Great Western Coffee Shop

It starts ... very early and (I think) very easy ... my "out of office" quiz.  I'll be posting as best I can one picture every day ... identification and discussion, as mere "identification" would be just a tiny quizlet.  Only two of the pictures will be "where I will be today".    Thanks for the wishes for a good holiday elsewhere.  Fortunately, the comment "learning to waltz" on another thread was written more in jest than expectation, but you never know!

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/holibob19_01.jpg)

Well it isn’t Taunton so how about Melksham?  ;D

A very rare picture indeed - a real train and not bustitution or taxitution at Melksham   :P

Have a good break Graham and Lisa!

Well, it isn't Yate either, I'll plump for Melksham too.

Bon Voyage, Lisa and Grahame, hope you got you "sea-legs" packed but I suspect your vessel will be a wee bit larger than a 24 foot cabin cruiser and well provided with stabilizers for any rough seas..

Ah, reminds me of the day we headed off to Paris the other week. Exciting! There's something deeply satisfying about making a long journey without recourse to cars or aeroplanes...

(https://zemblanity.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/IMG_20190820_085340_scaled.jpg)

Melksham, indeed ... thank you for all the good wishes everyone.   It's marvellous being able to start from our local station - car safely tucked up at home as we head off for what will probably be our longest ever holiday.  We we talking on the train how Lisa was surprised I took her up on such a long trip when she mooted it, and how I was surprised how she took up with enthusiasm what was originally mentioned as a trip way different to our normal.   As and when I get the opportunity I will log under a different thread to this one, as the intersection of "where is this" and "this is where we are today will be very, very limited.

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/cr19_01_01.jpg)

Initial picture ... Melksham, and this is Melksham this morning - about half a dozen got on the train, good number more from Swindon and Chippenham with flows at Westbury onto the Weymouth train (dozens!!! out for the day) and the Penzance. 

It's wonderful to think that this train journey to start us off - and for all those other users - would not have been available a decade ago.   How we have come forward!

One day, Paul Theroux (Louis' dad) looked at his local commuter train in Boston and realised that if he stayed on it, he could (more or less!) ride all the way to the tip of South America... which reminds me that I must read 'The Old Patagonian Express' again soon! Meanwhile:


...or a short one - off to Wilko's in Clifton today, to stock up with back-to-school stationery! Sadly no croissants were in evidence on the Boulevard des Dames Blanches, but Boston Tea Party were able to provide a half-decent chocolate brownie...

(https://zemblanity.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/IMG_20190901_133757_scaled.jpg)

What? There's a Wilko in Clifton? Blimey, could have saved myself a bit of time this year had I known that.

.... and the second picture of the day is Southampton and thats wirhout seeing it, If we saw it we would know which liner your off on.

Tomorrows picture, Grahame on the bridge in command of ....

Boulevard des Dames Blanches translated for non-Bristolians, Whiteladies Road.

I asked myself the same question jw. When did Clifton Triangle get its Wilko, Ecurueil Roux?

Looks like (from Streetview) it's in the old Borders Bookshop location. Can't for the life of me remember what was there after Borders.

I remember much of the building along that side of the triangle as being Dingles department store.

Dingles, now there's a name I've long associated with The Triangle. We moved to Bristol just before they bought it from Jolly and Son. All sub divided now.

But where was the 'Brights of Bristol' departmental store and anyone remember the Embassy cinema, was it in Woodland Road.

It's been there for a couple of years - gets a lot of trade from students, as you might expect, so a good place for stationery and (perhaps surprisingly) personal hygiene and cleaning products..!

Was Brights next to Dingles? House of Fraser buy outs of one or the other (or both) may have muddied the water as far as my recollections go. Didn't know about the cinema though although do I recall that there was once a theatre up that way? Was it a wartime bomb loss?

For 2nd September ... what can you tell me about this picture / places / event ...

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/holibob19_02.jpg)

Looks like Taunton on the occasion of the running of 2019's GWR Charity Event which was supposed to go to Minehead but didn't due to gauging issues on the WSR.

It is Taunton but after the Coffees shops AGM.

That was one of my other two straws, the first being my guess, the third .... well I'll unveil that later.

Indeed yes - Taunton.

