Great Western Coffee Shop

It's here.   December!.  In the lead up to Christmas, on I have put together a random selection of 24 pictures to in the form of an Advent Quiz - "Where is this" is the initial question for each day, but I'm encouraging members as they answer to write a little more - some of
1. Where is it
2. Can you tell us more about the place? 
3. When the picture was taken (though all are pictures I have taken)?
4. How things in the picture might have come about?
5. A personal note

An example ... I will answer

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/aq22_00.jpg)

1. This is Barnham

2. It the junction on the railway along the South Coast where the branch to Bognor Regis turns off. There are three platform lines, the line behind the platform I was standing on being the platform that most Bognor services use.  The train shown is one of the old class 313 units, of which just a few are left (?) ...

3. It was taken in May this year

4. and 5.  I was on a Brighton to Southampton train which got diverted to Bognor Regis, and we all got dumped off to wait for the following train.  As I recall, it wasn't a terribly long wait there - no more than 20 or 30 minutes to carry on to the next stage, but it meant a series of missed connections that had me arriving in Trowbridge after the last train, and the last bus too, had departed for Melksham for the day.

1st December 2022. Where is this?   What more information can you add about the place / time?  Stories?

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/aq22_01.jpg)

I see I drew a complete blank yesterday - let's see if anyone can place today's. There are some steamingly obvious clues in there!

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/aq22_02.jpg)

The direction signs in the top right of the picture mention Battersea Park, and it's a century too new to be Battersea Park station.  So my guess is that it's on the Northern Line extension and is Battersea Power Station station.  (A name beloved of certain Youtubers for the opportunity to add more "station" words when mentioning the name.)

Battersea Power Station Station

The only Tube station with 'Station' as part of it's name. Opened 20/09/21 so therefore joint youngest station on the London Underground.
I am not able to say much more about this place as the closest I have been to it was while travelling between Waterloo & Clapham Junction.

Yes, the picture is Battersea Power Station station, opened on 20th September 2021 and visited and photographed on 9th July 2022; people in the picture include our guests from Ukraine - it was a day out in London with myself as guide, and I took the opportunity to add a couple of unconventional things into the route.  We stopped at the pub across the road - the Duchess Belle - for a soft drink and took the bus back into town, via Vauxhall to Lambeth Palace and then walked along the South Bank past the Covid memorial wall and County Hall to Hungerford Bridge - though I think that has a new name now?

This picture, the headline from Barnham and the one unsolved from yesterday are all British Isles but not GWR.  That's a bit of a co-incidence; perhaps a half of the 24 pitures I have ARE in GWR territory, with the rest mostly in the Briish Isles and no more than one or two from further afield.

Here goes; my first post for a while!

The ScotRail branding on the poster gives a clue as to the location...somewhere in Scotland, and sometime between 2008 when that branding was launched, and the present day.

Overhead, the rusty riveted metalwork suggests rail tracks above, making me think this may be a low-level part of a larger station. And as they don’t build them like that anymore, it must be a station that’s been there some considerable time.

From the clues I’ll hazard a guess that it’s Glasgow Central, but not with any certainty.

If it is, my first visit was back in 1995, but as I recall, flooding had closed the low-level lines at that time, so it’s not a part of the station that I would have visited.

Can’t say that the blue lighting does much to enhance the environment to my eyes - reminiscent of the lighting used to deter substance abuse in public conveniences (perhaps the same thinking here, given Scotland’s problems with this unfortunate issue?).

Welcome 'back'.


Clues well noted, and you are correct.


It is / was on that date (6th December 2019)  not a welcoming environment.    Hard to buy tickets at some intermediate stations, and no option but to stand in line for this machine as their first and only "opportunity to buy" prior to barriers.

The rail bridge is still called Hungerford Bridge but the two recent footbridges (2002) either side are both called the Golden Jubilee Bridges. I walk over both footbridges most weekdays but use the rail bridge when the weather is against me. (SouthEastern: Waterloo East <=> Charing Cross).

So where is this fine train?

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/aq22_03.jpg)

Is it Bridgend? The platform signage looks like TfW and at first I looked for Welsh stations named ‘Pen…. Bridge’ based on what is visible of the sign. When I found there weren’t any I remembered that Bridgend is Pen-y-bont in Welsh. Picture looks fairly recent. Wikipedia tells me platform 3 was reopened for Maesteg trains (and 1A for Vale of Glamorgan ones).

Yes, it is.

Bridgend was reduced in passenger terms to just an intermediate station in the 70s when the service to Treherbert was withdrawn (the service from Barry having been withdrawn a few years earlier).  The truncated Treherbert service - as far as Maesteg - was reopened in 1992 and the service via Barry to Cardiff in 2005.   Platform 3 was indeed re-opened but appears unused again, with Maesteg trains running to / from Cardiff and in many cases points east thereof such as Cheltenham Spa.

