Starting with a question.  Why did the chap on the gateline clip (punch a hole) in my Freedom of Severn and Solent Rover ticket yesterday, briefly keeping me inside the gateline before he let me exit while he got his clipper out of a cupboard the other side of the gates?  I can see the logic for marking or clipping a hole in a single journey ticket, but it seems illogical to me to do so with a ranger / rover / pass.  I found myself wondering if it's a code to other rail staff to say "watch this one ..." as he had had to come out of the warmth of the station building to let me through when I went to get him.  No request to see my second ticket that I am (correctly) entering dates on, nor to see my senior rail"card".

Freedom of Severn and Solent - 8 days out of 15, started on 27th September and running through to 11th October, when I'm at TravelWatch SouthWest.  Friday and Saturday to the Bristol area to look, learn, and see the new station opened (and I mean opened and not the bigwig event where there were no "normal" passengers. Wednesday and Thursday, Trowbridge to WWRUG Committee and to Swindon to Meet the Manager.  An yesterday the South Devon coastline - Dawlish and `Teignmouth. Although outside my FOSS ticket, that got be all the way to Tiverton and a small add on completed my journey (with breaks of journey) along the way.



All the trains I took were on time, and I got a seat on every one although in some cases I had to ask someone to take their things off a seat. Ticket checks sporadic and random, which is probably the most effective way for it.  Information systems reasonable - a "delayed" train at Exeter appeared on time, and infoamtion at Teignmouth about the times of trains from there that called at Starcross and Marsh Barton was lacking, as were clues at Temple Meads as to which were the fast and slow trains to Taunton and beyond.  Staff almost universally friendly and helpful, not that much help was needed in my case.








Melksham - Chippenham
Chippenham - Bristol Temple Meads
Bristol Temple Meads - Exeter St Davids
Exeter St Davids - Dawlish Warren
Dawlish - Teignmouth
Teignmounth - Marsh Barton
Marsh Barton - Exeter St Davids
Exeter St Davids - Taunton
Taunton - Bristol Temple Meads
Bristol Temple Meads - Bath Spa
Bath Spa - Trowbridge
Trowbridge - Melksham

 
From what I recall when the number "5" metal punches were in use by train guards on the western region?

Some of the punches did cut clean and the "5" was hanging onto the ticket by a knife thread.

Not so bad when moving around the country as there very few ticket gates.

It caused problems on the underground because the ticket got jammed in the ticket slot

So request was made for guards not to clip any london bound tickets or make sure the 5 was still not attached to the ticket