It's become a bit (lot!) of a joke that Taunton appears in every quiz.  But from so much of the community / campaigning stuff across the South West, it's the natural choice of a meeting point.   TravelWatch SouthWest usually meets there (occasionally a little further west in Exeter, one occasion up in Wiltshire) and it was the natural choice too for the Coffee Shop's first - and selected for the second - AGM.    Add to that visits such as mine to a RailFuture booth at Norton Fitzwarren a few weeks bak, and to Minehead a while back - looking at the emotive and difficult issues that relate to rail, and commuter / regular business use all year of the track that's there and in seasonal heritage use.

My third straw was ;-

The HST Farewell Railtour.

Having cleared the well-known and expected "Melksham" and "Taunton" which every good quiz includes, let's see what we have for day 3 ...

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/holibob19_03.jpg)

Knaresborough?

Well it ain't for sure anywhere in GWR land with the upper quadrant semaphore signal although after the replacements of the lower quadrant signals at Yeovil Pen Mill with upper quadrant ones a few years back is an exception, but it ain't there.

I also guess at Knaresborough having spent about 15 minutes there some years ago when lightning had killed the signalling at Harrogate

Yes, it is indeed Knaresborough - visited at the start of June when I was in York for my first Railfuture Board meeting and extended the stay with a North East Rover.  I had a long day of visiting interesting lines, with a late afternoon highlight being the Leeds to Goole train taking in the great metropolis of Snaith and other stations. On line reading prior to the trip had warned my that Northern have been having some service reliability issues, so the day was defensively scheduled and risk assessed, but coming in to Knaresborough from York I was well ahead and decided to take a look at this station where alternate trains from Leeds terminate.  And very worthwhile it was too.  But I did note an inefficient shunt manoeuvre of the terminating train and thought "yes, they have very similar issues to we have in places".

The trains at Knaresborough were nice ones - 170s and 158s as I recall ... the oldest trains of the day were either the pacer from Leeds to Goole (which went from stuffed to carrying fresh air on the journey) or the HST from Doncaster during the evening back up to my digs in Darlington.

Been a doozie of a night .... better late than never, here's today's picture

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/holibob19_04.jpg)

Haven't got a clue really but looks like a presentation of some sort so I'll have a guess for a bit of fun and say its the night of the presenting of The Coffee Shop Oscars of which one of the recipients was someone named bob ?

Well I'm flattered - but no.

Am I the only one who commented on yesterdays quiz picture ?

Yes - apart from bobm's follow up to your comment. ;D ;D

It's the first of a number of meeting / event pictures - and possibly one of the harder ones, which may explain it being quieter.   It was also posted somewhat later and (lest we overlook it later) the forum seemed quieter than usual yesterday as we recovered from downtime the previous night, and perhaps we all followed news channels open-mouthed at the unusual goings on in parliament.    Here's yesterday's picture again

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/holibob19_04.jpg)

And here's one for today

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/holibob19_05.jpg)

picking a location out of the air Westbury Station Car Park ?.
The previous post could be at The GWR community Rail Conference in Bristol in 2019.

Both correct ... I took our banners to the Community Rail Conference and unfurled them (with full permission) behind the CCIF display - logical because we're benefitaries of the current year CCIF.   Surprised it didn't get identified quicker, but then the purpose of the banners where displayed is more to help reach new people than people who are already here and reading this.

That's the new Westbury car park ... and I note that the car park may be good, but I wonder at the extra few yards just outside where, surely, a footpath should be better marked out leading up to what is now the upper end of the car park.  Looks unfinished ... perhaps there is more to do?

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/holibob19_06.jpg)

Southampton embarkation terminal/shed? 
Or perhaps Taunton ;D

The old Southampton Southern Terminus Railway Station building?

Not Southampton ... but the place in question does have one similarity to that place.

I was going to suggest the entrance hall to Portsmouth and Southsea but I don't recall the bird stencilling on the walls and I was there only a few weeks back.

Rather a guess, but Nottingham?

Guess - Nottingham?

Sorry - it's not Nottingham.  You will find one train operator at both Nottingham and this place, though both have multiple operators.

Adding today:

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/holibob19_07.jpg)

To catch up .... Hull and Semington.  Another quiz tomorrow ...

For today (Sunday 8th September) ...

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/holibob19_08.jpg)

Would that, at a guess, be somewhere where the North Yorks Railway operates away from its core Pickering - Grosmont line.

That door hinge on the left edge looks current GWR green.

The T-bar handle coupled with that exterior hinge type suggests Mk1 carriage or 1st generation DMU.

