In Series 3 Episode 2 - Exeter to Plymouth - Broadcast on 9th April 2024 Monsieur Portillo stated that the ceiling of Exeter Cathedral is the longest continuous run of medieval stone vaulting in Europe.

It is in fact the longest continuous run of medieval stone vaulting in the World.

We Exonians are very proud of it.

BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) Verify strikes again?

But it could have been one of the SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) services on the WoE line!

According to NR^» (Network Rail - home page) - and Traksy! - the B&H^▸ (Berks and Hants - railway line from Reading to Taunton via Westbury) line is now closed in both directions between Westbury & Bedwyn. Paddington-bound 1A88 & 1A89 have been diverted via Melksham. The 1C86 PNZ service is now heading back east after being held in the Woodborough area for quite some time.

Since it does not appear to have been mentioned specifically in this thread a reminder of why the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) / Treasury are apparently refusing to countenance redoubling of the route between Bradford & Thingley Junctions would be helpful.

8.3 miles of pretty well used 'local' trains, fairly frequent heavily loaded aggregates freight services and a strategic diversionary route during planned engineering works and unexpected service disruptions.

At the very least an MKM^» (Melksham (Station code) - next trains) station loop should be possible.

Under the same ZEBRA scheme Devon will apparently be getting 41 electric buses for use in Exeter & North Devon.

https://www.devon.gov.uk/news/devon-awarded-5-3-million-for-zero-emission-buses/

James Shuttleworth, the boss of West Coast Railways, was on GBNews last night talking to Jacob Rees-Mogg. WCR seem to be having a media blitz over what they regard as unfair treatment from the ORR^» (Office of Rail and Road formerly Office of Rail Regulation - about).

Just a thought - and folks more knowledgeable than I will be able to explain why this is an unworkable option - but why not terminate some / most / all* 'fast line' scheduled services at Ealing Broadway (EAL^▸ (Ealing Broadway Station))? The fast line platforms are available for use so passengers would be able to transfer to Elizabeth, District & Central line TfL^» (Transport for London - about) services with comparative ease. East of EAL there are crossovers which would allow bimode IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train)'s access to (temporary?) fuelling / stabling facilities in Acton Yard should this be required. Fully electric trains could be stabled on the presumably OOU^▸ (out of use) fast lines between EAL & AML with perhaps (a) new temporary crossover(s) to permit the departure order of RDG^‡(resolve)-bound ECS^▸ (Empty Coaching Stock) trains to be changed.

If required additional stabling capacity could be made available at Southall and near West Ealing.

There would be little conflict with relief line services and this would surely be easier than trying to 'shoehorn' GWML^▸ (Great Western Main Line) trains into either WAT or EUS train plans.

*I believe fast line services from/to PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains) run at roughly 3 minute intervals, how about 50% to EAL and 50% terminating at/starting from RDG?

Of course an additional option would be to run all EXD^» (Exeter St Davids - next trains)<>WAT services as 9-coach trains, and temporarily reinstate as many BRI^» (Bristol Temple Meads - next trains)<>WAT trains as possible, and encourage passengers via publicity campaigns to use these thereby reducing pressure on the route east of RDG. 

   

Isles of Scilly. Possibly ludicrously optimistic but take the opportunity to visit a wonderful environment before it gets overrun later in the year?

I may have missed it during the protracted history of this project but is there a separate Travel Plan document lurking somewhere which specifies whether buses will call at the station and what, if any, facilities for cyclists will be provided?

Also it seems to me that, in common with many recent public buildings, the design is a triumph of form over function (make it look pretty and sod providing proper protection to passengers customers from wind & rain, which I imagine is fairly common in this area).

07/03/24 - 10/03/24 Visiting Family In Hampshire
Rail travel is wonderful when it works properly!

Tickets
2 x Senior Railcard Off-Peak Day Single DIG>PIN £5.10
2 x Senior Railcard Super Off-Peak Day Return PIN>BSK^▸ (Brake Standard Corridor (carriage))>PIN £50.10
2 x Senior Railcard Off-Peak Day Single PIN>DIG £5.10

Outward - 07/03/24
DIG 1214 (1213)>EXC 1220 (1219) : 2T17 EXM>PGN : 1 x 150/2 (2 Cars)
EXC 1230 (OT)>BSK 1455 (OT) : 1L48 EXD^» (Exeter St Davids - next trains)>WAT : 1 x 159/0 + 1 x 159/1 (6 Cars EXC>SAL), 2 x 159/0 + 1 x 159/1 (9 Cars SAL>BSK)

Tickets were checked on a very lightly loaded 2T17 despite it being a DIG>EXC non-stopper.
There was a 3 minute delay at PIN waiting for the late running 1L21 to clear the single line but the time had been recovered before we got to CKN.
On 1L48 tickets & railcards were checked shortly after departure from HON.
Just after leaving GIL the guard walked through the train checking that TIS^‡(resolve) pax were in the correct (front) unit. Opposite us the guard encountered a passenger, whose 1st language was not English, who was travelling from GIL to SSD via CLJ and clearly wasn’t entirely sure about their itinerary. He took some time to explain that a change at CLJ onto a VXH service followed by a transfer onto the TfL^» (Transport for London - about) Victoria Line to Tottenham Hale was required and printed out a detailed journey plan. And also made sure the individual was aware that they needed to move to the (attached) front unit after SAL to permit alighting at CLJ. Top work!

