Driver to signaller: "When I asked for the road to the fuel point, this is not what I meant!"

The first passenger run of a Turbo unit to Weymouth for GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) (as they have been there previously) is tonight. 166210 is allocated to work the 2O96 20:48 Bristol Temple Meads to Weymouth service tonight. Should return on the 2D05 06:44 Weymouth to Bristol Parkway service tomorrow morning.

If there were any spare drivers available at Gloucester or Westbury, something like that might have been possible, but I am not sure that there was. Platform 2 is too short to accommodate 2x 2 car sets so just running straight in to platform 2 and attaching would not be possible. The set would also have required mobilising (starting up and building up air) and preparing for service, which requires a driver to check the train systems (such as doors, lights, horn and safety systems) are functioning correctly and then leave a certificate in the cab to confirm this has taken place. This takes 20 minutes for a two car set. As it was, the driver for the 07:33 service from Westbury was sent up on the 07:04 service to Swindon to prepare the set for the return working (just as well that they are scheduled to book on for duty before the 07:04 departed). Unfortunately the guard is scheduled to book on for duty after the 07:04 service has departed. I understand that a guard was taken from another duty and sent from Gloucester to Swindon to restart the service with the 08:49 departure from Swindon. It is just a shame that it was the busiest northbound service that was lost.

The signalling system between Filton and Bristol Temple Meads has been affected since approximately 21:30 on Monday. Cause now confirmed as cable theft between Narroways Hill Junction and Filton Abbey Wood. Expect disruption on Tuesday morning.

The signalling system between Filton and Bristol Temple Meads has been affected since approximately 21:30 on Monday. Cause now confirmed as cable theft between Narroways Hill Junction and Filton Abbey Wood. Expect disruption on Tuesday morning.

Although not normally required, If need be to free up a through platform at Swindon there are a couple of shunts that the unit for the 17:36 departure can do. A choice of shunting out on the Up Kemble or Down Kemble lines (behind signals SW1310 or SW1312) or the one that seems to be more favourable with the signallers is to shunt out on the Up Swindon Reception line (behind Ground Position Light SW6521). Both of these give the option of being routed back to either platform 1 or 3 (SW1310 platform 1 only), allowing a bit of flexibility if the London services are a bit awry.

153380 for the 2M06 09:48 Westbury to Swindon and 2M07 10:47 Swindon to Westbury. If it stays on the diagram it should then form the 2M10 12:20 Westbury to Swindon and 2M11 13:29 Swindon to Westbury. The good news is that 158766 should be on the rest of the Westbury to Swindon circuits.

Further to the above. 5C03 has failed, which is the unit for the 1B04 06:45 Frome to Cardiff. 1F01 is trapped behind and assisting the failed train from the rear. 1F01 also conveys the units for the 2O66 06:54 Westbury to Weymouth and the 2E17 07:23 Warminster to Great Malvern. On top of this, several incoming crews for workings from Westbury are trapped because of the failure.

2M03 just left Westbury at 07:38 for Swindon. SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) 158 unit. Effectively in the path of the 07:33 service. Broken down train at Bradford on Avon causing major problems with crew and stock displaced.

Looking like there will be a 153 on the 07:33 Westbury to Swindon service on Friday.

Another example of a non-standardised coupling, even though they all have BSI^▸ (British Standards Institute) couplers. A 14x/15x/17x unit can be coupled to a 16x unit, but only mechanically in order to clear a failure from the running line. As mentioned, the electrical connections are not compatible which requires them to be 'dropped down' so they don't come into contact when coupling. This means there is no through control of the brakes so it is only to remove a failed unit from a running line. Ride Height Modified (RHM)16x units create another problem as the air suspension on the unit must first be drained of air in order to couple to a non RHM unit.

Class 158 units will be used on the Brighton route for the forseeable future, even after class 16x units are running to Portsmouth.

Thingley is certainly a problem now. With the main lines canted for 125mph running, the crossover is some distace away on the nearest section of straight (and therefore level) track. Installing a traditional junction there would be difficult with the track geometry.

The Melksham route fortunately retains space for the reinstatement of a double track formation, with the exception of the bridge over the River Avon at Staverton (Charcroft) which was replaced with a single track span in the 1960s.

The consultation documents that I read prior to the lowering work taking place acknowledged the increased risk of flooding as a consequence. How often this was perceived to happen I do not know. Network Rail would undoubtedly have preferred to convert the bridges to accommodate overhead wires as per the one at Dauntsey, but the listing of the two structures has left us with what we have. A trade off between heritage and operational requirements.

https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1409182

The flooding location is between Christian Malford and Dauntsey, unsurprisingly at the location where the track has been lowered to allow the overhead wires to pass under the two listed and protected bridges (Dauntsey Road/Bright's Farm Road and Bright's Farm footbridge).

Currently sat in platform 3 at Salisbury. Looks like it is shunting back out to run via 2 so all of the platforms are gauged.