Picture taken when I was using SailRail from Rosslare to Melksham on 28th October 2022 - I dropped back from the Fishguard Harbour to Cardiff boat train (2 x 153, packed!) to this late running Swansea to Paddington Express - thank you Real Time Trains for flagging the option up - and arrived at Swindon for a good connection to Melksham, where I arrived one train earlier than would have been the case if the London Express had been ahead of the boat train, which is how it's timetabled.  And regular readers will know that trains to Melksham are infrequent, and so getting home one train early is a real bonus!

Sorry Grahame, but that is not "a fine train"................it's two pretty mediocre short trains joined together.

And for 4th December, where was I when I took this picture?

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/aq22_04.jpg)

In  another country.

Yep - and it's really interesting to dig a little deeper, say "yes", and ask what gives that away.

The lattice masts are not a pattern I’ve seen in these isles, and the buildings in the right look a bit Parisian… but everything else looks pretty familiar to me!

A German or Swiss (Interlaken?) interchange.

I was thinking the OLE looked fit for no more than 3kV - but then again, maybe East German OLE was like that? The building style could fit there too (or anywhere else, really). But the sign on that building - "Living27" - appears to belong to a Colombian property company, which isn't helpful.

In any case it hardly looks like a major station, more of a little one camping out on a good yard.

Yes in (I suppose) the broadest sense of somewhere you might change between public transports in one of those two countries, but not Interlaken.

I don't know what East German OLE looked like, and this picture won't tell you  ;D. ... and I'm not going to try and quantify "major" or "minor"; one of the things that struck me as a generality in both Switzerland and Germany last month was the high volume of rail freight compared to the UK, and most of it electric hauled.

Zooming in on the train below the bridge, the red livery looks like Swiss Rail or Deutsche Bahn.

Indeed that was my thinking

Lorks , I meant left not right. The building on the right could, sadly, be anywhere.

You know, the more that I look at it, the more that I'm convinced that it's Altona, Hamburg. 
I still remember the old station with it's grand old roof before it was demolished and replaced by the rather blander affair that now exists.  Other redevelopments around the station at the time were often similarly unattractive and in stark contrast to the rather more appealing architecture in adjacent old Altona that perhaps surprisingly survived the war relatively intact.
Altona was and remains Hamburg's largest terminus station but really feels like a shadow of it's former self.

I'm afraid it isn't ...  Altona is one of those stations which I would like to visit just to see what it's about some time.  It reads like a major terminus of some long distance stuff, yet in the suburbs rather than the centre of Hamburg.

Doing a little research (going back to Grahame's Interrail threads, and using Google Maps) I'd guess that this is a view of Passau station taken from the east.

Indeed, Altona, like Wandsbek to the east, was once a separate town from Hamburg which got swallowed up as the city expanded.
Wandsbek and surrounds fared rather worse from bombing in the war.  My grandparent's house (the equivalent of a local vicarage) burnt down but adjacent houses survived.

Yes, indeed it is ... the last station in Germany before (behind were I took the photo from) it runs into Austria, and starting point for the very long distance service in the morning - 07:17 to Dortmund.    The name "Passau" has come up for me on many travels in Germany, as the stop before the train carries on to Linz and Wien (Vienna).

I arrived there from Villach, with a zigzag via Vienna, on 22nd November.  A pleasant town - flagged up as having a population of 52,000 but it felt somewhat bigger.  It is strategically important:

In the picture, that's a sharp curve on the main line and having run pretty direct across Germany it takes this very sharp turn (only part is seen) before crossing the Inn and after a Berwick-upon-Tweed type enclave into Austria.

Goodness.   This is one of those occasions I want to acknowledge that posting but I do not want to click on "Like".  I was very much aware through Germany that I was visiting cities that had histories of which this is a micro-component but all encompassing for those involved.   

One thing I found puzzling in that picture of Passau is the lack of stairs and escalators between the platforms and the upper "transfer deck". So that means the bridge thingy - whatever it is - isn't part of the station at all. But there's no footbridge, so is there a subway?

One of Google Earth's photos, while recent, shows a different platform set-up. Jumping into Google's time machine, I see they were digging holes for a subway only six years ago. So I guess, if you'd gone there even ten years ago, you'd have been ambling across the tracks to get your train. (No jaywalking!)

Or  maybe (more prosaically) they had a stairs-only subway, and built a new Zugang für alles one

Thankfully no casualties ....but enough of this topic drift I've started!   :)

There *is* a subway - you can see it in the pictures;  I don't know its history. 

