Great Western Coffee Shop

Over the years I've taken far far FAR more pictures than I've posted ... I'm thinking of posting a picture each day to Chrismas from 1st December ... for identification and discussion. I expect most will be rail related, most in GWR territory. Some may a bit less usual than our normal pictures - such as this practise one:

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/xm16_00.jpg)

Hmm.  I don't think that's Taunton.  :P

In a glass case on the main platform at Bristol Temple Meads IIRC.

I was going to say it looks like a model to me

Aaaargh!  I should have known that one.   :-[

Another picture - in the public domain.  ::)

(https://usercontent1.hubstatic.com/11895580_f520.jpg)

 ;D

Yep, that's right ... as the following picture confirmed!

I've come across other transport models in case at working public transport interchanges recently too ... where's this?

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/xm16_00a.jpg)

The Stena Line terminal at Hoek Van Holland.  ;)

All being kept in reserve for the next bit of flooding on the Somerset levels when the Crosville buses to Hinkley C can't get through. 8)

Correct

Hmm. ::)  Strictly speaking, I should have typed, Hoek van Holland. But thank you for giving me the mark anyway: wow, I got one right!  :o

It's all "vans" with you... usually white ones....

Hmm.  It's rather more a grimy brown, at this time of year, but I take your point.  :P

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What, where, why?

Class 800

Swindon - Through line

Testing

What he said.

That train looks mighty dirty for a new one.

White is not a good colour for a train.

Unless it's to test the super computerised train washing machine at North Pole which is allegedly programmed for the profile of the Class 800s.

SWT turn some remarkably clean looking 158s and 159s out of Salisbury deport with a significant amount of white on them.

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/xm16_02.jpg)

End of the metro line for now at Eccles. Soon to be added ..a  metrolink to the Trafford Centre .Devil of a post, this ! Nice fish and chips in Morrisons but they'd sold out of Eccles cakes. If you like these currant ( not currents as on the metro !) flaky pastries I can recommend the ones in the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry,(MOSI)which is well worth a visit in its own right...and its free!

Isn't there a Weatherspoons nearby as well. Went there soon after the extension was built. Early 2000s?

Very cheap beer I seem to remember some under a £1 a pint!

The Eccles Cake Shop in just up the pedestrianised bit of Church Street used to be good for Eccles Cakes.

It is not a good colour for a van, either.  I know.  ::)

Straightforward one today ... I have something of a fondness for 153s ... they provide some unexpected facilities such as just about the only trains you can now use to take an unbooked non-folding bicycle from Swindon to Chippenham ... (no clue in that comment - this picture isn't Swindon, nor Chippenham or any station between!)

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/xm16_03.jpg)

Then why are there so many white vans around?

But silver is the new white - mind you, it's almost as effective as a dirt visualisation system.

Quite simply, cost. White is almost always the cheapest paint colour (shade for the pedants) on most vehicles, also very easy to paint over with your corporate colours and makes a very good background for your sign-writing or for applying a vinyl wrap over.

I owned a silver Landrover a few years ago and it was very, very good at hiding the dirt...black & dark blue are probably the worst for looking grubby

For today's (Dec 3rd) picture, I'll take a guess at it being Bow Brickhill.

No - sorry - that isn't Bow Brickhill, which looks like this:

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/bbhill.jpg)

Bow Brickhill is on the Bletchley to Bedford line (Marston Vale) which should / will become part of East - West rail. I did some work up there a while back. This image is one I took on 9th October 2013 - and I could really have done with a better routing from Melksham than I have available to me at present!

Bumping today's picture as it seems to have got lost in a discussion about white vans.    We decided this was NOT Bow Brickhill, but that guess may not be all that far out.

Fenny Stratford!

Yes, it is. The first station out from Bletchley on the way towards Bedford.  There's a short single track section once the line leaves the yards at Bletchley - through Fenny Stratford and over a trunk road and (as I recall) a river before doubling up for the next station at ... Bow Brickhill.   

I stayed at The Campagnile hotel in Fenny Stratford in the autumn of 2013 and commuted to Bow Brickhill foe a week, delivering a course there at the technical centre of the Red Bull racing team. One afternoon / evening I decided to walk instead of riding the train, and I realised that this is one of those journeys where it's a blooming long way around by anything except train!    Also recall that the platform at Fenny Stratford had accesses from different roads at each end, and seemed to form a well used public footpath as well as a place to board the train.

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/xm16_04.jpg)

Thornbury?

No, but right area ... not far away

Pilning

Yes, it is - the village centre.   Look at Travelline and you'll be offered a variety of journeys if you want to get to Bristol - all taking somewhat longer than you might imagine if you know that the Saturdays Only train into Temple Meads takes 18 minutes.

Frankly, the train from the village centre also takes / took longer as it's a 20 minute walk to the station - with Pilning being a spread out village and the station being off the eastern end of even that.  What's a bit of a shocker is that you're taking just a few minutes shy of an hour from leaving Pilning by public road transport (at 09:13) to continuing your journey from Filton Abbey Wood (at 10:10) - the AA tells me it is 7.7 miles from Pilning to Abbey Wood.

