I always used to sit in the quiet carriage but gave it up as a bad job because of the number of people who ignored it. Then if I approached the offenders (politely) about it  I found I either got a mouthful of abuse or just ignored. Almost worse are the people who leave their mobile ring switched on and then run down the quiet carriage to get to the vestibule shouting "hang on - I'm in the quiet carriage" into the wretched thing.

Better enforcement would help a lot.

So now I sit anywhere in the train and have a hefty pair of enclosed headphones which seems to shut out most of the inane babble that goes on and, I hope, don't disturb anyone else.

Having said that there seems to be a largely mobile dead zone between about Newbury and Taunton so on my usual trains it normally goes pretty quiet. Heading west the signal seems to pick up again just before Somerton Tunnel - shame.   

I got caught up in the fun caused by a broken down train at Reading West (I think) yesterday evening. My train, the 16:06 Paddington - Penzance (non-stop Reading Taunton), got diverted via Bath and Bristol; in the end I was only 30 minutes late into Taunton so not too bad. Once we left Reading the diversion only added about 15 minutes to the normal Reading - Taunton non stop time, we were lucky not to get held up at all going through Bristol or the quite common 'stuck behind a stopping train' routine between Bristol and Taunton.

I got diverted on the way home a couple of weeks back and that time we were diverted via Melksham and Westbury but that diversion added about 40 minutes to the Reading - Taunton time; however on that occasion I think a lot of that time was eaten by having to wait to get onto the single line section via Melksham.

All this got me wondering; how are the routes for diversions like these decided? Is it purely on what  paths are available through where ? Last night, when we went through Chippenham I assumed we would be going via Melksham as they wouldn't want an extra train cluttering up Bristol. When we passed Bath I was then wondering why we hadn't gone straight to Bristol Parkway from Swindon  and then south west.

Answers on a postcard!

I hadn't thought of that route, it could be worth investigating. Although I usually use Terminal 5 and I don't think the connect service goes through to T5 so that would mean a change at Heathrow Central.

I buy online because I can't abide queues of even one person, any kind of queue sends my blood pressure soaring.

Usually at Taunton I can get to the collection machines without having to queue whereas the same cannot be said of the normal ticket office. Whenever I decide to use the human method of buying ticket I invariably get stuck behind someone investigating the options for a cheap day return to Thurso via Dover with a railcard and a dog ticket to boot.

We've gone off topic now I know, but I can't see Boris Island working. Surely it has to be the wrong side of London for a good chunk of the population and if the Govt. stated aim is to reduce internal flights then Boris Island will need a whole shed load of new rail infrastructure to go with it.

And as ellendune says, surely the USAir Hudson River ditching and an emergency landing in Amsterdam back in the summer due to an engine out caused by it swallowing a goose should suggest that putting a major airport near large bird populations probably isn't a good idea!

I made the connection to this train but only because it is very late and is now being diverted via Melksham. Does anyone know what is going on? I couldn't find anything on National Rail enquires or the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) site.

Having been messed about by the RailAir bus again tonight I find myself wondering if a westbound rail connection from Heathrow to Reading will ever happen. Now someone will tell me it's happening as part Crossrail but the maps I can find don't suggest that.

For my sins I get to use Heathrow fairly frequently and alternate between using the RailAir bus from Reading and going up to Paddington and using the Heathrow Express. I usually start using the bus again when I feel a bit guilty about the extra expense of going via Paddington. Using the bus usually lasts until something goes wrong and the connections mess up, and then I go back to  using the Heathrow train. In 12 years of taking the train to Heathrow the train has only let me down twice, I've lost count of the number of times the RailAir bus has meant being late or having to spend and unscheduled night in a Heathrow hotel.

My point is (at last!) surely the Thames Valley route catchment must have a good number of people who would make use of a train between Reading and Heathrow? Or is it all down to the usual vested interests?

Ironically tonight's mess up isn't so bad for me,  in the end as the 18:33 from Reading to Taunton is very late so I made my train.

cheers

Sorry if this has all been done before but I couldn't locate a thread on it.

This work has finally finished, hurrah!. All the scaffolding had gone and both lanes were open when i went to the Station on Monday afternoon, so that sees an end to the "how much extra time so do I have to allow to get to the station" debate and then ending up being there stupidly early.

I'm not sure when this work was supposed to finish as I can't find a reference to it now but I have a feeling it has overrun, I wait to be corrected.

As per the post above, it will be interesting to see how long it is before the pigeons are back in force.

After some time (years?) lurking on this forum I thought it was time I signed up properly, especially as I noticed that my brother had signed up and was giving his tuppence worth.

Anyhow, my name is Phil, I live in Taunton, I don't have a regular commute anywhere, I just go where my employer sends me, which means that I'm am a fairly regular user of the trains in all directions from Taunton; my most frequent journeys are to London, Romsey and Bristol.  I choose to take the train as I think it's much more pleasant option than staring at at the A303 or M4 and M5 for two or more hours - assuming you can get a seat of course - and I'm lucky in that my employer will happily pay for the rail fare.

I was up in the Manchester area a couple of weeks ago and having sampled CrossCountry and Northern trains for two weeks, I was beginning to think that FGW^▸ (First Great Western) are actually not that bad.

I don't really have any questions to raise right now - so I'll leave it there. I'm sure I'll think of something as I'll be on my way to Reading on Monday afternoon.