To get over the tracks, you come out of the station, walk along the street some yards east, and walk up a number of flights of straight around a lift to about 2nd floor level, then across a footbridge that's attached to what seems to be a postal depot / garage over the tracks.  I suspect that there ARE lifts for mail down to the platforms - but the route for passengers is horrendous.

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/passau_03.jpg)

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/passau_04.jpg)

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/passau_05.jpg)

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/passau_06.jpg)

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/passau_07.jpg)

From those pictures, the subway only has stairs. That seems surprising, for something built so recently. Having stomped all over Germany, up and down stairs, what is your impression of how many larger stations still don't have step-free access?

I passed quite quickly through and don't recall lifts.  However, I would be pretty sure that there are lifts across the subway - so as you walk towards the platforms, it's left for the stairs and right for the lifts.

https://help.g2rail.com/stations/passau-hbf appears to confirm this.

In general there is excellent lift access and ramps at smaller stations.  However, my sample was not a huge one and biased towards bigger places.

And where is this? - 5th December 2022

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/aq22_05.jpg)

Well the livery might suggest Gatwick Express. But the way stock has been moved around to replace shortages it could be almost anywhere. I will have to leave it to the OLE experts.

Newbury Station? Newbury trains were often run with ex Gatwick trains for a while.

I’m not an expert, but that OLE is certainly on the Western Route.

Taken sometime between July 20th and December 3rd 2021, when GWR had this unit on loan from GTR.

With the help of a mirror, I could possibly name the location too  ;)

Didcot Parkway, platforms 3 & 4?

Yes.   Picture taken on 11th November 2021 at 10:57.   I was dropping back for Zoom meeting about buses which I took from the waiting shelter forward on platforms 2 and 3, starting at 11:05 after our pause for remembrance at 11:00.

We never seem to have all of our trains in the same livery, do we?  There were a number of Gatwick Express and C2C class 387 units around at the time, here in GWR territory as a stop-gap to bolster that fleet as it took over some 80x duties  which could not be filled due to the cracking issue.

There are still at least two blue 16x units around in the Bristol area, but it feels a long time since I saw an FGW blue 150 or 158, and I'm pretty sure all the castles are green.  I wonder when the next sprinking of colour will come through the fleet ...

Do we like uniformity, a bit of variety, or everyone different? Who else misses Casper, and would love to see him running an "off hours" extra service Swindon <-> Westbury to make the service up to hourly?

I was agreeing with Didcot for that picture, based on those OLE structures that don't seem to be used elsewhere. But one thing didn't match the other pictures I found - the platform lamps. Were they, by any chance, replaced in May-July 2017? 

Definitely the style of the housing on the left.

And for today ...

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/aq22_06.jpg)

I don't know where it is - maybe Bristol - but thank you Graham for the picture with a fascinating jumbled townscape of 19th and 20th century buildings all coexisting close together.  A surveyor would have fun drawing the plan of that area.

Enniscorthy, County Wexford

Enniscorthy, County Wexford, with tunnel viewed from Island Road

track looks a little broad with respect to the tunnel. Ireland perhaps?

Here’s how it looks from the other side of the buildings!
https://maps.app.goo.gl/Up95AADdUW6ucA368?g_st=ic

Its Eniscorthy Co Wexford!
The Pharmacy Sign gave it away.

Correctly identified by a number of members at Enniscorthy, County Wexford, Ireland. 

Taken on 27th October 2022.  I started the day from a hotel near Heuston Station, Dublin and travelled via what would not be regarded as "any reasonable route" to Enniscorthy - from the tracks in the station forecourt to Busaras, change to George's Dock, walk to Docklands, train to M3 Parkway, [edit to add "train to Broombridge"], train to Connelly, Train to Dun Laoghaire, train to Wexford and train to Enniscorthy,  where I had a couple of hours to look around before finishing my day's travels on a train to Rosslare Europort.

Enniscorthy, as other Irish towns I visited, gave the appearance of a tourist spot - in the centre - but without tourists.  Which so late in the season was probably to be expected, and lots of places which looked  like they weren't in business any more.  Chatting with a local at the station, he was telling me that this was the second poorest town in Ireland and I could believe that.   

No trains called at the station during the hours I was there - I got off a northbound service and joined the next southbound.   And in the meantime, the line had been closed with flags in the middle of the line, taken away by a chap who appeared as if by magic from the buildings in an otherwise closed up set of station facilities - platform accessed via a gap in the wall.  I think I was the only person getting on the train; the chap I had been chatting with was meeting his partner arriving on it.   No customer information or help point. 

I have driven through Enniscorthy many times - good to stop and have a look and in high summer a pleasant riverside, but I can't say it's somewhere I'm eager to go back to.

