Essentially correct, except that the Gillingham double track section is a loop mainly within the station confines serving both platforms.

Let us hope that Faresaver can continue to provide this excellent late evening service in spite of all the current (financial) pressures.

Readers should note that the equivalent service Bath to Frome provided by First is now under threat. From October First have indicated they will remove the D2 Sunday and evening (except Saturday) services. Naturally there is a big outcry and petitions have been raised. It is likely to revolve around any continuing subsidy provided by BANES. Somerset have not provided subsidy in living memory.

We do have a surprisingly good evening train service in Frome as an alternative. However, this is of much less use to the outlying areas of Frome which lie on the bus route.

Very limited distribution of fuel by rail these days. Most by pipeline to the distribution centres. I do not have the data.

GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) now say that several animals were hit on Sunday and the clean-up will take all of Monday. This will include a line inspection for safety. So currently no services on Monday and no bus replacement. Tickets are valid via Southampton.

I am not surprised the "via Frome" SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) services remain in the new timetable. They are probably still part of the "franchise" requirement and this would need a major change. An example is the 19.26 from Yeovil PM now terminates at Westbury and then goes ecs to Salisbury. IIRC^▸ (if I recall/remember/read correctly) this service used to combine with an SWR service from Bristol. So the service is now somewhat redundant/pointless but remains in place.

Any change will come in December when there could be major changes on the West of England route. This is proposed to reduce/eliminate short workings to Yeovil Junction which will reduce the need for paths via Frome to return the stock to Salisbury. Now the services which make commercial sense may be retained and there will still be requirement for route learning to cover diversions when required. So if the WoE changes occur then via Frome services will be modified and likely reduced to "a lower level of provision" which might be zero.   

The answer seems to be that in Bath at least, bus passes are accepted after 23.00. The formal national rules are that they cannot be used after 23.00 (at least on weekdays) unless there is some local concession or other "variation." So the national rules are not relevant to my question it is what applies on the ground locally that counts.

Can anyone advise whether First or Faresaver decline to accept ENCTS^▸ (English National Concessionary Travel Scheme) bus passes on services which depart Bath after 23.00? It is legitimate for them to do so but some years ago they did not seem bothered. I wonder about the situation today with everybody chasing the last dime!

Once again not all P&O Ferries are Cyprus registered. This may apply to the Dover fleet but not to others. The Pride of Hull is registered in The Bahamas and others are registered elsewhere. I am also unsure if the port of registration (if outside UK^▸ (United Kingdom)) is especially relevant to this discussion. Regardless the loyal P&O workforce deserves better treatment.

P&0 Ferries operate under a variety of flags. Not all are within the EU^» (European Union - about).

IIRC^▸ (if I recall/remember/read correctly) a Network Stayaway was some sort of 5 day period return. No doubt hedged with certain conditions. I doubt it was promoted for any great length of time.

I happened to have to visit the First Bus offices in Bath last April. The Information Desk was unmanned, neglected and certainly looked closed even then.

I had a seamless journey to PMH yesterday so clearly I chose my trains well. 10.22 FRO^» (Frome - next trains)/11.05 WSB^» (Westbury - next trains) as a FIVE car 16x. The 18.23 PMH return which was a 2 car 158. This was adequate for the task (even for the first part of the trip) and much more comfortable than the 16x. Trolley service also available on the outward trip which was completely unexpected.

I passed said service at Yeovil PM on Monday. I can definitely confirm it is a Freightliner "light" locomotive!

The current SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) Yeovil to Westbury/Salisbury services (and v/v) are surprisingly frequent in the current timetable. No doubt all down to ambition and ORCATS^▸ (Operational Research Computerised Allocation of Tickets to Services) raiding in a previous era. Still very useful for those who live along the route.

We must remember that this service was built on the back of ecs movements due to the congested single line Salisbury to Yeovil Junction. They also served as route-learning opportunities for diversions.

The SWR proposals for December 2022 envisage only an hourly service Salisbury to Exeter, with no extras to Yeovil Junction. Whilst I expect there may be some peak hour extensions to Yeovil, the single line congestion is reduced.

This leads to a likely reduction in the requirement for Yeovil to Westbury routings and hence a reduction on the current frequency. No doubt some services will be retained and the through journeys to/from Waterloo are probably commercially attractive for SWR

 

I submitted my online claim for a refund of these several tickets (these were all booked at the same time but for separate travel). The claim was refused because I had not cut the tickets in half when submitted as a scanned image. Now these are expired tickets so the bureaucracy reigns supreme.

I have resubmitted the claim with the appropriate scissor cuts in place. I have added some notes to the scanned image to assist (no comments can be added elsewhere so does anyone read such). However, I am now sceptical that the claim might be refused as out of time or that the refund will only apply to the cancelled 20.20 service when there was no point in any travel for us on that day.

Naturally I will keep my armour ready for the next battle if it comes. Joe public would not be happy with this nonsense.