12. is IBM

Think of the inflation that would stoke, as people rush to invest in First Class Anytime Returns, confident of rapidly doubling their money!

Having spent a little while this afternoon tracing the routes of various London Overground lines on Google Earth, I am pleased to say that I didn’t even have to look at the Euston to Watford Junction line, or the Chingford line before discovering that it’s Bethnal Green. A station I’m fairly certain I’ve only ever travelled through, and one that I guess didn’t make much of an impression!

No, that’s a fair point.

I haven’t experienced one of TfWs ‘PRM^▸ (Persons with Reduced Mobility)-lite’ 153s to know what level of modification they’ve received to allow them to continue in service, though I understand there’s a bit more to it than locking the toilet door.

No doubt for the right level of compensation TfW could release some 150s or 158s in return for 153s, but as the goal is to cut costs, I expect GWR will just have to do less with less (or rather fewer) trains. Would love to be proved wrong.

Not that that would matter, were DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) to issue SWR with an instruction that that was what they were to do.

Twelve months ago the withdrawal of the through service between Bristol and Waterloo was unpopular, but it still happened, in the interests of saving money….

I would be amazed to see GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) be allowed (by DfT^» (Department for Transport - about)) to bring back 153s. There’s not just leasing costs; reactivation expenses (heavy maintenance exams probably due as it’s likely their miles ‘in ticket’ will have been run-down prior to their withdrawal), modifications required to make them less non-compliant with accessibility rules, (re-)training of crew and maintenance staff, the requirement to increase depot stores inventories of spares....it certainly wouldn’t be a quick, or a long-term fix. I can’t see it happening.

GWR do have six 3-car 158s which could be reformed as nine 2-car 158s - probably the only easy way of increasing the number of trains in their fleet, and obviously it would come at a cost in terms of capacity where these trains are currently used, for example, the Barnstaple line.

Other potential sources of suitable stock might be SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) (by turning WoE Line trains back at Basingstoke instead of Waterloo, which I’m certain would be unpopular!), or TfW (158s and/or 150s, once they’re available). It’s not looking rosy at the moment

Goathland on the North Yorkshire Moors Railway by the looks of it.

No Whitby trains or Santa Specials there today.

Looks like a fine specimen of a First Great Western blue liveried bench. I also note some original-looking Great Western Railway spear fencing through the window hole in the wall.

No idea on the precise location, but I am intrigued as to what the bench is chained to. Presumably there to prevent it from being thrown on to the running line, rather than to stop someone from thieving it...!

A ‘technical’ non-closure I suspect, as a Wednesdays only rail replacement bus covers for the absent train, leaving West Ealing at 1117 and getting to West Ruislip at 1142, taking only six minutes longer than the train was scheduled to (although much quicker than the final rail service, which left on time but ended up 34 minutes late at West Ruislip - more time for those travellers enjoying one-last-trip to soak up the ambience I suppose?!).

And Bearley where 15 trains per weekday drops to four, while Claverdon loses 16 of its 20 weekday stops. Good way to kill-off demand before you have to justify removing services altogether 

That announcement is very irritating, and sadly not restricted to this particular staircase! Elsewhere in Wiltshire I have encountered it, as well as other stations operated by GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway). I haven’t noticed it elsewhere on the GB^▸ (Great Britain) rail network, although I would hesitate to say with certainty that it’s not out there somewhere causing suffering to the travelling public’s ears (and mental well-being…).

But how do you roll-back a safety initiative once it’s in place? The first accident on one of these staircases after the announcements are switched-off, and the personal injury lawyers can have a field-day.

If that yellow and black tape on the floor is necessary it looks like it needs replacing. If not, removing it would make the immediate area look much more presentable. (Not that it would do much for the surrounding town )

I’m not an expert, but that OLE is certainly on the Western Route.

Taken sometime between July 20th and December 3rd 2021, when GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) had this unit on loan from GTR.

With the help of a mirror, I could possibly name the location too 

Here goes; my first post for a while!

The ScotRail branding on the poster gives a clue as to the location...somewhere in Scotland, and sometime between 2008 when that branding was launched, and the present day.

Overhead, the rusty riveted metalwork suggests rail tracks above, making me think this may be a low-level part of a larger station. And as they don’t build them like that anymore, it must be a station that’s been there some considerable time.

From the clues I’ll hazard a guess that it’s Glasgow Central, but not with any certainty.

If it is, my first visit was back in 1995, but as I recall, flooding had closed the low-level lines at that time, so it’s not a part of the station that I would have visited.

Can’t say that the blue lighting does much to enhance the environment to my eyes - reminiscent of the lighting used to deter substance abuse in public conveniences (perhaps the same thinking here, given Scotland’s problems with this unfortunate issue?).

Well despite leaving Westbury ten minutes late, arrival in Weymouth was on-time.

And no-one else will be inconvenienced by this faulty loo today, because that train spends all afternoon in the Jersey Sidings at Weymouth, prior to hitching a ride back to Bristol on the rear of the last GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) departure of the day from Weymouth.