Recent Public Posts - [guest]
| Re: New station at North Filton - now named as 'Bristol Brabazon' - ongoing discussion In "Bristol and Bath (WECA, now WEMCA)" [379710/24927/21] Posted by WelshBluebird at 12:46, 18th September 2026 | ![]() |
Been included on brfares for a bit now too if you want to see prices etc, and it does let me at least add a ticket to my basket and get to the checkout (though not actually going to waste money trying to actually pay!).
| What's new? request stops! In "The Wider Picture Overseas" [379709/32515/52] Posted by stuving at 12:23, 18th September 2026 | ![]() |
It's headline news today in France that SNCF (for the region of Occitanie) are trialling request stops at some stations in Lozère. My reaction to that is to doubt they have never existed at all in France, even if they are not part of SNCF's standard operating repertoire. I suspect it was common at a lot of little stations until they were closed, many of them in the 1970s line closures.
I can even find its introduction as a trial making the national news in 2020 for Guingamp-Paimpol (but that's only Brittany) and in 2023 at Jassoneix (Meymac), Pérols-sur-Vézère et Montaignac-sur-Doustre in Corrèze. I guess that tells you as much about French journalism as trains!
| Re: Where was Finn today, 16th September 2026? In "The Lighter Side" [379708/32509/30] Posted by Chris from Nailsea at 12:18, 18th September 2026 Already liked by GBM | ![]() |
| Re: Where was Finn today, 16th September 2026? In "The Lighter Side" [379707/32509/30] Posted by Oxonhutch at 12:07, 18th September 2026 | ![]() |
That is one eclectic mixture of balance weights in the locking room, with one far from its native environment.
| Re: Change at Porthmadog for Oban, Fort William and Mallaig. In "The Lighter Side" [379706/32512/30] Posted by Oxonhutch at 11:56, 18th September 2026 | ![]() |
The Welsh part looks correct.
I would not expect my bus company to list a whole load of alterations telling me that a bus on a given route is formed of a double decker rather than a single decker today.
... unless your bus route includes a railway bridge - in which case you might not want to choose a seat upstairs ...

I would love to be able to read into what the rail industry definition of "usual" is
The stock listed in the Working timetable
I don’t really know why they bother listing ‘long forms’ to be honest.
This morning
05:11 Gloucester to Southampton Central due 08:10
Facilities on the 05:11 Gloucester to Southampton Central due 08:10.
This is due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time.
Will be formed of 3 coaches instead of 2.
Facilities on the 05:11 Gloucester to Southampton Central due 08:10.
This is due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time.
Will be formed of 3 coaches instead of 2.
Elements of "Long form" are worth having, though perhaps as an explanatory link. Difficult one where they're looking for a common text between the occasional user who know little about rail and the expert. For reports like this one, I would love to be able to read into what the rail industry definition of "usual" is - not that a change from 2 carriages to 3 is a disruption at all.
To me, that whole entry is just meaningless waffle. It does nothing but bloat an already long list, confuse the occasional user, and provides no real detail for the expert.
I would not expect my bus company to list a whole load of alterations telling me that a bus on a given route is formed of a double decker rather than a single decker today.
| Re: New station at North Filton - now named as 'Bristol Brabazon' - ongoing discussion In "Bristol and Bath (WECA, now WEMCA)" [379702/24927/21] Posted by johnneyw at 11:18, 18th September 2026 | ![]() |
While at Bristol Parkway on Wednesday' I noticed that the on platform Live Track Diagram/Schematic Signal Map used by station staff now included "Bristol Brabazon".
The ticket machine at Melksham Station was offering "Bristol Brabazon" tickets on Wednesday evening.
Interesting. It also shows up on the TrainSplit website but not on the GWR ticket app but I've not managed to find a date that the TrainSplit website will issue a ticket for as yet.
| Re: [OTD] 17th September 1944 - Blackout regulations eased In "Railway History and related topics" [379701/32510/55] Posted by Western Pathfinder at 10:43, 18th September 2026 | ![]() |
Until recently you could have added Pilning to the list !..
While at Bristol Parkway on Wednesday' I noticed that the on platform Live Track Diagram/Schematic Signal Map used by station staff now included "Bristol Brabazon".
The ticket machine at Melksham Station was offering "Bristol Brabazon" tickets on Wednesday evening.
| Re: New station at North Filton - now named as 'Bristol Brabazon' - ongoing discussion In "Bristol and Bath (WECA, now WEMCA)" [379699/24927/21] Posted by johnneyw at 10:35, 18th September 2026 | ![]() |
While at Bristol Parkway on Wednesday' I noticed that the on platform Live Track Diagram/Schematic Signal Map used by station staff now included "Bristol Brabazon".
| Re: Barnstaple to Exeter overcrowding, September 2026 In "Shorter journeys in Devon - Central, North and South" [379698/32479/24] Posted by Mark A at 09:41, 18th September 2026 | ![]() |
Good. Not that the BBC wasn't being rational in fantasising the railway terminating at Braunton with connecting (electric) bus services over the hilly bit.
| Re: Barnstaple to Exeter overcrowding, September 2026 In "Shorter journeys in Devon - Central, North and South" [379697/32479/24] Posted by grahame at 09:32, 18th September 2026 | ![]() |
I've got it. 

