I'm wondering quite how likely I am to get a hefty wodge in Delay Repay...

On a Sunday the day after a strike day:

1233 Frome
1329 Swindon

1336 Swindon
1522 Neath

Tickets split at Melksham (because the Routeing Guide and Fares Table can't cope with offering a First Class fare from anywhere in South Wales to Frome, Westbury, or Trowbridge, despite the Standard Class fares matching those to Swindon and Melksham) and Newport (because of Two Together Railcard restrictions the other way – it's a bit rubbish that it's a flat no on those empty trains before 0930 on a weekday, rather than the YP you must spend £12 or whatever it is these days).

Anyway, I'm basically considering this a wager with GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway). It's mad that they even think they can get me home in 2h49. I'll be cheering them on if they win, although I expect to collect on this one.

I'm pretty sure the gates Deutsche Bahn Arriva installed at Cardiff Queen Street are particularly susceptible to wiping tickets. I've often wondered what outfit they got to manufacture those ones, as they seem peculiarly unreliable, and significantly worse than the barriers they replaced.

Surprising, given the amount of redundancy in SWR^» (South Western Railway - about)'s network that they seem to have sent nothing at all that night right at Clapham Junction, then left at Virginia Water to pick the Main Line back up at Byfleet.

I'm rather of the view that the safest spot is in First Class. Fewer people surely means less risk.

Why Bristol? It would be much more effective to cancel the relief lines service between Reading and Paddington. After ail, the denizens of Maidenhead keep messing the railway up: let's close their station for a day. They probably have a bus to Slough and a bus from there to Heathrow for the Piccadilly Line.

In the days of HSTs, neither end fitted into the up platform at Neath. As I recall, the stop marker was placed some distance past the platform, so that the first passenger door was right at the end of the platform.

Bit disappointing that they've decided to cancel the Pullman dining car tomorrow (Friday 29 July), even though no union is actually on strike that day. Doesn't bode well for Friday 19th August, when I was contemplating making a booking for, with the RMT^▸ (National Union of Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers) getting their braziers out on the days either side.

Looks like something's up with the Severn Tunnel now. The 1348 Paddington to Swansea, which got to Bristol Parkway 128 late, has now been sitting there for 20 minutes. The dreaded "LB" is appearing on Traksy. There's something described as a loco coming the other way now:
https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:59044/2022-07-18/detailed

So we learn that to be a union leader, one's Christian name should start with M, and preferably be Mick.

The problem is Chippenham being a routeing point at all. Melksham's routeing point should be Swindon. Abolish Chippenham.

There's an ECS^▸ (Empty Coaching Stock) Working that is prone to causing minor irritation levels of delays: 5B23 Cardiff to Stoke Gifford. Today was a classic. It left Cardiff (P3) late, and it was crossed, as diagrammed, at Long Dyke Junction all the way over to the Up Main. Now Long Dyke is a single-lead junction. And because the Ebbw Vale train was also late, this left the ECS sitting in Central Station so long that it made the next GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) Swansea service 9 late, held up the arrival from Nottingham behind that, and pushed a very late Maesteg to Gloucester from 15-30 to 30-60 delay territory.

The issue is that pathing this ECS working that way is moronic: if it gets late at all, it causes conflicts like this. From P3, it has a straight shot onto the Up Relief, which leads to the through (non-platform) road at Newport, and then the Bishton Flyover Bridge lines it straight up for the Severn Tunnel, rather than Gloucester. Taking Long Dyke Junction the wrong way is just pointless. It isn't even as if there are actually that many slow freight trains on the reliefs these days.

Who does one contact to get 5B23 rediagrammed to run on the Up Relief?

How many incidents at Maidenhead in the last few months is this? It really feels like it's getting to the point that Maidenhead station should be closed until it can be rebuilt to prevent further incidents.

Okay, here's an interesting anomaly that basically comes down to TfW being incompetents who shouldn't be trusted with maintaining a fare table.

There are two First Class return fares between Neath and Cardiff:
"Off-Peak" (restriction code 8A, actually valid any time within a month) £25.60
Anytime Day £19.30

So obviously if one's actually travelling off-peak, one goes to the booking office and buys a ticket from Swansea instead:
Off-Peak Day (restriction code B1, "Not valid on trains timed to depart after 04:29 and before 09:30") £15.70

That much is easy. TfW are incompetents who can't maintain a fare table properly; no wonder their station usage estimates are so bad.

But Murphy's Law dictates that there's a train at:
0923 Swansea
0935 Neath

I rarely want to travel at that time of day, but I did last Tuesday. I just bought an Anytime Day Return without thinking about it. But was I right? Or is it okay to buy the cheaper ticket, so long as you're joining short?

And presumably the Carlisle one is valid for break of journey at, say, Manchester...

Very strange, seeing as the 1748 is the Red Dragon to Carmarthen. In terms of time, they could even do last orders at Cardiff.