3. Trip to Bath-08.05.21

THE ARCHIVE FILES > Archive-2021 > 22. Spring break in Frome-06-11.05.21 > 3. Trip to Bath-08.05.21
A foul day with pretty relentless rain found my wife and I heading for Bath by train from Frome courtesy of GWR. We found Bath station eerily quiet due to the complete cancellation of all of their London services operated by Class 800 IETs. This action was taken the previous night with no warning due to cracks found in the aluminium underframes that lead to every set having to be examined and repaired as appropriate; anyone fancy a trip on an HST?
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Images 1-6 of 6 displayed.

166204, GW 08.46 Weymouth-Gloucester (2V60, 2L), Bath Spa station 166204 pauses at Bath Spa station working the 08.46 Weymouth to Gloucester GWR service. My wife and I travelled on this train from Frome finding it busy but we felt perfectly 'covid safe'. This journey was unnecessarily slow due to a mysterious but timetabled twenty-minute dwell time at Westbury making the journey just under an hour. By road, all things being good, it should take half that time. It is things like this that will turn travellers away from the railways back to the roads. Keywords: 166204 08.46 Weymouth-Gloucester 2V60 Bath Spa station GWR Great Western Railway Turbo
158950, GW 14.02 Warminster-Cardiff Central (1F68, RT), Bath Spa station What appears to be some sort of hybrid unit leaves Bath Spa station working the 14.02 Warminster to Cardiff 1F68 service. At the rear of the train is one car from three-car set 158950 whilst an unidentified two-car unit from the 158/0 sub set leads the service. Keywords: 158950 14.02 Warminster-Cardiff Central 1F68 Bath Spa station
Class 165, GW 12.43 Great Malvern-Weymouth (2O78, 1E), Bath Spa station Our train home arrives at Bath Spa station in the form of an unidentified Class 165 unit. With all London trains (up and down services) cancelled due to the mass withdrawal of the Class 800 fleet for safety checks any passengers on Bath station were making local journies or attempting to get to London by alternative routes such as from Salisbury as could be the case here by changing at Westbury. The 12.43 Great Malvern to Weymouth service was consequentially busy but my wife and I were still 'covid comfortable' but only just! Keywords: Class 165 12.43 Great Malvern-Weymouth 2O78 Bath Spa station
56049, stabled, Westbury station 56049 'Robin of Templecombe 1938-2013' sits stabled at Westbury. Colas use this locomotive, dating from October 1978, for various infrastructure work that they are contracted to undertake. A pretty poor picture I know but it's the only one that I have of this particular Class 56! Keywords: 56049 stabled Westbury station Robin of Templecombe 1938 – 2013
66621, 11.20 Allington-Whatley (6V18, 6E), Frome Sheppard's bridge After getting back to Frome from Bath the weather picked up a little. I decided to take a walk into town from my mum's house to see this light engine movement that I had been tracking. 66621 is seen passing through Frome on the line to Whatley from the town's tiny Sheppard (sic) bridge. Running as 6V18 I believe that it had run as a light engine all the way from Allington Aggregates in the Medway valley unless anybody can advise me otherwise! Keywords: 66621 11.20 Allington-Whatley 6V18, Frome Sheppard's bridge Freightliner light engine
Tickets, Frome-Bath Spa-Frome My wife has just booked us return tickets to Liverpool from Northampton for the grand total of £41. By way of comparison, here are our two return tickets from Frome to Bath for a total of £24! Agreed, the former are advanced tickets and with a railcard but nonetheless, it goes to show what a scandalous rip off some tickets for train travel on our network can be! Just as a back of a fag packet calculation..... The return Liverpool trip is 16p/mile (8p/mile each) whereas the return to Bath Spa is 55p/mile (25p/mile each)! Keywords: Tickets, Frome-Bath Spa-Frome

Images 1-6 of 6 displayed.