Sky said she had to get a train from Braunton at 06:50 to get to Barnstaple in time for the connecting train. She said: "Sometimes you get kicked off the train then you have to wait an hour for the next one."
That would be a bus from Braunton to Barnstaple
Looking back to 1965, there were trains from Braunton to Exeter at 07:23 and 08:28, with an extra from Barnstaple Junction at 07:05. They reached St David's at 08:10, 08:50 and 09:51.
By 1967, there was an 08:18 from Braunton into Exeter at 09:32 and the following train wasn't until 11:35. There was an 06:50 from the Junction arriving in Exeter at 07:49
Today, no trains from Braunton. From Barnstaple Junction at 06:25, 07:22 and 08:35 arriving St David's at 07:30, 08:35 and 09:43.
Artificial Intelligence / un-intelligence has been with us for years - though it's now multiple order of magnitudes more powerful and sophisticated. I can look back to around 1980 and a research project at UMIST which was logging / registering lift usage (see, I was into guided transport in those days - all be it vertical) to help program for vehicles (lifts) to be at the optimum place to provide efficiency in numbers and speeds of wait times, loadings and journeys. It is with us on rail, but still makes a laughing stock of itself from time to time - look at this from Wednesday evening:

That's two trains from the same platform at the same time - no, I don't think so! I - predicted to the folks I was with - that the Swindon train would be 4 or 5 minutes late and, sure, it was. Not a problem for any of us.
Here are two screen shots from earlier in the evening:


Really - the "this train is delayed by 1 minute" stuff is really a case of TMI (too much information) ... and by saying "DELAYED" without any qualification seems designed to worry. Sure, that reverted a few minutes later to "On Time" ...
And look at this when we arrived in Trowbridge:

Nothing automated in there - just an out of date / missing notice. Someone has clearly identified the need for people arriving to know how to call a taxi, but all the work / cost of putting in a notice board is of no presesnt use when the frame is empty. "We know you need taxi numbers, but we're not supplying them". Think that ONE sign saying "Taxi Phone Numbers" rather than three close to each other would have sufficed, and the cost saving could have been invested in supplying the actual data - or how about a dymanic screen that tells you which taxis are running at the time and with availability? Or dare I suggest Uber, who have identified the market
I've got it.

From the BBC:
...
On a drizzly morning at Barnstaple station Sky, from Braunton, and her friend Sofia, from Westward Ho!, are not looking forward to the daily challenge of trying to get a seat on the 07:22 train service from Barnstaple to Exeter - known as the Tarka Line.
Sofia said: "My dad spent over £300 for a monthly term pass but then you're still being kicked off the train. So you then just have to go onto the coach after spending that much money." She added: "It's just a bit of a scam really."
Sky said she had to get a train from Braunton at 06:50 to get to Barnstaple in time for the connecting train. She said: "Sometimes you get kicked off the train then you have to wait an hour for the next one."
On a drizzly morning at Barnstaple station Sky, from Braunton, and her friend Sofia, from Westward Ho!, are not looking forward to the daily challenge of trying to get a seat on the 07:22 train service from Barnstaple to Exeter - known as the Tarka Line.
Sofia said: "My dad spent over £300 for a monthly term pass but then you're still being kicked off the train. So you then just have to go onto the coach after spending that much money." She added: "It's just a bit of a scam really."
Sky said she had to get a train from Braunton at 06:50 to get to Barnstaple in time for the connecting train. She said: "Sometimes you get kicked off the train then you have to wait an hour for the next one."

| Re: Same word - different meanings - public transport context In "Portsmouth to Cardiff" [379694/32449/20] Posted by grahame at 08:36, 18th September 2026 | ![]() |
Melksham 2035?
That's the plan ... should include an [AI] tag:
Post includes AI generated content (?)
but I have only just programmed that option in to the Coffee Shop.
Yes - those two posts have been merged into this one here.
The software we use on this forum is slightly limited in terms of making such adjustments apparent.
CfN.

