My wife was due to travel on the up sleeper last night, which was cancelled, using an Advance Single.

Staff at BOD advised that as it was a FGW^▸ (First Great Western) online purchase, that was the place to apply for the refund, but damned if I can see how to do that from within our account.  Have gone to the specific ticket in the 'My Bookings' section, but the Refund tab is not live.

Any ideas would be much appreciated.

Cheers

Hmmm.  Buses and beer, not the best combination.  Thanks for that.

Just a heads up that if anyone down west enjoys the odd locally produced cider, then the annual Cornish Cider Festival is on Saturday 27th October in Lostwithiel Community Centre, (3 minutes walk from the station).

25 non commercial ciders at last count.  http://www.cornishciderfestival.co.uk/

Rail linked of course, just not too late on a Saturday for reasons best known to the powers that be.

Any truth behind the local rumour that the Falmouth Branch is subject to Rail replacement bus travel next weekend 26th to 28th October ?

Poor timing if it is owing to the annual Falmouth Beer Festival.

Wisdom anyone ?

Be prepared for the long haul.  A similar proposal for Cornwall at St Dennis has been in and out of the courts and planning processes for years......

Interesting question being asked on the back of this meeting, and the WCML^▸ (West Coast Main Line) chaos. 

Is the resulting pause forced on the GWML^▸ (Great Western Main Line) franchise process likely to lead to an opportunity for the base specification in the Tender Document to be changed ?

Thoughts please ?

Wonderful thing google streetview.  Same bridge, no exeter registered car !

Just back from said meeting.  Very well attended, say 40 people, however the vocal majority were of a certain age who wanted the town to lobby for a plethora of bus services, to places including Liskeard, Plymouth, St Austell, and Truro.  When it was pointed out that there was a fairly regular train service to those destinations, it transpired that a bus was preferable as it was covered by the concession card and free.

It got me to wondering what the usage of our station would be if the concessions card were valid on the train as well.

Train related issues were much less discussed but included the lack of ticket sales, (and hence no accurate station useage figures), the lack of rolling stock, (sprinters), the frequency of STOPPING trains, and the effect that the mainline summer specials to Newquay have on the other mainline services.

Oddly, I came away with the impression that Cross Country and their 'vomiters' are more highly regarded than FGW^▸ (First Great Western).

Bodmin and Wenford recently bought an autocoach back into service as well

'Lostwithiel' was a bit of a tounge twister for the announcer recently.  Not heard it for a while but it may have changed..

Joined the up Cornish Riviera at Par. Standing room only from Bodmin, and no seat reservations valid. Could be an interesting run to London.

At least someone is starting to take this seriously. 

West Cornwall MP^▸ (Member of Parliament), Andrew George, has launched a petition in support of the campaign to persuade the Government to protect a base line of at least 9 through services from Penzance to London when the next 15 year rail franchise is let later this autumn.

Invitations to tender for the Great Western franchise were published recently and included an option to cut through services from Penzance to just 6 per day.

Mr George^s petition will be presented to Rail Minister, Rt. Hon Theresa Villiers MP, in October at the same time as companies tendering for the franchise submit their bids.

Mr George said, we have already sent a strong message to the Minister. Any cut in through services would be bad for business, bad for the tourist industry and for the thousands of commuters who depend on this vital lifeline service.

It is important that companies tendering for the service and Government Ministers are made fully aware just how strongly we feel about the future of our intercity services. I therefore call upon local people and visitors to sign up to this petition.^



http://andrewgeorge.us1.list-manage.com/track/click?u=86ea22b9ac3d905f4e00b84f5&id=0e79a07bb8&e=eee8643a38

There are a lot of people down here in the west who are trying to achieve exactly the opposite of that and try and achieve a similar frequency, quality, and regularity of train service at all stations that a lot of other areas take for granted. 

If the journey to PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains) needs speeding up, then maybe intermediate stations up the line should be missed.  Fast from EXD^» (Exeter St Davids - next trains) to RDG^‡(resolve) (for set down only) anyone ?

Interesting radio interview from BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) Radio Cornwall with Alec Robertson - leader of Cornwall Council, followed by Chris Pomphret - Chairman of Cornwall and Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership, on the subject of the ITT^▸ (Invitation to Tender) and how it relates to Cornwall.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/player/p00vxcjx

from 00:28.15.  6 days only.

Am learning not to get too wound up by leaks and pre-announcements, and will withhold my opinion until the full document has been formally released.  Better for the stress levels that way !