Oldfield Park Train Blog

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First Great Western has most overcrowded trains (Sat, 13 Nov 2010)
No surprise that FGW has the worst overcrowding. See this article Puntuality and reliablity seem to have fallen off a cliff in the past 2 months.
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Is this why you voted Lib Dem in Bath?...thought not (Fri, 04 Jun 2010)
Extra train carriages to ease overcrowding on First Great Western’s rail services face the chop after ministers ordered an “urgent reappraisal”. The last Labour government promised an additional 1,300 carriages across the country three years ago, of which 647 have already been brought in or are on order. The remainder have now been put on ice after the Department for Transport was told to slash £683 million from its budget as part a raft of in-year savings totalling £6.2 billion.
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New timetable (Mon, 14 Dec 2009)
We seem to have acquired an additional early eveing train from BTM in the new timetable. There are now services leaving BTM at 1649, 1705, 1711 and 1723 that call at Oldfield Park. Seems too good to be true. Anyone spotted any downsides with the new timetable?
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First Great Western to lose 30 carriages (Wed, 02 Dec 2009)
First Great Western has lost out on 30 carriages dubbed "Boris Johnson's hand-me-downs" to two northern Integrated Transport Authorities in the north. The company had hoped to receive the carriages next year, to replace 24 that are due to be returned to other train operating companies at the end of June. Instead, passengers in the Merseyside and South Yorkshire areas will benefit from the carriages, following a decision by the Department for Transport and rolling stock companies that provide them. Prepare for more overcrowding
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Sweeping it under the carpet (Mon, 16 Nov 2009)
Oldfield Park station has been without a ticket machine for 2 months and is staffed only irregularly. So, arriving this morning I was pleased to see a member of FGW staff on the station. Maybe today I could buy a ticket before I boarded the train and would not have to join the long queue at the barrier at BTM. The ticket office was shut, so customers asked the man, who was swepping up rubbish, whether he was selling tickets. To which he replied Yes, but he had to finish sweeping up the rubbish. This drew an amused and frustrated reaction from those wanting tickets, since with several dozen people of the platform it seemed that selling tickets ought to take priority. But no, he continued sweeping and then eventually...VERY slowly, opened the ticket office and prepared to sell tickets. By which time my train had arrived and it was too late. Excellant customer service FGW!
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The Metro (Thu, 01 Oct 2009)
We can now get a copy of the Metro at Oldfield Park station. Can't buy a ticket but we can get a newspaper!
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Response from Passenger Focus re ticketing (Tue, 15 Sep 2009)
Yes i am aware of teh issue and have spoken to FGW a number of times. The machines in the area have been broken into for their money and so severely damaged that they have to go back to germany for repair which can take up to three months! Similar problem at keynsham and the staff shortages at temple meads is not helping. I am satisfied that issues are being addressed as quickly as possible. I will speak with the station manager at bath re staffing the booth at keynsham more often but his ability to do so may be hampered by having to bolster staff at temple meads.
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No ticket machine, no staff at Oldfield Park Station (Mon, 14 Sep 2009)
We have had no ticket machine for several weeks, and no staff for at least 2 weeks. Make buying a ticket at the station rather tricky and usually means having to queue up at BTM.
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Chaos tonight (Mon, 27 Jul 2009)
Took 2 hours to get home tonight due to the "signalling/power" problems at Bath. One coach an hour to Keynsham and Oldfield Park...
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The Emperor's New Carriages (Sat, 16 May 2009)
Once again Bristol Temple Meads is awash with posters promising new, extra carriages on First Great Western services. Seeing is believing. My service home, which was always 3 carriages until last December, was reduced to just one carriage last night. I suspect these "extra" carriages are an illusion.
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Pledge your support for an appropriate TransWilts Train service (Thu, 09 Apr 2009)
Please help support this campaign by signing the petition at http://www.transwilts.org.uk/pledge.html
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1707 (Wed, 28 Jan 2009)
What IS going on with the 1707 from Bristol Temple Meads? Reduced to 2 carriages since the timetable change it is regularly late and for the past 2 nights has been joined to the 1722. Tonight there was confusion as the dricer announced the first stop was Bath. We got off, thenn we got on again. Unlike last night the combined train did not call at Keynsham, so not sure what happened to those passengers. The evening service from Bristol Temple Meads has degraded significantly since the December timetable change
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Buying a monthly season ticket (Sat, 17 Jan 2009)
For the first time I attempted to buy a monthly season ticket on-line via the FGW web site. I applied a week before I needed the ticket and was not worried because delivery was by First class post. The ticket did not arrive. I contacted FGW Customer Services and was given a number for their On line Booking department, who in turn gave me a number for the Season Ticket section!. Despite numerous attempts and hanging on forever I never got through to anyone. So I sent an email via the Customer services web site, detailing the above. What did I get back a few days later? An email telling to ring the same number that had failed to respond previously. I emailed this fact back and got another email apologising and stateing that it was their understand that someone had now spoken to me, that the ticket had been posted and the matter was resolved. Despite the fact that no one had spoken to me and no ticket arrived. The ticket eventually arrived yesterday (Friday 16th, 2 weeks after I ordered it and a week after the tickets Start Date). The covering letter was dated the 14th of January. I now have to go through the refund system to reclaim the lost days, will will extend to the end of the weekly ticket I bought in the meantime. What are other people experience with buying Season tickets on-line?