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/xm16_04a.jpg)

There's a train from Pilning village centre?  :o :P

Incidentally, as you can see from the journey planner, the 625 is now operated by Wessex Bristol rather than Severnside Transport.

"Use of English" ... my full quote was:


Suggesting that it's 40 minutes from Pilning Village Centre to Temple Meads on foot and then by train.

Journey planners suggest a glorious mix of bus to Abbey Wood and walk to Severn Beach in addition to the Saturday-only train service.  It has been for many years (and remains) a spread out village with rail station(s) that would have been called "Pilning ROAD" in the past, and where access to the nearby city of Bristol by public transport is quite disproportionately slow and awkward for the distance involved.

Really easy one today!

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/xm16_05.jpg)

Chippenham

Exactly.

The longish gap in the TransWilts service in the middle of the day was initially there by common agreement as everyone wanted the daytime LSTF service to be spread out from 2-hourly to be spot on for commuter to Swindon at both ends of the day (08:18 arrival; 17:36 departure).   However, with passenger numbers significantly towards the top end of initial projections (well in excess of many official suggestions, indeed),  the middle of the day gap has been plugged by a unit that used to lay over in Westbury.  Unless we changes social habits this will never be the busiest train of the day, but it does provide extra non-peak journey opportunities and helps us market other trains too as the majority of passengers on the TransWilts are making day return trips.

Regrettably, the line cannot handle a train every half hour in both directions; something to allow trains to pass each other between Chippenham and Trowbridge would be needed.  But an hourly service is practical, and proven too during TPOD and other engineering works.    Into the future, many people ask about a re-instatement of the direct line from Melksham to Bradford-on-Avon - removed in 1990.  While the service from Chippenham remains every 2 hours, or indeed every hour, diverting alternate trains via such a loop would dilute the across-Wiltshire service to the point it would loose focus and passengers, but with a service every 30 minutes, heck, Bath is the most popular place for people from Melksham to travel, and the request for journeys by public transport from Chippenham to Bradford-on-Avon is common and it's hard to know what to recommend at present.

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/xm16_06.jpg)

Not sure what the rules are for "past winners" - but this is one of the displays in the tunnel which runs from Emlyn Square to site of the former Swindon Railway works now occupied by the likes of STEAM, English Heritage and the National Trust.

Anyone's welcome to chip in, whether or not they've answered on previous days.   This quiz is probably favouring the larks rather than the owls, as I'm uploading and posting a picture each morning.

Yes - it's one of a series of displays in the tunnel footway under the railway in Swindon.   They're light boxes with holes drilled through the sides to give a representation of people / trades who used to work on the railways in Swindon.  Very clever but a bit awkward to photograph bearing in mind that the light will come directly into the camera from one set of holes or another unless you photograph at an oblique angle.

On the other hand, grahame can take a simple photo while I'm standing next to him, and I still won't recognise it when it turns up on this forum a week later.  ::)

This one was not taken 'beside you' - I don't think. Reproduced here by kind permission - I'll tell you of whom once you (forum members) have told me about it.

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/xm16_07.jpg)

Weymouth ?.

'fraid not. Long ways away (physically) though there is boating at ...

Pure guess, although the blanked out station name looks too short.......... Oulton Broad North 

Spot on ... what were the clues that lead you to that guess?

Smaphore signal with white backing board numbered '30' and the colour of the edging on the station name board (light blue and orange - which identified is as probably the Wherry Line, and I am sure you have reported recently having travelled on it). The signal has obviously recently been relocated. 

Its actually a new signal that has been installed to reduce waiting times at the nearby level crossing.  It allows a train to pull into the station with the barriers up and thus complete its station work before the barriers have to be lowered.  Its also a new motor operated signal (which is pretty rare these days as there aren't many spare ones around).

Out of curiosity, why use a motorised semaphore over a colour light signal?

Spot on.  And the picture is courtesy of Brian Barnsley, Senior Operations Manager at ACoRP, reproduced here with is permission.  I thought that our members would enjoy this unusual combination of ancient and modern.

On "Why a semaphore?" - I don't know.   Anyone?

As a guess because it is in a semaphore area. The way one works semaphore to semaphore is different than coloured light to coloured light.

Old Rule 5?

Anyone else have a partner who takes railway pictures at times you're not together?  This one's courtesy of Lisa ...

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/xm16_08.jpg)

Panama Canal?

Yes, it is ... these are the rail locomotives that ship's cables are attached to to hale guide ships into tot locks.

On the 9th day of Advent ...

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/xm16_09.jpg)

I trust they have Pace guide locos as well ! ::) I think you were looking for the word 'haul' grahame. ;D

9th - looks to me like Church Stretton...?

Probably the same model of shelter, and you may have the right TOC colours ...but not Church Stretton, I'm afraid.

I think that's Fishguard & Goodwick.

Same here but you beat me to it stuving ;D.

Yes, that's Fishguard and Goodwick, picture taken from within a train - "the boat train" - on my arrival from Rosslare.  This particular model of station building seems to be the current 'standard' although they're clearly reconfigurable to meet individual station needs

Indeed: we 'need' some of that standard of modern station buildings at Nailsea & Backwell (but not necessarily in that particular colour scheme, of course!).  ;)

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/xm16_10.jpg)

Looks like Redhill to me...

