"It's a rail boost for Wiltshire commuters"

http://www.wiltshiretimes.co.uk/news/10632012._/?

Sorry - Sion - I appear to have been given your position ... I'm just the press spokesman and publicist.  And they've taken bits of two very different quotes of mine and banged 'em together in an odd way.  All of this doesn't really matter - the real good news is the enhancements, and the support from First, from Wiltshire Council, from Network Rail, and from MPs^▸ (Member of Parliament).   

We now have to make sure it works. Provided things join up properly and work together, it will!

James, from my personal (non-railman) experience, I can assure you that the amount of analysis that goes in before any changes / improvements are made is huge.   Where possible, multiple pieces of analysis are done and checked that they all end up pointing in the same direction, and "proof" is requested / required that every aspect of the scheme will work - the ducks will all line up.  That's certainly what I've seen just on the one small rail project to which I've been making a small contribution.


I have been highly impressed, and continue to be, by the professionalism of almost everyone in the rail industry, a number of whom are very much valued members of our Coffee Shop community, and help keep us informed here.  There are a huge number of technicalities and details I don't know about and never will (I would have to give up my day job to have the time to understand even a little of it) but I often find myself reassured that things have indeed been considered when others bring them up and professionals answer.  At times, this consideration and the reasons for decisions may not be immediately obvious to the newcomer though!

Your site (you are one of the people behind it, right?) looks very interesting and I expect I'll be making us of it.  I loved


Any thoughts of maps or other navigation aids as well as the alphabetic lists?  I'm not sure if I'm the only one, but I'll often stay a station or two up the line from where I'm working in order to find a hotel that suits me.

I wonder what the voter in Edinburgh South West makes of the plans to spend money on HS2^▸ (The next High Speed line(s))?  What will it bring to him/her?  Will he / she be impressed by a sitting MP^▸ (Member of Parliament) who is prepared to take a line away from the party mantra?  Is HST2 a potential differentiator between Mr Darling and his opponents in 2015? What does the voter in a Labour party leadership election think of it?  I'm not a politician and I wouldn't know the answers to these questions, but I do wonder if the merit (or otherwise) of the project for the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) as a whole is only a part of what's driving support, or lack of support, in  number of quarters.

A project that's a vote winner when it's visionary and the major spend is many years away becomes far less pallettable as it gets closer to, especially if austerity on other projects at around the same time makes it viable to suggest that project "x" has been canned because the money is being spent on it.

I suspect it wouldn't be acceptable to people travelling on the 16:30 and 17:00 expresses to Bath and Bristol, which would (I suspect) get delayed behind the 16:22 and 16:49 if they had extra stops.


Agreed, but then again after refits which leave close pitch seating and very little luggage space indeed, you could argue they're no longer designed [just] for long runs only!

I came across one of these while browsing and thought I would look and see what else is a bit unusual in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom).   Have I missed anything really special?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tees-23811312

http://old.towerstimes.co.uk/attractions/transport/monorail.htm

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-beds-bucks-herts-23808317

http://www.hovertravel.co.uk/about-the-hovercraft.php

http://www.sandtoft.org.uk/index.html

http://www.lartiguemonorail.com/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-11417063

http://www.expressandstar.com/news/2013/04/22/400753/

http://www.sandbanksferry.co.uk/

http://www.waverleyexcursions.co.uk/

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-guernsey-14589154

http://www.cairngormmountain.org/funicular-railway-panel/

http://www.hiremytandem.co.uk/

We seems to have solved the adhesion to pull problem for passenger trains of various length by using powered vehicles along the length of the train which also carry the passengers. Perhaps the next generation of freight train will follow the same solution, thus keeping the pull to weight ratio pretty much the same no matter how long the train is. 

We went from locomotive hauled trains from Paddington (I'm told - it was before I got involved in these parts) to trains with locomotives at both ends, and we're moving on to units with traction distributed throughout in the case of 10 car trains.    Freight's a bit behind - we've moved from locomotive at the front to locomotive at both ends in many cases, and the next step seems logical, doesn't it?

and ...


I've know about the time change for a while, but the reason is a bit of a surprise. 

On a regular Saturday, the Westbury - Swindon train gets into Swindon at around 15:50, and then forms a train via Kemble to Cheltenham Spa.  An earlier train from Cheltenham Spa via Kemble forms the 15:22 to Westbury.   I had assumed, incorrectly it seems from the above report, that the delay to the down train was so that the same set could be used for both trains during the Kemble blockade - "retimed for OPERATION CONVENIENCE" as might be written elsewhere 

Do they really mean "engineering works between Westbury and  Swindon", or it done to let a work train from Westbury to Swindon, of which there are plenty at the moment, through from Bradford Junction to Thingley?

Agreed as well, but there are times that you really need to know your rights to avoid being out of pocket ... and you aren't going to be informed otherwise by the system.   For example, I travelled on the 18:00 off Paddington on Saturday and there was an announcement that "ONLY Advance tickets with reservations for the 18:00 train will be accepted on this service.   If you are travelling with an advance ticket for any other train you will have to pay the fare as if you did not have a ticket".  Sound reasonable until you consider Mr and Mrs Brown who are travelling on advance tickets from Beccles to Bath, and go held up by an hour when their train from Beccles got delayed at Saxmundham due to a passenger being taken ill ... as they're not regular travellers, I can quite imagine them following the instructions given by the railway employee - the conductor - and looking to claim back via thetrainline through whom they had booked to get a great deal 

From Which?

http://conversation.which.co.uk/transport-travel/compensation-for-train-delays-national-rail-vouchers/?

If anyone's new / missed seeing my wife (Lisa) and I on TV when we appeared in January and wonders what we sound and look like, there's another chance to see us on More4 (it's on free view and many packages) on Sunday 1st September.


We visit Chick and Jason at Knock Castle at 14:40
We visit Jo and George in Barton House at 15:15
Other contestants visit us at Well House Manor in Melksham at 15:50
And we visit Ben and Keri at Applewood Glamping at 16:20
Finally, it's payment day at  16:50

Almost nothing to do with trains and travel ... expect we had quite a bit of train travel when we recorded the show!

And from journey check


I'm scratching my head when the bus runs ... I suspect you can't trust everything you read 

On Saturday I found a huge poster on the platform at Chippenham - the final version rather than the prelim one that is shown twice in the booking office.   I was last at Melksha station last Friday, nothing there on that day.   And I was in Trowbridge this morning.   An A4 sign in the booking office tells of the changes:



Hugely better than nothing - it provides the information needed, and at the point people will buy their tickets for the train. 

Also - really nice to see the station flower planters looking so good

They don't, though ...


http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b06a7f6e-0440-11e3-8aab-00144feab7de.html#axzz2cddsTTYD


https://www.cityoflondon.gov.uk/services/environment-and-planning/planning/development-and-population-information/employment-and-visitors/Documents/DP_PL_CityofLondonWorkforceTravelSectionCInternet[1].pdf

The City data is old, but it's not going to have gone down by 75%!    That report also show you where people commute from.     For every 1 who commutes to Docklands, 3 commute into the City itself.   Now - how many go to Westminster ...

As a general point, rush hour trains fill up quickly.

A service that calls at each station on a 10 station line during the day (Off peak), picking up an average of 40 passengers at each of them, reaches London with 400 people.    A similar stopping pattern in the peak, where 100 people would joint at each station, would reach London with 1000 on board - a significant problem if there was only space for 600.   Each train is expensive to operate and people want fast journeys; sometimes the solution is to have some faster services with fewer stops to increase overall capacity.   You will note occasional trains which don't even call at Reading.