to reverse trains at Bradford Junction, added for use during the closures for (non)electrification of Box tunnel. Why on earth is this not used?

 
From the BBC


I have posted this in "new and improved services" and not historic.  I would love to see it improved for trains - from Okehampton in one direction and from Tavistock and Bere Alston in the other. 

 
I maybe a bit of a masochist but I used to enjoy the walk from Stapleton Road station to IKEA when I lived in Bristol.

I did manage once to carry a flat packed fabric wardrobe home with me to Lawrence Weston via train and bus. Most trips though were for smaller items like kitchenware, linen and other homewares. I quickly learnt the shortcuts when all I wanted was some cutlery or a sauté pan.

I concur about the cooked breakfasts. There's nowhere else where you can get nine cooked breakfast items for under four quid. I always add black pudding for an extra, bargain, 75p.

Nowadays, visits to IKEA are by car to the Exeter branch. Visited a few weeks ago for some pillows, bed linen and kitchen knick-knacks. And meatballs of course.

 
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4gw5xxej04o


Routes between London Paddington and Bristol and Swansea are closed due to flooding on the tracks, including here at Corsham near Bath

 
I've found that the walk from Stapleton Road railway station to IKEA takes about ten minutes if you take the road beneath the motorway that leads to the outside car parking area.

 
An appropriate sentence with, I suspect, small premiums for the aggravating factors of being a police officer and pleading not guilty.

I don't think he'll be a police officer for much longer.

 
The 20:12 Swindon-Westbury has reached Trowbridge on time.

I wonder if any passengers for Bath or Bristol were directed this way? - in spite of the cancellation of one service from Salisbury, there's a fair connection onto the Portsmouth-Cardiff.

Meanwhile in the opposite direction there's a FO 9 coach IET running ECS Westbury-North Pole.

Some Paddington-Bristol services (in both directions) are being diverted via Newbury, although GWR Journeycheck is notably lacking in this bit of info (deliberate or not?)

 
The line between Chippenham and Bath Spa is under several feet of water.

 
Chippenham - Bath was under water at one point today

 

Hmmm......I bet they wish that they'd been told not to travel this morning.....

 
Chaos at Swindon

 

Very sad 

 

From my email

 
Understable with lines closed all over the place by lines that are flooded.  Not, as far as I can see, on the lines these trains would have used but these of all the services over the line are those which probably have the most complex stock and crew rostering

 

The driver of the bus was very understanding.

Mark

 

 
Put here as no board for HEX services, and now operated by GWR under contract, not TfL.

From Rail magazine


..../continues

Horrendous

 
DO NOT TRAVEL warnings now issued -

PAD - BRI

PAD - South Wales

Exeter & Barnstaple

HFD - WOS