Public Transport from London to Melksham, Wiltshire
Archive - Originally posted on "The Horse's Mouth" - 2009-06-19 08:06:14 - Graham EllisIn answer to a delegate who will be attending a course with us, I have put the follwowing updated information together about how to travel by train or coach from London to Melksham, Wiltshire in the early evening, and in the morning. Republished here to help others coming on courses, to stay at our hotel, or simply looking for Melksham public transport links.
Dates used are samples - should also apply on other weekdays
Public transport ... London to Melksham, evening of Friday, 10th July
1. By train from London (Paddington) at 17:45, change at Swindon, arrive 19:10
Current best single fare on offer 54.50 / buy on day 64.00
2. By train from London (Waterloo) at 16:50, change at Salisbury and Trowbridge, arrive 19:47
Current best single fare on offer 22.90 / buy on day 32.80
(Buy a Waterloo to Trowbridge via Salisbury, and a Trowbridge to Melksham)
3. By National Express coach - 18.00 from Victoria, arrive 21:05
No change necessary; also calls at Heathrow
Single fare 17.70
There are no earlier nor later services on these routes - in each case they are the only service that evening. As an alternative, you could catch a train from Paddington direct to Chippenham; from Chippenham station, there's an evening bus service about every 90 minutes to Melksham (route 234).
Public transport ... London to Melksham, morning of 13th July.
There are no trains connections from London to Melksham in the morning, nor is there a National Express coach service.
The following nearest equivalent options are available:
a) Direct train from London (Paddington) to Chippenham. During the day,the 234 bus to Melksham leaves every hour from Chippenham BUS station, which is on the other side of the town from the railway station.
b) Train from London (Waterloo) to Trowbridge via Salisbury; the 234 bus during the day calls near Trowbridge station, for Melksham.
Other Options
You could also travel from London to Bath and change there onto the 271, 272, 273 or X72 buses. Most of the day there are 2 services per hour, but the two run just a few minutes apart. Also note that the journey from London to Melksham via Bath is a 'dogleg' - longer distance, longer time, likely to cost more.
Taxis are usually available at Chippenham, Trowbridge and Westbury stations (but if you're going to be very late, best book ahead);
Quite frankly, we're ashamed of the paucity of train services calling at Melksham (a town or 20,000), and the lack of proper integrated connections into the buses. That's even though the town isn't responsible for running the services, and we HAVE campaigned hard for an improvement.
If you are a customer of ours, get in touch as you plan your travel; we very often pick up guests and delegates from Westbury, Trowbridge or Chippenham with prior arrangement.