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Sideshoots - associated subjects / Campaigns for new and improved services / Re: Minehead Rail Link Group
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on: Today at 06:52:45
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From Somerset LiveEfforts to improve Somerset's rail services have hit a snag after the government refused to fund better connections to the county's main heritage line. The West Somerset Railway (WSR) runs between Bishop's Lydeard, a few miles outside Taunton, and Minehead via numerous small stations in west Somerset, including the coastal town of Watchet and the villages of Blue Anchor, Dunster and Williton.
There have been numerous attempts to reconnect the heritage services with mainline Great Western Railway (GWR▸ ) services at Taunton, including the trial of a connecting service between Taunton and Bishop's Lydeard in the summer of 2019. Somerset Council and West Somerset Railway PLC jointly submitted a strategic outline business case (SOBC) to the Department for Transport (DfT» ) in November 2024, asking for £137,000 to developer proposals for reopening the link between Taunton and Bishop's Lydeard. |
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All across the Great Western territory / The Wider Picture in the United Kingdom / Re: "The Inspiration Train"
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on: Yesterday at 14:15:01
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Travelling exhibition. Presumably, many destinations to be added to the schedule. (This is another reason why a terminus needs multiple platforms, it'll be disappointing if the Inspiration Train doesn't rock up at Newquay.)
It seems to miss out the current GWR▸ territory completely ... Moor Street and Severn Valley Railway are sorta-close. Wouldn't it be nice if they laid a platform for it to visit at Westbury, where people can visit from 6 different directions, then leave the siding as a legacy to be used to ease congestion at the station and improve services for years to come. |
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All across the Great Western territory / Introductions and chat / Re: Interrail, summer 2025 - daily diary thread of our travels
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on: Yesterday at 11:45:43
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We are now on the ferry from Kiel to Klaipeda ... Greetings from The Baltic. Yesterday by train from Warnamunde to Kiel Hbf, courtesy DB» , on regional trains, with changes in Rostock and Hamburg Hbf. The Interrail Planner gave us alternatives via Lubeck and I would have been tempted if alone, but we had plenty of time, and Henry with us, and a leisurely lunch in Hamburg was order of the day - the food court and shops there make stations in our home are like Bristol and Cardiff look sad, limited and untilitarian. In Kiel, a taxi to the DFDS terminal (yes, an x60 bus would have got us a few hundred metres from that target) and a checkin, bus-to-ship and we were away late evening on the 20 hour crossing to Klaipeda. I am very used to being a foot passenger on ferries; the "Victoria Seaway" is an older ship that has been refitted and is hopping up the 750kms to Lithuania. These ferry crossings often carry school / college groups and this one is no exception - well enough behave teenagers but learning the ways of the world like how a buffet counter works and how to think for themselves and other. I get the feeling that for many of them it's their first release from helicopter parents. A delight rather than anything else to have them along, even if their enthusiasm leaves us as the back of the queue for the one lift on the vessel. Our pass doesn't cover DFDS - but then for Lisa's 15 days in 2 months it's not a day marked off either. And she's already talking about taking a second trip within the three months if we save enough days up - minor issues like inbound and outbound days (but we may come back in via Portsmouth and local tickets from there) and major ones like dog-sitting. Our German experience of train staff with "Henry" - utterly helpful. In places the lifts are limited, and the regional trains with flatter access really helpful. Lisa can manage a few stairs and a short walk - great for getting up to the upper deck and first class area on the double decker trains; standard class tends to be pretty busy (good for DB) with more local traffic - first a bit less dense, but yet largely lacking the characters who stop and chat. Pictures - people-watching (largely) from the last couple of days        |
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All across the Great Western territory / The Wider Picture Overseas / Re: Lessons from the line to Tessin
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on: May 21, 2025, 07:58:52
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Grahame- there's so much material in the linked blog of yours I think it worth posting in full as it would (I am sure) stimulate some worthwhile new threads on this forum. In particular your comments about the different approach to fencing and barriers for safety and security.
