There are similarities to the Severn Beach line story here - in 2005, there was a pretty nominal service, and a plan by Atkins to rip the line up for a busway. The initial response was angry, but led in 2007 to additional services. Passenger numbers increased rapidly, and the line will see a million passengers this year. As with the trans-Wilts line, the key to success was  to raise the profile initially by any means possible, leading to true co-operation between campaign groups, councils, and FGW^▸ (First Great Western). I'm sure trans-Wilts will bear similar fruit for the considerable effort put in by MRDC and others. The impact will be felt well beyond Wiltshire, and I add my respect for the valuable work done.

One could equally argue that the German, French and Dutch railways are subsidising the British railways, whilst the Spanish, Chinese, and even Canadian teachers' pension funds are ploughing billions into our airports.

The South Liberty Lane depot is getting busier. I think a little more was done there than just gardening, and I think two sidings have been relaid. It only took a day or so, there was nothing fancy involved.


Constellation receive bulk deliveries of wine imported through Tilbury docks here, then take it by lorry to their bottling plant. Then the bottled wine is returned to the depot, and shipped out in containers. If you drink a bottle of Banrock Station, it has been through Parson Street Station, twice. This shows what can be done with the will and a bit of imagination, although it doesn't explain why the wine isn't imported straight into Avonmouth, nor why it isn't taken to Avonmouth by train. I'm not so familiar with the line from Swindon via Kemble - any similar commercial / industrial opportunities likely to be opened with the redoubling?

It certainly looks that way. Too much trouble to collect them?

As if we didn't have enough controversy with HS2^▸ (The next High Speed line(s))...


Of course, no-one will be travelling through Kemble for a little while just now, despite the kind sentiments expressed by Ms Tennant-Bell.

An excellent initiative! FGW^▸ (First Great Western) will hopefully attract sufficient new passengers to cover their costs.

Always an axe...

With the performance of the First Group shares since May, FGW shareholders are more probably emaciated moggy than fat cat.

Me too. We passed intercity traffic at Avonmouth and Clifton Down, something of an event.

My thanks also, ST. Things are certainly moving, and we can expect big changes in the next few weeks.

I once planned a flight to Oaksey Park airfield, for my first landing on grass. In the event, I couldn't raise anyone on the phone, so we went to Kemble instead.  I have just had a look at the airfield's circuit chart, and presciently, the railway line is shown as double! The current ICAO charts still have it as a single track - I hope someone tells them?

Business is far from easy, they tell me, but one would have thought that most firms fold for lack of contracts, rather than because of them. Getting a contract like this one singed is usually enough to see the MD sigh with relief, mop his brow, and phone the shipyard to say the yacht is still on. It looks as if they may have been holding out for a deal, and blinked first. If a German company was at one time interested, another German (or French or Italian or Spanish or..) may be interested again. Hopefully, the administrators will keep this job alive.

As for Brother Crow's comment, the Government can just sit on its hands. It has sat on them, and other peoples' hands, time and again. Sometimes, the Conservative half of the political marriage made in Heaven may sit on the hands of the other half. Whitehall has, however, realised that it has been had over by the multinational computer companies, something FT, N! first told them in 1984. Now, we read in our papers of how the Government has a completely new strategy for digital Britain where we directly employ some kidz in hoodies to do, well, stuff. Apparently, the private sector quoted ^30K to amend a logo, but our man(?) with the non-Whitehall haircut, and the unseasonably pale skin did it in 15 minutes.

I was a civil servant at the time the government decided to "outsource", and I know the progression. I have also been involved, in a non-programming way, with software development in certain crucial areas of public service. Now, the emphasis seems to be on in-house IT. Maybe that will transfer to hardware, especially after that Radio 4 programme about the perils of "Casualisation". BroCro may find that his opinion is justified, after all.

And welcome from me too, patch38! Photographs would be particularly of interest. I have a sister-in-law who uses Kemble regularly - she doesn't drive - and refuses to believe that this time, it's for real. We're all agog to see how it is progressing.

A new update regarding progress on Tottenham Court Road station, from Crossrail and TfL^» (Transport for London - about). Has some interesting pictures, as well as lots of figures, and an upbeat assessment from BoJo. Too much to quote, but well worth a look.

Muscles? I have aches in places where I didn't know I had places, let alone muscles.

Being serious about the Bristol and Bath, I have tried walking on it - it is strictly supposed to be an amenity shared by cyclists and pedestrians. It did not go well, and could go a long way to explain some of my earlier, somewhat intemperate, language.

As for Lycra, if it were all that there was to wear, I would go naked. People may say "Whatever he's wearing, he could've ironed it", and I may have to burn the saddle, but I draw the line before Lycra.

Not necessarily, Red Squirrel. There may yet not be buses, at least no more than the minimum necessary to persuade DafT that this isn't just a road building scheme.


North Somerset DC^▸ (Direct Current) have just spent money on stripping the vegetation from the track, so that GRIP 4 can begin. Presumably, they will ask it not to grow again? My own pet conspiracy theory suggests that we were lucky to stop at GRIP 1.

Portishead Railway was at one time scheduled to open in 2016, a year after Bust Rabid Transit. Whatever anyone might say, the BRT^▸ (Bus Rapid Transit) programme has slipped quite heavily, and will probably slip again soon. The Public Inquiry report has not yet been released, 9 months after it was due.

The first bit to open is BRT2, or AVTM, Ashton Vale to Temple Meads. The business case for this route is largely based upon being able to transport a substantial number of people from the Long Ashton Park and Ride to Temple Meads. Many of the current users come from Portishead and Pill, so if the railway was open, the justification for the BRT route would collapse.That in itself is no big deal, except that BRT2 is the sine qua non for the whole ridiculous Metrobust scheme. That in itself is nothing but a Trojan horse to get a couple of roads built, to ease the pain of businesses, whose heavy lorries have difficulty getting to and from the industrial estates.

Portishead Railway, despite being cheaper, technically easier, less damaging, and popularly supported, could not be allowed to open first, or the DafT folks will see the empty Park and Ride, and the trains full of commuters, happy they no longer have to drive at all, and will say "Hang on a minute..."

So each delay in Metrobust will be followed by the announcement of a further delay in the Portishead line. Only once 30 tonne lorries are able to drive over Highridge Common, along King Georges Road, and through the middle of Withywood will we be able to think about improvements to public transport. It's a scandal.