As a resident of West Somerset, I can see what a phenomenal success the West Somerset Railway is, and understand that they do not want to commit themselves to a project which would compromise their profitability. The most obvious solution I can envisage is one where FGW^▸ (First Great Western)/Network Rail pay for not only the initial investment necessary for the Taunton-Bishop's Lydeard link to meet the requirements for regular scheduled services, but also its ongoing maintenance. This may well depend on whether it is feasible to fit an extended Bristol-Taunton-Bishop's Lydeard service into the timetable, because otherwise they would incur the expense of running extra empty-stock services. The only variation on this solution, which may be a little fanciful, is for FGW, while bearing the cost of the service, to contract out the running of the trains to the WSR - this would have the advantage that the stock is already in place at Bishop's Lydeard, but would, I assume, necessitate the extension of a fully independent WSR track all the way into Taunton in order to exempt the WSR from having to meet national rail requirements.

Do Duck Tour passengers find themselves facing a big bill?

15 - Wylde Green?

I live in hope that I will get on a train and the guard will announce that the quiet coach is Sven Goran Eriksson

Out of desperation, I offer the following totally cynical ploy (if this is cheating, then feel free to withhold the score) :

1. Swindon
2. Pomona, Manchester Metrolink
3. London Paddington
4. Bradford-on-Avon
5. London King's Cross
6. Stevenage
7. Doniford Halt
8. Swing Bridge over Sheepwash Channel, Oxford
9. Stafford
10. Albert Docks, Liverpool

OK - so in the spirit of the game I will try not to give away which ones I know for certain, and which ones are wild stabs in the dark :

1. Slough - I think I can make out Windsor listed on the departure board
2. Canary Wharf - the skyscrapers in the background look familiar
3. Paddington - The Grand Union goes right past it
4. Bradford on Avon - probably. If it is a fake, e.g. a film set, they have found some nice GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) benches
5. King's Cross - platform zero sounds like a ghost story, but I think that this station actually has one.
6. Stevenage - I recognise that glass and brick monstrosity in the background
7. The Hague - with its unique yellow buffer stops
8. The disused swing bridge over the Sheepwash Channel at the north end of Oxford station. I only ever once saw the bridge closed.
9. Coventry - I remember visiting there as part of my manhole-cover research project
10. Wolverhampton - the old GWR station.

I would like to guess at a few of them, but am a bit baffled by the rules. If entrant 1 scores 9, then if entrant 2 knows for certain the one entrant 1 got wrong, even if he did not know the others, he just has to repeat the 9 correct answers plus the amended one. Have I got hold of the wrong end of the stick?

I would love to see regular through trains from Minehead and/or Bishop's Lydeard to Taunton and beyond, but cannot realistically see this happening for some time to come. Mr Conibeare mentions trains "continuing" beyond Taunton onto the WSR, which suggests to me that he envisages the possibility of tweaking the existing  GW^▸ (Great Western) timetable to extend current Taunton terminators to Bishop's Lydeard (I do not think regular running beyond BL would be realistic, because the WSR runs at virtually full capacity in summer). This might make the service more economic to GW, but would it be easy to operate in practice? There are no signal boxes between Taunton and Bishop's Lydeard, but (I believe) two junctions with ground frames. Would this necessitate the GW service carrying a guard or pilotman - perhaps someone versed in signalling practices could explain? In the longer term, is the possibility of WSR themselves running through to Taunton not a more likely prospect?

In any case, I think the primary aim has to be improving access from the national network to the WSR itself, with the benefit to Butlins' clients - at the moment at least - a secondary consideration. Butlins relies heavily on its proximity to the motorway, and while high summer on the M5 is my idea of hell, there is much to be said for the convenience of a big family car packed full of luggage. As for the train attracting customers off the buses, the bus does have the advantage that it drives right into the holiday camp. Butlins is only a moderate stroll along the seafront from Minehead station, but those with heavy luggage might be put off. The line does run right along the back of the camp - perhaps a "Butlins Halt" between Dunster and Minehead would be a possibility!

Hence my comment immediately below the article! Would be nice to have drivers at all major stations on permanent standby, but 15 minutes at that time of night to get hold of someone, do the paperwork etc. sounds fair enough to me.

I always vaguely assumed that the appropriate lamps would be illuminated when the direction of travel is selected. Is this just something that has not been considered worth the bother, or is there a good reason for not implementing it?

Just wondering, but would it be at all feasible to extend the existing platforms northward and have crossovers at the mid-way point to achieve the same flexibility as parallel platforms? I can see that it would involve a lot of signalling and fancy pointwork, not to mention at least partial relocation of the carriage/servicing sidings, but on the other hand it could avoid having to extend the current railway boundaries and virtually rebuild the main buildings.