The average winter temperature in the Thames Valley over the last 10 years has sat between 4-7 degrees, with a warming trend, and the summers have also been getting progressively warmer over the same period.

There have only been around 15 days in the last decade across most of the Thames Valley where the temperature has failed to rise above 0 degrees all day.

The narrative, as well as the infrastructure, needs to be a great deal more resilient in order to stand up to challenges.

 
Because they have also to be handle below zero temperatures (more often until this year than 30-plus degrees.....

Few places in Europe get the spread of temperatures that we are now seeing....

 

But that happens multiple days most years, not exceptional once a decade stuff, so why do they install points that are only good for 93-97% of days in our climate.  We are at about 10th day already this year, and not workable about 20 days out of 365 really isn't the correct spec.

 

An educated guess would be that the temporary changes will not extend to national databases such as ticketing.  The GWR website is offering me tickets to plain ole Bellingham.

 
Because the Met Office don't put out rail heat warnings.

30 degrees full sun will mean 50-plus on the rails....but that doesn't affect the weather, so to speak

 

More disruption, due to expected heat.


But Met office do not even think warm/hot weather even justifies a yellow warning, there are no warnings, no severe weather is forecast

https://weather.metoffice.gov.uk/warnings-and-advice/uk-warnings#?date=2026-07-08

So why do team that update the headline disruption banner on GWR website think there will be severe weather when Met Office doesn't (or have they simply cut and paste wrong excuse)

There is however a Health heat warning (which doesn't affect points) risk factor 12, (medium risk, 60-89% probability of affecting those with poor health)

https://ukhsa-dashboard.data.gov.uk/weather-health-alerts/heat

Has someone misinterpreted a health warning as severe weather ?

Something doesn't add up here

 
Will the train tickets be issued from/to Bellingham station or Jude Bellingham station?

 
Ah, that picture brings back nostalgia - it was my local station where I was brought up in London, and I have happy memories of taking the basic but reliable half-hourly 4-EPBs on the Catford Loop line, up to 'the Elephant' (officially called Elephant and Castle), Blackfriars or occasionally Holborn Viaduct, or down to Shoreham in the quiet countryside of the North Downs.

 
From the BBC:

 
No sooner asked for than done, JohnM: they have both been added to our Coffee Shop forum 'abbreviations and acronyms page'. 

 

 

Reminds me of the Kilmersdon Quarry incline - https://www.mnrjournal.co.uk/news/entertainment/norman-andrew-to-share-kilmersdon-colliery-history-at-radstock-museum-talk-755446 - but is there really plenty-enough snow and ice?   Me thinks you might be pulling a leg or two!

 
I read of somewhere in Europe with uncomfortably hot summers, but not far from cold mountains with plenty of snow and ice.
It was proposed to carry snow and ice from the mountains to the hot areas, by train.
Up the mountain a twin track railway was proposed, with the descending loaded wagons hauling the empties up. On the levelish bit steam power was proposed.
Don't know if it ever worked.
Would have soon been killed off by the invention of mechanical cooling.

 
I am departing for Istanbul next Monday on a 12 day intinerary using Interrail. I will fly back to Bristol on 25 July. I have visited Denmark and Sweden recently using the same ticket which was only glanced at by a conductor once in 4 different journeys.

This trip might be more challenging and "interesting" but my route is Portsmouth, Caen, Paris (on Bastille Day!), Stuttgart, Budapest, Arad, Bucharest, Sofia and Istanbul.  Bold = 1 or more nights stay. I will use 3 sleeper services, one in Romania is an open access "luxury" service!

Like Graham I have first class ticket which is required for some single occupancy sleepers. 1st value in Eastern Europe might be questionable and some routes are 2nd only. I have paid directly for three of the later legs including the long run in from Sofia to Istanbul because they are quite cheap and one cannot obtain a "reservation only" booking online. It seems clear that there is a limited allocation of Interrail ticket use on certain services (especially sleepers) whilst fully paid tickets are still available. I had to juggle dates to achieve a suitable itinerary but booked at relatively short notice. Seems sensible to the operators since they must receive relatively little monies from Interrail.

