News from Melksham Rail User Group

Updated March 15th 2020 and in need again

What did we do in 2019? and what will we do in 2020?

Report on 2019 and plans for 2020 all available in a single document. Ask any of our officers or email for s printedcopy, or download ((here)).

Santa, 15th December 2019

Santa visited us and met up with around 100 people (50 adults and 50 children) on the train on Sunday 15th December. Great time had by all - big THANK YOU to Santa, to GWR for their help, and to all of our volunteers. Also to everyone who came along, and to the tourist information centre, the toy shop, the Melksham News and everyone else in the town who helped make the event a great success.

Fetes, parties and carnivals

During the summer of 2019, the Melksham Rail User Group's volunteers have attended and assisted with ...
Shaw and Whitley Fete - 22nd June 2019
Melksham Station - 25th June
Melksham Carnival - 29th June
Semington Village Fete - 6th July
"Using the train with confidence" - 14th July
Melksham Party in the Park - 20th July
Melksham River and Food Festival -31st August
Melksham Over 55s Fair - 6th October 2019
Melksham Christmas Craft Fair - 23rd November 2019
Santa Special from Melksham to Swindon 15th December 2019

Thanks to our volunteers - Judith, John, Peter, David, Martin, Kevin and Robin who have helped at these events. To village fete and event organisers who have been so helpful in setup and at all venues. To James, Nicki and their team at First Bus with our combined "help people Discover" bus and train information float in the Melksham Carnival. To GWR for their support and help in checking / proofing the tri-fold leaflet we have used throughout and generous support of our annual Santa trip through which have raised funds. To Melksham Town and Melksham Without parish councils for their significant (to us) support towards our expenses. Thanks also to Lisa for her graphic art production work to enable us to have such a great brochure to hand out.

Full report at sc2019_thankyou.pdf

Melksham Station Litter pick

13th April 2019 A big "thank you" to the ten volunteers who helped tidy the area around the station on Saturday 13th April as part off the Great British Litter pick, in parallel with other litter picks organised by TransWilts at Chippenham and Trowbridge Stations.

Passenger Survey at Melksham, 5th February 2019

Thank you to everyone who gave up their time on a cold and drizzly day on Tuesday 5th February helping with the MRUG survey at Melksham Station. We ran 5 shifts covering the entire train running day, and collected car park usage data in addition to passengers counts and traveller surveys. A great many thanks to the passengers who gave us insight into their journeys. As always we found a wide variety of reasons to travel, and a wide list of destinations. Results are available at Results

Initial analysis / counts show 111 departing passenger and 103 arriving on 5th February - almost all round trips, with an equal balance of single outbound and single inbound journeys. The difference of 8 is accounted for by people who left during the day, but had to make other arrangements to get back because they had things to do beyond the last train to Melksham (19:32 from Westbury / 20:08 from Swindon).

Melksham Station Development - The Hub

Our longer platform and the 2/3 car trains are now established, and are the start of what can be expected of a station in an important town like Melksham. However the station needs extra facilities - better information, a toilet, a cafe, more parking, a bus stop, someone around at busy times to inform people ... and TransWilts with the support of the Melksham Rail User Group is looking to refurbish the hut in the yard across from the station to provide these facilities.

Swindon to Southampton

A lot of progress has been made on the proposal to provide an all-day service between Wiltshire and Southampton Airport and the city itself. Following extensive efforts, led by the TransWilts, it has been established the service could utilise existing rolling stock that currently runs between Swindon and Westbury, Westbury and Salisbury and the service south of Salisbury but as a joined up service.

As well as providing long distance connectivity the proposals also include earlier northbound arrivals into Swindon from Westbury and better timed commuter services for those heading south to Trowbridge and Westbury.

Talks are continuing with GWR and SWR to iron out the details and move towards a possible start date.

Engineering work changes affecting Melksham and the area during the first few months of 2020

Further details can be found on the GWR website at https://www.gwr.com/travel-updates/planned-engineering

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