I have been online ... and swapped the tickets for ones for tomorrow - it warned there might be an admin fee but I appear not to have incurred one.  Will report back further.  Probably easier as I had not collected the tickets but it has only let me go "mobile" - a new step for me though got used to it with Interrail so I suppose I can manage GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway).

I was booked on the 06:30 ferry off Dieppe tomorrow but it has been cancelled due to bad weather and I am now on the 18:00 which gets into Newhaven too late for the last train home.

I have booked ticket to collect from the TVM^▸ (Ticket Vending Machine) at Newhaven Town when I get there ...  Off peak singles Newhaven to Southampton via Barnham, and Southampton to Melksham.   What is my best course of action?

It shows that where there's a will, there's a way.   Signs of this sort would show that the rail industry / train operators really have thought and care for their TransWilts / Melksham customers, even if they are not used very often.  In fact we don't want them used very often in the short or medium term, because we want the local service to run to timetable!

Goodness - we're as bad as each other! 

<pedant>But do you consider two rides between the same stations - there and back - as one service of two?</pedant> 


They look good - I need to sort mine out, though they will be far less on topic for the Coffee Shop.  Having said which, I'll need to head off and get a coffee soon

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Total topic change - what a pleasure it is to come here and post amongst friends.   (a.k.a. who I their right mind would be a Town Councillor ...)

Noting references to the Cambrian Coast line - I didn't see the proposed timetables on the site.  Have I missed something?

On the subject of 153s on the Swan Line - don't you double the power if you run them in pairs? 

11 trains yesterday; mostly went well, only one connection missed along the way.

Had me wondering - is this the most different services I have used in a day?  Has anyone used even more?

Great to read your update - it's a truly wonderful way to travel isn't it?  I'm alone on the app which, yes, can be a bit quirky.  Will be following up on that elsewhere.   As an old man, travelling alone, I am allowed to struggle with the technology and a smile goes a long way when the *** thing forgets a journey and needs recycling.  Just had that with the pleasant Danish Lady ... who offered me breakfast but I don't have time on this train; settled for a coffee.

Hmmm ... if you add flexibility to advance purchase "this train only" tickets, are you not encouraging people to move away from the more expensive flexible tickets, to the detriment of the overall rail industry income?   There's an argument for selling "this train only" tickets to provide more economic travel to people who can go at unpopular times, but you start adding change options on to that and it gets confused. 

I noted this in the publicity:


It talks about it being CrossCountry, and perhaps they run trains up until closing time - but that still wouldn't work for me on a GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) advance / swapped ticket if I stuck around in London until closing time ... last train 21:30 which is much much better than it was, but I'm not in control ... can't get home like apparently I could with Cross Country 

There are so many "spot on" gems in there ... I give you a few from key messages


and from key recommendations

I have mirrored the report for members at http://www.passenger.chat/mirror/RIA_net_zero.pdf and it will come up in Coffee Shop searches

Some ideas from Sweden, from the line that runs from Hapatanda to Lulea with 4 internediate stops and a single 2 carriage train shuttling up and down. Some ideas would work for our little line from Swindon to Westbury ... just saying. Others would not!

Wheelchair loading facilities



Tea, coffee, snacks available



Trains that continue operating even in the snow (and today ours needed repairing so they - wait for this - swapped it for another one to avoid cancelling).  Also rubbish bags at each seat to make cleaning easier



You walk across the tracks to get to the other platform - a simple barrier is put down when there's a train going to cross



Separate sections of the train where dogs are and are not allowed



Retractable steps that come down from the train so that people can get on and off easily even at lower (and cheaper to build?) platforms



Powered by electricity that comes from overhead wires



Stations that are beautiful - however old or new - and want you to look forward to using them

Streetview set my a mystery - I noted "not even a shelter" yet it showed one there.  Looking back at my pictures, I suspect that the shelter is there but entombed in snow at present. 

Things and times move on.   Did I understand that WHSmiths in some stations have stopped selling newspapers, and indeed when I sit in a train I look around and see everyone on their phones - messaging (or in some irritating cases hearing them talk) and few reading. But yet having said that, on my current travels my packing - light to contain the utter bare minimum - still includes the European Rail Timetable which has been heavily used throughout my trip in addition to the journey planning App.

A plea to whoever buys the business - you are taking on a valued product. Please nurture it, promote it, and may it have a long and effective life ahead of it, as it already had behind it.