Yes, it is Redhill - complete with third rail electrification which runs from there to Reigate, then there's a gap to the junction with the Portsmouth line between Shalford and Guildford and you're into third rail territory again.

Being brought up in Kent, I remember catching the Tonbridge to Reading service that reversed at Redhill - the forerunner of the Gatwick to Reading service.  Redhill to Tonbridge has now been electrified with third rail, joining up two sections which were both electric but with a diesel section between and there's huge logic for doing the same thing in the other direction from Redhill (to Guildford).

And where might you see this notice (other than on this forum  ;) ):

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/xm16_11.jpg)

The US of A quite a common sign at Railway stations over the other side of the pond.

Hmmmm ... that's a very general comment indeed.    Looks like a start of the "20 questions" method of working out where someone is by halving the possibilities, then halving them again ... and again ...

Neither confirming nor denying the USA ... looking for something a bit more specific before I come back with a yay/nay!

I'd guess the PATH (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PATH_(rail_system)) network in NY/NJ...

Path station, Jersey City, New York.  I plead the 5th amendment and will not disclose how I know!

edit at 1400 hrs.  No posts for 5 hours, then we post at the same time - but Richard got there first!

Spot on Richard ... "Port Authority Trans Hudson" ... taken last year when Lisa and I were staying in Newark, New Jersey for 2 nights awaiting onward transport, and we took a look at New York.

Indeed ... isn't that typical

I've had a look back an the original and the metadata ...it was taken on a train which accruing to the GPS information was at or around Penn Central Station, Newark when I clicked it.

I was in NYC the other year (avec folding bike) and sampled MetroNorth and NJ Transit - not PATH, but it's a memorable enough name...

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/xm16_12.jpg)

A parking space for a class 08 shunter at best; and he better buffer-up!

Prison/Wrenthorpe sidings on the Down side just north of Wakefield Westgate?

Sorry - no. I've never even heard of them !!

I am ... amazed ... that no-one has identified today's picture yet. 

Westbury?

No, but warm.

Salisbury ?.

Swindon?

Yesterday's has probably proven really tough because it's not at a station.  It's also really close to home for me.  But neither the location nor any of the nearest stations has yet been suggested.   Location in the news recently ...

For today

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/xm16_13.jpg)

Well I could guess today's but going back to yesterday, the sidings at Thingley Junction?

Yes, it is ... a tiny stub has been left that used to lead to something much grander.

Although the picture is quite recent, various electrical substation stuff has sprung up on the land behind the siding of late, signifying the extreme end of initial (?) electrification from London.   I wonder when and if we'll see electrification continue beyond Thingley junction - either via Bath Spa to Bristol, or down the Wilts, Somerset and Weymouth line via Westbury and Yeovil to Weymouth.

For today - Hayes & Harlington?

Yes, it is ... I think that was a testing or driver training run of a 387 ... middle of the day, just 4 cars.

Easy enough for me today - Hayes and Harlington - which I recognised before seeing post above (I was still on page 6).

PS Quite a step from platform to train.

Presume it is PATH as in 'Trans Hudson' ???
Guess the new WTC terminal in NYC

Sorry - bit late there. I pressed 'show unread' and the only one that came up was the PATH picture. Oh well, better late than . . .

I think we will see the whole of the GWML electrified when the class 800s need replacing.  So 30 years from now for the main line.  Electrification has always been about rolling stock (buying an electric fleet is more attractive - except when you have a fleet that doesn't need replacing) and the same will apply in the future.

As for the routes away from the mainline, that stock needs replacing and augmenting sooner than the class 800s will.  I predict that there will in 10 years time when DMU shortage rears its head again with a vengeance be people who decide to continue with electrification although not necessarily in our area. 

The powerful arguments in favour of electrification have not been destroyed by the present fiasco.  But I expect that the SW in acquiring a nice new fleet of bimodes has ruled itself out of electrification for a while and that future projects will be decided on the basis of how many DMUs they release for use elsewhere. 

Hayes & Harlington as others have already identified. Recognised it straight away. Mind you I'm not likely to recognise many pics from west of Reading.

Neither am I.  :o ::) ;D

Shame on you. Nailsea is west of Reading! 😀

Exactly.  :-[

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/xm16_14.jpg)

I know we have the occasional caching issue ... not sure who much that's our servers, how much intermediate caching servers, and how much browsers.

I wondered how much people would realise that PATH was a series of initials on that picture, or whether people would think it was about helping to keep a walkway clean.   Of course we have member(s) who get these things quickly.


With a lot of these pictures,  viewers either "get" the straight away and think they're obvious ... or think they're really difficult.   And for those of us who set quizzes, it's pretty hit and miss as to which "go" quickly and which stick.

Today : the view from the Circle Line platforms of Paddington Underground station. Well, the Circle Line platforms that are across Praed Street rather than out towards Hayes and Harlington.

Yes, correct (kind of unique view, this one!)

