.....seems to be an awful lot of these happening at the moment.......this one is near Didcot from what I hear?

Cancellations to services between Swindon and Reading
Due to the emergency services dealing with an incident between Swindon and Reading the line is blocked.
Train services running to and from these stations may be cancelled or delayed. Disruption is expected until 18:00 20/09.


Customer Advice
-
What has happened?
-
A person has been struck by a train, leading to all lines being blocked. It is necessary to bring all trains in the affected area to an immediate stop.

 

I had look inside the new Uni Campus building last week.  I asked at the reception desk which areas were in the public realm and one of the staff helpfully pointed out what was accessible on a map with recommendations.
It turns out that all floors of the really quite impressive atrium centred interior have public areas with cafe facilities on both ground and first floors.  Access to the large outside balcony/terrace area is from upstairs but at the time that I was there the doors were locked despite it being a public area.
There's decent views of the station from the second floor cafe seating area and views over the junction with the feeder canal area in the public seating areas on all the floors.

Definitely worth a look if you're passing by.

 

Dunno.   By having a post that brings such questioning, it's certainly brought attention

The sign being held up is "stop" rather than "all clear", and the "safety" jacket looks rather like disruptive camoflage. And as a follow up on the post asks "Is this a hint of the future? GBR is represented by......a raccoon! (Clue, not a native animal)".  I have looked at the account and it's got a "verified" badge on it.

 
At last the good folk of Oxford can get back to moaning about gridlock on the Botley Road!

Though full sympathy with local residents and businesses for the farce, but at least the small additional delay due to the gas leak meant that the walkways/cycleways both sides of the road could open simultaneously.

A big improvement on what was there before.

 

What a wonderful exercise in self-parody!


It is .......... isn't it?

 

I'm not sure if she has been able to run any public services for a dozen years ... she's been laid up outside the "M" Shed for quite a while.  She was open for public visits yesterday, and with folk singing in the open bar.

 
Reappeared on Journeycheck four minutes after I posted!

 
Not seen these, but there appears to be a clutch of earlier ones on youtube.

 
I think I saw (from the train) something possibly similar on the up platform at Godalming. There were a couple of cyclists who looked hopeful but confused outside.

 

21:15 Penzance to London Paddington due 05:04
21:15 Penzance to London Paddington due 05:04 will be terminated at Reading.
It will no longer call at London Paddington.
This is due to a fault on this train.

......and the down sleeper will start from Reading.

 
... and it will stop at Camborne ... 

 

Yes - though it was not (well) signposted IMHO; if there were signs, I missed them.

 
From the Department for Transport

 
From my blog for today


My post  goes on to speculate

 

This no longer appears on Journeycheck so presumably it will start from Penzance as booked.

 

Having gone through it a few times, it seems like the staff are already tiring of requests to short-cut through the station. So she was probably pre-empting you asking to go back through 2 minutes later.

Incidentally, the University building doesn't have security barriers - the cafe is open to the public and looks quite reasonable. There are all sorts of sorts of public meeting rooms too which readers involved in the various rail campaigns might find useful - a little more at https://engine-shed.co.uk/news/innovation-temple-quarter-campus-webinar/
 
Did you find the walkway along the river? For all the eyewatering expense (nearly £10m) it already seems to be well used - watch out for bikes though! 
 

 
Judging from the lack of posts this year, general reliability has been pretty good of late.

 

On my bucket list is this little Swiss gem where you press a button and get let onto the platform when the train arrives.

https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=872240239294812

Sadly I can't see an equivalent in the Avon Gorge staying unmolested by vandals for long.

 
That all looks good (just a couple of typos) to me, grahame.

I think that sets out very clearly the intent of the Information at the Station volunteers and the range of their responsibility.

 
From the BBC:

 
I am picking up our "Information at the Station" project over the final quarter of 2026 - the project intending to make public transport from, to and within Melksham much more friendly.   And so I am thinking about risks and concerns that should be addressed, and how to make the project self-sustaining. By that latter, I mean that people will want to use it, and will want help to provide it, as well as having it financially self sustaining.

There is a customer/passenger benefit from providing this service and every journey I make screams out for that as I see, hear, and interact with people along the way.  Minding my own business on platform 15 at Temple Meads yesterday, a chap asks me for about the Weston train and whether it's on time.  Sure, I can read the boards to him (and did so) but base help is so often useful and re-assuring.

But ... what if I hadn't known?  What if I had offered poor advise?  As a member of the public strolling up the platform (but, it would seem "looking like I might know") there is no way a reasonable person should expect a guaranteed, correct-every-time answer, but how does that extend to a cafe / information hub at or near the station?   I am coming to the conclusion that we should start off with a grounding that clearly confirms our limits of accuracy.

Please take a look at the following - comments on extras needed, other example sentences, how other do it, etc, warmly welcomed.  I am being very careful NOT to say we are "just volunteers" - the word "just" is demeaning, and people helping not for financial reward are the most committed and best in so many ways.


Customers will want information shared on paper (or perhaps online) rather than having to remember it, and I am very tempted to have a .sig and a pad of forms our volunteers complete that has the above, tailored as a result of inputs here, printed on the base or rear.

I will be following up with further thoughts on recruiting, training, motivating our team.  Those are all key issues; I have just started with the bedrock of defining what we can actually do.

 
Thanks for the photos grahame.

It’s very poor that the station map (also available on National Rail Enquiries website) has not been updated - the Eastern Entrance was completed two years ago, so it really shouldn’t have caught anyone by surprise.

I suppose the gateline staffer’s comment about it being ‘a long way’ sums up the justification for this investment - this entrance opens onto a whole new district of Bristol, covering 135 hectares, with 10,000 new homes, schools and workplaces in the offing. To the people who come to live and work there, the other entrances will be ‘a long way’ and they will be very glad to have one nearer!

 
21:15 Penzance to London Paddington due 05:04

20/09/26 21:15 Penzance to London Paddington due 05:04 will be started from Plymouth.

It will no longer call at Penzance, St Erth, Camborne, Redruth, Truro, St Austell, Bodmin Parkway and Liskeard.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.