Well, they won't be able to run this one on any diesel train used on local trains anywhere by GWR at present....better put them in store until the long process of preparing and introducing the 185s is finally completed!

 
It's wrong because the train was "born" in the early 1980's so is older than the Trainline

 
Saw this advert on a class 455 train today.
The claim in the advert is clearly wrong.

 
If I said "I was woken by my alarm at 03:45 this morning, hopped out of bed even before it got light and have enjoyed every minute since" I would be lying.

My alarm did go off at 03:45 (uk time) which was 04:45 in my hotel in Svolvaer. It was already light, this being high summer in the Arctic.  It is never really dark here at this time of year, and so I could look out from my window in the half light and though I overlooked the main road saw that nothing was yet moving on it.  And I cursed at the early hour a little, or rather at the [redacted] transport planner who's bright idea it was to have the only fast ferry to the mainland leave at 06:00, and his colleague who put the web site for booking together in Norwegian only; the net result was a very early rise - my guide the previous day had phoned in to the operator, checked that it wasn't sold out, but advised me to get down to the quayside early to be sure of getting on.

And as I let myself out of the hotel soon after 05:00, I noted another person with a big backpack also walking down the road towards the town centre, otherwise the place mouse-quiet where I has seen milling throngs the previous morning - a bit later - and evening.  But rounding the corner to the fast cat berth, a little knot of people which grew until at about a quarter to six, a member of the ship's crew came down the gangplank, opened the gate, and started checking people on. I was - relieved - that the crowd looked small for the size of vessel and that the crew ,member had a credit card machine around his waist like a waitress might.  He was checking people who had booked online through, and asking the unbooked - turned out there were about 20 of us - to complete a line on the ship's register prior to selling us tickets.

Sharp at 06:00 we set off, and an opportunity to visit the buffet counter for a coffee and a cheese and ham toastie.  As a high speed catamaran, we were bouncing around a bit, but no spillage and I was belatedly joining the land of the living.  "Plan B" if I had failed to get on the boat - two buses totalling a 2 hour journey, a 2 hour wait, and 3 hours on a ferry shared with cars, was mercifully abandoned.

As it often turns out, that 06:00 departure was not such a stupid thing after all.  It way have moved fast, but the high speed cat pulled into a number of little harbours and jetties and at each of them picked up more people; backpackers and people travelling a long way (based on their luggage and the fond farewells) dominated from Svolvaer, but as we called at other piers there was a proportion of none-tourist traffic - mums with children, folks who looked like they were headed for work, and indeed was probably the case - what turned out to be the daily boat for these people into that great metropolis of Bodoe arrived there just after quarter past nine, the people who had joined for business there clearly knew exactly where they were headed, and the tourists went into the information centre or wandered around looking at signage.

To complete the story of the timing, the boat does a further set of journeys from Bodoe to different destinations in the summer, then return in the late afternoon and into the evening - quite late by the time it reached Svolvaer.  Thus allowing for people to work, have meetings, visit the doctor, do their shopping. And the icing on the cake is that people who come over on the boat should be in good time to catch the daytime train to Trondheim which leaves at lunch time and takes 10 hours - Norway is a very long country; the train coming the other way leaves Trondheim in the morning, and has a similar generous connection at Bodoe onto the fast ferry to Svolvaer.  It all fits together, and when you see the whole picture the timing is - understandable.

I was connection off the high speed ferry onto the train, headed for Mosjoen which is about half way.  But when I got to Bodoe station it was flagged up CANCELLED.  And that's where the second part of my "not all enjoyed" starts.  Spoiler alert - I AM in my hotel though very tired and will continue the story in the morning.

 
Monday's weather looking particularly atrocious....

 
From the BBC:

 
I don't know know much broadgauge's specific criticisms are true but I would make the following comments;

1) If you give a regulatory task to a body that does not have enough workload to maintain  a skill base you get ineffective regulation.  For example, in building control the extensive use of private 'approved inspectors' have reduced the capacity of some local authority building control to keep the necessary specialist skills for some regulatory activities.
 
2) If you strip regulatory bodies of the funds they need to do their job you reduce their capacity to be a regulate. I offer the Environment Agency as an example here - their budget was cut by over half (54%) between 2010 and 2018.  No wonder they did not do their regulatory job. 

If you are selecting a regulator for infrequent events then small district councils are probably not the correct people to do it.  Food hygiene, on the other hand is common enough for even small district councils can maintain the skilled staff required.

 
From the BBC:

 
Bit worrying that they're the only services featuring on that day though!

 
See the BBC for live updates.

 
From The Herald Series:

 
From the BBC:

 
Wednesday 30tt.  Not so good

 
Details on SWR website
https://www.southwesternrailway.com/plan-my-journey/temporary-summer-timetable

If it allows the more rapid introduction of the Arterio fleet it should be worth it.