Although sometimes referred to as part of "The Tube", the Circle and District line at Paddingtom [Praed Street] Station isn't a deep level underground bored as a tube - rather it's a "cut and cover" line which was built by digging a cutting then roofing it back over. I suspect that the buildings seen in this picture are real enough, but there are others which look like regular street blocks on the road, but are in fact just facades.

And of course the Circle line should now be called the "teacup" line as it no longer operates as a through full circle. 

Your view is looking through the gap in the overall canopy created by the Luftwaffe in 1940.

Nick Cooper, 30 January 2013 (http://www.nickcooper.org.uk/subterra/lu/tuaw.htm)

The overall roof on the other side is its original length still with a smaller gap to exhaust the steam from the pre-1904 steam engines.

The 1954 OS 1:1250 map shows the buildings on the Praed Street frontage east of the Metropolitain station building (Nos 165-171) as "Ruins", and the current building there is obviously post-war. It also shows the roof extent as it is today.

In the previous 1895 map (1:1056), that roof extends right up to the pavement of London Street, whereas the plain wall you see now is the back of a single-storey newsagent's shop. That map also shows the frontage of the station building as a different plan profile to today's - it was remodelled in the Met's later house style of white faience in 1914 by Charles W Clark.

For some reason this roof isn't shown on the map as glazing (by crosshatching). But then neither is the main-line station's.

One thing has always puzzled me about Paddington station as shown on that 1895 map, which shows the internal arrangement of platforms. Bishops Road Station (currently the H&C) has an "Up" and a "Down" platform, which looks odd today. The main station has six numbered platforms (1-6) plus another undesignated one. But - looking even odder - these are labelled in the French or American fashion: each is a single raised strip with one or two tracks alongside.

If you look at other London termini (not hard with the NLS georeferenced maps) you find some done this way, some the current British way, and a couple still without platforms in the modern sense. I have never heard of this change in the meaning of "platform n" in contemporary writing, nor later, and I wonder what the public perception of it was. Does anyone know? This seems as good a place to ask the question as anywhere...

I don't know the answer(s), but I do recall reading of early days where there was a departure platform on one side of the station, and then a series of tracks for storing trains and ons or perhaps two arrival platforms on the other side of the station - I think Euston may have started like that.   Some of the storage tracks for replaced by extra platforms;  some confusion between track number, platform face number (which is really what we have today) and platform number.

Recalling back when I was growing up around the London area and often used London Bridge, platforms 1 2 and 3 were for outbound trains, platforms 4 6 and 7 for inbound trains, and it was explained to me that 5 was missing because there used to be a through track in the wider gap between lines 4 and 6 (4 shared a platform with 3, and 6 with 7).    There was also a platform that was out of use / had been used by Royal Mail across from track 7, making that a train you could have got out of both sides of. 

A good reference for a historic diagram of Paddington and other termini of the time is "The District Railway Guide to London", published in 1888. This has been digitised and available on the British Library Website (http://access.bl.uk/item/pdf/lsidyv3c4a1832). Paddington is on page 140 of the original document, 148 of the pdf.

It states platforms 1,2,3 were for departure and 5 and 6 for arrival (either side of the carriage road) - although there is a 4 on the diagram. Maybe not for public/passenger use.

I remain permanently amazed by what I learn on this forum!

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/xm16_15.jpg)

Piccadilly gardens. Manchester with the first generation trams, now replaced by 'flying bananas'.

I'm afraid it isn't.

I can't put an exact location to it but I think it's in Rotterdam somewhere?

Edit - I recognised one of the buildings from a long forgotten training course, it's Delftseplein, outside Rotterdam Centraal.

Yes, it's just outside Rotterdam Centraal.  Passengers arriving at the station file off their trains into the passenger subway that goes right across from north to south of the railway, and if they exit on the south side this is the scene they meet. It's a very clean and easy change.   I suspect that whilst we can look at it as a good example, we shouldn't be too envious because it probably came abut because Rotterdam was so badly smashed during the second world war that it was able to be laid out more of less from scratch.

Indeed, a large part of Europe 'benefitted' from the allies destroying much of the light and heavy rail infrastructure, thus they ended up with a much more modern system after the war whilst our Victorian system survived largely unscathed and blights us to this day!

It is said by the locals that the centre (not sure how this area is defined) of Rotterdam has only one building pre dating the 1950's. The Dutch are understandly still rather sensitive about what happened in Rotterdam.

Last time I was outside Rotterdam Centraal it was still a building site!

Maybe it is somewhere in the beautiful south then?

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/xm16_16.jpg)

Cambridge? The guided busway

Cambridge, yes.   But this is the unguided guided busway extension which isn't open yet.

I assume that the photo is of the guided/unguided changeover point?

The extension from Milton Road to the new Cambridge North railway station (site) is just a normal road; there's a very short guide section just at the beginning with car traps, presumably to ensure that the normal road can't be used by anything except guided buses although they won't be running in guided mode.

Some of the transport things in Cambridge appear to me to be a bit odd, but then what would I know??

The guided bit doesn't look very level or tha the picture.

I gather that the main St Ives to Cambridge bit is now very rough and that two double deckers touched in passing!

The science and business park area of Cambridge is a massive employment magnet - so much so that I'm a regular visitor and have work at somewhere over six locations in the area over recent years - far more concentrated than any other such area in the UK.