December 7th ... where is this and what about it?

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/aq22_07.jpg)

Looks like it might be a R R V access point.

Sea Mills stations, crossing in use for River Signal and Old Signal stations. There is also a pedestrian underpass.

It looks like Sea Mills, on the Severn Beach line, with the gate to the allotments and looking across the river Avon to the Pill path on the opposite bank of the river. So the occasional car does cross this crossing (though I've never actually seen one myself), which has a gate on both sides.

I was there a week or two back arriving to catch the train in a tremendous hailstorm which had me completely soaked in a matter of seconds. It was quite dramatic weather, as there had been thunder and lightning all evening, but until then no substantial rain.

Sea Mills indeed - 25th November 2022, on my way to the memorial / funeral for Julie Boston who has made such a difference to the line.

Somewhat surprised to have a 158 on the service - lovely trains compared to so many others, but with end single doors a real issue for timekeeping now that the trains are busy.

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/sm202211_03.jpg)

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/sm202211_01.jpg)

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/sm202211_02.jpg)

Yes the path in the bottom photo through the subway and its approaches is often exceedingly muddy!

That seems to have been a positive reflective day for you, hope it was.

Mark

... and possibly below sea level...

Mark

I've sometimes taken the train to Sea Mills in October as it's only a short walk upstream from there to where there were plentiful sloes growing in the Blackthorn bushes along the footpath.  Quite a pleasant stroll back to Redland through Sneyd Park nature reserve or the Woodland trust land then up to and over Bristol Downs.

8th December 2022.  Yes, I expect this to be identified quite quickly  ;D

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/aq22_08.jpg)

If that yellow and black tape on the floor is necessary it looks like it needs replacing. If not, removing it would make the immediate area look much more presentable. (Not that it would do much for the surrounding town :D)

There are clear safety concerns at this station.   A recorded announcement - "When using the stairs, please use the handrail and take care" is played on a loop - a 4 second announcement that was played every 15 seconds (so 11 seconds of silence) when I was seated in the wanting area a few yards behind me when I took the picture.   I found that highly irritating to the extent of being unpleasant, and wonder if it's counterproductive at that level.  Or is there some sort of "special case" here / in this town / on this stair case?

That announcement is very irritating, and sadly not restricted to this particular staircase! Elsewhere in Wiltshire I have encountered it, as well as other stations operated by GWR. I haven’t noticed it elsewhere on the GB rail network, although I would hesitate to say with certainty that it’s not out there somewhere causing suffering to the travelling public’s ears (and mental well-being…).

But how do you roll-back a safety initiative once it’s in place? The first accident on one of these staircases after the announcements are switched-off, and the personal injury lawyers can have a field-day. ::)

Nobody seems to have said this is Swindon yet, so I will, the platform for trains heading west towards Bristol and Cardiff. I also get very annoyed by the automatic announcement when you go near the staircase.

120 times in half an hour. In a waiting area. Given that it was continuously triggered by movement during that time, a 50 minute connection there gave me the opportunity to calculate its frequency before tuning it out.

Mark

Particularly when you are heading for the lift for platforms 1,2 and 3 as you have to walk past the foot of the stairs and so trigger the announcement.

Interesting quirk of the station is the South Swindon/North Swindon constituency boundary runs through the middle of the station.  So if you have an event on platform 4 you invite Sir Robert Buckland.  If it is on the island platform it is Justin Tomlinson.

Not quite as irritating as the "doors will close 40 secs before" announcement when made at intermediate station platforms where the stop/start time is 1 minute. Why bother to open the doors at all ?

9th December 2022 ... where is this?  How old is the picture?

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/aq22_09.jpg)

It's Catania Borgo, current terminus of the Ferrovia Circumetnea (FCE). Presumably it was when you went for a ride on it, 31 days ago (plus a couple of hours, as it looks like early morning).

FCE is a railway of incredible contrasts along the way

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/fceq1.jpg)

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/fceq2.jpg)

Possibly the announcement varies slightly from place to place, but the one I've heard is "doors will close up to 40 secs before".

An easy one, I think? - Where is this, and what about it, 10th December 2022

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/aq22_10.jpg)

Advent Quiz - EXTRA - for 10th December.  I have added these two pictures which are peculiarly relevant to today.

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/aqx1.jpg)

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/aqx2.jpg)

Coombe Junction Halt is the top picture with the trap points leading from the Moorswater branch.  Original double track formation that used to be the run-around loop with spring points at this end. Nice signals and signalbox originally.

EXTRA. The final day of SWR services between Bristol and London Waterloo, 10th December 2021.

