The new estate will be about 3 miles from Kemble so absolutely prime territory for cycling. But I wonder if the Coventry VLR trials will tip the balance in future (insert usual gadgetbahn disclaimer here).

£2.5bn "confirmed" for extension through to Cambridge, apparently: https://bsky.app/profile/oxfordclarion.bsky.social/post/3lrdl3pd6kk24

Two interesting current proposals for cycle routes/greenways on former GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) lines in Gloucestershire.

The first is for a greenway from Kingham to Bourton-on-the-Water along the former Banbury & Cheltenham Direct Railway. Sustrans has done a series of studies and there's a very brief summary here: https://www.cotswold.gov.uk/media/jsqoexxc/sustrans-kingham-to-bourton-on-the-water-greenway-design-summary.pdf

The second is along the former branch line from Kemble to Cirencester. Designs are being taken forward in two stages, one from Kemble to a new estate on the edge of Cirencester, the other from there into the town centre. Both have received funding for design work: https://meetings.cotswold.gov.uk/mgConvert2PDF.aspx?ID=10855

Still some way off construction but interesting projects nonetheless.

A brand new railway cycle route in western territory - though an LNWR^▸ (London North Western Railway) line this time rather than GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway). Carmarthenshire Council is building a cycleway along the old Carmarthen–Llandeilo line. The first (Carmarthen-end) half is now open: https://www.carmarthenshire.gov.wales/business/development-and-investment/tywi-valley-path/

Completion to Llandeilo by the end of the year, including two new river bridges. I think this is the biggest new railway path project in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) for some years, though there are a few short paths bubbling under.

The head of Open Access at FirstGroup posts to a Certain Other Forum and is adamant that there are Chinese walls between the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about)-contracted parts of First and the OA parts! Which I'm sure is true.

I think the point is rather that DfT mandated GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) to make savings; the little-used Cotswold through services to Hereford were an easy way to cut a lot of (effectively) dead mileage; and so it happened. Can't blame them at all for that.

But (Chinese walls notwithstanding) First's OA division will be very aware that the gains from Hereford itself are not that huge. Effectively this is a way of running OA services from Bristol Parkway to Paddington, with a little bit of extra revenue from Cwmbran, Abergavenny and Hereford.

2023: GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) (owner: FirstGroup) withdraw two daily services from Hereford to Paddington

2025: Lumo (owner: FirstGroup) propose two additional daily services from Hereford to Paddington

 

I’m currently on a journey from Charlbury to Basingstoke. Lots of the stations appear no longer to have GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) green branding on the signs. Most have FGW^▸ (First Great Western) purple and Cholsey appeared to have nothing at all.

I swear that at least some of these (eg Oxford platform 3) were fully GWR-ed up until recently. Is this a deliberate debranding in anticipation of Great British Railways? Or am I imagining things and these were never GWR green at all?

Arriva's Grand Central arm are apparently applying to run five trains daily each way between Newcastle and Brighton, via Banbury, Oxford, Reading and Gatwick:

https://news.arriva.co.uk/news/arriva-group-submits-open-access-rail-application-to-connect-newcastle-and-brighton-via-london-gatwick

Given that CrossCountry don't show any signs of bringing their own Newcastle–Reading service back up to full strength, good luck to them. Suspect it will be deemed too abstractive though.

(via the Oxford Clarion - https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:sehe5pdc7ptfh5ayttdusqpp/post/3lnmxy7cfqk2x )

More expensive, less comfortable than the alternatives. In the 90s there was a premium for going via London; CrossCountry was the cheap option. These days it seems to be the other way round. Given that a Voyager airline seat doesn't offer enough space to open a laptop fully, there no longer seems to be any advantage in travelling via CrossCountry.

Unless CrossCountry is gifted with a massive new train order (and the drivers/guards to staff them) I think, sadly, there's a strong argument for them concentrating on the core network and trimming a few of the extremities. A joined-up GBR^▸ (Great British Railways) could also look at local operators relieving pressure on some of the XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) pinch-points - for example, a few more GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) Oxford–Banbury services would address the rush-hour crush on the Voyagers right now.

I rather liked this - a day trip to Saint Malo from Portsmouth, with bike:

https://www.reddit.com/r/bicycletouring/comments/1jkxzq9/microtour_brittany/

"Cycled to Cancale without hitting a main road, got some oysters, cycled back, ate a family sized babybel on the beach, washed down with a bottle of local cider."

(French cider is not very strong and the country lanes are very quiet. I don't think there was a serious drink-cycling issue here!)

I think this is the key. A 5-car IET has 290 standard class seats whereas a 3-car 175 has 189. For many of the services 175s will be used on, 189 is more than enough, and an IET is overkill. So I suspect we'll see a train-for-train swap in many cases rather than a carriage-for-carriage swap.

All of that means there should be enough to send the HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)) to the scrapyard (or Mexico); cascade the 158s out of Devon & Cornwall for more capacity around Bristol and on Cardiff–Portsmouth; introduce a bit more slack into the Sprinter and Turbo fleets to cover for parts issues; and return IETs to the duties they were built for. I'd like to hope there'll be four IETs left after all that to run an hourly Oxford–Bristol, but time will tell.

I never knew any of the Camp Hill Flight had individual names!

And the world’s deepest lock is Ust-Kamenogorsk (Oskemen) in Kazakhstan. https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/ustkamenogorsk-lock

(An article pointing this out for the first time was one of the first pieces I ran on taking up the reins at Waterways World back in 200mumble…)

And if 10,000 houses are built around Parkway as projected, even more services might be needed!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hereford-worcester-67214450

Indeed - there were people standing in the vestibules on the 11.10ish departure from Charlbury yesterday. And if/when the proposed new towns at Worcestershire Parkway, Salt Cross, and (I think) near Pershore/Wyre Piddle go ahead, that will bring even more demand.