 
I have very little faith in local authority inspections, as has been suggested this is primarily a paperwork trail. Not a physical inspection for anything bent, broken, dropping off, or unduly worn.
A visit to a fairground will confirm very flexible standards of electrical safety, one might suspect similar standards apply to rides.
And local authorities have some very strange requirements, some of which are CONTRARY to accepted best practice.
Examples that I have met include;
1) Only blue "safety" cable to be used outdoors. Independent experts actually advise AGAINST  this, for mains voltage, but no matter, "blue cable only" is a nice simple tick for a local authority safety wallah. Bell wire would probably pass if blue.
2) Self contained emergency lights to be wired in MICC (fire proof) cable. Contrary to accepted best practice.
3) prohibiting use of round pin plugs and sockets.
4) A general fear of three phase electricity supply.

 
Last suggested by the (then) Government in 2016: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/regeneration-of-stations-set-to-deliver-thousands-of-new-properties-and-jobs

 
It had previously occurred to me that selling off/building on currently disused railway land needs to be considered very carefully.  With the renewed emphasis on transporting goods by rail rather than road we need to ensure that in future there's enough space to provide for interchanges between rail and road where it's needed.
With modern systems  it may be likely now that less space would be required than that provided for former goods yards but I hope that the thinking is going to be "joined up" enough to ensure that the baby isn't thrown out with the bathwater.

 

Learning points.
Stop wearing checked shirts, wear only plain shirts, colour according to taste.
Stop carrying a blue bag, if a bag is needed, chose some other colour.
Put on weight.

 
Being reported locally that there are Oxford<–>Swindon hourly ECS paths in the December timetable, which is intriguing:

https://bsky.app/profile/oxfordclarion.bsky.social/post/3lv6cv2p3gk2o

Maybe these are route-learning runs as per II's suggestion above that Oxford crews will sign as far as Swindon?

 
One of the sites in question being Manchester Mayfield, perhaps the remains of the former terminus station used by the Pines Express will finally see demolition... is it 65 years after those platforms ceased to be used for passenger services?

Mark

 
The article lists a series of lines affected, checking one of those (the line from Shepperton) and the service looks to be as it usually is i.e. half hourly. Perhaps there's another part of their network that's worse off for provision in August.

Mark

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c05ejmvvg32o

 
I would give this a qualified welcome provided that we are 200% sure that the land will never be needed for railway or linked public transport purposes.   Houses can be built other sites a few hundred yards away, but new / re-used / public transport facilities need to be close and linked the current public transport.

Someone muttered "Council Offices" and "Tavistock" so loudly that I heard it here in Norway ;-) as an "oops", and there is another oops where Melksham Tyres (an excellent company and no fault of their own) have been a challenge to station improvements, but the upside yard is in planning for (I think) 112 dwellings and it would make sense - safeguarding access to the railway, and space for a second track, and if need be platform and/or bridge.

 
Radio Four news this morning was proclaiming that thousands of new houses would be built on railway lines, which conjured up first., an impression of moveable homes on wheels, and secondly extended linear developments along disused track beds, which made me wonder whether these should be preserved lest they be needed for re-opening. Turns out that the building will be on disused railway land, including former goods yards, industrial sites and station buildings.

A couple of months ago, I was at the site of Chiseldon Station, south of Swindon, puzzling where exactly it had stood (with the help of a couple of information boards) as the gradients on all sides looked very challenging for steam trains. A resident said that the cutting down to the station (from Chiseldon Camp) had been been back-fillled and houses built on it, leading to speculation about subsidence.

The Government announcement.

 
Agree, twins more in the intention of the service pattern than anything else.

Thinking of Lelant, yes, there's a train service there but odd, given that the branch itself operates into the late evening, that the decision's been made to curtail calls there after five-ish.

(The last time I caught a train from there the staff really weren't expecting anyone to be on the platform let alone have a hand out: this led to the opportunity to explore a long out-of-use section of the station's platform. I'd earlier been looking for the rumoured section of shore that's bolstered by the plating from a WW1 navy ship. That, I did not find...)

Mark

 
Tuesday July 29

... was a good day

 
It's a 4.5km (1 hour estimate) walk from Pilning (Station) to Severn Beach Station, then a journey of around 110 minutes from there to Cardiff by train allowing for long way round and change needed.   Total journey 180 minutes if you allow yourself 10 extra minutes to arrive from your walk at Severn Beach station in good time for the train.    Contrast that to a 31 minute schedule from Cardiff to Pilining, direct, if you're lucky enough to want to go in that direction on a Saturday at 8 a.m. or 3 p.m.

In contrast to that extra two and a half hours, it's just an extra half hour from Lelant Saltings to Plymouth, London or just about anywhere else ... and Lelant Saltings does have 10 trains calling every week rather that 2 ...  Pilning remains the poor cousin rather than a twin.