I posted this at about 1900 but it hasn't appeared when I look.   Apologies 
if this is a duplicate.

Having made a number of enquiries I wasn't expecting any special trains at
Castle Cary.   Well, maybe not strictly true; I was expecting things like
extra stop.   Then last Thursday I came across a poster at Bath Spa advising
that certain S Wales services (among others) would be cancelled to provide
stock to Glastonbury services.   Even so, I was only expecting FGW stock.
I had a search around FGW and National Rail sites just to confirm my
impression and couldn't find any reference to even the services that would
be operated by the S Wales stock.   Then, this morning I looked at the live
departures for CLC on National Rail and it was only showing the normal
service, nothing extra at all and that seems to have been the case all day.

Despite that, I visited the station this morning (the variety of buses can
also be quite interesting; this year there are 3 Routemasters (at least)).
As I approached I was surprised to see one of the Virgin liveried 67 hauled
sets about to depart.

So, what should I have done to find out what specials would be operated?
Where else should I have looked?

On 30 Jun, 21:16, "Graham Harrison"
 wrote:
> So, what should I have done to find out what specials would be operated?
> Where else should I have looked?

I had the advantage in seeing one of the trains at Swindon on
Wednesday - departing Swindon for Taunton and calling at Westbury (pu)
and Castle Cary. I also saw the two sets getting ready in the morning
- one shunting out of Barton Hill, the other descending Filton Bank

So, did an enquiry on fGWs tickets site for trains direct from Swindon
to castle Cary, discounted the ones already included in the timetable
and was able to piece togetehr a diagram with a few guesses.

Real time running info was available on SWRG - South West Rail Gen

These trains are traditionally known as Mud-Exs - google for
"Glastonbury Mud Ex" gives details from Tauntontrains website
http://www.tauntontrains.co.uk/NEWS-INFO.htm

Better luck next year - I found out at the last minute, but was too
busy!! It's not as though 67s are going away anyway.

Alternatively, there is the Bristol to Weymouth Bucket and Spadex on
Saturdays, using one of the mud-ex sets

Andy

Graham Harrison wrote:
> Despite that, I visited the station this morning (the variety of buses can
> also be quite interesting; this year there are 3 Routemasters (at least)).
> As I approached I was surprised to see one of the Virgin liveried 67 hauled
> sets about to depart.

Getting out of Glastonbury is done on a first-in first-out basis.
Basically everyone has to queue for shuttle buses, then everyone is
herded into queues and loaded onto trains as they arrive. Since the
queuing can take several hours in total, there's no need to advertise
the times because there's no way to catch a train on demand.

Train times were posted here:
http://www.iworkforfgw.com/railblog/

U

--
http://londonconnections.blogspot.com/
A blog about transport projects in London

wrote in message 
news:f2115efe-2efd-403e-95b1-e951100caeb1@z72g2000hsb.googlegroups.com...
> On 30 Jun, 21:16, "Graham Harrison"
>  wrote:
>> So, what should I have done to find out what specials would be operated?
>> Where else should I have looked?
>
> I had the advantage in seeing one of the trains at Swindon on
> Wednesday - departing Swindon for Taunton and calling at Westbury (pu)
> and Castle Cary. I also saw the two sets getting ready in the morning
> - one shunting out of Barton Hill, the other descending Filton Bank
>
> So, did an enquiry on fGWs tickets site for trains direct from Swindon
> to castle Cary, discounted the ones already included in the timetable
> and was able to piece togetehr a diagram with a few guesses.
>
> Real time running info was available on SWRG - South West Rail Gen
>
> These trains are traditionally known as Mud-Exs - google for
> "Glastonbury Mud Ex" gives details from Tauntontrains website
> http://www.tauntontrains.co.uk/NEWS-INFO.htm
>
> Better luck next year - I found out at the last minute, but was too
> busy!! It's not as though 67s are going away anyway.
>
> Alternatively, there is the Bristol to Weymouth Bucket and Spadex on
> Saturdays, using one of the mud-ex sets
>
> Andy

I keep forgetting about Saturday but this weekend is relatively free.   I 
might even go for a ride.

I forgot to search for CLC to Swindon for the times but I still reckon the 
National Rail timetable site wasn't wholly accurate because, as far as I 
could see, none of the special stop services were shown.

I shall bookmark Taunton trains - thanks for that.

I wonder why they didn't appear on the PIS via National Rail (I didn't get 
onto the station so I don't know if they appeared there).

"Mr Thant"  wrote in message 
news:408c6977-d3ac-423a-8adc-8e8428999c63@c58g2000hsc.googlegroups.com...
> Graham Harrison wrote:
>> Despite that, I visited the station this morning (the variety of buses 
>> can
>> also be quite interesting; this year there are 3 Routemasters (at 
>> least)).
>> As I approached I was surprised to see one of the Virgin liveried 67 
>> hauled
>> sets about to depart.
>
> Getting out of Glastonbury is done on a first-in first-out basis.
> Basically everyone has to queue for shuttle buses, then everyone is
> herded into queues and loaded onto trains as they arrive. Since the
> queuing can take several hours in total, there's no need to advertise
> the times because there's no way to catch a train on demand.
>
> Train times were posted here:
> http://www.iworkforfgw.com/railblog/
>
> U
>
> --
> http://londonconnections.blogspot.com/
> A blog about transport projects in London

No other way to do it!   Mind you, I wonder how they managed the coaches 
which were part of the coach+ ticket deals.   I guess they adopt a similar 
method filling each bus and setting a "last bus" time,

The Paddington/Swindon trains listed on the Iworkforfgw blog intrigue me. 
Did they turn round at Swindon to pick up the people from the Mk2 sets or 
were they worked forward empty to form some of the extras from CLC?   If so 
did they go to Tauton and reverse or something else?