Train GraphicClick on the map to explore geographics
 
I need help
FAQ
Emergency
About .
Travel & transport from BBC stories as at 00:35 29 Mar 2024
- Bus plunges off South Africa bridge, killing 45
- Easter getaways hit by travel disruption
- Where Baltimore bridge investigation goes now
- How do I renew my UK passport and what is the 10-year rule?
- 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
29th Mar (1913)
Foundation of National Union or Railwaymen (*)

Train RunningShort Run
21:04 London Paddington to Plymouth
Delayed
21:45 Penzance to London Paddington
23:45 London Paddington to Penzance
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 29, 2024, 00:38:11 *
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
[98] West Wiltshire Bus Changes April 2024
[97] would you like your own LIVE train station departure board?
[86] Return of the BRUTE?
[74] Infrastructure problems in Thames Valley causing disruption el...
[53] If not HS2 to Manchester, how will traffic be carried?
[23] 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: Act 3  (Read 3779 times)
grahame
Administrator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 40690



View Profile WWW Email
« on: November 05, 2022, 21:25:43 »

The lights are dimmed, the curtain rises, and where do I find myself tonight?

Logged

Coffee Shop Admin, Acting Chair of Melksham Rail User Group, Option 24/7 Melksham Rep
Bmblbzzz
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 4256


View Profile
« Reply #1 on: November 05, 2022, 22:13:59 »

I, of course, have no idea, so I'm going to have a wild guess but deduced from clues. The signs look like Italian and you've made a theatrical reference. So: Venice (The Merchant of) suggests itself, but it somehow looks too clean. I'm going for Verona (though you make an unlikely Romeo – could you be Mercutio?)

Failing that, it has to "Tauntonio".
Logged

Waiting at Pilning for the midnight sleeper to Prague.
grahame
Administrator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 40690



View Profile WWW Email
« Reply #2 on: November 05, 2022, 22:30:00 »

I, of course, have no idea, so I'm going to have a wild guess but deduced from clues. The signs look like Italian and you've made a theatrical reference. So: Venice (The Merchant of) suggests itself, but it somehow looks too clean. I'm going for Verona (though you make an unlikely Romeo – could you be Mercutio?)

Failing that, it has to "Tauntonio".

The theatric reference was, alas, to Ireland being Act 2 recently, and Act 1 being Faro.  A third journey starts. You are correct in Italy.  NOT all that clean - in fact I found myself half an hour later in what I suspect was the red light district and it was so dishevelled and litter strewn it was untrue.  With a car, the will, and some money I'm totally sure I could have ... never mind, the first two were lacking and the third stayed in my pocket.   Now in a B&B which was pre-booked, harder find than any accommodation I have ever stayed in before and overlooks a typical Italian Courtyard.  Big tall shuttered windows just like we used to have at home at "404" for anyone who visited us there (1999 to around 2018).
Logged

Coffee Shop Admin, Acting Chair of Melksham Rail User Group, Option 24/7 Melksham Rep
JayMac
Data Manager
Hero Member
******
Posts: 18894



View Profile
« Reply #3 on: November 05, 2022, 23:04:32 »

Failing that, it has to "Tauntonio".

Nah. It's Melkshamo
Logged

"Build a man a fire and he'll be warm for the rest of the day. Set a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life."

- Sir Terry Pratchett.
stuving
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 7156


View Profile
« Reply #4 on: November 05, 2022, 23:18:08 »

So it must the shiny new fermata Catania Aeroporto-Fontanarossa.
« Last Edit: November 06, 2022, 00:24:06 by stuving » Logged
grahame
Administrator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 40690



View Profile WWW Email
« Reply #5 on: November 06, 2022, 05:43:57 »

So it must the shiny new fermata Catania Aeroporto-Fontanarossa.

Yes, it is - so new that no-one is using it yet!   Like Cardiff Airport Station (Rhoose) it's not at the airport, and indeed it's not even signposted at the airport as to how to get to it.  Airport information desk closed, staff at a cafe concorse tell me "go out this door" without adding at "wait beside the building works at the temporary bus stop sign for the long term parking shuttle which will take you there". 

Anyway - I go out the door, walk around and find no station.  I ask people who are local and they direct me to a bus at the far end of the terminal building which I had already concluded was probably the city centre bus.  Anyway - walked up there to ask. "No - other end of building" say driver, and as I walk back I see a bus at the stop I am headed back for, which pulls away as I get there - fortunately sees me and stops, lets me on, and confirms he's going to Fontatarossa Station.  The couple who had sent me up to the other end of the terminal were there too - very apologetic and embarrassed!

