The only station named after a river, according to the internet.

Institut Catholique d'Arts et Métiers?

I remember asking my dad one happy Sunday afternoon what YTYTK stood for. I must have been twelve of thirteen.

'You're too young to know', he said, deadpan.
'Aw! Please tell me!' I replied.
You're too young to know', he repeated somewhat more forcefully, and walked away.

Absolutely! For which I am very grateful!

GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) have put out a leaflet specifically for passengers travelling from Stapleton Road and Lawrence Hill to Bristol Parkway. Note that there will be easements for doubling back from Temple Meads to Bristol Parkway.

Well now there's a thing - the only thing I knew for sure about the December Timetable changes was that nothing was changing on the Severn Beach Line... just goes to show how wrong you can be if you take your eye off the ball...

The early bird catches the Barnstaple..!

Thanks Malburian - a little gem!

I think the Station Master is correcting his pronunciation - in the fairly recent past Cirencester was pronounced 'Sissester'.

The next section where General Lee explains how not to be a racist is a bit of an eye-opener...

I'll buy you a crayon-sharpener for Xmas...

Scanning through the Plaid Cymru manifesto, as you do, I came across this under 'Welsh Green Jobs Revolution - Communications Infrastructure:


I'm more intrigued by the 'second phase'... could they really be thinking of going over the hills from Morfa Mawddach to Rhyl?

I can't take all the credit - Carol Durrant in particular has been brilliant at digging out goodies from the old site, and Tina Biggs and Tony Lloyd have been very encouraging.

It's definitely Sodor - I'd say Tidmouth Sheds.

So well-standardised that it is even possible to put diesel fuel in a petrol car, and vice-versa. Just imagine if electric chargers had evolved that way... others may be better-placed to say what would happen if you plugged a DC^▸ (Direct Current) rapid charger into an AC charging circuit.

Well in that case you must continue to use it. Me? I'll stick to 'train station' - do I look good in ripped jeans?

This is one of those Whack-a-Mole topics...

I make no apology for once again referring readers to Michael Quinion's article which covers the etymology of a host of railway terms, on both sides of the pond. Quinion's article is getting on a bit now, but I think the gist of it remains true.

Whether you choose to say 'train station' or 'railway station', almost everyone will know what you mean.

Your choice could however be a dog-whistle to anyone with sensitive hearing: Using 'railway station' might suggest to the listener that you are the kind of person who thinks miles are morally superior to kilometres, or who prefers to know what the temperature is in Fahrenheit (on hot days, anyway), and who secretly misses the half-crown coin. Using 'train station', on the other hand, might make you look like a pensioner dressed in Aeropostale.

Live and let live, I say.

I think this is an interesting debate.

If we were to decide that connection to the rail network should be a right, what would be the limits? A minimum of 8,000 people within a given perimeter? A certain distance from the nearest railhead?

This should not be a zero-sum game. There may or may not be a case for connecting Bristol Airport, or Thornbury, or Calne, but these aspirations should not be seen as competing with each other.