Thanks, Grahame, and I'll take a screenshot with me to be on the safe side.

As I was thanked by GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) telephone sales for using Fujitsu (or words to that effect), it made me wonder whether anyone else has noticed the Japanese? characters that break through on the GWR home page, when it's first opened and the stations are loading.  (I seem unable to insert a relevant screenshot.)  They disappear after a few seconds and I take them to be benign (rather than Chinese malware!).  Another of life's little mysteries, when negotiating GWR.

I've just bought online a ticket that GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) retail ticket sales (aka Fujitsu) was unable to sell me.  The route was Maiden Newton to Dorchester South via Weymouth and the cost £2.40 (Anytime Day Single with a Railcard). According to the second person at GWR that I spoke to, the route was doubling back on itself, and the ticket shouldn't have been allowed. 

I may well get off at Dorchester West and walk to Dorchester South Station, so I recognise that I'm being awkward.  However, the ticket was available, at no extra cost to me, so I took it.  But is it valid?

 

Thanks, Grahame, for your explanation that a signalman gives the all clear to use a station (barrow) crossing, and that it's not just left to the platform staff to decide.  I'll put best foot forward, if we are offered that option.

We plan to travel from Taunton to Dorchester, changing at Castle Cary, as that will give us the quickest journey.  My husband uses a wheelchair, although he can walk, so are the station staff, who will know of our arrival, likely to take us across the track via the barrow crossing? Should I be delighted by this novelty or scared witless, having read of the near miss at the level crossing at Thorney Marsh Lane?

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/safety-digest-022017-thorney-marsh-lane/

We intend travelling on a Friday (the 09.21 departure from Taunton), when Castle Cary Station is manned.

Thank you, gentlemen, for your helpful replies.  My confusion must be to do with my faulty memory and the greater risk of stepping down than up.  On our previous visit, when we would have come into the eastbound platform 2, it seemed that the gap was wide, as well as the step being high.  Clearly it wasn't, as it's platform 1 westbound, which has the problem.  Anyway, I'm going to ask for the first time for the ramp, as we do travel with a folded wheelchair, and will put the getting off/on into the hands of the platform staff. 

Does anyone know which is the westbound platform at Bath, as in,"the westbound platform has a severe step between the train and the platform from the front 3 train carriages".  (Description taken from National Rail's "Stations and Destinations" webpage).  I and elderly husband will be alighting from coach L at Bath on a Paddington-bound train and returning in coach L for Taunton.  I am just wondering how severe this step is.  Would it be National Rail that I should contact to ask to have the description amended to platform X or Y, as, to me at least, westbound is not helpful.

What a wonderful forum.  Instant answers.  Thank you, Plymothian, and now RichWarwicker, who's read my mind as to which seats are round a table for 4.  Hopefully there are still some advance tickets available, now that I am forearmed with all the info.

I am at cross purposes with GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway), when trying to book 2 first class seats in coach L on an HST^▸ (High Speed Train).  Retail telephone booking at GWR talks of seats numbered 1-47 (plus, I think, a wheelchair space) on its real time, reservation system, whereas the seating plan I have shows seats numbered up to 24. This is making it difficult for me to know if the seats I book will be together.  It is similar, if I attempt a dummy online booking.  Seats offered were 4/5 and 15/16, which, according to my diagram, would not be together.  Have I got up too early and am having a bad dream?  Help someone!

My husband has been using Assisted Travel very successfully for the past 3 or so years.  Initially, it was to request priority seats for him and me at the end of the carriage, because his walking is limited. Now, it's also to request help to board, where the station staff carry on his folded, manual wheelchair, which is treated as luggage, and they usually take the suitcase as well.  We tend, where possible, to travel on HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) or Voyagers and avoid trains with non-reservable seats.  The station staff, who help us, are all very pleasant.  Through experience, we know that CrossCountry has more accessible toilets on its trains than GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway), and that their press button doors are easier to operate than GW^▸ (Great Western)'s handle etc, etc.

I often wonder if the system could cope, if more and more elderly and/or disabled passengers travelled, with each traveller requiring individual attention.

The no 6 bus in Cardiff, the Baycar, has a screen with the name of the approaching stop on it, and a voice in English and Welsh announcing the same.  It's like having a language lesson, whilst looking at the scenery.  Unfortunately, there is always a service, where the screen is blank and the sound off.  Whether down to a forgetful driver, I've never had the temerity to ask.

I think Grahame has mined a real vein of discontent, judging by the number of posts since yesterday about bus information or the lack of.

I wonder therefore which bus planner members use. I find Google Maps easiest eg inputting a street name and town will show all the bus stops (with links to buses and timetables) along the route.  It's only quirk is that the screen must be magnified, otherwise it shows stops on one side of the road only.  I would like to use the journey planner on the Traveline website but find its results unreliable. Has it also become irrelevant in face of Google? 

Perhaps my discontent is down to my not owning a smart phone and having a PAYG^▸ (Pay as you go) mobile, but I am appalled that my local bus stops advises (in the complete absence of timetable and route number) to text Traveline (25p plus network charges apply) in order to find the next three scheduled buses.  HOW did it become so difficult to catch a bus? 

It brings to mind the song "Road to Nowhere".

We're on a road to nowhere
Come on inside
Taking that ride to nowhere
We'll take that ride

Well we know where we're going
But we don't know where we've been
And we know what we're knowing
But we can't say what we've seen

You have a bus stop, Grahame?! The official stop, where I get off in Taunton, has no post, flag or road markings.  This is because it is a bi-directional bus stop, served by the stop on the other side of the road. 

From my limited experience of Taunton's buses, none of the bus flags show a route number, and only shelters have timetables.  Going into the bus station and asking at the enquiry desk for bus times, as I did, admittedly last December, produced the predictable response of, "We don't have a detailed time table, only a summary. Do you know Traveline?"

The Premier Inn opposite St David's Station Exeter (EXD^» (Exeter St Davids - next trains)) has been recommended before but, having stayed there for three nights, I can endorse that it is both good and convenient for public transport.  There are two bus stops in front of St David's Station, going to the bus station, airport etc and the H bus goes directly to the Northcott Theatre during the day so it can be used for a matinee performance.  The short distance from hotel to station is on the flat, and the station has lifts, so for anyone with walking difficulties the Premier Inn Exeter Central St David's is ideal.  It also appears to be consistently cheaper than the PI's at Torquay or Exmouth.

Went under the now open space, where the bridge was.  It felt naked but only because I knew the area.  It's nice, if  surprising, that the old bridge's side beams are to be put back in place after refurbishment.