The park is located about 2 miles to the North of the City Centre and the railway station's about a mile out of town to the South.  And it can take longer to get from the workplace to the station than from the Station to London.   On Tuesday, I left the place I was working at around 17:00 and caught a train that left at 18:25, for example.

A number of bus routes come together near the park.

From stop X, route 2 runs every 10 minutes (every 20 minutes near the peak, as the outbound services from the City take a longer route that spreads out the service). It's a slow bus, taking in the little residential streets, and as it gets towards the station is continues to use the back street so that there's still a significnat walk to the station.

From stop Y, route A runs every 15 minutes in the peak, and every 30 minutes outside the peak.  At the changeover from peak to offpeak, there's a gap of nearly 45 minutes.  Route C also runs every hour from this stop.  Route A does serve the city centre and then the station; Route C runs to the City Centre only.  Route A has very limited stops; route C limited stops, but not as limited as A.

From stop Z, routes 9 and X9 combine to run every half hour to the city centre, on the direct road but stopping on the way at all stops required. Route PR5, every 10 minues, goes to the City Centre with a couple of stops then on to the station ... but in times of near-gridlock it's turned back at the city centre and the route split there.  Or so it was until a fortnight ago; at that point, the route has been permanently split and it no longer even pretends to be a through route to the railway station.

Routes from X, Y and Z all merge on the outskirts of the science park prior to stop W which the all pass - however, only 2, 9 and C will stop there.  You can't see stops X Y and Z from one another, nor dash between them as a bus becomes visible.   There is a lack (complete lack?) of advise / infomation at most stops - especially if your geography of the area is poor.

So on Tuesday I caught the PR5, asked for the station to be informed that the route only goes to the City Centre and that I needed to change onto a 1 there.  As we approached the city centre, we could clearly see the 1 just ahead of us, but at the bus area it pulled up at the front, we pulled up at the back, and by the time the (several) of us changing to the 1 stop he had closed his doors and pulled out. Bit of confusion about the ongoing bus; ended up on a number 3 about 10 minutes later which said "Railway Station" in the list of places he was going on the front, and on asking the driver we learned that we was indeed going via the station, rather than reporting where he had already been.

Roll on Cambridge North Station ... down that unguided guided busway.   I won't need to bother with the bus as it will just be a few hundred yards walk and even if the trains aren't very frequent it will be a darned site better than what I've described above!

A small error on my part lining up two pictures for today ... and I've included them both as a celebration of the 17:36 Swindon to Westbury turning up as a two car rather than a one car yesterday.   Plans are for this to become a regular thing - and it's something really needed as the service is now slowing in growth - with some people explicitly stating that they avoid this train.    To any readers who are wondering about trying it ... (a) it is being fixed though not as quick as would be ideal and (b) it's very much in the heart of the user as to whether it's at a point where you'll be put off.  There remains - at the moment - room to get on even on "153" days.

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/xm16_17.jpg)

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/xm16_17a.jpg)

First one looks like somewhere between Westbourne Park and OOC.

The second one somewhere in France (Paris) or Belgium.  Can only guess by looking at the signals above the station canopy.

I'd suggest it's Toulouse Matabiau - and only partly because of the proportions of the name on the sign.

...and the first one: London Bridge ???

First one is Paddington in think.  Platforms 13/14 at the far end.

With regard to the 17:36 becoming a two car, do you mean before the Turbo cascade, Graham?

.....just beat me to it.  I was struggling to find signal 031 as shown on the GSM-R plate.  As II has stated its Paddington Platform No.14 taken from the H&C line.

My understanding is that the turbos are most needed on "The Beach", where additional capacity and shorter dwells will be a big help over 150s (and especially over end-loaders such as 153 and 158).  There's also a logic (don't know if it's the plan, though) for the 150/0 units to move from Reading to St Phillip's Marsh quite early rather than moving just one or two turbos very early on - more standard fleet at each depot.

Initial plans are / were to add an extra carriage to the TransWilts prior to it becoming a turbo at a later date,  being one of the multiple carriages headed west as a result of the above.  And it's really needed if growth is to continue; "Full and standing" reports don't surprise me for the peak trains, nor for the trains that run either side of the peak or for certain Saturday services, and some of those reports are moving on to "uncomfortably full and cosily standing".

Yes, Paddington.

Yes, France.

Spot on ... sorry, hadn't noticed your answer earlier in the flurry of activity that was going on around me this morning.

Picture taken in Spring 2015, when Lisa and I transferred during a 28-stage public-transport-throughout multi-continent trip, as have some of the other picture.   None of the remaining pictures that I'll be posting in this Advent quiz come from that trip, by the way.

I understand that the French sleepers have been decimated since we took our trip  :-\  .. this one was certainly very well patronised the night we were on board, and we owe a huge apology to our four cabin companions for their sleepless night and the nasty colds they probably picked up from us.

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/xm16_18.jpg)

Leaving BPW in the direction of BRI  on the approach to the junction for the line to Patchway & south Wales ?.

Looks suspiciously like a W on the signal post.

So I'm going to suggest Heywood Road Junction, signalled toward Trowbridge on the East Loop line.

