An entertaining series of threads though some of the photo links have bit-rotted. This will not be the subway used in the past by First to take people from the current pasty-scented depths to rail replacement buses?

 
There is a subway under the old station - I posted a pic of it a while back as a ‘where was Red Squirrel’. I wonder if the tram terminus connected with it? If so, another parallel with the new No.8 arrangement.

The Second World War actually extended the life of the Bristol Trams initially - the closures were halted at the outbreak. So a bit of a mixed blessing, you might say.

 
Since I was attending a meeting to make a point about intermodal change at major stations... those Bristol Temple Meads tram rails leapt out at me. Many people are familiar with them but less familiar with their purpose - I attempted to reconstruct the passenger experience at the terminus in my minds eye, and wondered at the same time how the spur was worked... and realised that all this was in use for long enough for the track layout there to evolve, perhaps at the time the system was electrified.  In the horse drawn era, two tracks, a short spur off the route to... Brislington(?) converge to a single line along a platform - with an overall roof, and a waiting room.

Later, with the system electrified, the remains on the ground indicate that the temple meads tram track had been doubled and perhaps other changes made. This switch is on the inward (headshunt) end of the tram station tracks [Update, it's possibly the one in this pre WW1 25" map. https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=18.9&lat=51.44920&lon=-2.58282&layers=168&b=GoogleSat&o=100 ].



 As I was pondering this, an electric No 8 bus passed to make its booked stop beyond the station approach. Curiously I've just found that the electrified trams were numbered, and it was the number 8 tram that ran between the Temple Meads terminus and the city centre. Perhaps the bus to Clifton is its distant descendant. I did discover that the Temple Meads tram station wasn't regarded as a operational inconvenience, it was in use until the Nazis wounded its infrastructure in April '41 and the decision was made to kill the entire system off.

In due course, over a year later, with the tram system gone, it was a group of internal combustion powered buses and passengers that received a direct hit from a 250Kg bomb dropped from 25000 feet from a lone German aircraft, killing more than two score people.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ww2peopleswar/stories/25/a5382425.shtml

Something that isn't clear is the walking route for passengers between the trains and the trams. Down the ramp is one option, but was there a covered route to the tram station at the level of the station vaults? The map somewhat hints that there was - why so much roof above the tram stop headshunt otherwise?

 

But having said that, Bath Spa Station is in the very top tier of passengers leaving and boarding trains in the UK. Perhaps the lack of publicity is to avoid it generating more traffic than it can handle?

It is not alone in being hard to find.  Stand in the centre of Westbury or Melksham and ask a bod on the street ...

 
Thanks for this. Out of hearing range of later announcements  I was wondering what happened, and yes, the Westbury train would have met the needs of people heading for B-0-A and Trowbridge.

A couple of other things: some way in to Redcliff Street from Temple Meads, a young chap overtook me balancing an unfeasable number of awkward parcels, one of which he dropped and struggled to know how to pick it up again as the rest were threatening to escape. I offered to retrieve the escapee, asked him where he was headed and suggested taking the package and walking along with him to his destination. Asking him what had happened to encumber him, it emerged that the destination address is 'Temple Something or other' which was enough for the mail to deliver the parcels to Temple Meads Station where they had been sitting in an office - joining a collection of other parcels for his address, so having strolled across to collect what he thought was going to be three, he retrieved another five as well.

Also, Bath Spa Station seems to have a cloak of invisibility - on the way down Manvers Street in the morning, someone off a bus asked me where the station was so we walked back down to it. She said that as she headed into Manvers Street and with the station behind her, she'd asked one of the bods working on the road there where it was and he replied that he didn't have a clue, which led her to think that it was in another part of the city entirely. But it's not the first person off a bus who's been confused about the station, and it has to be said that the aspect as seen from the bus station is free of signs that face in the direction from which many people will approach it, so I didn't think she was at all remiss. Listed building and all, so an external sign would probably involve admin, but I'd be tempted to put an illuminated sign behind that reflective glass. 'Bath Spa Station' and a arrow pointing left and curving up. Rail alphabet 3 via a neon sign a challenge? Probably.

 

From looking at a Berth Maps replay:

The stock from the Portsmouth train returned to Bristol ECS at 14:52.  During which time nothing was stuck behind it and it cleared in time for the 15:01 to Westbury to run through on time - surely that should have been the best service for passengers turfed off the Portsmouth train to get on, though it was only a 2-car.  By which time the two or three services that had been stuck ahead on the line to Westbury had just been cleared.

The 14:43 to Paddington left Bristol 20 minutes late and followed the 15:01 Westbury service through Bath Spa, only incurring an extra 2 minutes of delay.

