No problem, eightf48544!

To be honest, I don't, as I usually catch the 08:59 - but John is an early bird, so he may be able to give you some idea for the 'peak' commuter services.

However, for the 08:59 service itself, I'd reckon an average of say 25 passengers?  It's usually a 143 and I have a mental image of 8 or 9 passengers waiting on the platform at each set of doors! (So much for 'accurate research'!  )

Thanks for that reality check, plymothian!

Things have obviously changed a fair bit since I moved away from Plymouth! 

In my school days, our cross country course included a section of the old trackbed.  I remember stumbling over old sleepers and all sorts - apart from the rails, most of the structure was still intact then!

Chris from Plymstock
 

I'm not sure I'd be happy to leave my luggage out of sight on a train, to be honest: it's too easy for someone to grab it just as they leave the train at a busy station, while they're hidden from my view in a long queue of passengers waiting in the aisle, for example.

On the other hand, perhaps some people take the view that if anyone else is daft enough to dislocate their shoulder trying to grab a particularly huge and heavy item of luggage in that way, they deserve it!

 

Thanks, John - and my apologies for not replying sooner, eightf48544! 

Our local lady, Suzanne Webb, started her Kickstart coffee van service at Nailsea & Backwell station in December 2007, operating from 07:00 to 09:00, Monday to Friday.  However, she stopped the service in July 2008, for reasons summarised in our local paper:

"One service commuters have recently lost is a stall selling coffee and morning newspapers.  Suzanne Webb has stopped parking her Kickstart coffee van at the station after setting up stall last December.

She said the introduction of new licensing conditions by North Somerset Council meaning she would have had to pay an extra ^700 per year and the fact the station was not quite busy enough to make it worth her while had forced her to stop.

It also means commuters will not be able to buy papers at the station, as Suzanne was stocking them on behalf of Backwell newsagent Bob Taylor, after the theft of an honesty box from the station platform in February."

For full details, see http://www.thisisclevedon.co.uk/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=223442&command=displayContent&sourceNode=223436&contentPK=21058249&moduleName=InternalSearch&formname=sidebarsearch

I hope this background information about the possible pitfalls helps with your campaign to get a (hopefully more successful) service at Taplow, eightf48544 

"Ambitious plans to transform Gloucester's Railway Triangle have gone on show.  The proposals for the 86-acre wasteland site off Metz Way were officially unveiled by developers LxB in partnership with Gloucester Heritage Urban Regeneration Company and the city council."

For full details, see http://www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/latestnews/Plans-Railway-Triangle/article-303120-detail/article.html

"In the early hours of Saturday, October 13, 1928, the Leeds to Bristol night mail train crashed under the road bridge at Charfield station, South Gloucestershire.  Gas cylinders used to light the carriages blew up, and the fire was so savage that 12 who died were so badly decomposed that their relatives accepted the railway company's offer of a mass grave, which is still prominent in a corner of the village churchyard.  And it's on the memorial stone that the mystery lives on, for after listing 10 names and their places of origin, it ends with "Two Unknown". Despite a number of theories the true identity of the bodies is still unknown.

As the 80th anniversary of the tragedy draws near the Western Daily Press launches an appeal to anyone who might be able to finally uncover the mystery that has shrouded the crash for decades."

For full details, see http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/news/Mystery-train-crash-children/article-294878-detail/article.html

"More than 4,000 metres of high security fencing is to be put up around train tracks in the Bristol area to stop youngsters playing on the line.  Network Rail is toughening its measures to tackle railway crime - trespass, vandalism and graffiti - with a ^350,000 initiative.  The steel fence is being targeted at crime hotspots like Bristol and Weston-super-Mare, which are among 24 problem locations around the South West."

For full details, see http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/news/Steel-fences-kids-tracks/article-295614-detail/article.html

"Police have reported a marked reduction in the number of robberies on the Bristol to Bath cycle path after five arrests and measures to make the route safer.

Patrols were increased along the Easton stretch of the path with officers on foot and using bikes and motorbikes to cover the route which saw 14 attacks in a week in May.  The city council's parks department has cut back shrubs so there are fewer places where muggers can hide and it has meant the lights along the path have a further range.  The council also plans to improve lighting under a bridge.

Five people were arrested and four have been charged with robbery."

For full details, see http://www.thisisbristol.co.uk/news/Bristol-Bath-cycle-path-robberies-reduced/article-299114-detail/article.html

"Gloucestershire residents are being warned to brace themselves for a deluge on Friday. The Met Office has issued a warning for heavy rain on Friday, predicting a 60 per cent chance of disruption in Gloucestershire.

Most of the rain will fall throughout the day on Friday but it is falling on sodden ground so there is the potential for surface water flooding in the usual places like Tredworth Road bridge and the railway bridge in Stonehouse."

For full details, see http://www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/latestnews/2-05pm-Gloucestershire-weather-warning/article-305231-detail/article.html

The RMT^▸ (National Union of Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers) has launched a campaign to establish a code of protection for transport workers to prevent them being assaulted.

The RMT says official figures underestimate the level workers in the rail, bus and ferry industries are threatened, abused and physically assaulted at work and that more than a third of incidents go unreported.

According to the Rail Safety and Standards Board, there were 4,865 reported assaults against rail workers in 2007 -a 50% increase on 2002 figures - with a further 2,064 assaults against London Underground staff in 2006-2007.

The RMT's own workplace survey found 71 percent of respondents were assaulted when they were on their own, with two thirds of assaults over tickets or fare disputes.

For full details, see http://www.rmtbristol.org.uk/2008/09/rmt_launches_campaign_to_stop.html#more

Interesting video coverage of this story as well, from the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) news site (link below.)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/7596310.stm

Quite right, Ollie: my typo, sorry! 

And yes, I was joking!  It may be that the on-board announcements just seem much louder in a 'quiet coach' - in which case, could the overhead speakers within those coaches perhaps be set to 'medium', rather than 'maximum' volume?

 

Thanks very much for your comments, smokey: I agree entirely!

Now, I've been saving this snippet, I must admit, but now seems to be an opportune moment to raise it.  During one of my frequent 'moans' to a FGW conductor, while buying my ticket on board yet again due to the soggy machine at Nailsea not working, he said that the contract with Scheidt & Bachmann included the provision of purpose-built covers for their machines - but FGW originally declined those as 'unnecessary'.

It's rather ironic, then, that some time later, FGW have had to accept that some form of shelter is in fact necessary - and they've had to fit shelters after all!

And, just as an aside, I noted that the machine on platform 2 yesterday morning was 'out of service' (I flicked open the perspex cover and saw the usual pool of water in the trough where the tickets normally land - it had rained overnight!).  Furthermore, on my return journey yesterday evening, the machine on the footpath to platform 1 was also 'out of service' - again, it had rained during the afternoon.

I think we've established elsewhere that these machines cost over ^20,000 each - so why don't FGW look after them a bit better?

I think you're quite right, willc - either FGW^▸ (First Great Western) have 'quiet carriages' as a feature of their HST^▸ (High Speed Train) services (and enforce it) or they just don't bother at all.

And, just as an aside, why are the on-board announcements loudest in these 'quiet carriages'?  Perhaps because the train manager / customer host knows that their announcements are more likely to be drowned out in coaches A and H ?

Quite right, plymothian - and welcome to the Coffee Shop forum!

I've noticed a lot more items of unusually 'large' luggage this week on my daily commute - it's the last week of the school holidays, and all that!

Hmmm.