An unusual set of circumstances led to some extended delays around the single line overnight.

Both sleeper services were routed via Melksham and both were running late.   The Up sleeper lost half an hour coming through Cornwall while the Down service was delayed by 50 minutes due to an incident east of Swindon.   The pair usually cross in Somerset.   This morning it was between Trowbridge and Westbury.



However behind the westbound sleeper was a queue of trains at Chippenham waiting for the single line to clear.   A couple of them had been allowed to run early at previous points in their journey.  The closure of the line through Chipping Sodbury for overnight engineering work also added to the pressure.  The second in the queue was just waiting for the one in front to take the single line before it could continue towards Bath Spa.



The up sleeper was delayed on the approach to Bradford Junction for 45 minutes while a pair of trains used the single line.  The message on Journeycheck suggested it had been delayed by a late running train in front.   I suppose it was - by the down sleeper!



In all it took nearly three hours for the congestion to clear as other trains joined the queues at both ends.   The worst delay I have seen was a freight train which approached Chippenham 12 minutes early but was 83 minutes late by the time it got to Trowbridge.

In the middle of the night perhaps it doesn't matter so much - but it shows what a knife-edge capacity along the single line is on at times.