Sorry - not in the Bristol area ...


Very close indeed ... had to get a map out to check.  But, no - signal is not for/at Heywood Road Junction.

under Creative Commons license -  Geof Sheppard - Own work - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Geof_Sheppard - "A diagram showing the railway routes around Westbury in Wiltshire, England. Not to scale"

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/westburylayout.jpg)

It's signal W296 at Westbury East Loop Junction with the train signalled towards Hawkeridge Junction and Trowbridge

Yes, that's correct. This picture was taken from the 17:06 Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads train before it became a Paddington to Westbury train in May.   Passenger services over the Westbury East Curve are now limited to diverted and special services.

A number of suggestions have landed on my computer that train services between Pewsey and Trowbridge, Bath and Bristol are in need of improvement. There's some logic in this but the passenger flow is unlikely to be substantial, and a change at Westbury seems a practical way to promote this travel.

I was close indeed. One signal away!

Indeed - as I said


There are times that it doesn't pay to be too specific; I could have given you that if you had just said "Westbury".  You gave me a hard choice as to whether or not to give you "Heywood Road Junction", but in pantomime terms ... "it's behind you" and the camera was looking forward.

In railway signalling terms that used be known as 'in rear of' but now known as 'on approach to'. ;)

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Ivybridge..maybe

Yes, Ivybridge it is.

Permanent trackside alerts to train drivers are far less common that road warnings to drivers. Of course, train drivers need route knowledge and prior trips in the cab before they can drive a route, whereas that's not required of road drivers for whom signage is omnipresent.   I'm taking an educated guess that this sign is an "end of leaf fall area" sign; it' not one I'm familiar with from my HighRailway Code and I'm not sure how permanent it is. I suppose that along with speed restrictions, the start an end of leaf fall areas aren't obvious from other visual clues quickly available to drivers as they pass, so an "it's here" reminder is in order.

It's a 'Low Rail Adhesion Site' termination sign.

See: http://www.railsigns.uk/sect23page1/sect23page1.html

.....and originally they used to be covered up outside of the leaf fall season.

Of course, there are fewer leaves on the track there than there used to be, ever since it got upgraded from IvyLevelCrossing.

To add to earlier comment on Ivybridge - it's one of those stations which (IMHO) receives a less than optimum service for the flows and potential flows of passengers.   The 15:50 to 18:22 gap in departures from Exeter St David's, then a gap to 22:19, make in unattractive to people who work in Exeter or who want to return from London, for example.   

Only Great Western call there; Cross Country pass through. I understand that the platform can accommodate a 4 carriage train but not 5 carriages, and that Cross Country can't / won't stop because they're not sure which diagrams their 5 car trains will be on.   Perhaps with two of their 5 car units converting to 4 cars (making up an extra 4 car unit) it's so much less likely that a remaining 5 car unit will turn up unexpectedly, and some of the four car unit scheduled trains could fill the gaps.   It would make business sense, bearing in mind the loading diagrams shown to us at TWSW by Richard Gibson which illustrated how CrossCountry trains are very heavily loaded in the central sections of their routes but tend to be quieter at the ends.

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Not Taunton.  ::)

Stoke-on-Trent?

Yes, it is.

As I recall, a somewhat surprising place to find myself changing trains on my way up to Scotland (or was it to Lancaster?)   With the London Midland service from London to Crewe, the connecting line from Stoke-on-Trent to Crewe via Alsager has moved up from an infrequent service to a reasonable one, and through trains to London too. Stone Station has come back into its own.  And is there any reason why Barlaston and Wedgwood still have rail replamenet buses rather than a decent service?   Surely they are candidates for development of sustainable communities?

Isn't there talk of  Crewe Euston via Stoke Service by London Midland (?) being rerouted to avoid Stoke. Thus depriving Stone and other stations of their London service?

Barlaston and Wedgwood non service remains a mystery known only to the DfT.

From the Staffordshire Newsletter (http://www.staffordshirenewsletter.co.uk/stone-to-lose-direct-rail-link-to-london-euston/story-29681946-detail/story.html) on 3rd September 2016


Barlaston and Wedgewood probably have a stronger case on a  Wolverhampton and Birmingham service than on  a London one.    And the new flyover at Norton Bridge makes the service operational without conflicting movements with the West Coast main line expresses.

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Newquay line platform at Par?

Oh 'eck ... I may have mislabelled this in my collection.  It might be.

Just gone back and checked the GPS on the original - sorry, not Par.

Newquay

Yes, it is ... early summer of last year, the day before the walk over the Royal Albert Bridge.

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Melksham?




(Well, it had to be worth a try...  ;D)

Amazingly, not Melksham.  I do know that other members were present when I took this picture, and in light of what that comment sometimes suggests I can also tell you it's not Taunton.

For the final few days of the Advent quiz, I'm slewing across towards picture that involve people - people in all sort of roles without whom we wouldn't have the passenger rail network as it is today.

Community Rail Awards?

Grease ... "tell me more, tell me more ...."

Seeing as no one else has bitten, with some credit to google:

Floral Hall, Southport convention centre?