(https://i.ibb.co/TmrdSL3/IMG-20211210-153856-3.jpg)(https://i.ibb.co/C7WbvxG/IMG-20211210-153921-2.jpg)

Yep! ... and my post in another thread shows just how (over)crowded the trains that run between Bristol and Westbury were today.  Not just an issue today - regular reports of shortforms and people being left behind.

It would seem that the DfT and SWR did not do a proper analysis of the effect of train reductions.   Did they take the "two short planks bully" approach of not listening to logic and local inputs, but rather shouting and screaming the it WOULD work with just GWR on the basis that is you say something loudly and often enough, it will come to pass!

Where is this ... 11 December 2022 ...

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/aq22_11.jpg)

Looks like the station cafe at Liskeard.

It is indeed - lovely, light, airy setting!

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/aq22_12.jpg)

It's Christmas! It's got to be Bath!

It is indeed, taken on 25th November.

My train was a few minutes late ... so a dirty dash for the bus home failed (it is really irritating being able to cross in front of it, but not join it!)

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/aqx22_12_1.jpg)

Though of course every cloud has a sliver lining and it did give me a chance to look at the available bus information.   Bath Bus Station has an air of being unloved ...

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/aqx22_12_2.jpg)

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/aqx22_12_3.jpg)

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/aqx22_12_4.jpg)

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/aqx22_12_5.jpg)

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/aqx22_12_6.jpg)

Good news is that service 11 from Bay 9 - has resumed since I took the picture.  Operated by Big Lemon, I have a picture of their electric bus in the bay, supplied by a third party so not my copyright.   And magnificent and yellow it looks too!

No idea how to bring it about, but the Devizes/Chippenham buses need to call at the stop the 620 Stagecoach service uses in Manvers Street stop by that ex-Debenhams collonnade, which would allow the sidestepping of a lot of 'slightly late connection' accidents.

At the same time, Bath's Larkhall and Fairfield Park sixes and sevens need to be returned to serve the bus station. Anything else drives a modal shift to car, or impoverishes those with no car and poor mobility.

In terms of the bus station looking cared for, there's been progress in that someone gave the glazing a clean. The unstaffed and guidance free information desk is really poor though: people regularly wait hopefully at it before tackling the various staff on their way to and from buses, which must drive everyone bonkers.

Mark

That seed of an idea has already been sewn in some key places, with a logical case being put forward.  I also have some idea of the background / history to why they do not stop the time moment on the way out, even though they stop across the road on the way in and routinely disgorge a significant number of passengers.

13th December 2022 ...

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/aq22_13.jpg)

Looks like a fine specimen of a First Great Western blue liveried bench. I also note some original-looking Great Western Railway spear fencing through the window hole in the wall.

No idea on the precise location, but I am intrigued as to what the bench is chained to. Presumably there to prevent it from being thrown on to the running line, rather than to stop someone from thieving it...!

Also no idea, but the bench itself looks bolted to the floor, so perhaps something was chained to the bench - in an unsuccessful attempt to to stop someone from thieving it.

Looks like the Up Waiting room at Liskeard.

Oh ...you have me worried.  I might have mislabelled it.  It wasn't supposed to be. Typical for 13th for something like that to go wrong.  Help,  anyone - the images this week have been pre-prepared and I'm allot sea over this (and literally too!)

Still not identified - I have been able to check and I'm pretty sure it is NOT Liskeard, though that is a quite close. 

For today - any ideas on this one?
(http://www.wellho.net/pix/aq22_14.jpg)

It's not Liskeard due the railings outside the window; it's Menheniot.

Somewhere in France - after downloading and enlarging the picture I can see the sign says ACCES PARK... and Carref... - which is a French supermarket chain.

I was wondering about the small grey boxes next to the rails just inside the four-foot: are they perhaps axle counters?

Yep, that's what I had it noted as as too.

Yes, sort of - we'd probably call them treadles, especially as those are gong to be there to control the level crossing from which the picture was taken.

I happen to have a few pictures of them: one of the twin kind that I think were an early form of axle counter used for block signalling (and they still are), and one of a pair of the single ones used for level crossings, complete with a couple of contractors' men trying to work out which wire goes where.

Quite likely, a lot of "ouids" by the track  :)

That's Carrefour Cherbourg. It's very close to the station, since land in the old port area isn't expensive.

That railway track is surprisingly well kept, given this is the land of decrepit goods lines that are unused but still part of the network. And it is unused: you can follow it past the ferry terminal, and on a loop round the wind turbine blade factory that goes down to the beach for a paddle, and there's no rolling stock parked anywhere.

Yes, it IS Cherbourg - on the walk from the (current) railway station to the Portsmouth Ferry.  When I took the picture (October), the track was disconnected just past the station where it crossed the road so trains couldn't have got through even if they wanted to.  Unclear to me if the disconnection is permanent, or whether it was maintenance / renewal going on - that latter feels over-optimistic.   

