With apologies to Facebook friends who may already have seen a slightly modified version of this, but with mostly different pictures!

"We will never use the train again" said the two ladies seated behind us, very loudly, in English.  They had flown intercontinental  into Madrid a couple of days prior, found that the food there wasn't to their taste. "Some of the worst food I have had - tapas isn't like tapas at home" and were headed to Barcelona for a couple of days before joining a cruise to Italy, from where they would fly home. 

They were particularly incensed at the lack of station staff to help them with their luggage (cruiser-sized cases) and the lack of space for those cases on the train.   Apparently, someone was rude to them when they asked for their cases to be stored on the train, but it seems that someone DID help them in the end, as they were then looking for someone to get their cases down off the racks as we approached Barcelona.  They asked me - well, I'm not fit enough to lift an unknown weight off the rack above the heads of others where it had ended up, and didn't wish to risk hurting a third party as the case came crashing down.  I expect I was in for a slamming for that when they talked with others as they continued their holiday.

Their travel agent was a recipient of their wrath too - apparently that agent should have advised them that the train might be very busy ... "should have booked us a car" though they admitted to having had that option and electing for the cheaper train.

"We will never use the train again" ... and I replied "Good - that will leave more space for the rest of us".  I don't know if they noticed that comment - it clearly passed them by as they carried on engaging in a loud conversation with me, which I found to be a fascinating study of how different we all are.  I explained to them that the people on the long distance train on a holiday Saturday would likely have far more luggage than on most days when it would be business travels and commuters with far less luggage.  I did point out the Ts and Cs that say your should be able to manage your own luggage on the train - and they found those and agreed that's what they said. Not sure why they felt the Ts and Cs shoouldn't apply to them! Cruising is probably right for them, and I understand that they are with an up-market cruise company - one wher they can snap their fingers and get the service they want ...

""You can also expect a higher level of service than most cruise lines. Tasteful staterooms offer luxurious comfort. Plus, 24-hour butler service on Oceania will cater to your every whim.""

Thank goodness we are all different.  And thank goodness that it's Lisa and I travelling together.

We started the day in Madrid, that place of "awful un-Spanish food", train left of time, 12 minutes late into Barcelona (Spanish trains have all been a bit laid back in timekeeping) and 9 minutes to change across Sans Station - so please forgive the lack of pictures there.  Onto the much more relaxed medium distance train to Port-Bou - left on time and arived about 15 minutes late.  Changed to the French train - another 10 minute change but a much smaller station, and onwards to Narbonne for a couple of nights.   Notable that this train has generous stops along the way and in on time at Narbonne.

Narbonne Station has wheelchair loading devices on the platforms.  It has disabled loos. It has tactile edgings and leader strips. Pity that the platform can only be reached by stairs, and we found ourselves on the mid-station platform with marvellous stuff around us, and a challenge to exit the station.

The Spanish flag flies at half mast over Atocha



Pasties are not the sole preserve of Cornwall and the smelly subway at Temple Meads





Breakfast on the train



The one decent picture I managed to grab at Barcelona. There must be things we missed in the city?



Spanish side of Port Bou Station



and through the booking hall to the French train



Narbonne Station and the train we have just arrived on



Leading the people who need that extra little bit of help to .. the steps



Later (!) confirmation from Google.  At least we know to plan our escape!



And at large in Narbonne!

 
Hmm.    It's not just a 'tick one box and you're in', then.

Returning to the original post, it seems that this particular 'facility' is not actually going to cost the railways (Great British Railways) much at all.  It may, however, provide significant income for medical practitioners in conducting such tests.

The Law of Unintended Consequences, possibly? 

 
The Railcard site says this in its list of condition qualifying:

 
Hmm.  I have no intention of detracting in any way from the point of this particular topic.

My own entitlement to a railcard, giving me a 'one third off' discount, was simply due to my getting old.

However, in my retirement, using my Senior Railcard discount, has perhaps made me rather more inclined to resume using the railways. So, even with the discounted ticket price, that's just one more fare the rail company will have, for a train that was running anyway?

CfN. 

