It would be a lovely gesture on your part to choose one of the others 

Can you place these 10?  All pictures I have taken in the last 3 months

1 each please (maximum) for first 24 hours.

0 Hayle - Old Original
0:

1 Trowbridge - Rogerw
1:

2 Cambridge - Stuving
2:

3 Swansea - Rickwarwicker
3:

4:

5 Marchwood - Bradshaw
5:

6 Taunton - ChrisB
6:

7 Waterloo - PhilWakely
7:

8 Westbury - AMLAG
8:

9 St Albans Abbey - Bradshaw
9:

I'm not sure I read that to say there were two trains there.  SWT^▸ (South West Trains) sometimes come into one of the double-numbered platforms (such as 11/12) ... drop off an pull out to park up for staff break, then pull back in to original platform prior to departure.  Looks like some people boarded when it arrived??

I love the way you think an 8 car train is cool  .

My understanding is that the tunnel at Ryde is so limited that it has to be true deep level tube stock, and the old sub-surface District Line units are too big.   There was a suggestion of a light rail / tram services, using roads across Ryde.

There is already a CRP^▸ (Community Rail Partnership) (Community Rail Partnership) for the Isle of Wight - and very active they are to (their dancers in Waterloo on 17th May left me tired just from looking at them).   But it would be a whole different kettle of fish for them to become in essence the operators.

Passed the down sleeper in Cornwall (on my way from Hayle to Taunton!).   Was it my imagination, or was there a class 57 in the rear?

A timely reminder to us all to keep good backups / not be reliant on any single site / person / company.   And, yes, that means I encourage you to keep backups of important / significant posts you've made here too.

That development is very much an intent, isn't it?   For 180 years, trains have brought - or attempted to bring in some of the less well worked out - economic and residential activity to the places they serve.  "X grew when the railway came - it was just a couple of houses before" is a familiar line in railway histories.

Probably because "all the stations" is much more easily defined than "all the lines"  ... we morphed into a "what if" in reply no. 16!

And the stations are the interesting passenger "things" too for the general public ...

I just checked the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) site  and was offered Newbury to Westbury with changes at Reading and Bath Spa. So the arithmetic is:

London to Reading - £18.60 single, £18.70 return (super off peak)
Newbury to Westbury - £11.50 single, £16.90 return (super off peak)

That's £30.10 single Paddington to Bath, and £35.60 day return, though you are restricted to certain services at these prices.  Compares to £33.10 super off peak single, Paddington to Bath Spa, and £57.50 for the cheapest conventional return - though that latter is less resrictive as it's a period return, so you're not comparing like for like.

In response to Facebook post worrying that Frome is being sidelines / left out:

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Frome's situation is very much heard by the TransWilts CPR and I think we come across most of the views. However, we are not in any way an "official" CRP^▸ (Community Rail Partnership) for Frome and have to play play fiddle with the Heart of Wessex CRP who we know and work well with where appropriate.

The is no restriction on individuals and organisations based outside Wiltshire joining and that can strength your visibility and help our accuracy into the future. See https://www.transwilts.org/friends-area .

There are many similarities between Melksham and Frome - both market towns of the same size with a train service that's a little sparse at times, both with stations that are more than a stone's throw from the town centre, and both with intermodal connections (i.e train to bus) that haven't kept face with rising passenger numbers over the years. Frome's passenger journey numbers have risen by 44% in the last 7 years, to 176,000. Melksham's have risen 505% - but remain lower at 61,000. That's actually quite a problem at Melksham; we have safety concerns and it not takes far longer than it should to unload and load through a single door.

My personal role is two-fold - I'm the one who's formally tasked with doing things in the community that directly (or indirectly) build traffic, and I'm also on the board of TravelWatch SouthWest - a community interest company that helps bring all the groups, rail, businesss and local authorities together. That's purely a volunteer role - but it does give me a good insight into what's going in a wider area and to then help and suggest what might be co-ordinated and joined up thinking. I would be more than happy to put groups and individuals working alone in touch with the TWSW^» (TravelWatch SouthWest - website) secretary so that you can come along to the September meeting (planned, however, to major on buses). We are meeting the Department for Transport tomorrow to talk about what we would like in the next "GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)" franchise consultation - a very early look at direction rather than specifics; Somerset CC, Heart of Wessex and many others have been invited but I may be able to spring a place if you email / message me before 8 p.m. tonight.

Summary - Frome should be a part of Wiltshire for public transport planning. Please join TransWilts and / or the Heart of Wessex CPR.

Excellent ticket if you were cycling from Bedwyn to Basingstoke.  Alas, Swindon is out of area 

P.S. If you're doing multiple days, note that the Thames Rover does not cover Swindon, even though it's in the watershed of the River Thames and indeed has been known as "Thamesdown".  If the ticket were geographically logical, it would include Swindon and Kemble ... and I suppose it would cover all of London and take you to Southend and Whitstable too!

There is a magic line between Bedwyn and Pewsey, and another between Didcot and Swindon, that mark the end of the old Network South East area and a switch from London commuter fare pricing to Intercity pricing. So anything beyond the line is going to cost you £££.

Advise ... buy a very-off-peak return from Reading to Bedwyn - assuming you're going at times that are very off peak.  That will cost you £10.30 before railcard discount, as opposed to £10.20 for a single, so you're paying 10p for the insurance of a return ride if you stop at the Three Tuns and make it no further.  Then a s-o-p single Swindon to Reading, at £14.30 - can't see a split or anything else to make it cheaper than that. 

I'm not just "posting to vent" here ... it forms part of systemic evidence starting with the decision not to crew a train such that a gap of 135 minutes is left, then the help point not offering an alternative.  If people ask "when is the next train" they tend to have that question answered, and not be offered any alternative. A follow up question along the lines of "what - nothing sooner" is answered with "no, I'm sorry - that's the next train".

I suspect that part of the issue may be that some of the help point staff speak English (all be it good English) as a second language, so answer literally the questions asked.  They don't pick up the colloquialisms and the question that the caller really wants answered.

'This bloke walked up to me and asked "could you tell me the way to the Town Hall?". I answered "Yes, I could" and walked on. ...'