Huge number of lessons - and that's only the start of the day! As well as the fencing and crossings, I noted the schedules which allowed time at end-of-line stations. It meant that trains could routinely leave on time and felt more friendly as people waited in the warmth of the train rather than standing on a crowded platform waiting to anxiously join. At the passing station in the middle of the line, trains were unlikely to be late and furthermore the buses connected with the trains in both directions. It would - just - have been possible to set a timetable with just one train, I think. But get disruption and it will be out for hours, unfriendly to wait in poor weather, poor bus connections, and perhaps a service that has to turn back short to get back on timetable (seen that at Severn Beach) Tessin is a small town set inland from Rostock. The little local 2 carriage train runs there every hour, ans it was the one line out from Rostock I had not travelled on; Tessin was just a name.
The train was waiting on platform 11 at Rostock when I got there 20 minutes before it was due to leave (lesson - train arrives in good time and people can get happily seated) (lesson - if a train's in place to start its journey early, it can leave pretty well on time). Rostock Hbf is in parts a mess at present. Only 3 tracks in the large station throat are on place while a big bridge is being worked on, and the station canopies are half missing. People are working on the bridge - away from trains but with trains running (thought - we are very protective in the UK▸ - perhaps even too much??).
A whole load of passengers joined just before the train left - other trains had arrived from further afield on other platforms (lesson - time and arrange trains to connect) and we passed through a maze of pointwork, past the signal box which looked like it's still in use (thought - local train control to aid local working if things are not 100% as planned). Train manager / conductor comes through to check tickets. (lesson - if tickets are routinely checked on train we do not need gates stations with all the expense of equipment and staff).
The tracks all filter out and we find ourselves on a single track in open countryside, 10 minutes of so to the first station. A single lowish platform (but the train has a low floor too and as doors open a shelf / blade is projected agains the edge of the platform to give level access (lesson - quick and easy loading of bicycles, wheelchairs, etc). A bus is waiting literally just across the platform (another benefit of "open" stations) and actually leaves even before our train does (lesson - have buses connect with trains and await their arrival) (lesson - a few extra seconds on the train schedule keeps it on time)
And so we carry on. The countryside is a mixture of man-made production - field of wheat and oilseed and of cows. Apart from the cows, the railway line is unfenced (lesson / thought - why do we fence our minor railways). And there are wooded / forest areas, solar farms and wind turbines. Love the or hate them, this is the modern countryside (question - why don't we have wind farms in Wiltshire?)
After a couple more stations, I feel us pull across to the right and we pull up at Sanitz (b Rostock) and passenger get off. A train coming the other way pulls up into the main platform. Passengers cross the track at the end of the platform on the level off our island platform (question - as smaller passing stations where all trains stop, why do we need subways, bridges, lifts).
On some crossings there are barriers ... lots of crossings in this flat land. Some have half barriers that operate as the train approaches, others have simple zig-zag fences to stop people accidentally running onto the tracks. But mostly the line in open. (thought - if you can walk along the pavement beside road traffic, why does the railway need the extra protection?)
After a minute or two at Sanitz, we carry on. There are colour light signals, but no picking up of a token as you'll see at places like Yeovil and Maiden Newton (lesson - tokenless block is modern and practical and works well) and after a couple more stations we pull into Tessin. Perhaps a dozen people get off - the busy train from Rostock has dropped off people as it's gone along so it's not all that busy at the outer extreme - rather it works as a whole. The driver cuts the engine while the train works for its return time (question - why are engines kept running so often at Westbury and other UK stations?)
