Great Western Coffee Shop

8:55 am from SER to PLY...an American voice announces Camborne !!
I'm awaiting giggles from the TM and an apology about his son being off school....no...we have an American TM who later announces that we are approaching 'Badmin'....he was busy explaining why there were no reservation tickets and other stuff so I didn't get a chance to ask him why he wasn't working for Amtrack.

Had  wonderful time at Saltram House and returned to an early 17:25 back to St Ives.

Crawled into Saltash for no apparent reason..resumed to St Germans and again crawled in only to sit there for 10 mins as the 17:06 PLY LSK waste of time train dawdled on through a huge signalling block...lost our path through the single track in the Glynn Valley...arrived at BOD to unload a wheelchair and two undesireable passengers...this took ages as the PAX were determined to get back on before the TM could lock the doors...Truro...TM manages to get a bicycle loaded up front without noticing...Camborne is short and the Powercar plus A are not platformed...Lady bike owner goes mental losing any sympathy from passengers by swearing at them...TM offers to take her on a round trip to PNZ and back to Camborne..this doesn't go down well at all and she wants to be paid for her time wasted. (we are thinking the same thing).

Eventually we get to SER about 28 down only to find the branch has gone - presumably with nobody on it !

The TM was top notch in ejecting unwanted PAX and dealing with the swearing Lady but they really need to be trained better in dealing with delays...nothing about branch connections...the delays were announced pretty much as we started moving again.

I've been on trains where the TM has walked the train with  pen & paper asking folk where they are alighting, ringing ahead about connections/alternative transport - flippin marvelous.

Also signalling blocks need sorting in Cornwall - I was watching movement through Dawlish recently..some of the blocks there are only a few hundred metres long..some in Cornwall must be 5 miles or more.
           

I'm sure someone told me that there was a Canadian guard working out of Exeter (next time, get him to say "about" or "house" and if it comes out as "a boat", as in water-floaty-thing or "hoose" to rhyme with "gross" then he's Canadian! Highbridge and BurnHAM, anyone? Apparently there's also an American announcer at Darlington who has caused much consternation with her pronounciation of MiddlesBORO and PeterBORO!

I think there used to be a profile of the Canadian guard (called George, possibly?) on the FGW website but can't find it anymore.

There is a Canadian guard, and he's an absolutely top bloke who I have commended on more than one occasion. A few weeks ago on a London bound train a customer sat next to me identified his accent right down to the town he came from - turned out the customer's son had emigrated there so he visited regularly, and during a quiet spell in the journey the guard came back and swapped stories about his home (he, the guard, hasn't been back for several years it seems)

I know there is a Canadian guard based at Worcester - been there years. 

So I guess there are two of them unless the Worcester one has transferred

The 1706 PLY - LSK is a very useful train for those that use it.

I hope that from December it can run a few minutes earlier, as it comes from Newton Abbot now and has a long wait at Plymouth. This would also help prevent it holding up the 1406 ex PAD.

Yep there are two of them.

Or even better, run it 25 mins later so the 1406 can go fast to LSK!
As for the Canadian TM, it is George from Exeter, who in my opinion is one of the best TM's on the UK network, let alone FGW!
As for missing St Ives connection, the service runs every half hour and has a no hold policy due to the tight turn arounds at each end (apart from last train of the day).

The Saltash call on the 1406 is non negitiable from our point of view and is very busy with both those alighting and those wishing to travel beyond Liskeard. Would only save a couple of minutes anyway, and its not like we need to encourage more users by reducing overall journey time, the train is very busy.
 
Moving the 1706 earlier to say 1700 would reduce the gap back to the 1557 PLY - PNZ which is already rammed on most days, which might help encourage a few more to travel on a later 1700 servcie. In an ideal world there should probably be another Plymouth departure at around 1630 to Penzance.

It is also better that the 1706/1700 maintains a good connection from the CrossCountry service that arrives Plymouth at 1650 otherwise there will be even more people trying to get on the 1406.

There is a Canadian 'George' at Exeter as far as i'm aware. 

Your quite correct. And a very friendly and helpfull chap he is too. I assume the service referred to is the TM's back working from Pzed as EX TM's work the down sleepers from Exeter to Pzed.

He's a long-term sickness casualty at the moment following a sporting injury.

Though I hadnt seen him around!  But then I havent been around much

Yes it was Exeter George - travelled again with him today after he brought the sleeper to PNZ.

Todays 'summat always goes wrong'...fancied a trip to Weston Super Mare on the XC 8.25 ex PNZ...cancelled due to insufficient crew...how long until only FGW operate west of Exeter ?

After getting very wet in Weston I sat on platform 1 (as you would) awaiting a train home only to see it arrive at platform 2 (up main) - very convenient but only if you know.

The train was a whacky Branson 'Thunderbird' loco haul which improved a poor day.

 (http://img189.imageshack.us/img189/6944/jefftracy.jpg) (http://img189.imageshack.us/i/jefftracy.jpg/) 

As you say how long will X country operate west of Exeter?Indeed how long before FGW revert all Devon and Cornwall Paddington services via Bristol again and X country terminate at Bristol what with 125 mph running between Bristol and Bridgewater coming.Not so far fetched as it sounds given the ever tightening financial noose around TOCs necks.
Quote from the Plymouth evening herald "In the meantime, the South West Regional Development Agency has launched a campaign for a high-speed line from London to Bristol, and formed an action group to press the case. However, Plymouth does not feature in its current plan, which will again spark concerns that the far South West is being sidelined.

Ian Miller, transport manager at the South West RDA, said: "High Speed Rail is a 20-30-year project. We're not forgetting improvements to Plymouth and beyond. It's about phasing: you have to run the line to Bristol before you take it down to Plymouth."
http://www.thisisplymouth.co.uk/business/Investment-rail-leave-city-sidelined/article-1912702-detail/article.html