Train GraphicClick on the map to explore geographics
 
I need help
FAQ
Emergency
About .
Travel & transport from BBC stories as at 13:15 28 Mar 2024
- How do I renew my UK passport and what is the 10-year rule?
* Man held over stabbing in front of train passengers
- Easter travel warning as millions set to hit roads
Read about the forum [here].
Register [here] - it's free.
What do I gain from registering? [here]
 02/06/24 - Summer Timetable starts
17/08/24 - Bus to Imber
27/09/25 - 200 years of passenger trains

On this day
28th Mar (1988)
Formal end to carrying coffins by BR (link)

Train RunningCancelled
11:16 London Paddington to Cardiff Central
11:23 Weston-Super-Mare to London Paddington
11:50 Cardiff Central to London Paddington
12:15 London Paddington to Cardiff Central
12:30 London Paddington to Weston-Super-Mare
13:00 Bristol Temple Meads to London Paddington
13:15 Swindon to Westbury
13:26 Weston-Super-Mare to London Paddington
13:30 London Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads
14:19 Westbury to Swindon
15:14 Swindon to Westbury
Short Run
08:03 London Paddington to Penzance
10:35 London Paddington to Exeter St Davids
10:55 Paignton to London Paddington
11:23 Portsmouth Harbour to Cardiff Central
11:48 London Paddington to Carmarthen
12:03 London Paddington to Penzance
12:12 Salisbury to Bristol Temple Meads
12:32 Exeter Central to Okehampton
12:42 Bristol Temple Meads to Salisbury
12:46 Avonmouth to Weston-Super-Mare
13:03 London Paddington to Plymouth
13:07 Salisbury to Bristol Temple Meads
13:10 Gloucester to Weymouth
13:26 Okehampton to Exeter Central
14:05 Salisbury to Bristol Temple Meads
16:19 Carmarthen to London Paddington
Delayed
09:37 London Paddington to Paignton
10:04 London Paddington to Penzance
10:23 Portsmouth Harbour to Cardiff Central
11:29 Weymouth to Gloucester
11:30 Cardiff Central to Portsmouth Harbour
12:27 Okehampton to Exeter Central
12:28 Plymouth to Gunnislake
12:30 Cardiff Central to Portsmouth Harbour
14:30 Cardiff Central to Portsmouth Harbour
PollsOpen and recent polls
Closed 2024-03-25 Easter Escape - to where?
Abbreviation pageAcronymns and abbreviations
Stn ComparatorStation Comparator
Rail newsNews Now - live rail news feed
Site Style 1 2 3 4
Next departures • Bristol Temple MeadsBath SpaChippenhamSwindonDidcot ParkwayReadingLondon PaddingtonMelksham
Exeter St DavidsTauntonWestburyTrowbridgeBristol ParkwayCardiff CentralOxfordCheltenham SpaBirmingham New Street
March 28, 2024, 13:19:28 *
Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.

Login with username, password and session length
Forgotten your username or password? - get a reminder
Most recently liked subjects
[151] West Wiltshire Bus Changes April 2024
[85] would you like your own LIVE train station departure board?
[58] Return of the BRUTE?
[49] If not HS2 to Manchester, how will traffic be carried?
[46] Infrastructure problems in Thames Valley causing disruption el...
[36] Reversing Beeching - bring heritage and freight lines into the...
 
News: the Great Western Coffee Shop ... keeping you up to date with travel around the South West
 
   Home   Help Search Calendar Login Register  
Pages: 1 [2]
  Print  
Author Topic: Petition - Railcard for train spotting?  (Read 5266 times)
TaplowGreen
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 7743



View Profile
« Reply #15 on: July 27, 2020, 06:30:12 »

I think trainspotters are looked upon with affectionate bemusement rather than in a derogatory way.

There's a hierarchy too. Line bashers look down on those who collect loco numbers. Loco spotters look down on carriage spotters. Carriage spotters look down on those who collect freight wagon numbers. And they all look down on bus enthusiasts.

.....that helps to explain the bemusement.
Logged
Phil
Global Moderator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 2042



View Profile
« Reply #16 on: July 27, 2020, 10:47:09 »

I think a Railcard scheme would be a good idea so that genuine trainspotters could be recognised

I have to say that in my experience, it doesn't require a railcard to recognise a rail enthusiast - and I'd imagine that staff are even more adept at spotting them than I am. I'm fairly sure at Westbury for example (where I spend most of my time getting on or off or just waiting) that most of the regulars are known to the staff there by name.
Logged
Clan Line
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 858



View Profile
« Reply #17 on: July 27, 2020, 11:36:31 »

Bad idea !!

Any person has a right to access a station (except in emergency - terror/UXB/accident/etc). A card makes it all to easy for that right to become a paid for "privilege" which any jobsworth on a barrier can remove. The very liberal interpretation of the Penalty Fares system in some locations already seems to point that way.