So I am looking forward to this but might need a long rest afterwards. Since it is Bastille Day SNCF are doing engineering works which means  limited services over a longer route, Caen to Paris. Only the first train will work for me at 08.46, some 2 hours after Brittany Ferries arrives. Let me hope there are no failures at the second hurdle - otherwise then a rapid rethink!

I will report on some highlights when I get back.   

 
At https://grahamellis.uk/blog2014.html in answer to questions such as
What does it cost?
Is Interrail worth it?
Is first class worth the extra?
Is Interrail complicated?
Should I reserve seats if they are optional?
What travel is not included in the pass?
Does the pass include everything I need for my holiday?
Does the Interrail pass include travel all the way from my home station?
Can I get help / support from Eurail / Interrail?
Once I have added a series of trains to my trip, can I be sure they will run and connect?
What luggage am I allowed / what should I take?
I have limited mobility, senses or stamina - can I go?
Would you recommend I go Interrailing?

Comments / corrections / missing bits welcome.

 
Delays to services between Hungerford and Newbury

Due to a fault with the signalling system between Hungerford and Newbury trains have to run at reduced speed.
Train services running through these stations may be delayed by up to 15 minutes. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.

Customer Advice
-
What has happened?
-
There is a fault with the signalling system in the Hungerford area, affecting trains towards Newbury, Reading and London Paddington.

 
I'm sure I'll work it out eventually... but could 1U1 and FWF be added to the abbreviations list?

Ah - should have started at the top

 
No need to 'sit on the fence' there, TG. 

 

No.

 

They’re generally perceived to be more reliable than the Track Circuits they replaced. 

Interesting read here:
https://www.railengineer.co.uk/train-detection/

 
The crossed legs express!

17:50 Gloucester to Salisbury due 20:06
Facilities on the 17:50 Gloucester to Salisbury due 20:06.
Toilet facilities are not available. Disabled toilet facilities are not available.
This is due to a fault on this train.

 
I have a few thoughts about the ideas presented in the article. As yet, they don't gel into a coherent argument, but here they are anyway:

1. The basic palette of British Rail's corporate colours happily allowed some branding while retaining a hint of a national identity. There was "Inter City" on blue/grey mainline stock; the reversed livery for Pullmans and the white/blue stripe for a while on DMUs - with some local PTE logos in addition.

2. Most of the time, the journeys that I take involve a combination of different trains (what might be branded local, regional, inter-city and so on). I am rather more concerned that the railway acts as a joined-up network. If it has separate  brands such as IC, it must mean something about that stage of the journey, such as "refreshments always available".  It seems to be reverse-logic that because a train's diagram is short-distance, its passengers are thought of as "commuters".

3. I'm not sure what sort of brand might be appropriate for the types of passenger experience currently being cooked up. The idea that a railway brand would guarantee anything nice seems err.... optimistic at the moment.

4. The article regarded "Regional Railways" as being less successful. In terms of branding this may have been so. However, as a piece of management structure, the idea of making a team responsible for "the rest" (and nothing else) may have worked rather well in giving the poor-relation services some much-needed focus. I don't regard things which grew out of that - such as hourly Cardiff-Portsmouth and Cardiff-Manchester - as anything other than successes.

 
So it looks like GWR have decided at the last minute to put 1U1 and FWF up by £10 across the board, rather than £5 as intended.

Meaning a FWF London - Westcountry is now £45 and a 1U1 £70.
Worth it?

 
As I’ve said I expect little change, initially at least.

The main positive from day one will be a degree of certainty about the set up.  GBR has been ‘on the way’ for many years now and it will have affected all sorts of things from longer term strategies to, as the day comes nearer, day to day running.

There will no longer be accusations of shareholders taking all the profits or ‘zombie franchises’ and there will be less layers of complexity that various vested parties can hide behind when it comes to being held to account.

 
I seem to remember that axel counters were going to make the railway "more reliable"