Yes - it's a peninsula in the form of a long spit, with the land entry being via Kaliningrad - so the only way to it within Lithuania is by boat.


There is a bus service from the passenger ferry (connects off at least alternate ferries all way down to Nida) and I understand there's also a bus from central bus station that takes the vehicle ferry that's about 5kms down but, agreed, a car for a short stop at spots along the way would be useful.

The forest and outer beach, even walking into them from the foot passenger terminal with its hordes of children in school parties, was an oasis of quiet and beauty - tranquil - and, yes, I could have walked for miles. Ahead of me on the path I saw a deer - no discernible photo (the technology of the eye is better at seeing these things than the technology of a phone camera to this day). 

I could have spent another 2 days in Klaipeda ... but then I could have spent longer in Amsterdam, in Rostock, and in the other placates along the way.   Two full days in Vilnius now and we are booked on one of the two international trains from here on Tuesday.

 
Not even original nonsense - "borrowed" from Metro which had this originally in March (but reissued just before the Sun's one on 17th May):

 
Aaah...ok, thanks.

 

I was referring to his earlier post at 18:22

 
No, before your post.

At 1853 you posted about a URL....

Stuving posted that pic from Railforums at 1910. So what were you referring to?

 
The Sun says


Isn't the line over Chat Moss somewhat more floating than Ryde Pier which, my understanding, is firmly standing on the seabed.   Now - if you want a real floating train line try going to Sicily

 

If you quote source on stuving's post you will see

[img width=900]https://www.railforums.co.uk/attachments/ta52ncozle2f1-png.180546/[/img]

 
The only URL that I can see in this thread is for the BBC News item. No URL for railforums that I can see.

 

Ah. yes it does work that way, doesn't it. Well, if I upload a copy it will have the same restriction here (but may be a bit bigger than ideal):

 


I've taken a look at the URL posted and it appears that the image will only be visible to members who are also logged in to railforum ... "You must be logged-in to do that" is what I got when I tried to load the image.

 
When you can't be certain of something it's probably best not to double down.

Hoping a farmer is convicted, then the whataboutery from Slovakia... jeez.

 
Errrr....what picture?

 
This picture of a 701 with a bit of sticky tape along the side is on railforums, though I think it was "leaked" first via Reddit. Why it hasn't been used officially is a puzzle: that does look like an official Heidi Alexander. And while we might think it's such a limp squib it's too embarrassing to crow about, DfT's PROs don't embarrass easily (if at all).

 

Which is why I said 99.5%. There was a nasty incident in Slovakia last year where a level crossing wasn't working after track maintenance. The treadles were left switched off so the red warning lights didn't activate or the barriers lower. Unfortunately several people were killed when a train struck a bus.

In this recent incident I know the CCIL, NR incident log, has been locked so it cannot be generally viewed by NR staff. A previous comment on this thread mentions a information on NoFriendsBook.

We shall wait for the RAIB to say something.

And no doubt somewhere on the UK rail network today a locally operated crossing wasn't used correctly.

 
If I have this right, which will be a miracle, some figures: [Annual season, no railcard, daily cost] vs a return journey (With) / Without a railcard:

Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads super off peak return: [£59:29](£51:90) £78:00  118 miles. [25](22)33 pence per mile.
Paddington to Great Malvern, ditto: [£47:45](£48:75) £73:20 129 miles. [18](19)28 pence per mile.

Another comparison: Paddington to Penzance, super off peak, no railcard: £150:00 for 304 miles, so, 25 pence per mile. (Annual season ticket to Penzance works out as £76:98 per day & 13 pence per mile...)

The daily rate for an annual season ticket can perhaps be a good benchmark indicator for... something.

Advance fares sort-of do-not-count as they're here today gone tomorrow prices and changes to the allocations can be wildly inflationary for the individual - for fares, the floor for passengers is the buy-at-the-time-of-travel - as that's the one you'll need when life throws something at you.

In a way it would be good for everyone if the railway displayed the rate per mile in some fashion as those can take the sting out of a price (or not, as the case may be). Probably best not to put them on the seat reservation displays, mind...

Mark

 
Finally.....another win for the CLPG who have regularly been in touch with Chiltern over this!

 
As of the 18th May we now have through fares routed via Oxford Parkway to Chiltern line stations.

This has reduced the Pershore to High Wycombe Off Peak day return cost from £121.60 for the Any permitted off peak which includes a+ for via London to £38.80 for an Off peak day return via Oxford Parkway.

 
My understanding is that the first train out of Waterloo will be a GBR rebrand....

 
Here it is:
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy90x5p2gn3o

 

Nor me. How ironic!

 
That link doesn't work for me

 

You need to be very careful with your defamation of the tractor driver, as it appears he gained authority in this instance, the tractor driver is not the arrested person.

 
SWR comes under public ownership on Sunday at 0159. The next service would normally be the 0227 from Guildford to Waterloo, but that has been cancelled.

BBC

 
Hmmm.....define "reasonable"

It's different for everyone, usually dependent on disposable income.

A week away in June for example, Wednesday to Wednesday can be got for a reasonable £46.20 return

 
From The Metro


But this article is a bit different - it looks at not only the anytime fares that can be "silly" but the lack of the  lower price fares that the interviewee used to use, and has made it more difficult to find them too



The 4.6% fare rise is the headline - has the average price paid by passengers gone up much more than that because of things like the slashing of advance fare allocations or the restructuring of the balance between the various advance levels?

The figures quoted in the article are for Paddington to Great Malvern - hence my filing here in the North Cotswold board - is the news similar across the GWR are or indeed across the UK?

 
Thanks Grahame

That "island" is not an island, it is the Corunian spit, which at its southern end runs over the Russian border, being in the Kaliningrad oblast, the separate area of land, formerly part of East Prussia in Germany until taken by the USSR at the end of the Second World War.

There is a very pretty village on the eastern side called Nida, that is the former home of the German writer Thomas Mann. Just inside the Lithuanian border there is a low hill with a decorative sundial laid out on the summit from which you can look out over the Russian border.

Klaipeda itself has an interesting history.  It was also ceded to the USSR at the end of the war, but ended up in the Lithuanian SSR. It was formerly known as Memel, and was the northern most city in pre-war Germany, and previously a Hanseatic city. You can see all those influences in the city, even if it's not the prettiest Baltic city. As you say, worth a visit, but you'll probably need to hire a car to make the most of the Corunian spit. Good for birding too!

 

OK - dealt with ... the heavy black line is today's worker server load.  Looks dramatic - there was (perhaps) a handful of proper requests that may not have been answered but the server did not fall over.



If you wonder how I find out there's a problem like this, the server sends me a message 

Now in Vilnius