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Dogs Legs on the Dogleg

Archive - Originally posted on "The Horse's Mouth" - 2011-07-20 18:05:20 - Graham Ellis

On Sunday, I travelled from Westbury to Chippenham by train - on the 19:37 service which gets into Chippenham at 20:02 - that's 25 minutes.

I returned on the 20:26 train, which involved a change at Bath Spa - I arrived there at 20:40 and left at 21:07, arriving in Westbury at 21:40 - that's 74 minutes.

Why does it take so much longer via Bath Spa? Because the journey is a dogleg - I'm sure it's at least twice the distance, and it involves a change of trains which has to be added to the journey time. You'll have noted that my wait was 27 minutes - that's a bit longer than average, but even with a 5 minute connection (the minimum allowed) we're looking at a 52 minute return journey.

I'm fortunate to be fit - and so is Gypsy who accompanied me. But others are not, and a change that involves six flights of stairs between the platforms, often with the staircases crowded, can be a bit of an issue. There ARE disabled facilites, but wouldn't it be better if there wasn't the need to change there?


Personally, I enjoy travelling and seeing what's around, so I didn't mind a bit of a wait in Bath to see the other trains go through. For sure, I've got other things to do than sit around and wait for connections, but it was a good opportunity to stop and watch the world South West Trains go by.


Of course, there weren't trains all through my wait so at times I was just watching life go by, like this friend of mine sitting atop the station.


And to my Surprise, a steam train - "Nunney Castle" was the locomotive - came through and dropped off some passengers. Another short flurry of activity, with photographers doing their best to capture the scene in the fading light.


For "Anoraks" - for rail enthusiasts - a journey from Chippenham to Westbury that takes an hour and a quarter is an adventure worth having - I'll admit that. For the majority of passengers who just want to get from "A" to "B", where "A" is Chippenham and "B" is Westbury, wouldn't a direct service that takes under half an hour be a much more sensible solution? Provide the solution, and people will use it. Don't provide the solution, and they'll drive up the A350 rather than doing the Bath Dogleg.