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Railway meetings, trips and meetups this autumn

Archive - Originally posted on "The Horse's Mouth" - 2010-09-12 14:00:21 - Graham Ellis

Friday 17th September, 19:30, Bridge House, Trowbridge
WWRUG - Tim Pearce, Go! Co-operative presentation, Q&A

Friday 1st October, 19:30, Melksham Town Hall
MRDG - Regular meeting

Saturday 2nd October, 09:30, either Westbury or Melksham
TWCRP - Working group meeting

Wednesday 6th October, 18:00, Plymouth
CoffeeShop - Pie and Pint Meetup (Provisional)

Saturday 9th October, 10:30, Taunton
TWSW - Autumn Meeting

Saturday 16th October, 08:45 Freshford Station
WWRUG 21st Anniversary Rail Ramble

Friday 29th October, 19:30, Dewey House, Warminster
WWRUG - Andrew Murrison MP - "Railways under a coalition Govt"

Saturday 13th November 08:34 (Salisbury) / 09:20 (Melksham)
TWCRP - TransWilts trip to Steam in Swindon (back 15:40 / 16:32)

Friday 26th November, 19:30, Melksham Town Hall
MRDG - Regular Meeting

Sunday 5th December 17:11 (Trowbridge) / 17:20 (Melksham)
MRDG - Santa trip to Swindon (back 18:54 / 18:54)

A busy autumn season of rail meetings - some (but not all) open to anyone and / or guests welcome.

I am involved in the campaign for an appropriate service on the "TransWilts" line - train services across Wiltshire from Swindon to Salisbury taking in the five largest population centres, and with the poor and unbalance service at present of two through trains a day southbound, and no through trains northbound. Particular concern is the Trowbridge - Melksham - Chippenham leg which only has trains from Chippenham at 06:30 and 19:01, and from Trowbridge at 07:07 and 19:37.


The organizations I mention above ...

MRDG - Melksham Railway Development Group [link]
Dedicated to the provision of improved facilities and services (rail side and land side) at Melksham station, and the promotion and use of the services and facilities there.

TWCRP - TransWilts Community Rail Partnership [link] and [overview]
The Community and the Rail industry working together for better stations, better service and better publicity for the TransWilts line - Swindon - Chippenham - Melksham - Trowbridge - Westbury - Dilton Marsh - Warminster - Salisbury

TWSW - TravelWatch SouthWest [link]
An umbrella organization that links and co-ordinates travel campaigns, special interest groups, and the public transport industry and other stakeholders such as councils across the South West of England. The main twice-a-year meeting is for a representative of each organization that's a member

WWRUG - West Wilts Rail Users Group [link]
For users of train services to and through West Wiltshire - that's Avoncliff, Bradford-on-Avon, Melksham, Trowbridge, Westbury, Dilton Marsh and Warminster stations

Coffeeshop - First Great Western Coffee Shop [link]
Predominantly an online forum - for passengers who use (or would like to use) First Great Western services. If you want an answer to why something is done a certain way, this is the place to ask - there are a lot of knowledgeable poster from within and without the industry. The Coffee Shop is independent - it is about First Great Western services, and is free to criticism as well as applaud.

Save the Train - [link]
The web site / group which I set up in 1995 when the services on the "TransWilts" line were under threat. Very much an online and correspondence campaign. Aims - (a) To make people aware that there's an issue about the service level - (b) To evaluate what an appropriate level is - (c) To achieve that appropriate level (or something close) and (d) to retain an appropriate service level into the future.