Warminster?

Could it be a dirty Southern Green making it a Swanage Railway location piccy.

I thought that but I've been there and none of the stations quite match the photo. Double checked with online shots. It looks like a new built platform rather than a restored heritage one.

Uniform suggests a heritage railway.

That ID looks like SWT to me - same red/yellow corner flash. Not that that helps me, but ...

Some very interesting ideas ... some with elements that I would agree with, but no correct location.  I'll be back in the morning ... falling asleep now as we're being rocked to sleep on the swell set up by the hurricane ; that's hundreds of miles from us but the restaurant was very quiet indeed tonight.

Still live from yesterday ( still middle of the night where I am)

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/holibob19_08.jpg)

and new for today

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/holibob19_09.jpg)

With tongue in cheek, Pilning before it was gone.  ;)

As the tongue is in the cheek, you know it isn't ... Pilning is not the only place where the "oops, there's no access to [that/the] platform" situation has arisen, to the detriment of practical use of the station.

But the next station up the line has received some improvments so could it be P-P-P-P-P-P-P-Patchway.

I know that Teesside Airport station has received the same treatment as Pilning so I will go for that for the latter picture.

Yes indeed - it's Teeside Airport.  Same treatment as Pilning - except that there's no excuse of electrification; simply that the bridge has fallen into disrepair ... (or have safety standards changed??)

Solution - Witton-le-Wear on the Weardale railway - a newly reconstructed station on a heritage railway (taken from a bubble car).

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/holibob19_08.jpg)

and new for today

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/holibob19_10.jpg)

Westbury I believe.

I second that.

That's correct ... the former buffet room on platform 1, used for meetings and undergoing refurbishment during this financial year as a DDIF project as a community rail office and meeting room.

I suspect if I blink this one will have gone!

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/holibob19_11.jpg)

Well it isn’t Castle Cary, Castle Bar Park, Rowlands Castle, Elephant & Castle, Dunrobin Castle or Newark Castle.  ;D

There's no mistaking the ruins of CORFE CASTLE in the background.

Tongue in cheek I was going to say Castle Cary with Glastonbury Tor in the background and it was festival goers arriving for the partying at Worthy Farm earlier this year for a laf. Well you can see the Taunton - Westbury line from the Tor and the Tor from the train after passing CCY.  ;D

Nor NewCastle.

I was convinced it was Taunton Castle... ;)

Don't you mean Creech Castle from where you can see Burrowbridge and to where you can view from trains on the main line into Taunton.

Of corfe it isn't, silly!

A lot nicer than when I last wandered through the site. Late 1970's - bare ballast, still with sleeper impressions and a general air of desolation. What a wonderful job that railway has done.

Yes, very much the iconic picture of Corfe Castle, taken on 27th April this year.  On the day that the Melksham Community Bus ran a trip to Swanage and I went along to learn about that bus.

I am a dreamer - and I look forward to the year when Swanage, when Minehead, when Kingswear and when Bodmin can be reached by the residents of the communities of those towns by rail throughout the year, and at work / commuter times as well as in the middle of the day.

One of my pics of the castle from the station.

(https://i598.photobucket.com/albums/tt68/bignosemac/rps20190911_233623_zpsl94rsxb6.jpg)

I doubt this one will go as fast as Corfe Castle ...

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/holibob19_12.jpg)

Don't know the venue but its likely its one of those meetings of minds where the attendees are predominately grey / white haired thinning on top with plenty of time on their hands to discuss railway matters. I'll have a stab at a guess and say it's a Travelwatch meeting / dinner at a former railway hotel possibly a Midlands one judging by the colour of the decor (maroon) and curtains but I have'nt a clue really.

I'll have to dig out some of my photos and scan them of my 4 backpacks round the world and post them in a "Where in the World" quiz.

reminiscent of ahotel in Bristol/

Sunderland?

One thing I do know from the picture - Google Earth ain't going to help!

I thought it did, the Power Point picture is labelled Sunderland, and Google Earth certainly shows that the aerial photo on the screen is of Sunderland......................but, there again the meeting could have been in Penzance (or Taunton !) I suppose !

Or ... Darlington! More specifically, the Dolphin Centre - Railfuture meeting "Rebirth of the Railway", 22/06/2019.

Different organisation, different venue to you suggest – but so right about the activity and the metrics of the group.


