Great Western Coffee Shop

From The Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/aug/10/pandemic-train-travel-rail-network)


Very much worth a read (I am not going to select any elements to highlight over the whole) and comments welcome.  I am planning my first significant train trip for next week ... day trip, still ending up in the neighbouring county, meeting family for the afternoon.

Nice read. I have a major train journey planned for the autumn to Switzerland. Hopefully it will go ahead

That definitely was worth a read. Thank you for the link.

Much of the author's formative experience resonates with me. For most of my childhood our family had no car, my father only getting one very late on when his business needs made it indispensable. He always loathed driving it though, and as a result, I too have many memories of days out planned with public transport timetables, maps etc, undoubtedly shaping and influencing how I turned out and what I do today. I myself have never owned a car, and never wish to.

Since the current coronavirus crisis began, I have been of the view that overt line and station closures are unlikely at the same time as the government is embarking on a high profile "Reversing Beeching" campaign. However, I wouldn't rule out lengthy or semi-permanent French-style "Temporary Suspensions", an early example of which seems to have popped up on the Rose Hill Marple-Manchester Piccadilly route. (https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/labour-tory-mps-unite-oppose-18747317)

In the vanguard of that battle is local MP Andrew Gwynne, who joined forces with us at CANBER and Save The Train to successfully defeat the 2007 closure proposals at Denton and Reddish South. I therefore have high hopes that the cross-party alliance that he is part of to fight the Rose Hill suspension will put up a very robust defence.