Just appeared on SWR’s X site


More detail from their website

 
Is the Molli Bahn station Heiligendamm?

 
Hopefully you will give us Katie's reply to that question

 

I’d rather have the top brass from the DfT and Network Rail.  They’re the ones inflicting the misery.

 

Reply just received:


I note ...


... and wonder, if they are only learning of that now, how poor was the reach of their consultation or them taking note of the inputs it generated?

 
An update, from the BBC:

 
I believe a new design of cushion is being considered/trialed for the 'quarter life' refurb that'll be coming up soon.  Worn ones are being replaced ad-hoc.  If you have a 'good' train manager if you mention it to them they can log that seat into the fault app.

I hope that refurb also includes proper buggy space provision and a redesigned bike space hook allowing for thicker rimmed bike wheels.  Normal USB and USB-C charging sockets would also be very useful - Chiltern's ongoing Class 168 refresh is featuring those.

 
Telegraph report has video, with a warning that some may find it distressing:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/d8f0daef75f202c5
('gifted' link, non-subscribers should be able to view I believe)

 
Off the top of my head... (ok from Gemini)

The reason more males than females are color blind is primarily due to genetics, specifically how the genes for color vision are inherited on the X chromosome. This is known as X-linked recessive inheritance.

Here's a breakdown:

Chromosomes and Sex Determination:

Females typically have two X chromosomes (XX).

Males typically have one X and one Y chromosome (XY).

The genes responsible for the most common types of color blindness (red-green color blindness) are located on the X chromosome.

Recessive Trait: Color blindness is caused by a recessive gene. This means that a person needs to inherit two copies of the faulty gene (one from each parent) for the trait to be expressed, unless they only have one X chromosome.

Why Males are More Affected:

Males have only one X chromosome. If that single X chromosome carries the faulty gene for color vision, they will be color blind because there's no second X chromosome to provide a healthy, dominant gene to compensate.

Females have two X chromosomes. If a female inherits one X chromosome with the faulty gene, her other X chromosome usually carries a normal, dominant gene that can compensate, allowing her to have normal color vision. In this case, she is a "carrier" and can pass the gene on to her children, but she is not color blind herself. For a female to be color blind, she would need to inherit a faulty gene on both of her X chromosomes, which is much less likely.


In summary:

Males: 1 in 12 are affected by red-green color blindness.

Females: Only about 1 in 200 are affected by red-green color blindness.

This significant difference highlights the impact of X-linked inheritance on the prevalence of color blindness between the sexes.

 
That's the aqueduct carrying the Bridgwater Canal, fairly adjacent to the swing span across the Manchester Ship Canal, the driver appears to have passed very prominent placemaking cues and also an overhead structure from which hang a set of jangly chains intended to warn people in overheight vehicles, in this case apparently to no effect.

Mark

 
Looks like things are operating normally into Waterloo this morning which is good news. Let’s hope they really have found the fault this time and that it doesn’t happen again.

 

Yes ... we're aware that our balance in this and other aspects differs from both the general population and from rail users.

 
Tuesday July 22


Later (09:30) : this has disappeared from JourneyCheck (though it doesn't merit a "reinstated" listing).

 
You learn some thing new every day,

never gave it a though that window seats suffer from wear more than aisle seats.

I know that HST seats were easily removed and could have been swapped over,

although there was no need because they were spring loaded.

Not sure if when IET's are going for a major service,the seats could be swapped over to even out the wear,

or the alternative is to swap the seats over your self,although not sure how easy they are to swap over.

 
The film Waterloo must be the only blockbuster film that I know,

 that does not come with sub-titles,

even if shown on terrestrial TV.

Please correct me if you have a DVD copy of the film that does have sub-titles.

Surprised considering it was an early 1970's film

 
Am I correct in thinking that this forum is predominantly male?

regarding the colour blindness condition.

Only one in 200 females suffer from the condition 

Not sure why nature has decided that one in 12 males should suffer from the condition,

thankfully I am not one of them.

 

Fair play to the SWR managers concerned for pitching up given the circumstances, it must have been quite uncomfortable for them. Would be good to see Hopwood et al at Paddington (or indeed anywhere!) doing a similar session during a GWR meltdown, seeing (and hearing) what their customers have to put up with at first hand may concentrate a few minds.........

 
P.S.  The x34 from Melksham to Chippenham dropped of not just me but seven others as it went via the station.  Me thinks it should be a standard part of the route .. and through others days too.  While updating the route - Monday to Saturday is serves Trowbridge station but on Sundays it stops short; perhaps Trinity Church would be a better terminus than the back of Sainsbury's?

And adding the morning after ...

Hamburg

The onward train from Hamburg to Odense (the Copenhagen train) only runs every two hours, reservations only, and was fully booked at 16:55 - no valid choice but to wait until the 18:50 which I did. The food court at Hamburg Hauptbahnhof has been a favourite in the past, but this time I chose to sit in the waited restaurant a floor up.  A more relaxed atmosphere with enough tables available for me to take an hour without blocking out someone else. My waitress had the best British accent that I have encountered all day - turns out that Natasha comes from "the Surrey Hills" which usually means somewhere like Effingham or Leatherhead. Restaurant a good choice and food enjoyed - though some confusion in ordering off the German menu brought me a different dish to what I intended.  Washed down with a pint of regular beer, and a pint of alcohol-free beer as I really didn't want to fall asleep on my onward train and miss Odense.

