Channel 5 documentary, 'The Railway: First Great Western'

[whole diary]

[anthony215]

It was a class 165/166 FGW^▸ (First Great Western) used them on the extras between London and Castle Cary last summer.

Basically the producers kept switching between shots of a hst and the turbo's. This problem was picked up with last weeks episode.

Next weeks episode looks like it will be great as we see a familiar face from the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) railway documentary

[JayMac]

Russ or Ross in Lost Property, Bristol?

Introduced by voiceover and caption as Russ. Thereafter referred to in voiceover as Ross. 

Elsewhere, the familiar faces of the Pullman dining team showing just what the job entails. It's not easy to cook and silver serve food at up to 125mph.

[Thatcham Crossing]

Missed last week's, but watched most of last nights.

Didn't know that the depot in Plymouth was now named after a girl! (it was referred to as "Lara").

The sections on Glasto at Castle Cary, Her Majesty on the St Ives Branch and The Pullman were all a good watch.

I hope they are also going to cover the less glorious parts of the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) world like overcrowding in London/The Thames Valley/Cotswolds, 180's that don't work very well, etc.

Also hope they are going to cover The Night Riviera at some point.

[Super Guard]

I can confirm the Night Riviera does feature at some point.

[stuving]

Russ or Ross in Lost Property, Bristol?

Introduced by voiceover and caption as Russ. Thereafter referred to in voiceover as Ross. 

I read that before watching, and when it came up I couldn't hear any difference in what was said.

So I think you've over-reacted to the narrator's accent, in which the short 'u' and 'o' sounds are very similar (and both are close to a neutral 'ə' vowel). Paul Copley comes from Denby Dale in Yorkshire, though no doubt his original accent has been toned down by a long career as an actor. I imagine he can do a range of accents, and for this national TV production would have adopted a "bloke in the street" mild but friendly one.

That does, however, raise the question of why this distinctive regional accent was chosen for a program with a distinctively regional subject, not a voice with some link to FGW^▸ (First Great Western)'s territory.

[lordgoata]

That does, however, raise the question of why this distinctive regional accent was chosen for a program with a distinctively regional subject, not a voice with some link to FGW^▸ (First Great Western)'s territory.

Itcouldhavebeenworse. Itcouldhavebeenthatguyfromthedepot.

My god did he speak quickly! Dave I think it was ?

[TonyK]

That does, however, raise the question of why this distinctive regional accent was chosen for a program with a distinctively regional subject, not a voice with some link to FGW^▸ (First Great Western)'s territory.

Some link to FGW's territory, m'han'some? Boodful idea, but difficult to choose one pacific aerial, me babber, depending on which frog and toad yer drum's in. Boyo.

Or which of probably a dozen or more distinct main accents within FGW land would fit the bill?

[LiskeardRich]

That does, however, raise the question of why this distinctive regional accent was chosen for a program with a distinctively regional subject, not a voice with some link to FGW^▸ (First Great Western)'s territory.

Welsh? Bristolian? Cornish? London? Somerset? Jethro?

[Brucey]

Has anyone else found the Series Link to go "a bit weird" on this programme?  It records the actual service on Channel Five, then again on Five+1, then the repeat the next week, then the repeat on Five+1.  So I end up with four copies of the same episode

[Andrew1939 from West Oxon]

I understand that the film crew has still not yet finished recording and I have heard that next Saturday, 28 September they will be boarding the CLPG^» (Cotswold Line Promotion Group - about) charter train from the Cotswold Line to the Swanage Line recording material for the 12th and final show in the series. Incidentally, this CLPG charter was originally intended to terminate at Swanage and was thought to be the first HST^▸ (High Speed Train) to traverse the line. It now seems that there are fears that the train could foul the platform at Swanage and it will therefore terminate at Corfe Castle where travellers will transfer to a Swanage Railway heritage train for the final stretch to Swanage.

[Fourbee]

Had to laugh at the passenger last night having a go about lack of ticketing facilities at Reading late at night, then was found with a ticket to Reading West when he allegedly wanted to go to Maidenhead.

[Fourbee]

Also the issue of (Off Peak Day) returns being valid until 0230 the next day got me thinking it should really be a bit later than that. Having to pay an Anytime fare for a service at 0330, say, seems a bit excessive.

Do commuters generally start before 0430, which I believe is the cut-off on Oyster^▸ (Smartcard system used by passengers on Transport for London services)?

[paul7575]

Also the issue of (Off Peak Day) returns being valid until 0230 the next day got me thinking it should really be a bit later than that. Having to pay an Anytime fare for a service at 0330, say, seems a bit excessive.

Do commuters generally start before 0430, which I believe is the cut-off on Oyster^▸ (Smartcard system used by passengers on Transport for London services)?

Currently, on the 'rail system' you'd pay an anytime fare immediately after midnight.  However the 'railway day' now starts at 0000 and lasts 28.5 hours (it changed within the last couple of years), but that's a 4.5 hour overlap and it is significant.  If you buy an off-peak day return ticket at 2359 it will be valid for another 4.5 hours, but one minute later it will be the next day, and offpeak fares will no longer be available.  A pair of passengers who time it wrongly at midnight at a TVM^▸ (Ticket Vending Machine) could end up with an offpeak for yesterday and an anytime for today, IYSWIM...

I do believe (unless recently fixed) that Oyster validity in the middle of the night is somewhat prone to failure, as the 'Oyster day' change is not instantaneous, but varies by time across the zonal network. This leads to random maximum cash fares being charged for uncompleted journeys on the few NR^» (Network Rail - home page) services that do operate overnight, such as on the Thameslink route.  This is because the touch in/touch out system was set up for the tube, which doesn't work at all overnight, so doesn't face the same problems.

Paul

[Timmer]

Had to laugh at the passenger last night having a go about lack of ticketing facilities at Reading late at night, then was found with a ticket to Reading West when he allegedly wanted to go to Maidenhead.

I wasn't laughing. As a fare paying passenger and taxpayer I was rather angry that the railways are losing ^1 billion a year through fare evasion seeing how these people operate to avoid paying fares or paying the approriate price and despite some effort on the part of the TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) something that will continue...bit like shoplifting I suppose.

Sure the program showed them all having to queue to get a ticket to get through the barrier making out that the surprise of having the barriers closed late a night had foiled the fare dodgers but what tickets were they buying?

[Brucey]

Also the issue of (Off Peak Day) returns being valid until 0230 the next day got me thinking it should really be a bit later than that. Having to pay an Anytime fare for a service at 0330, say, seems a bit excessive.

Do commuters generally start before 0430, which I believe is the cut-off on Oyster^▸ (Smartcard system used by passengers on Transport for London services)?

The railway day was recently (last few years) changed to match the Oyster times, with tickets for the previous day ceasing to be valid at 0430 (as pointed out by paul7755).

Unless the passengers were making a journey over one hour, then their tickets would have been valid at that time.

I couldn't work out whether this was an "egg in their face" moment for FGW^▸ (First Great Western) or whether the member of staff was actually correct.