I cannot the remember the last member of ticket office staff (not just FGW^▸ (First Great Western)) who said good morning/afternoon/evening (the last two being increasingly unlikely anyway given the opening hours) and goodbye.

Generally, in my experience, they stare at you, you say something (preferably a bread and butter request), the price might be mentioned or more frequently the money is just handed over/card inserted, the tickets get handed over and you say thank you walking away distinctly underwhelmed from that interaction. I have worked in retail and regardless of how busy it is I have always greeted the customer and said goodbye at the minimum (even if I didn't feel like it).

The last altercation I had was asking for a ticket for tomorrow (someone with me confirmed I did say that) leaving the queue of 6 or so (only 1 window open naturally) to find out it was issued for today. Queued back up to get it corrected, only to be told fairly agressively that I was in the wrong and that was what I asked for (FCC^▸ (First Capital Connect)). One of the regulars behind me stated "she is always like that".

I use the TVM^▸ (Ticket Vending Machine)'s/Online now where I can. I like to start my journeys without walking away with a sour taste in my mouth, feeling like I have been a burden to some miserable git.

OT: I phoned Comet up the day before they went into administration with a product enquiry. The person on the end could not stifle their laughter as their manager "was saying something funny" whilst she was on the phone to me.

Looks like the SWT^▸ (South West Trains) website is offering Groupsave on Anytime Day Single/Return tickets, with the radio buttons greyed out for journeys prior to 0930 on the sample journey from Woking to Waterloo I put in (could be all remaining trainline powered websites - I have not checked).

I have only just noticed that Off-Peak Day Singles have disappeared for many SWT journeys so could be a bodge as a result of that. Not sure when that happened (possibly around the time of the introduction of Oyster^▸ (Smartcard system used by passengers on Transport for London services) PAYG^▸ (Pay as you go) on their services?).

The FGW^▸ (First Great Western) website (ATOS powered) did not offer Groupsave on Anytime Day Singles, so a Group of 4 going one-way into London on routes where Cheap Day Singles are not available could potentially pay too much.

Other Off-Peak ticket types seemed to work as normal on both sites.

Could be this one?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rSjK2Oqrgic

The normal 2103 should be a semi-fast though (I'm going off the Saturday timetable) ?

The change under 20j also applies on Christmas Eve as far as I can work out from the journey planners (link below).

(2103 Gatwick to Reading cancelled, 2136 Redhill to Reading started from Gatwick at 2103).

Also in operation on Saturday 15th and 22nd December.

http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/~/media/PDF/Planned%20Changes/Nov%202012/Week%2039%20Saturday%2022%20December%202012%20until%20Friday%2028%20December%202012_Layout%201.ashx

I have noticed some strange noises coming from the engines recently too. Akin to a car engine running without decent oil pressure.

The turbos are around 20 years old now. The engines have been replaced once in that lifetime I believe?

Including a two hourly Redhill stopper again would be great, but from your reply 2 extra units plus staff would be needed so probably a non-starter then.

Travelling at weekends is becoming less enjoyable with the crowds. SWT^▸ (South West Trains) reducing a load of services to 4-car to save on electric is another example.

There have been a few cases where Turbo's have experienced transmission related problems recently.

On one occasion I noticed a train pull into Reading, shut down engines quickly (Sunday). When it came to do the return journey the driver was unable to draw power (having shut down/started the engines about 3 times). Fortunately a replacement was found from the depot.

Does the reverser have to be in neutral in the cab before shutting down and would there be any advantage in selecting reverse before shutting down so the transmission was "ready to go" if you like?

Another thing I have noticed is engines tend to rev at maximum for about 2 minutes after start up - is this normal/automatic?

I am not aware of any plans to strengthen Sunday services, but have had cause to use them recently and the one thing that stands out is they are very full.  Doesn't seem to matter what time of day, but the 1 tph which usually will have gone to/from Gatwick results in the inevitable plethora of bags and people.

What is the limiting factor here? If no extra staff are available to bolster the schedule could these services not be increased to 5 car if the stock was available? I am not sure the maximum length of train can be accomodated at North Downs stations.

Recently signed up after a couple of months lurking. Some interesting topics being discussed on here.

Getting the best value fares including split ticketing is of particular interest to me.

I am a regular traveller on the North Downs Line.