Return - 10/03/24
BSK 1307 (OT)>EXC 1538 (OT) : 1L33 WAT>EXD : 1 x 159/0 + 2 x 159/1 (9 Cars BSK>SAL), 2 x 159/1 (6 Cars SAL>EXC)
EXC 1555 (OT)>DIG 1600 (OT) : 2F16 PGN>EXM : 1 x 166/2 (3 Cars)

Checking RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website) before leaving for home saw that Exeter-bound services were being significantly delayed by a signalling fault between TMC & SHE but fortunately this had cleared before we got to the area. The only effect was a brief hold at Wilton while 1L44 cleared the single line section and a couple of minutes delay at Tisbury Loop waiting for 1L48 to pass.

A couple of observations; it really is about time SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) reintroduced some level of on-board catering service on the West of England Line services. And Network Rail need to at least investigate the possibility of reinstating the 2nd platform at TIS - it would require the extension of the Tisbury Loop by c.350-400m - to obviate the nonsense of trains having to stop twice within 1-2 minutes.

Was there any information / discussion concerning the circumstances which resulted in the PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains)<>RDG^‡(resolve) infrastructure ending up in such a parlous state?

Visited Montpellier in October 2017 - a rugby weekend of course - and even then was very impressed with the developing public transport network so this comes as no surprise.   

As per my recent posting in http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=17250.0

Last Friday, 16th February, SWTSMBO^▸ (She Who Thinks She Must Be Obeyed) and I returned to Exeter (DIG) from Leeds via London (KGX & PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains)).

Our first train 1A26 was 41 minutes (RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website) data) late arriving at KGX. Our booked connection from PAD (1C85 1436 to PGN) was missed (by 2 minutes!). Had we made the connection arrival at DIG would have been On Time @1728.

Our rebooked train from PAD (1C86 1503 to PNZ) arrived at EXD^» (Exeter St Davids - next trains) 3 minutes late @1718 and we took 2F27 1739 to EXM arriving at DIG @1756, 28 minutes later than scheduled.

The E2E delay was entirely the responsibility of LNER^» (London North Eastern Railway - about), because none of the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) trains were significantly delayed, but I have only been able to claim Delay Repay (DR) for the LDS>KGX sector because LNER only pay out for delays of 30 minutes or more whereas the GWR threshold is 15 minutes. I assume this is, rather annoyingly, permitted because LNER don't run 'local' services.

A geologist writes.....

Whichever Ministerial representative(s) had been nominated to this media event need a good slap for such an abject example of political cowardice. As stated in previous posts within this thread, and in the wider world of common knowledge, sinkholes, and indeed larger caverns up to and including underground waterways, are not exactly rare in significant areas of strata composed largely of calcium carbonate. AKA^▸ (also known as) Chalk in this instance.

They should have turned up and been prepared to explain why such small scale fissures are/were not really an issue.

I would bet that if UK^▸ (United Kingdom) winter rainfall continues as recently the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page), and others, will have to scaremonger repeatedly long after HS2^▸ (The next High Speed line(s)) construction has been completed. 

12/02/24 - 16/02/24 Visiting The Family In Yorkshire
A varied portfolio of problems, but some good stuff.

Tickets
2 x Senior Railcard Advance Single DIG>PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains) £73.20
2 x TfL^» (Transport for London - about)» NR^» (Network Rail - home page) Railcard Oyster^▸ (Smartcard system used by passengers on Transport for London services) Off-Peak Single PAD>KGX £2.50
2 x 1st Class Senior Railcard Advance Single KGX>LDS £70.30
2 x Senior Railcard Anytime Day Single FZW>LDS £7.30
2 x Senior Railcard Off-Peak Day Single HGT>KNA £5.00
2 x Senior Railcard Off-Peak Day Single LDS>YRK £24.20
2 x Senior Railcard Advance Single LDS>GRA £26.50
2 x Senior Railcard Advance Single GRA>DIG £43.50

While in Yorkshire we made extensive use of our ‘crinklies’ Bus Passes; many of the services we used ran every 10 minutes.