As in so many other ports, the public transport / foot traffic to the ferry is not great, with the change being a bit of a pain - a half hour walk, then the world's most decrepit bus to transfer passengers on .... followed by the reverse at Portsmouth of having to wait for an old bus once all the VIPs (car passengers) have left, a ride across the yard to the immigration hall, a queue there with more passport checks and questions than there were in the past, and another half hour walk to Portmouth and Southsea ... over an hour from docking on time to being at the station.

I guess my "well kept track" probably just means it was last relaid within the last fifty years. But like most of the big passenger ports of the past it has lost its gare maritime, at least as a station. At Cherbourg its shell is still there, and a stonking great big thing it is too. The new one is of course there primarily to serve the town.

In St Malo (which I know better) the old (much older) station was demolished less than twenty years ago, after a new one was built just outside it. In its place is now a "Pôle culturel et Bâtiment éco-Responsable.".

As for Caen - the current ferry port has lost nothing, as Ouistreham never had a railway. While Wikipedia says there is a port for cruises up the Orne canal I wonder how big a ship could get there.

And for 15th December ...

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/aq22_15.jpg)

Holyhead.

Yes, yesterday's picture was indeed Holyhead.  For today:

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/aq22_16.jpg)

Going back to the Cherbourg picture - this is the line that will be used by the new daily Cherbourg - Bayonne 'motorway' service planned for unaccompanied trailers off the ferries. The latest snag is that intermediate sections of the route in the Le Mans area may not be robust enough for the planned train weights. Time - lots of it - will tell.

Good to hear of those plans - makes sense to do that

Today's picture: Athlone?

Yes, it .... trains are not frequent, but when they run they really do connect.   

At 09:05 on  25th October, a Galway to Dublin train crosses the morning Dublin to Galway service. To the left is the connection to Westport, which offers a further connection at Manulla Junction from and to Ballina.

The station at Athlone has a marvellous display of "then and now" photographs, showing just how much has changed over the years in Ireland.  I recognise two of them - the others *are* labelled there, and of course members here are welcome to supply labels.

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/aqx16_1.jpg)
(http://www.wellho.net/pix/aqx16_2.jpg)
(http://www.wellho.net/pix/aqx16_3.jpg)
(http://www.wellho.net/pix/aqx16_4.jpg)
(http://www.wellho.net/pix/aqx16_5.jpg)

17th December 2022 ...

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/aq22_17.jpg)

Chester [General] I believe.

A fine Roman city, subsequently modernised but still a fine city.  The amphitheatre has been carefully excavated and it's well presented - standing inside the arena I got a good feel for what it would have been like in Roman times.

I like the station frontage, but I admit I found the platform side confusing - it doesn't have the simple layout of say Reading.

Brighton

Yes, it is Brighton (sorry - not Chester) - taken last summer after the demise of GWR services there - start of a memorable struggle back west at the time of day that there used to be a through train via West Wilts.   Every cloud has a silver lining and I got a whole load of extra pictures of along the way, including Barnham because the train that was supposed to be going as far as Southampton got diverted to Bognor Regis ...

Lovely independent cafe on Barnham station. Last time I was down that way I had time between connections for a coffee (proper mug) and sausage bap. Finn got a sausage too, gratis.

An ode to the managers at the major bus companies ...

"Where have all the buses gone?
Long time passing.
Where have all the buses gone?
Long time ago.
Where have all the buses gone?
The staff have left almost every one.
Oh, When will they ever learn?
Oh, When will they ever learn?"

Advent quiz picture for today, 18th December 2022

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/aqx22_18_1.jpg)

This is what I originally had planned for today ... call it "extra" now
(http://www.wellho.net/pix/aq22_18.jpg)

Well, if it's not Chester it could be Brighton and Volk's Electric Railway.

I remember my parents taking me on a day trip to Brighton on a Bank Holiday Monday in the 1960s.  A 54 bus to East Croydon then an crowded extra train of 4-SUBs that had been rustled up to supplement the posh new 4-CIGs that one usually got.  No toilets and less comfortable, but they got us there.

We walked on the shingle beach, but didn't travel on Volk's railway.

Well, they're not buses they are coaches, they are not British, and they are not out of service they are parked on the Cruisepier Zeebrugge on Friday with drivers in attendance. I guess they are waiting to take Iona's passengers on day trips - and from any other ships in that day too (I can see one in the background berthed on the other side of the pier).

You are correct - I count 32 in that picture, but I have cropped it and there were perhaps twice that number present. I am struck by the ability of Carnival / P&O Cruises to call up so many coaches or buses when there are such shortages - primarily we are told drivers - here in the UK.  These were all for just the one (big) ship with around 5,600 people on board. 

