There's an article in this month's Rail magazine with some of the people working on Project Brunel (the project tasked with improving the performance of the infrastructure between Reading and Paddington). Fairly interesting read.

My main recollections: undergrowth was cut back that was tripping the OLE^▸ (Overhead Line Equipment, more often "OHLE"), too many/heavy trains using it (broken rails), pigeons nesting in bridges culled particularly at Ealing Broadway as they were tripping the OLE when a train passed, 777 axle counters replaced that still get loose, but are monitored/tightened before they fail again, addressing wet bed issues to do with drainage being covered over when track was realigned.

This may not have been the sentiment intended or I misread it: the team want to maintain the current level of progress without slipping back (!).

When FirstGroup MTR^▸ (Mass Transit Railway, based in Hong Kong) took over, these complimentary tickets (looked a bit like old library tickets in form) were no longer issued, but they would be honoured. As I remember it, they needed to be presented with an annual season ticket. As of yesterday though, they become museum pieces as DFTO will not accept them.

0612 Gatwick Airport to Reading terminated short at Redhill (it's DOO^▸ (Driver-Only Operation (that is, trains which operate without carrying a guard)) between Gatwick and Redhill) then headed to Reading ECS^▸ (Empty Coaching Stock), so it may be safe to assume it's the lack of a guard for that one which was a 3-car. The next train, the 0759 is a 2-car. Train faults/crew shortage seem to be creeping in regularly/daily on the North Downs' Line. With a relatively frequent frequency compared to some, may not be a problem. Not sure I'd be relying on it if I had a flight to catch, however.

I have a strong feeling the "Stations Change" programme is lurking in the background still.

When new properties are added (as it seems in the Godstone case) water companies can increase the pressure in the main which leads to burst pipes; something else to add to their ongoing charge sheet if that is the case.

Had a £5 off my first train ticket booking promotion from Uber yesterday which I used. Booked a ticket for under that value and it needed me to authorise £0.00 before completion. Appreciate that's not using Uber credits, but seems like there is an issue if it wants the full amount.

You will be able to get the difference back if you haven't already made a claim in the previous 12 months. Supply evidence to the relevant TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company). There's an old MSE article here (doesn't look to be many offical TOC pages detailing this - but can confirm I have successfully got my money back in the past): https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2017/03/forgetful-railcard-users-now-able-to-claim-refunds-if-theyre-told-to-pay-full-fare/

8. Portsmouth, The Hard Interchange.

There's a pub just around the corner where I had a really nice curry many moons ago, The George, but google says it's temporarily closed, unfortunately.

I didn't realise there were actually 90 sets... so 20 more than I thought doing nothing.

All 70 sets will be in service from tomorrow then? Fantastic. Oh wait...

I'm reminded of Covid era timetabling where frequency across routes were slashed, but were still subject to cancellations for all the other usual reasons creating even larger gaps between services. I've reluctantly voted to leave things as they are, but fully understand that this unreliability is driving (literally) people away, especially at weekends.

https://maps.app.goo.gl/Qu7DpDenxYf8NCRcA ...which can be accessed down those steps; I vaguely remember a post of the forum about the lack of decent signage!

It will depend on the TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company), so in the Blackfriar's case that is the ticket. I'd guess GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) would have a similar format ticket to Blackfriars as they're still using STAR, but SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) for example don't have that as a retail sundry and it needs to be done as a manual fare so would look more like a normal ticket.

We obviously see the text in italic a fair bit, but I think that's the first time I've seen the part in bold. I reckon we could just use the bit in bold from now on as the part in italic is trotted out so much as to be implausible.

Apparently the ones in The Sidings (the shopping centre downstairs) are in good nick (probably don't see much use)... if you have enough time to get down there of course.