The sets from the Cardiff to Portsmouth train that terminated at Bath then went on to form the 15:57 Bristol to Cardiff which re-started at Bristol with the original service from Portsmouth running 34 minutes late and terminating there.

You can't do a Berth Maps replay, but it's worth pointing out that you can check allocations for a particular unit going back five years on RTT if you are a RTT+ subscriber, so you would have been able to work out that last bit.  Well worth £2 per month in my opinion.

 
Interesting that there is both a bridge open, and bridge closed footpath.

 
Wasn't aware of this bridge, interesting !

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c670p9e28v5vo

 
Thank you all - the votes and further detail are so useful (ref https://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=32649.msg381276#msg381276 ).   There may not be anything visible to you as a result, but please believe me it's a huge help in tuning the response not only to the ongoing PHP stuff, but also to wider traffic management issues.

And if you have not yet voted, PLEASE, do so!

 
:-) An observation the ramifications of which run deep.

 

BBC Update - https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cxnv025d8qpmo


As the "techie" here, I remain watching and vigilant ... and not shouting in guest-readable posts any details on the various aspects for the Coffee Shop (just as I would not shout passwords!).   Big "Thank You" to members who have completed the "where do you browse from" poll ( https://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=32656.0 ); that data is so useful 

 

It’s a premium priced bus service so they get the premium stop?

 
I access the Coffee Shop at home in the UK using an iPad and Safari, home broadband is FTTC at about 40 mbps. Abroad I use an E sim or Wi-Fi on an iPhone.

 
Aforementioned offspring, of the toppled bin, caught train at Falmouth Town last evening and was successfully delivered into Paddington on the sleeper this morning.

 
As we called at all sorts of little stations - often for no passengers - across the north of Spain I noted a lot of investment and wonder if we're going to see a blooming of services.  Just 2 a day each way in the central section between Oviedo and El Ferrol, but a more frequent setvice at the ends ... and some substantial new engineering even amongst the remains of the old.

This reminded me of Bradford-on-Avon

at a nil-off, nil-on station.

But then it's far more magnificent than B-o-A


Is it also more practical?  At B-o-A the ramp is accessed from a side road some distance from the main station entrance - and the ticket machine; kinda impractical if you're in a wheelchair and need to buy your ticket before boarding.  At least in Spain there are parallel steps, it's the main station entrance, and the lady train manager was quite happy to sell tickets.

 
Yes, we have much Health and Safety nowadays!
Too much perhaps?..............Now there's a discussion to be had.............

 

I find myself wondering if there is some significance in the "seem to" - in this age of wall to wall news.  50 years ago, I would not have known about distruption to Barnstaple, for example, which we see today, whereas today (and in El Ferrol in Spain!) I am fully aware

I also find myself wondering if unexpected events take longer to recover from.



But, yes, at home we do have three days plus of food and water.  I would be concerned about a really long mains electric cut, even though we have some solar panels, and cash tends to be in a variety of "what is THAT?" currencies ...

 
The 'stockpiling' of cash is also a consideration: in the event of any temporary outage of online banking connection, many shops have to revert to 'cash only' status.

 
Thank you, broadgage. 

 

Hi, Ollie!

I think that's possibly a rather harsh self-assessment of yourself.

I do know Ollie, from the earliest days of the Coffee Shop forum, including a great 'line bash' we did, down to Falmouth, many years ago.

CfN. 

 
If stocking batteries for any future emergency, I would strongly recommend energiser ultimate lithium types, available in AA, AAA and small 9volt types.
AA batteries have a shelf life of 25 years from production, or typically about 24 years from retail sale. They are rather expensive from retail stores.
Cheaper from ebay.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/398080460595 for example.

 
I'm a bit of a mixed bag, my visits are mostly on a laptop using Chrome Browser from within the UK, however not uncommon for me to have laptop with me when I've been abroad and I will pop in for a look - this is sometimes done via VPN but not consistently so.

 
At the risk of encouraging Coffee Shop forum member 'broadgage', here is an update, from the BBC on the subject - including guidance from the Prime Minister, Andy Burnham himself, apparently:


Please do continue to add any further suggestions here as to what should be stockpiled: 'broadgage' will then no doubt assess and validate them.

CfN. 

 
I voted as just accessing the Coffee Shop from the UK although I might have accessed it from Europe one or two times when I was previously abroad nearly (gulp) seven and a half years ago.  I would probably access it again from abroad if our plans for a few euro jaunts come to fruition next year.  For that reason, if you think that also qualifies for the accessing from abroad category, please feel free to add that to my vote....or advise me to change my voting accordingly.