Back into Southampton yesterday morning, there is no similar massing of coaches on the dockside as (being end of cruise) everyone is headed off in their own direction.  We used a taxi (short hop) to the station before the main crowds left the ship and I only saw one other couple off the ship at any point later in the journey - changing trains like we did at Reading to head out west.  There ARE cruise operated coaches headed for opposite corners of Great Britain, but the majority of people tend to have their cars parked at Southampton for the week. Chatting with people from places like Middlesbrough who weren't expecting to be home until the evening.

Is the extra Hayling Island? 

It's the Volk Electric Railway in Brighton - probably the oldest electric railway in the world?   Lee and I took a ride (part of the way because it was only partly open) when we were in Brighton looking at electric buses there in May.  A very interesting 3rd rail system, with an offset electric rail between the other two.  This particular section had been out of use for a while, while promenade work was being carried out, but it was just coming back into use and a few minutes after I took this picture, we watched them plugging in the electtic to the third rail at the central depot and the first car leave for the east end of the line.

What, where, when - 19th December 2022

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/aq22_19.jpg)

This looks like one of those 'Inclined Lifts' (?AKA An escalator with doors) which I recall reading were going to be installed at a number of Elizabeth Line stations in Central London. I will therefore guess Farringdon.

Close but not quite hitting the bull with your guess.

Perhaps Liverpool St then?

Correct - the inclined wheelchair / luggage lift that runs alongside the escalator - on my way from Melksham to Stansted early one November morning. I wonder how it compares to the included lift at Greenford which I have not yet seen.

How does it compare? Well, the Greenford one is above ground, for a start. It is a different design from the Crossrail ones, since Kone (who have the TfL-wide contract for lifts) didn't make them so it was bought in from Hütter Aufzuge. Crossrail also used Kone for lifts, who by then had developed an inclined lift product. It is also shorter than three of the Crossrail ones, with a rise of 9.13 m against over 14 m.

Fascinating update on angled lifts, thank you, Stuving.  I guess what was a novelty at Greenford has turned out to be the first of a series and perhaps we may see others alongside stairs and escalators at some of the more difficult access stations such as Penhelig.

For today:

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/aq22_20.jpg)

Bristol Temple Meads platform 3, with ticket gates next to Bonapartes.

Indeed ... Bristol Temple Meads is an incredible station at the moment with great changes going on!

The Tyne Pedestrian tunnel also now has some pretty long inclined lifts. The escalators there were a very similar length to those at Angel underground, the latter usually being quoted as the longest in the UK.

First on a transport network and often cited as the first in the UK. However, one was installed near the Millennium Bridge in 2003, and updated in 2012.

In TfL's case, this didn't just "turn out" to be a series. From an FoI response from TfL on 5/3/18:

They didn't mention this linkage when publicising the Greenford one. I guess they needed PR saying "aren't we nice people, going to all this trouble to give you step-free access", not "aren't you lucky that we needed somewhere to put one of these things to see if it works".

21st December 2022:

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/aq22_21.jpg)

An over elaborate bike stand?

Maybe ... I believe that these curious 4 legged items were used before bicycles to help people get around, in the days when paths and tracks were not smooth enough for wheeled vehicles.  Perhaps it's a monument to those days?

Birmingham New Street station

One of twelve 'Iron Horses' installed between Birmingham New St and Wolverhampton that can (or could) be seen from trains. Commissioned in 1997 by British Rail and local authorities in the area. Artist: Kevin Atherton.

https://blog.rowleygallery.co.uk/iron-horses/

If you have seen the state of the roads around Swindon you could be forgiven for thinking we might need to return to that age. 

22nd December 2022. I don't expect this one will go quite as quickly as some of the recent ones, but I'm prepared to be surprised.

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/aq22_22.jpg)

In the absence of anyone else having a go, and to "get the ball rolling" - it looks like West Midlands Trains manage the station from the colour of the seats - is this in the right general area?

A bit of googling suggests it's somewhere on the London Overground.

Yes - I had to check back my maps, but I believe it is.

Having spent a little while this afternoon tracing the routes of various London Overground lines on Google Earth, I am pleased to say that I didn’t even have to look at the Euston to Watford Junction line, or the Chingford line before discovering that it’s Bethnal Green. A station I’m fairly certain I’ve only ever travelled through, and one that I guess didn’t make much of an impression!

Yes, it is ... and indeed I was travelling through too, hence the fuzzy photo!

And for today ... where is this?

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/aq22_23.jpg)

Fox Park Viaduct, Easton, Bristol?

Looks to be Silent Hobo's work. Has Montpelier been redone or extended perhaps?