The business of predominantly old men with time on their hands... looking forward to RailFuture is a very interesting one – and one which I (personally) as I get older have been taking a deeper interest in.   

I am - personally - very much interested in the future not just of rail but of public transport as a whole, and look to make that a useful interest for the future.  There are many, many others who now have more time than they previously did, but perhaps their motivation is not looking forward to a practical future but hoping that the future might be like the past - the good old days. And there are other who attend these meetings to meet up with others of similar interest, to listen to lectures and talks on subjects that interest them, and to have an enjoyable day out - either at one of these conferences / events or at events organised by one of the 14 branches across Great Britain.

At the national level, RailFuture has some excellent specialist interest groups and a board overseeing the whole, a three or four times a year newspaper "RailWatch" packed with articles and data, and "RailUser Express" - monthly by email and a useful update across the whole country. Branches produce their own newsletters, varying from virtually nothing to vibrant.

But – predominantly old men. The trick / need is to nurture their enthusiasm for rail and provide them with a continuing product, while at the same time making a use of their knowledge to look to the future as the organisation's name suggests, pulling in and encouraging a wider cross-section of members who also wish to encourage better and where appropriate bigger public transport into the future. I could be specific with some ideas (and the hurdles to bringing them to fruition) but as a "lighter side" post this is probably not the place.

I did – last autumn – take a closer look at RailFuture, some of the issues I've mentioned above that were clear to see, and allowed myself to stand for the board on a platform of developing and tuning ideas and helping to put some of them into place.  An initial approach to me in November resulted in a formal candidacy in the new year, and an election process which resulted in my joining the board this May, with a first board meeting in June.  Sadly for putting my thoughts into action / process, I came 5th out of 6 standing (for 5 places). It means that I'm only there for a year rather than the usual three year term (that's what no.s 1 2 and 3 get) and am fast approaching a decision point.  The election process is such that it imposes a long "Purdah" on candidates, so soon after that decision, should I stand again, I'll be unable to promote Railfuture to members in any way that could also be considered to be self-promotion.

The RailFuture board comprises excellent individuals. And it does a lot behind the scenes of excellent work towards a "better and bigger railway". But somehow it doesn't all join up.  A story, I think, initially for the board;  sadly, I missed a board meeting last weekend and I'm missing the annual conference on 21st, both events which were moved (from August and from November) - but let's see how we do at Branches and Groups day in October, and at the November board meeting. Not yet on the Forum's diary, but next year's AGM in on 27th June and I look forward to being there.

An interesting train, this one

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/holibob19_13.jpg)

I believe the current breed of bananas is under threat from an invasive bug. Probably refers to the plant.

Abertawe.

And I thought Oh, I'm sure that's Swansea!  ;D

One of (?) three National Rail Measurement trains - a converted HST, a class 150, and a set of carriages topped and tailed when running by class 37s.   My understanding is that they travel the nework on a 6 week cycle, measuring the ride of trains and reporting back on where the ride identifies the need for some tender loving track care.

Picture correctly identified as Abertawe / Swansea - the one remaining station in that city.

For today

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/holibob19_14.jpg)

Thought for a fleeting moment that I had a break on this one. I could make out the "Chicken Cottage" signage on the right. There can't be many of those I thought. Wrong, quick online search shows there are over a 100 in the UK. I also saw that BBC Watchdog had a few words to say about hygiene standards in some of their branches.
I concede defeat, time to plant those bulbs in the garden!

Praed St, Paddington, London.

Possibly the top deck of a 205.

You have to hand it to BNM - he's very good at this!

It used to be the start of the last leg of my daily commute (7, 23 or 159) but BNM beat me to it  ;D

Took a 205 from Bow Church to Paddington one time. What a mistake that was! Longest time I have ever sat on a service bus.

Google is not always your friend. I searched for "Chicken Cottage next to Costa Coffee" and got no useful hits.  :(

Yes, it is


Yes, he is!


I am so so used to "No. 205 to Bow Church" from Paddington to King's Cross.  Until recently it went though the interchange stop at the front of Marylebone and the one at Euston on its way ... Marylebone has been dropped; a difficult decision, I suspect.   I can imagine all the way from Bow Church gets painful.

Along a similar line,  should you be in Grays Inn Road do not catch the No. 46 to Paddington.  I did so ... once ...

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/holibob19_15.jpg)

It could be the NRM, possibly at York

Been out since 07:30. Agree, York NRM Annex.

