And while we're on the Cotswold Line, there's the Malvern Wells turnback, too, just beyond Great Malvern station.

My grandfather (who worked for BR in York) was fond of referring to "silly coots", back in the early '80s. Evidently he was ahead of his time.

'Thornbury' is one of the finest hymn tunes ever written, whereas 'Bristol' is a bit drab and pedestrian, so I'm with you on this one.

Contract awarded for completion by December: https://www.railbusinessdaily.com/dyer-butler-awarded-cotswolds-platform-extension-programme-by-network-rail/

I 'ad that Rowan Williams in the back of my congregation once.

No, really, I did. It was Christmas Eve at our little parish church; he had a holiday home in Charlbury. Nothing focuses the mind more on playing the right notes for 'O come all ye faithful' than the Archbishop of Canterbury sitting in the front row.

Comfort is in the posterior of the beholder.

(Mind you, there are other aspects to it. I find the arm and leg space on IETs very generous. It would be a shame to confuse posterior comfort with elbow-room.)

Worcestershire County Council is keen on extending London-Worcester services to Droitwich and Kidderminster, and I believe GWR has been looking into it.

I've long thought that there could be a market to extend one or two London-Herefords to Ludlow, but the fact there's no turnback until you get to Craven Arms is a bit of a downer.

All 175 coaches are powered, so in theory you might be able to re-form 2x 3-coach as one 4-coach and one 2-coach, though no doubt it would require some head-scratching engineering.

Long-distance regional lines like this are always a bit of a cinderella - destined to be getting cast-offs forever, unless a Fairy Godmother arrives (like the Welsh Assembly...). The glut of new-build orders over the past few years, coupled with the first signs of a ridership downturn in several parts of the network, means that there'll be a lot of fairly recent units going spare.

(The next CrossCountry franchise is going to be particularly interesting from a rolling stock POV!)

Is there much 125mph track between Cardiff and Portsmouth?

(The 175s are likely to become available in 2021/2022, of course, and half the 185 fleet is without a home...)

That looks like a mighty fine chocolate pudding!

(you'll have to be a member of the Disused Stations group to see what I mean...)

There’s a Disused Stations group on Facebleurgh that would probably be able to locate it if the esteemed Mr Humm’s followers can’t!

We did the BCN Challenge a couple of years ago including the Perry Barr Flight. The Tame Valley is actually a surprisingly beautiful canal, but possibly the least boated on the BCN, and that's saying something!

(But basset44 has definitely got it - slightly annoyed I didn't spot that myself as I've passed through Ludlow a hundred times...)

I know it isn't (partly because there's a station sign in Arriva Trains Wales colours, and partly because who would go there on their holidays) but the ramp in 1 is ever so like Perry Barr in the West Midlands.

A pleasant surprise the other week when I had a meeting in Burton-on-Trent and could get direct trains there and back from Oxford. Especially so because the loadings were significantly less than usual for CrossCountry, so I could actually get a table and do some work, never mind a seat.

I wonder what happened with the last train home yesterday? The Wilderness Festival organisers were tweeting that it was cancelled:

https://twitter.com/WildernessHQ/status/1026193419109105666

but RTT shows that it ran an hour late:

http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/C46364/2018/08/05

(Ironically an hour's delay would probably have made it more attractive to festival-goers!)