After driving out of the airport with the other passengers still on board, the bus turns into an obscure side road and there is this magnificent station - just people and signs of life missing, and I am the only one dropped off.   In fact, I thought I was the only one at the station until I spotted a lady up the other platform.  Very modern, very new - but no staff and, err, almost no trains.  Fortunately I had checked my timetable ahead of the journey, knew there was a 19:53.   Also this was confirmed by a next trains display showing the one or two services calling per hour ... and after a 20 minute wait both my 19:53 and a 19:53 headed out of town for the other lady pulled up.  I was still the only one waiting; there was a handful of passengers already on for the 10 minute run into Catania Central.

Logged

Coffee Shop Admin, Acting Chair of Melksham Rail User Group, Option 24/7 Melksham Rep
stuving
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 7156


View Profile
« Reply #6 on: November 06, 2022, 20:02:13 »

Should we expect "shehe'll be cominggoing round the mountainvolcano when she comes because it's there"?
Logged
grahame
Administrator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 40690



View Profile WWW Email
« Reply #7 on: November 06, 2022, 20:50:35 »

Should we expect "shehe'll be cominggoing round the mountainvolcano when she comes because it's there"?


Yes, that will be the answer to tomorrow evening's "guess where I have been".  Services in Sicily are dire-ly infrequent on a Sunday and non-existent on some lines.  Which means that was running was stuffed to the gunwales with people.  Station departure posters list all seven days on one list, and little footnotes in Italian are there for things like "does not run on a Sunday".  I took a day trip on the only practical train to Syracuse and watched the huddle of people who arrived there and who were doing the same trip separately trying to work out their return.   16:01 (an unusual routing and you had to see "Catania" in the small print) or 18:20, of course ;-) ...

Logged

Coffee Shop Admin, Acting Chair of Melksham Rail User Group, Option 24/7 Melksham Rep
grahame
Administrator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 40690



View Profile WWW Email
« Reply #8 on: November 06, 2022, 20:54:00 »

So it must the shiny new fermata Catania Aeroporto-Fontanarossa.

Yes, it is - so new that no-one is using it yet!   ....




I was relieved to see today when we called at the airport station on our way back from Siracuse that about a dozen people got off ... I suspect it may not be much used for the 10 minute hop into Catania, but is starting to build users from and to other cities.
Logged

Coffee Shop Admin, Acting Chair of Melksham Rail User Group, Option 24/7 Melksham Rep
grahame
Administrator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 40690



View Profile WWW Email
« Reply #9 on: November 07, 2022, 09:59:29 »

Should we expect "shehe'll be cominggoing round the mountainvolcano when she comes because it's there"?
Yes, that will be the answer to tomorrow evening's "guess where I have been".  ...

Earlier this morning:

Logged

Coffee Shop Admin, Acting Chair of Melksham Rail User Group, Option 24/7 Melksham Rep
chuffed
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 1499


View Profile
« Reply #10 on: November 07, 2022, 12:03:50 »

On the Circumetnal as we Brizzleonians sez...
Logged
stuving
Transport Scholar
Hero Member
******
Posts: 7156


View Profile
« Reply #11 on: November 07, 2022, 13:06:41 »

At least there's a reassuring lack of emanations!
Logged
grahame
Administrator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 40690



View Profile WWW Email
« Reply #12 on: November 08, 2022, 11:18:27 »

And a taste of today ...

Logged

Coffee Shop Admin, Acting Chair of Melksham Rail User Group, Option 24/7 Melksham Rep
grahame
Administrator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 40690



View Profile WWW Email
« Reply #13 on: November 09, 2022, 06:55:00 »

Have you ever had one of those weeks where the experiences of each day are so many that you don't have time to digest them before the next experience starts?







Logged

Coffee Shop Admin, Acting Chair of Melksham Rail User Group, Option 24/7 Melksham Rep
grahame
Administrator
Hero Member
*****
Posts: 40690



View Profile WWW Email
« Reply #14 on: November 11, 2022, 11:29:19 »

Too many experiences this week to share them all ... seeing how things are done elsewhere in Europe.  Modern trains have sealed double glazing and it's wonderful to travel in comfort and see so much - less easy (you will be thankful) to capture it in a shareable form without reflections from inside the train.







Logged

Coffee Shop Admin, Acting Chair of Melksham Rail User Group, Option 24/7 Melksham Rep
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