What a chapter. Those fantasy easy connections at Salisbury breaking down very badly too.

A friend travelled back from Brighton to Bath at the start of the week, lamenting the lack of the through train. Changing at Fareham I think it was on to a GWR train to Bristol with the air conditioning out of service and the staff weary. They asked if it had been out of action for their entire day - the response being that it hadn't been working all summer - and once home, they were moved to phone GWR and have a conversation about the temperature on board the train and how bad it was for staff morale and working conditions.

Mark

 

Had you been at Weymouth, waiting for the 17:28 to Bristol, you would have had the fortune to catch the 17:15 to Waterloo, which actually departed at 17:35. This is what would have then happened:

Arrive at Southampton at 19:17 (20 late).
Find you have missed the connecting Cardiff train due to depart at 19:11. Actually, you haven't missed it as it's been cancelled.
You find that the next Cardiff train, the 20:11, has also been cancelled.
There's a 19:37 to Salisbury, so you catch that. It departs 5 late.
Arrival at Salisbury is at 20:22 (7 late).
There was actually a Salisbury-Bristol train running (most were cancelled today as part of service-thinning)...
It left on time at 20:11, so you have missed it. Bad luck!
Next train should be the 20:42 Cardiff... but it's cancelled.
Also cancelled is th 21:42 Cardiff train...
So you catch the 22:11 Salisbury-Bristol train, due into Temple Meads at 23:32.  (Instead of 20:12 when the Wey-Bristol was due)


I would take "suspended" as meaning complete cessation of trains.
But the 20:14 departure from Weymouth ran, arriving Bristol at 22:45.
Mind, it was a 2-coach class 165, so would have been rather cosy if everyone waited for it.

The final train, the 21:28 Weymouth-Westbury was also cancelled.

 
Cancellations due to air conditioning faults


https://www.gwr.com/travel-information/travel-updates/live-network-updates

 

... and I've chosen to apologize for some of my own appalling puns here in the past ...

CfN.

 
According to RTT just now.

 

Basically then, it's chit or bust?

 
Staffed from 06:00 though the first train appears to be that one for Cardiff at eight.

Our hypothetical passenger for Aberdeen, if given a chit with an easement to vary their route, could travel on the next departure, the 08:45 for Waterloo and a relaxed connection into the 13:42 to Aberdeen from Kings Cross - this would get them into Aberdeen only half an hour or so after their original connecting service from Bristol.

(If their destination was Shetland, they'd have already been planning for a night and a day in Aberdeen as the ferry leaves at varying times between five and seven pm depending on the day, so, from Weymouth, that would need to be a weekday trip, via London - and with one of Graham's 'Plan 'b's in the back pocket.)

Mark

 
Answer: staffed on Sunday from 06:00 to 00:45. (Source: National Rail).

Mark

https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations/weymouth/

 
Have some anyway, and tbh, at 8am on a Sunday, is Weymouth staffed?

Mark

 
Cwertainly gone over my head.....do I need more coffee?

 

I'd read that last comment again, perhaps out loud to yourself before doing so.

(Apologies for the overhead shot!) 

 
I'd be straight on to the help point in that case....and then the phone

 

Unfortunately I have heard that an individual approached staff at Weymouth with precisely that scenario but was told that they couldn't give a chit....................

 
Realtimetrains doesn't flag it as cancelled but on the other hand doesn't indicate that it ran...

The following train out of Weymouth via Westbury being the 10:38 in the direction of Swindon. The fate of the people (if any) who intended to catch the 8:01 will probably never be known... but if anyone was heading for the generous connection into the Aberdeen train at Bristol I hope that Weymouth staff gave them a chit and popped them on to something heading up to London...

Mark

 

Didn't realise there were any cross-border trains left from Weymouth.  Oh - wait - there aren't today!

 
Today (Tuesday) the 09:32 from Weymouth is cancelled

Leaves nearly a 4 hour gap between 07:33 and 11:30 trains

Yesterday (bank holiday) cancelled the 15:28 departure

Not very good to leave such massive gaps when it's school holiday week and beach weather.