I have done a few of these, although former railway lines and canals tend to be my preferred routes. My knees were never keen on hills and definitely not nowadays.

Did the Blackwater Valley last year, absolute swamp although probably worse for the youngsters doing their Duke of Edinburgh's. Tends to be spoilt by the roar of the adjacent dual carriageway.

Get yer application in then! 

It's good to keep the debate going.

Essentially as far as rail goes he's not a million miles from Bristol Rail Campaign's tram-train thoughts.

However using the Midland line through Fishponds is far from low-hanging fruit - it's a very well-established park as well as being a walking and cycling route. And a northern curve at Narroways, through the nature reserve and allotments, seems challenging too.

An apprentice transport planner and volunteer analyst for Enroute has come up with an alternative suggestion for a Bristol mass transit scheme that requires much less tunneling and disruption than current proposals do.
It's more than just another crayonista's evening in the pub bright idea but doesn't pretend to be the finished article either.....will anyone pick it up though?

Article link below:


https://www.bristolpost.co.uk/news/bristol-news/alternative-plan-bristol-underground-use-9253365

Reading - Paddington delays due to points failure at Maidenhead now pushed out to 1700.

Think that one has eased.
There were 3 Cross Country services and a few freights q'd up towards Reading earlier.  Think the longest delay was 119 minutes when I checked pre lunch.

Oh dear.......fate can so easily be tempted.

Delays to services between Reading and London Paddington

Due to a points failure at Maidenhead trains have to run at reduced speed on the line towards Reading. Disruption is expected until 14:15 30/04.

Train services between Reading and London Paddington may be delayed.

Customer Advice
Due to a points failure in the Maidenhead area, trains are currently running at a much reduced speed through the affected area. This will lead to congestion and further delays as trains make their through.

This is a developing situation, and we will provide more information as we have it.

Cancellations to services between Reading and Newbury

Due to a points failure between Reading and Basingstoke some lines are blocked. Disruption is expected until 14:15 30/04.

Train services between Reading and Newbury may be cancelled or delayed.

OT: a thread from a Twitternaut  - a day-trip spin around some of the UK^▸ (United Kingdom), concentrating on trains with catering.

Got lucky with LNER^» (London North Eastern Railway - about), TfW, unlucky with Avanti West Coast.

Mark

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1785032936078835959.html

It annoys me to read these articles and see statements like “ Zoey Hudson, head of talent, diversity and inclusion at Southern railway, said recruitment methods had changed to enable a wider range of people to apply for jobs”.

TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company)’s can solely advertise a role on their websites and attract thousands of applications, adverts should not be targeted at specific groups, you’re then making it all a box ticking exercise rather than just selecting the best people for the job.  It’s 2024, surely we all know that there’s no gender specific job roles anymore.
If you’re in a minority group and you’re successfully selected for a job, I’d want to have the satisfaction I got the job because of my abilities not because of who I am.  It’s taking away someone’s sense of achievement.  Just my opinion!

The Guardian has an article on a website dedicated to walks and rambles accessible between railway stations.  This is something I've been doing for years and if there are any that I've done that are not included, I may well contribute to the site.  I've long thought that someone should do this.
Here's the link to the article which provides links to the website.

https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2024/apr/30/you-can-walk-virtually-everywhere-in-england-by-using-the-train-the-man-connecting-rail-based-walks?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other&fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR1NMyPkFCcl7EkrH29lXHTTT4A_hFur-TwN-oXT8ODuTLxeeG-bg3WHZWY_aem_Aen0Zge2xb6pjyqGte5wtul9coTf04nbRXSFWQyPu-ERpr9odFSgqsLgMzXnS-LUqll3hHXxAS0PJpsQZHioTO8l