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Station manned at last (Sat, 17 Jan 2009)
It looks like First Great Western have completed their recruitment process and Oldfield Park Station was manned for the first time in months on Friday. This SHOULD be a permanent arrangement. I am still awaiting feedback from Passenger Focus with regard to the loss of a carriage on the 1707 from Bristol Temple Meads. Since the December time table change this service has been 2 carriages only, instead of 3. This has resulted in a lot of overcrowding of the "How the hell am I going to get off this train at my stop?" type.
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Tuesday 6th January (Tue, 06 Jan 2009)
Chaos this morning due to a loss of power and signalling problems between Bath and Bristol. The only information available at Oldfield Park(because the station is unmanned in contravention of FGW's franchise commitments) was that from the automated information system. This very helpfully told you that "no trains were scheduled to depart from this station in the next 99 minutes". I gave up and got the bus. Single to Temple Meads was £4.60 by the way.
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New timetable less carriages...again (Tue, 16 Dec 2008)
We seen to have lost a carriage from the 1707 from Bristol Temple Meads since the timetable changed. Has anyone else noticed any trains with fewer carriages since last weekend?
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Staffing of Oldfield Park Station (Sat, 29 Nov 2008)
I have recently been in regular contact with Mike Greedy of Passenger Focus on the subject of the staffing of Oldfield Park Station. Since the installation of the unreliable ticket machine, staffing of the station has become extremely irregular. Mike has now held meetings with First Great Western to remind them that they have a franchise commitment to staff Oldfield Park and Keynsham at peaks times. First Great Western have now agreed to recruit staff to man these 2 stations.
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Just 8 new carriages for FGW (Mon, 17 Nov 2008)
Only 52 of the 1,300 carriages to be introduced nationwide in 2010 will be allocated to First Great Western, which operates services across the South West and to London. But the real number of carriages dedicated to the South West will be in single figures. Twenty carriages are destined for First’s operations in London and the Thames Valley while a further 24, currently on hire from other train operators, have to be returned in 2010. That leaves just eight new carriages to serve a network which has seen a 15 per cent increase in passenger numbers in the past 18 months.
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Bad week (Thu, 11 Sep 2008)
It's been a bad week to be travelling between Bristol Temple Meads and Oldfield Park. Along with not being able to buy a ticket because the ticket office is unmanned and the ticket machine is not working because of the rain, the fire near Trowbridge caused chaos on Wednesday evening at Bristol Temple Meads. As hundreds of passengers milled around on Platform 9 wondering which trains would run when and to where, there was a complete lack of communication from FGW staff, (apart from an inaudible announcement on the train I was sat on, which caused more confusion). The incident also caused cancellations on Thursday morning. This is turning out to be the worst week for a long time.
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Ticketing at Oldfield Park (Tue, 09 Sep 2008)
It is becoming very difficult to but a ticket at the station. The ticket offfice is raely manned nowadays and the single ticket machine is in adequate. And it doesn't work in the rain and the screen is unreadable in bright sunshine.
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Ken Livingstone's Rejects (Mon, 18 Feb 2008)
The guard on the 0731 this morning referred to the ancient carriages as "Ken Livingstone's Rejects"
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Get closer on Valentine's day (Thu, 14 Feb 2008)
Perhaps First Great Western were in a romantic mood today, and the shortforming of the 0731 from Oldfield Park and the 1707 back were a deliberate attempt to get people closer?
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Friday 18th January : Back to Reality (Fri, 18 Jan 2008)
Chaos at Bristol Temple Meads this evening with the 1707 cancelled. I guess they decided it was the turn of the Parkway service to have the carriages. Some crowded onto the 1622(which does not call at OLF), which was still at BTM at 1700 due to mechanical problems. I presume the 1722 was also grossly overcrowded.
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2nd January 2008 (Wed, 02 Jan 2008)
1722 Bristol Temple Meads to Portsmouth Harbour will now be formed of 2 carriages instead of 4; this is due to an earlier train fault. 1749 Bristol Temple Meads to Weymouth will now be formed of 1 carriage instead of 2; this is due to an earlier train fault.
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