Indeed.  Wikipedia tells us "Presently on static display awaiting repairs to be authorised" and that opens up the whole discussion about whether the NRM and other museums should be static displays or have living history pieces that go out for demonstration runs from time to time, with all the financing and safety issues behind the latter.

The NRM has recently undertaken a study of the future of its operational rail locomotive strategy.
https://www.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/op-rail-vehicle-strategy-2019_FINAL.pdf

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/holibob19_16.jpg)

Looks like Weymuff to me. The Music Festival ?

Weymouth, but the Seafood Festival. There was a contingent from Melksham arriving that day!

Yes - Weymouth during the sea food festival.

And for today:

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/holibob19_17.jpg)

Shildon

Correct.  Now ...

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/holibob19_18.jpg)

Forgive my very short post a moment ago. Everyone on this ship sharing a connection to upload pictures of New York. My pictures (lisa’s USA family mostly) have little applicability here on a transport forum; good afternoon and evening with Tyler and his wife who has grown into a charming lady.

Now if that gazebo shown was the curvy dark green one which I helped put up and the lady standing there was the kindly lady that lent you her hammer cos you forgot yours and I didn't think to remind you to bring I would say Melksham Party in the Park but as you had more time to browse around the event , it could be so !!!!

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/holibob19_19.jpg)

There's quite a bit of fat on that meat!

Indeed - but (should I admit) I personally don't like my meat too lean or dry.   Pictures in the month's out of office quiz reflect on transport related items - and this (believe it or not) is the food available at a Bus Station.  We had the best American Pancakes way back in 2000 in the Day's Inn in Vancouver - still remember that. The wonderful bowl of food in the picture is, thank goodness, much closer to home.

I walked past this noodle bar by Bath Spa Bus Station yesterday on a rather jolly day out exploring a bit more just south of the city.

I remembered you mentioned some surprisingly good nosebag at a bus station once and it didn't take long to find the thread with that very picture.

Totally correct - please help keep it a secret as it's pretty busy and we want to be able to get in when we get back. Some good food on this trip, but the only thing that can close to the "superb" at the Bus Station was the pancakes  at Junior's just off Time Square.

Let's see what I have for today - a late posting as we recover from New York!

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/holibob19_20.jpg)

The scrolling display looks like it has Bow Brickhill partly showing. So you were in a London Northwestern Railway Class 230 (former Underground D78 Stock) on the Marston Vale Line between Bletchley and Bedford.

Binkin' flip, that's detective stuff. New prime time crime series, Inspector BNM? Get an agent.

Yesterday's correct identified as a D78 running from Bedford to Bletchley, next station Bow Brickhill.

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/holibob19_21.jpg)

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/holibob19_22.jpg)


Will post follow ups later - greeting from Bar Harbour, Maine.  Land of the queueing tourist!!

Yesterday's ...

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/holibob19_23.jpg)

Today's

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/holibob19_24.jpg)

What was supposed to be a day at sea between St John (New Brunswick) and Sydney (Nova Scotia, Cape Breton Island) has been modified with an extra short port call into Halifax, this afternoon, to disembark a passenger who's been taken ill and needs specialist hospital treatment.    Good on the decision made by the operator to make this diversion; very much the sort of public (?) transport disruption which we all appreciate the need for and thoroughly understand.

The Sydney visit is still on for tomorrow - briefest of pauses, I suspect, in Halifax and most of the time will be made up by cranking the engines.  Then at sea until early on Tuesday next week, when I hope to hit the ground running.

Yesterday's: Warminster (visit to Imber?).

Today's is the National Railway Museum.

Is that a good thing to say whilst out at sea?

Warminster and National Railway Museum are both correct

Into the final week of the quiz ... not a view that I'll be seeing today!

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/holibob19_25.jpg)

Well, that's the excellent Milton Keynes Central.

Looking back through quiz pictures I have posted this month (and to quiz pictures waiting in the wings for the next few days), I'm noting 7 out of the 31 were / are not of rail locations, but rail meetings I have attended in the very recent past.

4th – Bristol – GWR Community Rail Conference
7th – Semington – Melksham Rail User Group
12th – Darlington – Railfuture bi-Annual conference
18th – Norton Fitzwarren – Railfuture, supporting Bristol Branch
21st – Dilton Marsh – Railfuture Bristol Branch AGM
22nd – Westbury – updating Westbury Town Council on upcoming transport issues
One more to come over the next few days.

