NRT: generally a welcome improvement

Table 160

The main changes here related to the services that run via Bruton and also those that link Yeovil Pen Mill with Junction, and as these are rather awkward to understand it is easier if I say what runs now, rather than what changed.

These are the trains that serve Yeovil Pen Mill (YPM): 0541 YPM-Waterloo via Sherborne; 1250 Waterloo-YPM via Bruton, which then, after a five-minute wait, becomes the 1544 YPM-Waterloo via Sherborne; 1350 Waterloo-YPM via Sherborne; 1631 YPM-Yeovil Junction; 1646 Yeovil Junction-Waterloo via Bruton; 1650 Waterloo-YPM via Sherborne, which continues to Salisbury via Bruton; 1750 Waterloo-YPM via Sherborne; 2030 YPM-Yeovil Junction; 1850 Waterloo-YPM via Sherborne, which continues to Salisbury via Bruton.

This gives the complete service from YPM to Yeovil Junction at 0541, 1544, 1631 and 2030. From Yeovil Junction to YPM trains are at 1620, 1646, 1917, 2020 and 2117. Note all the Saturday services are discontinued for the winter.

Unfortunately, table 160 omits the 2030 YPM-Yeovil Junction and also the return section of the 1850 from Waterloo at 2127 from YPM to Salisbury via Bruton – though it is shown just from Westbury as the 2218 to Salisbury. The 2127 YPM to Westbury is also omitted from table 123, by the way.

Sadly, the ‘associations’ are frequently omitted here – that’s where trains join or split yet are treated in the NRT as separate trains. I know that, as with the same problem in table 158, above, SWT pointed out these errors to the NRT team at proof stage, yet it seems none was corrected.

These affect all Waterloo-Bristol Temple Meads services on Mon-Fri and Sundays, which are shown as separate services from/to Salisbury, yet they do manage to get them all correct on Saturdays.

Next, on Fridays only, the 2340 Waterloo-Salisbury now extends to Yeovil Junction, calling at all stations to set down only, and on Saturdays the 2020 Waterloo-Yeovil Junction is extended to Axminster.

On Sundays a new service runs at 1710 from Salisbury to Frome (1757), from where it returns at 1804 to Salisbury and then forms the 1852 to Waterloo.

Table 179

Sensibly, this table has been simplified. It used to show Luton-Wimbledon Chase-Sutton-Wimbledon Chase – quite unnecessarily. The last part of the ‘loop’ has now been deleted (it is always shown in the reverse pages of course) with the table finishing at Sutton.

The only other improvement would be if Network Rail would stop calling that station ‘Sutton (Surrey)’ when firstly Sutton is unique as a station name and secondly it’s not in Surrey but Greater London!

In that respect at least the NRT correctly shows ‘Ashford (Surrey)’ whereas SWT annoyingly announces it as ‘Ashford (Middlesex)’ despite Middlesex having been abolished 52 years ago.

However, in Britain the hardest to show used to be the two Hayes – for years shown as Middlesex and Kent, despite both being in London. One is now Hayes & Harlington so the other Hayes is now unique, though still annoyingly shown as ‘Kent’.

When some folks tell me they still think of places like Croydon as being in Surrey I always say: ‘Fine, then hand back your London Freedom Pass – you can’t have it both ways!’

Table 187

I made the point in May that all GWR services from Brighton to Bristol or Great Malvern had been omitted from this Brighton-Southampton table. They still are! This is quite wrong for a neutral document like the NRT.

Table 218

Turning to Scotland, the 0525 Ayr-Girvan has been omitted from this table. 

Table 226

After a fuss was made locally, the previously long-standing ‘fast’ extra morning peak service from Helensburgh Central has been restored. However, while it omits quite a few stops, it’s now slower than all other services!

It leaves at 0805 and calls all stations to Dumbarton East, then just Partick, Charing Cross, Queen Street (0851), High Street and terminates Springburn at 0903.