Outward - 12/02/24
DIG 0943 (0942)>EXD^» (Exeter St Davids - next trains) 0955 (0955) : 2T12 EXM>PGN : 2 x 150/2 (4 Cars)
EXD 1015 (1040)>PAD 1229 (1338) : 1A78 PNZ>PAD : 1 x 800/0 (5 Cars)
TfL H&C Line Train
PAD>KGX
KGX 1333>LDS 1545 - Booked Connection Missed, Rebooked On:
KGX 1433 (On Time)>LDS 1652 (1658) : 1D18 KGX>LDS : 1 x 800/1 (9 Cars)

The 2T12 trip was largely uneventful although I did notice that the on-train PIS^▸ (Passenger Information System) was out of step by +1 stop (e.g. Next Station SJP rather than POL). While at DIG however I checked RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website) and discovered that our PAD service had departed PNZ 24 minutes late. This was later ascribed to a road vehicle hitting the level crossing at HYL although online info is almost entirely lacking. Anyway 1A78 was delayed by a further 6 minutes between PAR & LOS and reached PLY^» (Plymouth - next trains) 31 minutes late. I assume because of this delay the scheduled addition of a 5 coach IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train) was cancelled (nice work GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)!). Not surprisingly on reaching EXD the service was already very busy and both reservations & catering were binned. Further time was lost at TVP & TAU^» (Taunton - next trains) getting pax off & on the rammed train and then after NBY^» (Newbury - next trains) we followed the late running 2K35 all the way to RDG^‡(resolve) where 1A78 arrived 56 minutes down. And the icing on the cake? Some slow running on the way to PAD after a Passenger Assistance Alarm was tripped and arrival at our destination was 69 late.
We just missed the 1403 LNER^» (London North Eastern Railway - about) train to LDS but got a rebooking on the 1433 service from an extremely efficient and helpful ticket office rep. 1D18 ran to time, or early, as far as OUT after which congestion on the approach to LDS resulted in an 8 minute late arrival. The area in front of Leeds Station is one massive building site!

Local Trip - 12/02/24
FZW 2146 (On Time)>LDS 2213 (2210) : 2B86 DON>LDS : 1 x 331/0 (3 Cars)
The 331’s provide a very pleasant travelling experience.

Local Trip - 13/02/24

HGT 1605 (1606)>KNA 1614 (1615) : 2C46 LDS>YRK : 1 x 170/4 (3 Cars)
We were going to catch the preceding 1535 train but that was terminated at HGT due to a crew issue. The Knaresborough railway viaduct, and the rest of the River Nidd gorge, is definitely worth a visit.

Local Trip - 14/02/24
LDS 1116 (1120)>YRK 1147 (1149) : 2T13 LDS>YRK : 1 x 195/1 (3 Cars)
We had intended to use the 1108 XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) train (to EDB) but on arrival at LDS that service was full & standing. Just as well we didn’t bother as that train hit YRK 47 minutes late due to congestion resulting from a fatality on the line near Durham. When we got to YRK I don’t think there were any clear platforms.



Return - 16/02/24
LDS 1115 (1148)>KGX 1328 (1408) : 1A26 LDS>KGX : IC225 (9 Cars)
TfL H&C Line Train KGX>PAD
PAD 1436>EXD 1659 - Booked Connection Missed, Rebooked On:
PAD 1503 (On Time)>EXD 1715 (1717) : 1C86 PAD>PNZ : 1 x 802/1 (9 Cars)
EXD 1739 (On Time)>DIG 1757 (1756) : 2F27 PGN>EXM : 1 x 150/2 (2 Cars)

At LDS the inbound service - 1D06 from KGX - was delayed by 53 minutes due to a landslip south of Grantham. It took LNER only 10 minutes to turn the service around - an excellent bit of work - so we departed 33 minutes late. Lost some time en-route, particularly on the approach to KGX where we arrived 41 down. Had to wait for the 2nd tube train at KGX - first one was to Uxbridge - which then also had an extended stop at Edgware Road so we missed the 1436 by 2 minutes. Got rebooked on the next train OK but the GWR rep who processed the change seemed like they wished they were somewhere else.
On 1C86 the reservation info was activated late (after departure) and there was no Standard Class catering (crew shortage, aka not coming to work ‘cos it’s half-term!). Arrived at EXD 3 minutes late because although the service was 7 minutes early at East Somerset Junction it then lost all that time and more following the preceding 1C85 which ran late after NBY.
Had things run to plan we would have caught the 1715 train to DIG; I don’t think GWR get any plaudits for having an Exmouth connection leaving at exactly the same time as the London train arrives especially as the local service then waits at EXC for 5 minutes.

I think my abiding memory from the rail aspects of this trip will be the contrast in the demeanour of the LNER & GWR ticket office reps involved.