The bus stop is across the platform. There's car parking, plenty of sheltered and used cycle space, and the old station building has been repurposed as a restaurant. Like Melksham, the station is a few minutes walk from the town and one of my fellow passengers asks me if I know my way / am lost. A mixture of lack of a common language and an my indication I am good with an international sign and he's on this way (lesson - even a small station can be friendly). |
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All across the Great Western territory / The Wider Picture in the United Kingdom / Re: Taking Train Operation into public ownership - Govt planning from 4.12.2024
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on: May 20, 2025, 08:17:41
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I got one (actually two) emails ... titles Action needed: do you want to keep receiving offers, discounts and travel inspiration? and Sorry. We fixed the link - Action needed: do you want to keep receiving offers, discounts and travel inspiration? It seems that routine travel updates will continue, but under GDPR I have also given the current operating company to contact me occasionally with offers and ideas, and I have to do so again for the new (HMG) operator. On livery it does not need to initially change as the new setup is being done by a transfer to the First / MTR▸ subsidiary company to the government. May be a need to remove "a subsidiary of" tag lines. |
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Journey by Journey / TransWilts line / Re: How to provide capacity and increase service to hourly each way via Melksham
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on: May 19, 2025, 17:49:32
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Picture - train from Wismar to Rostock (in the foreground) pulling out to pass the train from Rostock to Wismar that sits up the platform and will leave once the train going the other way to Rostock has passed it.
Even the curve of the track is right, and there is space where there used to be a second track at Melksham!
Here's another picture from today - I'm seated in the train from Rostock, carrying on beyond Bad Doberan and waiting there at the eastern end of the platform as the train headed to Rostock has pulled in to the western end. We left once it had passed us by on the loop.  |
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Journey by Journey / TransWilts line / Re: 2025 - Service update and amendment log, Swindon <-> Westbury
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on: May 18, 2025, 07:12:33
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18:10 Castle Cary to Swindon due 19:34
18:10 Castle Cary to Swindon due 19:34 will be started from Westbury.
It will no longer call at Castle Cary, Bruton and Frome.
This is due to a shortage of train crew. With crew shortages all over the place, so far the Westbury to Swindon service is doing far better than most today, having said which even a single cancellation on that line leaves a huge gap. I have to personally wonder at why, after so many years, crew shortages seem to be almost routine and look to the management and direction (from inside and outside the TOC▸ ) for having failed to avoid such issues being so frequent, or to cynically have passed them off as an acceptable lack-of-service level. |
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Sideshoots - associated subjects / The Lighter Side / Re: Where am I today, 17.5.2025
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on: May 18, 2025, 05:52:39
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Harlington Haven and Amsterdam Centraal - both, yes. For the afternoon, I took the train out from Amsterdam to Leeuwarden then a semi-random regional branch line which I lucked out on. A part I have never seen / looked at before. The flat picture with the cows is in this area - I don't have an exact locations. The final picture is at Zwolle where I changed trains - would not expect anyone to have identified that. Onwards today ...
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All across the Great Western territory / Buses and other ways to travel / Security - plane v train
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on: May 17, 2025, 12:13:54
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BBC» story of a journalist given the wrong boarding pass, not picked up by gate passes, and the kerfuffle that ensues. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp3q5kqj80vo . Can't help contrasting it to the mode I'm in today - "I think I'll get on that train", find its time and put in in my planner. Took the 10:00 out of Amsterdam which has a Berlin destination. As Lisa is still in the Amsterdam relaxing for the day, I got off at Amersfoort and am now on a local train - oh, never mind to where, the point is the contrast in security. Their has been a brief ticket check, but being asked for ID on these trips does happen but is rare as hen's teeth!
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Journey by Journey / TransWilts line / Re: 2025 - Service update and amendment log, Swindon <-> Westbury
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on: May 17, 2025, 11:51:34
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11:05 Swindon to Westbury due 11:48
12:17 Westbury to Swindon due 13:01
12:17 Westbury to Swindon due 13:01 will be cancelled.
This is due to a points failure. Can't get the train out of platform 2?? Greetings from the Dutch traveller where I have proof that connections don't always work here. I have just HAD TO DROP BACK to a train 7 minutes later that I planned. It's a DIS-GRACE  |
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