Yes, it is.   Community Rail is a big story in getting together all parties to bring life and passenger traffic to what have been lesser lines and services.  Volunteers from the community, professionals from the rail industry going over and above their job specs, and local authority elected members and officer taking the innovative approach to things all come together to make a success - a more used facility than would otherwise be the case, with ACoRP numbers suggesting that a community rail line / service on average grows 4.2% per annum more than a similar line without community rail.  And it's not just about the line - it's about the economics of the area it serves too.

In striving for awards, community rail teams are encouraged to look at themselves against the wider picture of community rail as a whole and to an extent manage their effort and resources for maximum effect.  And the overall structure and awards help encourage some of the less forward organisation involved to be comforted into knowing that they're supporting a national scheme rather than going out n a limb when they support the line(s) within their locality.

A cold and exposed platform on a wet October morning, litter picking or pulling up weeds, isn't everyone's idea of fun for a volunteer.   Nor is travelling out to some town or village hall many miles from home on a dark evening to face a crowd of demanding user or potential users for rail manager or local government officers who would be much more comfortable to be tucked up at home. But there are people who do these things for the great good, and the awards are the opportunity to say a huge "Thank You" to them and to celebrate the best of success even though we know that there are hour and days of unthanked and sometimes frustrating grind to get there.

This forum's in "Great Western Land" and it's noted that the overall winner at the ACoRP awards was "Great Western Railway, and its partnerships and volunteers".   This overall award is unusual in that it's not something that's applied for / sought - it's given without expectation or influence by the combined judging panels who have been out and about around the country.  And having spoken with many community rail people from elsewhere in the UK, I have to agree with the judges in their decision;  in the present GWR team from top to bottom, and in the volunteers on my own line and those I have met across the franchise area, we have a remarkable group.  So may I add a big "Thank You" here.

Because we're celebrating the excellent and top performance in this post, though, doesn't mean we should be resting on our laurels.   The "best" may not be 100% the view of everyone and there's always scope for improvement - as this forum shows.  There's a need for everyone to continue in the "critical friend" mode for us all to work together - a partnership that learns from the other partners and from its customers and strives for ever better over the years.

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Well House Manor

Correct ...

Moving on from places to people, this is a meeting of the Melksham Rail User Group - formerly the Melksham Rail Development Group - showing a number of the people who have put significant time into supporting the cause of a much improved service over many years.  I personally got involved around a dozen years ago now, and every one of these people pictured was already on the scene at that time and have stuck with the vision, now being delivered and vindicated, when few others had faith that a better train service made sense.

And for Christmas Eve

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Taunton !.....

Melksham - Santa Special.

Well it's obviously the regular Melksham to Taunton service that only runs in someone's fantasy world.  ;D

Yes, it is.

The railways and services we cover here are all about carrying a customer base of passengers between places, and their success or otherwise can be colloquially measured by the number of passengers carried and the passenger satisfaction.  Those measures have the most enormous number of contributory factors and I'm not even going to attempt a partial list here.

There are other factors too - such as the cost (or payment to) the taxpayer and to shareholders and other stakeholders, to the wider communities that the passengers are travelling to and from, and to the team of people employed or contracted to provide elements of the service and the infrastructure to support it.  Some in the area served by Southern trains might also argue political and government and trades union factors.  And not all of these factors necessarily pull in the same direction.

You'll notice it's taken me three hours to confirm to PhilWakely that the picture was indeed Melksham.  And that's because I've been on the TransWilts train up to a none-railway event in Chippenham.  Having our dog Gypsy with me, people seems to want to talk (but the 9 minute run only allows a short conversation).  I'm old enough to hold a senior card, and I spoke with an old boy travelling on this own who was old enough to be my father.  He was headed from Trowbridge to Lincoln to spend Christmas with family; train Trowbridge to Swindon where he was being met by the next generation who were then all going to drive the rest of the way.

The train saved his daughter an extra two hour round trip in the car prior to the 3 hours to Lincoln.  It made the day more tolerable for my new friend, who was relaxed and able to move around in the train.  It helped him maintain his independence and heath (15 minute walk to Trowbridge Station!) and sanity (he had mixed feelings about a large family gathering).   A micro example and lots of micro examples go on to make the macro. And on my round trip, there was not just that one person using the train but 43 - each with their own story and reason.

Ah - you mean http://www.go-op.coop/train/ :

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Back in the last decade, I was told that a proper peak hour service and trains though the day from Chippenham via Melksham and Trowbridge were my fantasy world (not quite that wording) ... on Radio 4 by the Minister for Rail, no less. A very large number of people disagreed with him, and over subsequent years the case was built and three years ago this month, a trial service of proper peak hour trains and services throughout the day was started. Such has been the success of the trial that it's now confirmed as permanent.

The team behind the Goop proposals have identified some very clear, significant, untapped flows along their route and the team includes some very knowledgable people and a great deal of enthusiasm.  I don't know which way the TransWilts will develop in future years from the new base of 9 trains each way per day (8 Saturday, 5/6/7 Sunday) but I wouldn't rule out Taunton as fantasy.

And to add to that I'd like to see the proposals for a station serving Somerton and Langport come to fruition. Ideal additional market to add to the Go-op proposals.