Other pictures are from journeys to or from these various events – today's from Milton Keynes, for example, was from a journey up there for a Railfuture specialist group meeting, and the Taunton picture at the start of the month (2nd) and the Westbury room on 10th were from TravelWatch SouthWest meetings.

I can't help but notice that these "meeting" pictures stick around and aren't placed for far longer than the location pictures.  And I suppose that's natural because there's actually quite a small pool of activists involved / often the same people.  And that's at both the public meeting pictures I have posted and the meetings in York, Swindon, Bristol, Taunton, Melksham, Milton Keynes, Trowbridge and perhaps other places that have been 'select group / invite' and that I have not photographed or posted.

When I get back, I need to hit the ground running.  I'm in Telford on Thursday, Melksham on Sunday, Dublin from Tuesday to Thursday and London on Friday, Swindon (daytime) and Melksham (evening) the following Wednesday and Taunton that Friday.  Somewhere in there I need to add a day in Swansea or Coatbridge, and prepare for a Birmingham presentation later in the month.

You'll note that three of my pictures were RailFuture, and that one of my upcoming October events is too. I continue to believe that there is very much a place for an organisation that brings together individuals and local campaign groups looking for a bigger and better railway across the whole of Great Britain, and that at present there is only Railfuture of any significant size in that arena. Next month, I'm into the sixth month of my one year term as a director there, and already I'm looking forward at their extended process of elections and deciding whether or not to retire without looking to stand again, or to stand for a further term.

I have learned a very great deal during and since the election process for the current year, and have concluded that although I see an organisation I'll continue to promote, a continuing directorship there for the 2020 to 2021 year isn't really my thing, and that the board would be far better served by someone who's not holding down a part-time job away from the rail industry [I recon on doing about 24 hours a week on IT work].  And I can list other characteristics I lack and I think they need too.  So I won't be standing again.

Not all bad news, though. Candidates for the RailFuture board are constrained during the election period (from submission of statement in the new year to closing of voting in May) from communicating in many ways with members in a way that will promote their position / reputation.  A period of purdah designed to give equal weight to call candidates whether or nor they're good at things like social media to a very thinly but widely spread electorate.   It's designed to make the playing field level.  By not standing again, I can (and will) work to help co-ordinate branches and skills – a role I have been assigned - from a launch at the Branches and Groups day in late October.   And that's an eight month activity that I can undertake, secure in the knowledge that it can't be seen as electioneering beyond the rules.

How about this one?

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/holibob19_26.jpg)

Will we see any more new ones of these, in Wiltshire or elsewhere? Probably somewhere in the vicinity of Warminster station?

Actually on the approach road To Warminster Station.

Yesterday - correctly identified as the approach road to Warminster Station.  With Wrightbus going out of business, I have to wonder what the spares situation for buses like this will be ...

For today:

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/holibob19_27.jpg)

I'll let others have a go as I was there

That looks like Colyton Station Cafe (Seaton Tramway).

Indeed - the commemoration day for John Money (Melksham and Seaton Tramway) on 28th April.  http://www.passenger.chat/20227

For today:

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/holibob19_28.jpg)

Is it Severn Tunnel Junction (pre-electrification)?

Barnetby?

I can see the look ... but, no, it isn't


Yes, it is. 

Very few Northern trains have called there - just the three-times-a-week service via Gainsborough that I had just got off, and is pictured here.  A 153 on this occasion (apparently it's more often a pacer) and utterly jam packed.

For today:

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/holibob19_29.jpg)

Still open ...


and for today - a final "away" picture for September. Home tomorrow.

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/holibob19_30.jpg)

A shed/workshops traverser with a GW(R?) wagon, Swindon or Didcot?

Outside 'Steam' at Swindon.

Gainsborough Central.

Both correct ... that astonishingly wide footbridge at Gainsborough Central, installed when the train service there was just three trains each way per week, confirming that such improvements can be made and are best made in conjunction with other local improvements (such as a better service!) to take full benefit from the resource already there, and the expenditure that's brought it more up to scratch.

Thank you for all your inputs and interest to the September quiz.   Later tomorrow I will be back to ...
(http://www.wellho.net/pix/holibob19_31.jpg)
... and I'll give you the answer - Melksham!

Blast, was just going to enter with Taunton?  ;D ;D ;D

That room looks familiar...

Not Melksham - too tidy!