Hamburg is a massive through station though lots of local trains terminate there. The ICE long distance services, for the most part, carry on to terminate at Altona which I guess has the capacity to do that - never been there though. Long distance German trains these days are often "a bit" late - anything from a few minutes to half an hour and more.  And this causes knock-ons waiting for platforms and platform changes. It can be interesting.  The 18:19 from the south end of Platform 12 didn't leave until 18:42 ... so the empty train for my 18:50 to Copenhagen only arrived in at 18:45, and pulled further forward that the platform displays indicated, leading to a sea of people flowing along.  With just two sets of doors in every 3 carriages, all long distance passengers, and almost all seats reserved, it was a wonder we set off only 5 minutes late!  Double wonder because almost everyone had heavy luggage which they struggled with up into the train.

Hamburg to Odense

The only reservation I had been able to get even on the late train was in standard class ... and it turned out that the travel companions I was sharing my bay with had also had to drop back - and were facing a night in Copenhagen Station because they were going to miss the last onward train to Gothenburg ... been away for a long weekend to party and enjoy Hamburg, and to see the museums and memorials in Berlin. They had cases - one so enormous it would not go between the seats.  I moved my pack from the overhead rack to between the seats to give them luggage space, and then they heaven their massive object above our head with the younger bearded one concerned the whole way it would fall on us.  It didn't - I'm here to tell the tale!

Some Danish trains - and this was one - have what looks like the least aerodynamic front end you can imagine - looks like a big tyre or rubber washer sound the frontage.  I'm sure there's a reason.  They are getting a bit mature and things like the power outlets weren't working, and it looked like the train had only limited cleans between runs.  And it's a five hour run from Hamburg to Copenhagen; there's a new tunnel being built under the sea to cut off a huge dogleg and I would suspect that the current service is being managed on cost rather than on developing its market.  It can be done by local trains - change at Flensburg - but on past experience this has proven risky and being stranded there for just shy of 2 hours (connections do not wait) is not recommended to anyone but the hardy.

A buffet man (no trolley but a tray of gooding in a basket on his chest, and a hot water tank on his back) came round once we were in Denmark and it was far too late for me - anyway - getting off at Odense at 22:40.   We felt like we were dallying in places, yet arrived there on time; I characterise the journey as a number of fast express sections with awkward little bits changing from one fast line to another across the border, and then around Frederica where the train takes  the avoiding curve.

And so to the Cabinn Hotel in Odense - not everyone's cup of tea but provides for my needs.  Onwards to breakfast in a few minutes, served (or, rather, buffet selected) in the Penthouse restaurant. Need to catch the 08:29 - defensive scheduling letting me fall back one train during the day and get to my next overnight.

 

Amendment made - sorry, Oxonhutch - not sure how I missed your post in the first place.

Back to the Quiz - 18 is indeed Morchard Road - thank you AMLAG - which leaves just 17, 21, and the late-added 25

 
I would agree that the colours that ontimetrains use - in my example - concern me because of how visible of otherwise they might be to people who are colour blind.  As happens sometimes, what starts as a light hearted question turns out to have some very serious corollaries.

 
Apparently, though, the actual location of that image was on the Madrid Metro.

Never trust anything you read on the internet. 

 

With my apologies for rather hijacking my colleague Timmer's post ... 

I'm sorry if I'm going off on a bit of a tangent here.

Many years ago, in my twenties, I was involved in historical re-enactment societies (mainly English Civil War) which raised considerable amounts of money for various charities from members of the public paying to watch our efforts.

I have posted the link before, out on the forum. There was a Napoleonic War commemorative re-enactment event in London, some time ago, when this image was posted.



It shows many re-enactors, and it was captioned, 'French infantry at Waterloo'.

Getting the context, personally, I was rofl.

 
On one of my most recent trips there were a lot of reserved seats in the carriage I found myself sitting in. I picked one pair which were both showing as green on the display above. However two women turned up and said they had these seats reserved. Looking up they were now showing red which was odd but there was a pair nearby with one green for the aisle showing.

The window seat in this pair was reserved by someone else meaning I was sitting in the aisle seat with my cushion. The seat reservation holder had already turned up and they was sitting in their reserved window seat. As we were passing Ealing Broadway out of the blue my seatmate asked if I would like to swap seats.

Nope I didn’t but I asked him why he did and he said it was the most uncomfortable seat he’d ever sat on. Said he was envious of my cushion and annoyed that there were no spare seats. Situation got worse at Reading as more people got on than got off. He said he may have to stand shortly because it’s that uncomfortable on his arse.

I said his mistake was probably picking a window seat as these are the most popular, and the padding on these (from memory) appears to have suffered the most. At Oxford there were seats available and he moved, revealing that he had basically been sitting on the metal bar underneath the seat. Prodding it with my fingers revealed little if any padding at all.

 
From the BBC:

 
Reading that the signalling at Waterloo has gone down AGAIN this evening so it clearly isn’t fixed which Network Rail said earlier that it had been. See BBC London report starting at 06:30
https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m002g68c

I’d be very concerned if I was travelling to Waterloo tomorrow. There is clearly still a major problem here that still hasn’t been fixed.

 
From Somerset Live



Have First Group made any offers in mitigation such as extending their trains from Taunton ... just asking ;-)

 
From The Independent

 
I share your pain about lack of 1st class indicator for PA bookings, but have never had a failure like that mentioning it in the additional info box.

In my experience, PA call you should station staff book off early to discuss your options. maybe you had told them you were your Mum's carer for the journey. Were the ticket barriers open or closed when you left the station?

 
See also: https://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=30475.msg363433#msg363433 

CfN. 

 

Reported at length on BBC London news tonight.........South Western even had a "Meet the Manager" event today at Waterloo! Perfect timing!