Mark

Montpelier Station, February 2018. A fox, but not *that* fox...

Mark

(https://i.postimg.cc/nVBz4TYc/silent-hobo-graffiti-montpelier-station-medium-3000.jpg)

Yes ... is IS Montpelier.  The artwork is spectacular there - and indeed on the whole Severn Beach line.

I'm not the biggest fan of "street art" but I happily concede that this one ain't bad.

And for Christmas Eve ...

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/aq22_24.jpg)

I'll stick my neck out and say Kemble, on the stub of the branch line to Cirencester Town that is now used by the maintenance engineers.

The station is well-preserved and the area is well-heeled.  A people-watcher can gain gentle entertainment on the down train from Paddington to Cheltenham by guessing, on leaving Swindon, whether all the gentlemen in smart suits will get off at Kemble. 

Yep, spot on with the location - and I chuckle at your "people watching" comment.   People spotting can be much more interesting than train spotting - though looking at the generality of the flows and trends rather than the individuals.

Swindon to Gloucester is an interesting line and Kemble a fascinating station. Are it (and Stonehouse) rare survivors of the Beeching era - still with us against all odds?  Should the likes of Purton and Chalford have also survived, or should they be considered for a proper GBR network in the much greener next decade?

Complete advent list - and links to larger pictures

1. Glasgow Central - http://www.wellho.net/pix/aq22_01.jpg
2. Battersea Power Station - http://www.wellho.net/pix/aq22_02.jpg
3. Bridgend - http://www.wellho.net/pix/aq22_03.jpg
4. Passau - http://www.wellho.net/pix/aq22_04.jpg
5. Didcot - http://www.wellho.net/pix/aq22_05.jpg
6. Enniscorthy - http://www.wellho.net/pix/aq22_06.jpg
7. Sea Mills - http://www.wellho.net/pix/aq22_07.jpg
8. Swindon - http://www.wellho.net/pix/aq22_08.jpg
9. Catania Borgo - http://www.wellho.net/pix/aq22_09.jpg
10. Coombe Junction - http://www.wellho.net/pix/aq22_10.jpg
11. Liskeard - http://www.wellho.net/pix/aq22_11.jpg
12. Bath - http://www.wellho.net/pix/aq22_12.jpg
13. Menheniot - http://www.wellho.net/pix/aq22_13.jpg
14. Cherbourg - http://www.wellho.net/pix/aq22_14.jpg
15. Holyhead - http://www.wellho.net/pix/aq22_15.jpg
16. Athlone - http://www.wellho.net/pix/aq22_16.jpg
17. Brighton - http://www.wellho.net/pix/aq22_17.jpg
18. Brighton - http://www.wellho.net/pix/aq22_18.jpg
19. Liverpool Street - http://www.wellho.net/pix/aq22_19.jpg
20. Bristol Temple Meads - http://www.wellho.net/pix/aq22_20.jpg
21. Birmingham New Street - http://www.wellho.net/pix/aq22_21.jpg
22. Bethnal Green - http://www.wellho.net/pix/aq22_22.jpg
23. Montpelier - http://www.wellho.net/pix/aq22_23.jpg
24. Kemble - http://www.wellho.net/pix/aq22_24.jpg

Thanks for taking part everyone - hope you had a bit of fun working out these pictures.   Have a great Christmas; if bored, please visit the Coffee Shop which will be open for business as usual!

I guess Kemble may have survived in a similar way to Kingham - people with influence using it - in the case of Kingham this was no less than Sir Peter Parker.

Of the other stations on the line, Stroud survives well, including the Brunel goods shed, and the town is large enough for the station to be a natural survivor.   But alas poor Stonehouse (Great Western): Brunel's modest station building was demolished in the 1970s in exchange for BR not closing the station entirely; on the positive side, the platforms were extended a few years ago to take five-coach IETs, so I guess its future is safe for now.

Whenever I travel the line I'm glued to the window between Stroud and the summit at Sapperton Tunnel.  Not for nothing is this valley called the Golden Valley, with its steep sides, twists and turns, plenitude of trees, remains of the Thames & Severn canal, and Cotswold stone buildings.

I grew up about halfway between Stonehouse and Stroud stations – our garden bordered the track and one of my neighbours, who worked in some sort of (I think) track maintenance capacity, used to walk along the line to get to work. Which presumably was against regulations even in the 1970s... So yes, Stonehouse station is kind of boring (I don't actually remember the old buildings) but it's good that it's there, good to hear it's been extended and yes, it's a beautiful line.

There is a campaign to reopen Stonehouse’s other station, too: https://fosbr.org.uk/fosbr-support-new-campaign-for-stroudwater-station/

Merry Xmas all!