| Re: Barnstaple to Exeter overcrowding, September 2026 In "Shorter journeys in Devon - Central, North and South" [379692/32479/24] Posted by Mark A at 08:28, 18th September 2026 | ![]() |
See if you can land this article before it's edited to correct a reference to a 'Train from Braunton'.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c933k8eypknpo
I remember a crossing to St Peter Port, Guernsey, from Weymouth back in the late 1980s on the "Condor" hydrofoil. There is no way you could describe it as "comfortable" even though the sea was moderate. There was much swaying, bumping and banging. Good fun for the seasoned traveller. Less so for those who had to resort to the brown bags supplied
Thanks for stirring that memory, Witham Bobby.

In my case, I was on the "Condor" from Weymouth to Jersey, sometime in the 1990s, I think. I didn't have to resort to the brown bags, but I did have to go out on deck in the fresh air and grip the handrail, with white knuckles, to compose myself.

I did Poole - Guernsey on the ex Condor high speed cat back in April and was surprised how much that swayed around the place on not a particularly lumpy sea. I've felt better on the Scillonian!!
I don’t really know why they bother listing ‘long forms’ to be honest.
This morning
05:11 Gloucester to Southampton Central due 08:10
Facilities on the 05:11 Gloucester to Southampton Central due 08:10.
This is due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time.
Will be formed of 3 coaches instead of 2.
Facilities on the 05:11 Gloucester to Southampton Central due 08:10.
This is due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time.
Will be formed of 3 coaches instead of 2.
Elements of "Long form" are worth having, though perhaps as an explanatory link. Difficult one where they're looking for a common text between the occasional user who know little about rail and the expert. For reports like this one, I would love to be able to read into what the rail industry definition of "usual" is - not that a change from 2 carriages to 3 is a disruption at all.
| Re: Same word - different meanings - public transport context In "Portsmouth to Cardiff" [379689/32449/20] Posted by GBM at 08:06, 18th September 2026 | ![]() |
Melksham 2035?
There are some posts on Welsh 158s moving in rumour section (perhaps moderators need to merge this)
https://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=32485.0
Link giving me The topic or board you are looking for appears to be either missing or off limits to you.https://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=32485.0
| Re: West Wilts Rail User Group - 16th September 2026 In "Diary - what's happening when?" [379687/32313/34] Posted by grahame at 07:48, 18th September 2026 Already liked by Chris from Nailsea | ![]() |
Apologies from me. I was not, after all, able to join that meeting. Family commitments meant that I was delayed getting back to Swindon, such that I just missed the train I was aiming for, to get to Trowbridge in time for the meeting.
I'm glad to read that it all went well (even without me).
I'm glad to read that it all went well (even without me).

You missed a good'un! Presentation shared (with permission) at https://www.passenger.chat/pw2wwrug.pdf and follow up in relation to local campaigns in "Frequent Posters" at https://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=32513
| Re: Thames Valley infrastructure problems causing disruption elsewhere - 2026 In "Across the West" [379686/31163/26] Posted by NickB at 07:18, 18th September 2026 | ![]() |
West Ealing area failure this morning
Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Slough
Due to a fault with the signalling system between London Paddington and Slough trains have to run at reduced speed on the Reading bound high speed line.
Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled or delayed by up to 15 minutes. Disruption is expected until 09:00 18/09.
The slides from Peter's talk are available at https://www.passenger.chat/pw2wwrug.pdf - and they very useful.
I would be very happy for you to share the slides with the members. [snip]. I attach a copy of the updated presentation.
| Re: Change at Porthmadog for Oban, Fort William and Mallaig. In "The Lighter Side" [379683/32512/30] Posted by grahame at 05:49, 18th September 2026 | ![]() |
Or this one ... emailed to the translation section and returned ...
Please use the subway to cross the road
Rwyf i allan o'r swyddfa tan ddydd Llun nesaf.
Rwyf i allan o'r swyddfa tan ddydd Llun nesaf.
| Re: [OTD] 17th September 1944 - Blackout regulations eased In "Railway History and related topics" [379682/32510/55] Posted by Chris from Nailsea at 23:15, 17th September 2026 | ![]() |
Lympestone Commando, possibly ?
CfN.

| Re: Where was Finn today, 16th September 2026? In "The Lighter Side" [379681/32509/30] Posted by JayMac at 22:04, 17th September 2026 | ![]() |
He was more interested in the sandwich one of the volunteers was eating!

















