Great Western Railway Trains at Bath Spa on November 25th 2023

3rd visit to Bath Spa station on the Great Western Main Line first visit for over 3 years since June 15th 2019
Featuring services from Great Western Railway plus a pair of 66s and a visit from the Belmond British Pullman.
Bath Spa was built by Isambard Kingdom Brunel which first opened in 1840 as Bath.
It's was renamed Bath Spa in 1949 a year after Nationalisation to avoid confusion with the former station of Bath Green Park with that being renamed in 1951 however it closed in 1966.
The remains of the former Bath Green Park station has since 1982 is occupied by a pedestrian passageway and a supermarket.
When the GWML electrification was given the go-ahead in July 2009 it included the GWML to Bristol Temple Meads via Bath Spa however due to soaring costs it was announced in November 2016 that the electrification of the line towards Bristol would stop short before Chippenham.
However since then the plans to revive electrification to Bristol haven't been revisited although with pressures for Greener Railways in the future it's a idea that maybe reconsidered in the long term
The platform layout of Bath Spa was altered in 2017 to accommodate the Class 800 and 802 IETs whilst Platform 2 can fit a full 9 car set or a 10 car however Platform 1 is not so fortunate due to a short platform which means passengers on IETs can only alight from Coach 3 on back.
The main reason for this is that the front of Platform 1 is where the GWML crosses over the River Avon which runs from Avonmouth through Clifton, Bristol, Bath all the way through Chippenham and Bedwyn where it meets the River Kennet as part of Kennet / Avon Canal with the River Kennet running towards Reading.
The Class 800s first entered service in October 2017 with the Class 802s entering service 10 months later in August 2018 before replacing completely the Long Distance HSTs in May 2019.
The IET services are half hourly to Bristol Temple Meads from London Paddington although some extended hourly to either Weston-super-Mare or Taunton with the only exception of 2 trains a day to and from Exeter St Davids with one early in the morning and one late at night.
Other services served by a mixture of Class 165 and 166 Turbos as well as Class 158 Sprinters with services to Portsmouth Harbour and Weymouth via Westbury and Cardiff Central, Gloucester, Worcester Foregate Street and Great Malvern via Bristol Temple Meads.
Extra services were provided as well as the visit of the British Belmond Pullman which on the day was the opening of Bath Christmas Market.
On the day of filming there was significant disruption due to a broken rail between Swindon and Didcot Parkway and during filming delays up to 45 minutes for some services due to a trespasser at Keysnham.
Portsmouth Harbour services were on divert between Salisbury and Farnham due to engineering works in the Southampton Area which were diverted via Chandlers Ford and calling additionally at Eastliegh.
Whilst a lot has changed over the years from its original opening of the line however what would the original architect would have make of it today will never be known.
Featuring
Casper Trains
Alfie’s Videos
Ethan’s Trains
Brandon Cooper
EJC Transportation
Music used:
JJD - Adventure
Music provided by NCS
Video link:
NoCopyrightSounds
• JJD - Adventure | Glit...
Filmed on Saturday November 25th 2023 on iPhone 14 Pro and edited on iMovie
#greatwesternrailway #bath #bathspa #gwr #somerset #hitachi #class800 #class802 #class158 #class165 #avon #class67