What with me now living in Langport.  ;)

A service from Taunton through Frome to link into the Trans Wilts line makes great sense to me. It also links people into main lines in every direction from each end.

On Graham's comments about new people enjoying the service, sadly my experience yesterday was the opposite. The usual completely squashed journey from Bristol to Oldfield Park (two carriages, early afternoon, not sure everyone did manage to board as it was so crammed and late arriving at Bristol), and the two men with their noses almost in my face were obviously people who weren't regular train users. Their comment was that if it is usually like this, they are not going to use it again. Sadly it is usually like that.

The 2005 (10 year) franchise was costed / resourced based on a forecast of 0.8% compound growth per year, but what we've seen has been 8% compound growth and the systems simply haven't kept up with that.

Oldfield Park passenger numbers in 2005/06 were 156,753 and with 0.8% growth than would have risen to 168,407 by 2015/16.  8% growth - the general figure that's happened across the area - would have taken numbers up to 313,349 ... actual reported number is higher still at 315,070.  Net effect - Oldfield Park is coping with twice the number of passengers it should and enhancements (welcome though they have been in the ten years) come nowhere like doubling capacity.

When I hear comments like yours, Froome, I'm saddened at the loss of potential business and wonder what the growth rate would be if it was not being held back by capacity and customer negative sentiment based on poor capacity.  10%?   12%?   Projecting forward another 10 years:
at 0.8%: 338,500
at 8%: 629,800
at 10%: 743,000
at 12%: 873,300 by 2025/6

The frustrating thing is that it just needs extra rolling stock, nothing else, to solve the problem (the platforms at Oldfield Park and Keynsham are long enough for 5 carriage trains at least, probably more). The overcrowding has been there for at least 15 years, probably more, and led to a fare strike about 9 years ago to protest at this. At that time GWR did lengthen a few trains I believe, but that didn't last long and we've been back to 2 carriage trains for most services. I'm well aware of the issues about ordering extra rolling stock, but it should have happened by now and it seems there is no prospect in sight for it to happen.

And as I've explained before, the official statistics for users of the station bear no reality to the actual number of users.

I recall an order for 10 x 4 car class 172 trains for Cardiff / Portsmouth that would have been running by now if they hadn't been cancelled because electrification was a better alternative.  That would have releasesed 12 x 2 car class 158 trains sorely needed for other services in the Bristol and Devon / Exeter areas.

I recall loco hauled trains (old but loved) running from Cardiff to Taunton, but for some reason I forget, when something extra was cascaded (150/1s?) they were replaced not enhanced

I recall that electrification to places such as Oxford, Henley, Swansea and Bristol was going to release lots of units (and indeed many will still be released due to bi-modes) but the time scale 'promised' for that seems to have fallen back rather since last year's general election.

There is a need to keep the capacity issues on the radar of those decision makers who don't live in the area and use them on a regular basis.  From an accountant's viewpoint it's easy to divide ticket sales by seats and come up with quite low percentages.   And it's also rather easy to divide the cost of an extra carriage by the time in each day that it's "really needed" and find that you need to take an extra £25 per minute in fares for that busy stretch to pay for it.

A rather negative answer confirming your despair there.  We are getting closer to cascades, and there are some radical things that could be done.   Making all into IEPs could be considered radical and has been done. Re-arranging off peak and super off peak at weekends (as SWT are doing) could help balance the Saturday and Sunday loading and provide increased revenue at the weekend when the trains are getting equally busy. D trains with substantially more carriages than the trains they're replacing could perhaps be quickly drafted in onto certain lines, releasing current stock.  I've heard mention of attaching locomotives to withdrawn electric multiple units, for example - and that has been done with some success on preserved lines, hasn't it?

Realistically, I don't know what the answer is.  One positive route is to ensure that our elected representatives are well informed and know and echo the strength of view, and that views are expressed to support practical ways of doing things and letting it be known that compromises - such as replacing something with something just as old or even older - but longer and more frequent - IS acceptable!


Indeed - I 'shorthanded' what I wrote for "ticket sales figures". Even away from group station issues (Dorchester, Dorking, Tyndrum, etc) and line rovers which make a real mess on the St Ives brach, they can be way out in either direction from passenger numbers joining  / leaving trains - both us and down.  What they do indicate unless there's a change in ticket regime is a trend.

I think that rather underplays how much has changed in the industry's plans and expectations. The ATOC rolling stock assessment that came out in February 2014 (i.e. at the start of CP5) said this, based on orders then known about:

Unfortunately they chose to split train types into self-powered only and electric (including bi-modes), so it's hard to set the large number of bi-modes ordered since then against the earlier numbers. But, while I've rather lost track of the total, it must be quite substantial by now. And there's the life extension of some HSTs, which was also decided after that document.

Of course the train types and the services they operate may not match how passenger numbers and travel patterns vary along a route. TOCs still don't seem to be prepared to improve on the franchise SLC where needed, but then we've been a bit short of new full-length franchises recently. At least some TOCs do seem prepared to ignore DfT's ideas and order rolling stock.

Which makes it even more frustrating that I suggested for the passengers crowded onto the existing trains, and with little confidence in any promises as to when things might get better.

Merry Christmas!

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