Err - no - Lisa and I will be in Italy / France.   Do we need to check diaries?

https://uk.everythingelectric.show/london



Not terribly sure that it really is EVERYTHING Electric - looking hard for electric buses and trains in the blurb.

Lots of interesting walks - https://www.wessexrailwaywalks.org.uk ... and

Wessex Wanderers Thirtieth Anniversary Summer Get Together - Saturday 5 July 2025


I will add diary notes for just a couple of especial personal interest

Very temped - to choose between - taking a side trip on the bus to Watchet or walking part of the canal towards Bridgwater - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridgwater_and_Taunton_Canal ...

A lot of good intentions are projected from GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) / GBR^▸ (Great British Railways) / DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) / NR^» (Network Rail - home page) but to me so much of the net results will depend on how it's implemented.

26 trains arriving totalling 68 carriages.

We know that some will replace the Castle sets - 3 of those left, perhaps, 12 carriages.  And I hear talk of withdrawal of some class 150 units - GWR operate 20 of these, 2 carriages each, so totalling 40 carriages.  If "Some" turned to "all", that would be 52 out of the 68 carriages spoken for.   That leaves - what - 15 carriages extra, or 3 x 5 car IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train) to be returned to working on lines to(wards) London.   Not quite that simple, perhaps - I'm nt convinced that 5 car IETs are needed on the local services at Ashchurch, so there could be a couple of other carriage released there, and I'm not sure whether a couple of branches such as Looe could actually be operated by any thing except 150s, so perhaps they are not all going?

I was going to quote parts of that - but there are so many parts to quote and comments to make that is was hard to know where to start.

Engineering works DO need to be done. What strikes me is amazing is that alerts come so late in the day that people who have already booked for the Sunday are only now being altered alerted rather than having been cautioned at booking time,  and that "Services may also be cancelled or delayed at short notice." which suggests to me that the process might not have been thought out such that it will work for people who want to travel.


Edit note: Typo corrected, for clarity. CfN.

From Trainline

Headline is "TravelWatch SouthWest" Cancelled - at far shorter notice than is comfortable.  As a director of TWSW^» (TravelWatch SouthWest - website), I apologise - the cancellation is due to multiple things that could not have been foretold or even guessed at a week ago, and as I always say to people "your health comes first" and that expands beyond personal contacts to speakers, organisers, and attendees.

A very difficult decision for our secretariat and chair to make - not one I envy them. 

I am aware that some people have travel plans to Taunton, and that there is a great deal going on (or not) especially with buses in the counties around.  As I had Friday set aside anyway, I'm planning to travel down for the day - a "jolly" perhaps - arriving 11:15 if the train is on time and leaving back around 6 p.m. I had already set up a post-meeting meeting for around 15:30 at The Plough and will still make that - happy to meet other friends too.

Will write more overnight - off to the WWRUG^» (West Wiltshire Rail Users Group - about) AGM^▸ (Annual General Meeting) now!

Turned out to be minimally disruptive.

Yes - I *do* have access to that and am struggling to do an edit


I am - NOT - about to disclose personal information of others, but I note that I have had to pull out of an event I was scheduled to attend at very short notice indeed.  Not often - just once in 25 years - that resulted in the an assembled group being let down on the day. And where specialists are involved - as I was at the time - zero change of finding a standing.


I have already looked at the West Somerset Railway but their season starts the following day.   I also have (decision in the next hour) to decide whether to carry on with my suggested meet up for Wiltshire and Somerset bus groups at The Plough, just down the road, at 15:30 and I am in discussion with others who were going on to that.

 
[/quote]

Sadly, these messages make no reference to what to expect after 12:00 as was, or 16:00 as is. 


would be better as

Just updated https://www.travelwatchsouthwest.org.uk ... and I would be pretty sure that the secretarial team WILL be in touch and dealing with Eventbrite too very shortly.   I broke news here as soon as I heard and was sure of the news.

CANCELLATION - TWSW^» (TravelWatch SouthWest - website) ... This Friday in Taunton. Several speakers have pulled out because of exceptional personal issues, short term "subs" seem to be using up their annual leave before the end of the holiday year and in view of signup numbers in person not being very high the decision was taken to pull the meeting by chair and secratrial team. 

Flagging up as soon as I got the news as "Cancellation" but may turn into a postponement ... to something else but not this week.

Ah yes - that makes some sense.  Not that an IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train) would get drowned at Teignmouth as it might have at Dawlish, but rather these stops were left out because they had become stations on a highly limiting (capacity wise) single line section for the duration of the storm.