I have had several meaningful discussions with barrier staff about accessing a platform when not travelling - when I asked for the Duty Manager I was invariably let through !
I would have no objection to purchasing a platform ticket (at 1d ?  Wink) - but I know at least one of my local TOCs (Train Operating Company) (SWT (South West Trains)) had told their staff not to sell them. Didn't that break the rules about ticket sales ? Another TOC (FGW (First Great Western)) thought I was bonkers when I asked if I could buy a  platform ticket - at an "open" station ! When I explained that I didn't actually want one, I just wanted to know if they would sell me one, they said they could.
Logged
grahame
Administrator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 40690



View Profile WWW Email
« Reply #18 on: July 27, 2020, 11:53:03 »

Any person has a right to access a station (except in emergency - terror/UXB/accident/etc). ....

Not quite ..."Withdrawal of Implied Permission"

From Byline Times

Quote
Homeless people risk being banned from their local train station under an increasingly used order called a Withdrawal of Implied Permission (WIP).

Data obtained by Byline Times shows that between 2013 and the end of 2017 483 people were banned from train stations under these orders. Although the number issued dropped after the first year they were introduced, it has steadily increased since 2015.

Withdrawal of Implied Permission orders are designed to be used against people engaging in ‘anti-social behaviour’ but there are concerns they could disproportionately target homeless people. Examples of behaviour that could lead to an order being issued have been listed on notices in various train stations. As well as offences such as shoplifting the examples include: begging, loitering, persistent rough sleeping and alcohol related crimes.

In 2016 British Transport Police working at London Victoria station tweeted a picture of such a notice while commenting that “begging in and around the station could result in a 6 month ban” and encouraging people to report “unwanted behaviour”.

I'm not sure of the procedure for issuing these notices, but they do exist and include "loitering" in the list of reasons for their issue which is, after all, what train spotters do in the gaps between services ...
Logged

Coffee Shop Admin, Acting Chair of Melksham Rail User Group, Option 24/7 Melksham Rep
Robin Summerhill
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 1145


View Profile Email
« Reply #19 on: July 27, 2020, 12:13:56 »

I’m not sure that anyone has a right as such to enter a station because they are on private land.

One clearly has a right to enter a station if you have bought a ticket, because you have then entered into a contract with a company to take you somewhere by rail. In order to access their service, you need then to enter the station. But that is for a specific purpose and not a general right.

You would not expect to be allowed to go airside in an airport to watch planes. You can watch them quite satisfactorily from landside, in exactly the same way as you could watch trains from outside the station.

It is sometimes forgotten that in previous years canal towpaths were just as private as railway land when it came to public access. Those rules tended to be overtaken by events as the canal networks were formally abandoned and became derelict, but they were still technically in place.
Logged
stuving
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 7155


View Profile
« Reply #20 on: July 27, 2020, 12:16:59 »

Bad idea !!

Any person has a right to access a station (except in emergency - terror/UXB/accident/etc). A card makes it all to easy for that right to become a paid for "privilege" which any jobsworth on a barrier can remove. The very liberal interpretation of the Penalty Fares system in some locations already seems to point that way.

I have had several meaningful discussions with barrier staff about accessing a platform when not travelling - when I asked for the Duty Manager I was invariably let through !
I would have no objection to purchasing a platform ticket (at 1d ?  Wink) - but I know at least one of my local TOCs (Train Operating Company) (SWT (South West Trains)) had told their staff not to sell them. Didn't that break the rules about ticket sales ? Another TOC (FGW (First Great Western)) thought I was bonkers when I asked if I could buy a  platform ticket - at an "open" station ! When I explained that I didn't actually want one, I just wanted to know if they would sell me one, they said they could.

A platform ticket is not a ticket - not in the sense used in the RSP TSA (Ticketing and Settlement Agreement.), anyway. The definition therein says:
Quote
Ticket means a document which evidences the Purchase of a Fare, an Excess Fare or an Upgrade or certain types of Reservation.

The rules about ticket sales apply to tickets in that sense, conferring a right to travel. A platform ticket would be some kind of barrier pass, a local matter for the station operator (at least in principle).
« Last Edit: July 27, 2020, 13:26:35 by stuving » Logged
paul7575
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 5316


View Profile
« Reply #21 on: July 27, 2020, 12:40:57 »

Not much of a trainspotter if he doesn’t realise that a “railcard” is the thing you use to get a discount off a fare.   Huh

What he really wants is some sort of “photo”, “ID”, or “membership” card, but please not a railcard...

Paul
Logged
Bmblbzzz
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 4256


View Profile
« Reply #22 on: July 28, 2020, 00:45:59 »

Choose trains
Choose a ticket
Choose a railcard
Choose a discount
Logged

Waiting at Pilning for the midnight sleeper to Prague.
onthecushions
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 977


View Profile
« Reply #23 on: July 28, 2020, 14:47:11 »

There's always the Ian Allan Loco-spotters club that NR» (Network Rail - home page) could revive, complete with badge (in six regional colours), membership card and solemn undertaking to obey this rule:

 Members of the club will not in any way interfere with railway working or material, nor be a nuisance or hindrance to their staff, nor, above all, trespass on railway property.

