Great Western Coffee Shop

At the conclusion of the ACoRP event in Glasgow, a goodie bag included a packet of popcorn and a can to drink on the way home, provided by Abellio Rail Scotland.   Nice gesture - thank you and enjoyed.

I was amused to learn yesterday of some of our colleagues who attended the rail conference, but flew to Scotland taking hand baggage only having to dispose of the gift prior to boarding their flight  ;D

Yes, despite the present problems afflicting many UK railways, this does show one of the advantages of rail travel over air.
Luggage space in many trains is IMHO inadequate, but still far superior to most aircraft.
You can even take a barometer on a train, but not on a plane.

I can take Finn, unbooked, on any domestic train. And he can sit on the floor next to my seat. Can't do that on a domestic flight.

If you can get a seat  ;D ;D

Then he sits on the floor and I stand. I'd sit with him if it weren't for my knees!

Having been involved in air operations and safety, I can tell you there are very good reasons for this!

I know, mercury if spilled on an aeroplane is very dangerous as it attacks the aluminium structure of the craft and may lead to loss of the aeroplane. If it lands safely it may have to be scrapped.
Barometers containing mercury are therefore banned, very sensibly.
However you cant expect officials to understand this, and they often refuse ANEROID barometers that contain no mercury !   I wonder  what they do about smart phones and GPS units that incorporate a barometer function ?
Mercury in glass thermometers are also prohibited, but again jobsworths have been known to confiscate  ANY thermometer.

Drifting a bit O/T, the customs officials in Ghana refused to allow the import of logarithm tables without payment of a punitive charge. They classed logarithm TABLES as  furniture !
And in Nigeria the customs considered that cigarette lighters should come under the classification of "tugs, barges, lighters, and other small craft"

Mercury forms an amalgam with a number of metals when it comes in contact with them. Aluminium. which forms a large part of the aircrafts structure, is one of them. My very first job when I left school was to test paint strips for how far they would stretch so we painted tin plated panels and then trimmed off one edge and place the trimmed edge into a mercury bath. The mercury crept up between the tin plating to form an amalgam and the paint film which allowed us to lift off the paint film and stretch it. This would tell us if the paint would be suitable for printing onto tin plate sheets which would subsequently be turned into boxes like the OXO tins or cans for paint, oil. fruit, vegetables, etc. The stretching would tell us that the paint would stand the stretching round a bend in the manufacturing of tine plated products.

... and mercury was the reason that hatters were mad (used in the preparation of hats).

and in the treatment of syphilis - hence the saying, one night with Venus, and a lifetime with Mercury.

I'm pretty sure that Mercury is allowed on aeroplanes.

Actually, Norwegian Air have proved its perfectly safe to do so. They covered an entire 737 vertical stabiliser in Mercury. There's also Mercury all over the stabiliser of a Norwegian 787 too.

(https://image.ibb.co/dq8FUU/rps20181008_201815.jpg)

Mercury inside an aeroplane too.

(https://image.ibb.co/eE93ip/rps20181008_202821.jpg)

"Damn, you told me it was Borat"

Your knitting?  I have heard of knitting needles being confiscated at security for an airline.   Can you imagine - "Sorry, Aunt Emily, I'm afraid you can't bring Uncle Henry's sweater to knit on the beach to Weymouth today. Security at Chetnole Checkin will stop you".

Animals much easier on train that plane too.

https://www.facebook.com/randy.randall.54/videos/1958496620910934/

Even if GWR are activating rules that were put in place after an unfortunate incident in Wuppertal

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

Even GWR are telling people not to bring the IET with you  :D

What happened to the old rule of "no more than 50 kilos of luggage in standard class and not exceeding 75 kilos in first"

I suspect that many passengers have more items of luggage or larger luggage than is permitted by the new rules.

Last Saturday on returning to BRI an aged female required the wheelchair ramp to offload her baggage, yes it was heavy, I couldn't lift it and a fit 20 something behind me tried and couldn't either and he said to her, wots got in there missus, gold bars.

Yes, and they always have.  Unlike an airline where it is strictly enforced, basically it's designed to stop people trying to move house by train.  In other words, there's a policy in place which can be enforced if needed, but rarely is.  Sensibly so IMHO.

The conditions of travel are fairly ambiguous on dimensions.  The “30 x 70 x 90 cm” restriction only explicitly appears in the table alongside non-luggage items such as musical instruments, and furniture. 
http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/National%20Rail%20Conditions%20of%20Travel.pdf

Seeing the sign (on the left) at Westbury make an interesting contrast with the flight security rules (right)