You needed a 1/3d postal order and SAE with 41/2d stamp.

How much have we lost.

OTC

Logged
grahame
Administrator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 40690



View Profile WWW Email
« Reply #24 on: July 28, 2020, 15:00:59 »

There's always the Ian Allan Loco-spotters club that NR» (Network Rail - home page) could revive, complete with badge (in six regional colours), membership card and solemn undertaking to obey this rule:

 Members of the club will not in any way interfere with railway working or material, nor be a nuisance or hindrance to their staff, nor, above all, trespass on railway property.

You needed a 1/3d postal order and SAE with 41/2d stamp.

How much have we lost.

OTC


The Rail Rider's Club - https://www.railriders.club/rail-riders-benefits - is back.  But the point of the rail"card" was / is for train spotters who station themselves at - err - a station and do not ride.   

The new "Rail Riders" is for the John Cleese of this world, where the Ian Allan club was for the Ronnie Barkers.  There's probably a club for the Ronnie Corbetts to stand on the street corner and watch the buses go by.
Logged

Coffee Shop Admin, Acting Chair of Melksham Rail User Group, Option 24/7 Melksham Rep
stuving
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 7155


View Profile
« Reply #25 on: July 28, 2020, 17:59:51 »

How much have we lost.

OTC

Yes - it's called the past. It does that all the time.
Logged
grahame
Administrator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 40690



View Profile WWW Email
« Reply #26 on: August 01, 2020, 09:40:41 »

A new group just started on FaceBook

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1182062955503754/permalink/1182068055503244/

Quote
RIGHTS FOR RAIL ENTHUSIASTS

I have started this group because of on going issues at Swindon GWR (Great Western Railway) station about being allowed on to the platforms to photo and spot trains (both before COVID19 and after)

For me and other men and a few ladies going to your local station to see the trains is all some of them have to do in their senior years ,for me it is good for my well being and my mental heath plus a social event,

This should be taken into account by the train companies when deciding the rules.

Swindon had a manager who disliked rail enthusiasts;but she has now gone but things have not changed a great deal

Of course the barriers are there to stop fraudulent travel but there are cameras all over if they want to keep an eye on us and if you break the rules you will be banned

GWR Have a heart please !!!
Logged

Coffee Shop Admin, Acting Chair of Melksham Rail User Group, Option 24/7 Melksham Rep
Rhydgaled
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 1500


View Profile WWW
« Reply #27 on: August 19, 2020, 20:48:11 »

The number of rail enthusiasts out to see the daily Class 80x Azumas (Brand name for Class 80x trains on LNER) at 0540 from Edinburgh Waverley and 1000 from London King's Cross really isn't a cause for concern.
Has the northbound service had its name reinstated then? The last time I looked (some time ago now) only the 05:40 Edinburgh to London was marked as The Flying Scotsman on the timetable.

Lateral thinking - existing railcards to be "smart" and include a platform ticket in their benefits - swipe in and out at gates.  And a new railcard for those who don't othewise qualify - perhaps a slightly higher price than the normal ones - with the platform ticket / card withdrawn on misuse such as on travelling with a railcard but no ticket.
Much better idea than having to pay for a platform ticket and useful for other things too.

Any person has a right to access a station (except in emergency - terror/UXB/accident/etc).
Then why are ticket barriers allowed? They imply that the only persons who have a right to access the platform are rail staff and passengers with a valid ticket.
Logged

----------------------------
Don't DOO (Driver-Only Operation (that is, trains which operate without carrying a guard)) it, keep the guard (but it probably wouldn't be a bad idea if the driver unlocked the doors on arrival at calling points).
Do you have something you would like to add to this thread, or would you like to raise a new question at the Coffee Shop? Please [register] (it is free) if you have not done so before, or login (at the top of this page) if you already have an account - we would love to read what you have to say!

You can find out more about how this forum works [here] - that will link you to a copy of the forum agreement that you can read before you join, and tell you very much more about how we operate. We are an independent forum, provided and run by customers of Great Western Railway, for customers of Great Western Railway and we welcome railway professionals as members too, in either a personal or official capacity. Views expressed in posts are not necessarily the views of the operators of the forum.

As well as posting messages onto existing threads, and starting new subjects, members can communicate with each other through personal messages if they wish. And once members have made a certain number of posts, they will automatically be admitted to the "frequent posters club", where subjects not-for-public-domain are discussed; anything from the occasional rant to meetups we may be having ...

 
Pages: 1 [2]
  Print  
 
Jump to:  

Powered by MySQL Powered by PHP Powered by SMF 1.1.2 | SMF © 2006-2007, Simple Machines LLC Valid XHTML 1.0! Valid CSS!
This forum is provided by customers of Great Western Railway (formerly First Great Western), and the views expressed are those of the individual posters concerned. Visit www.gwr.com for the official Great Western Railway website. Please contact the administrators of this site if you feel that the content provided by one of our posters contravenes our posting rules (email link to report). Forum hosted by Well House Consultants

Jump to top of pageJump to Forum Home Page