 
On a day when we also "Accidentally" passed close enough for a view across fields of the last surviving class 37 loco to grace the platforms of Nottingham Victoria, we also "Accidentally" crossed Great Musgrave bridge - in February 2024 - and contemplated the view north from the (very solid) structure. The fill has ended up in a mound a hundred yards or so from the bridge itself, perhaps the landowner was willing to take it off Highways England's hands as its useful as a base for their estate roads.

 
AIUI this would require a professional to provide confirmation that the potential traveller's condition affects their ability to use trains. I forget exactly how that works, and have no idea how readily doctors/psychologists would deem a diagnosed person to be in this category.

I suspect the industry has calculated that this would increase ridership in a way that offsets the losses effected by the discount.

 

25 passengers per train .. I suspect there is a zero missing.

 
I suspect an hour would be closer to reality.

 
Rather the opposite situation, in Wales .  From the BBC:

 
Well, it's the Government that has extended qualifying....

 
From the BBC:

 
Given the rising volume of these diagnoses, it could prove quite costly to the railway.

https://www.lbc.co.uk/article/people-with-adhd-can-get-third-off-train-tickets-with-disabled-persons-discount-5HjdkdX_2/

 
"Dolphin Junction in Slough carries more than 400 trains and 10,000 passengers every day".

Does 10,000 passengers a day there sound a bit on the low side to you?

 

Correct - reason given is that the train is expected to be full without allowing that happening

 

Nothing from Plymouth to London either on 28/29th November. Everything terminating at Reading. The only London options are from Bristol and Cardiff into Euston.

 

They'd love to - but still paying off the first one! County Council funded, now repaying through car park charges, but yet in profit.

 
Hmm.  From Penzance, the only option is a change at Exeter St Davids on to the SWR Waterloo (direct service) with a 12 minute over the bridge with luggage gap.  Let's hope someone will hold the SWR train if GWR running late.
No direct Euston for Cornish travellers!
No trolley service on SWR either.

 
One of the more minor arguments to promote these services at the time was that the Waterloo - Bristol trains even if low capacity were useful at times of disruption - and with the impending works to accommodate HS2, the Paddington link would be seeing some of that.

Fast forward to 2026, and those impending works and associated line closures are well under way and while it's good to see through trains maintained - to Euston via Winslow and I know not where* it's amusing to see that when Paddington is closed the timings to Waterloo often better the times to Euston, even with that pesky change at Salisbury.

(In its original form and skipping both Westbury Salisbury and the more minor Hampshire stations Bristol - Waterloo was two hours ten minutes.)

*Reversal at Milton Keynes? Though not the opportunity to change trains there.

 

It was about 15:15 BST.

 
I have booked myself a trip to Euston and back on 28th November

 
Buffer stores

And I've changed "Wallingford" to "Watlington"  in my preceding post. )

 

 
Second car park deck, now! 

 

Indeed.  As is the 21:15...and that doesn't appear in journey planners and stops for 'staffing reasons' only according to RTT.

 
I am struggling with connectivity in the Boondocks of Spain today - so please excuse this being patchy.

Correct - we have to consider split tickets when traveling from [Melksham/anywhere].  And we also should remember onward journeys - for example Annan, Dumfries, Whitehaven ...

 
That is absolutely fascinating ...

 

Recalling a conversation on the platform, I remembered being impressed that there was someone heading for... Accrington and now further impressed by the range of destinations people head to from... Melksham. 12 to Carlisle and 8 to Newcastle in a year and, hidden from view, an unknown number of people travelling on split tickets... it would be good to query the rail ticketing system for something like 'Annual journeys from Melksham that are over 'x' miles in length but exclude the top 5 destinations' - for a range of values of 'x' and then plot the result on a graph.

Mass transit is viewed by the likes of SWR-as-was as large passenger flows to a particular destination (and back: I should name-check Waterloo Sunset at this point..).

From the individual's perspective, mass transit enables the particular journey they need to make: if they travel by train they make that journey on a mass transit system. Those individual journeys that do not align with one of the big passenger flows, from the point of view of the railways, aren't the icing on the cake, they're very much part of the cake itself, simply because there are a lot of them and in terms of sustaining the system, they contribute.

Oh, hang on, here is such a graph, courtesy of guess what, so the first question has to be 'That's a suspiciously lovely curve, what is it showing and does this graph pass a sanity check?'



Lets run the plot again but include the top five destinations:



OK, the above not being the result of my work, I'm now going to sit down and reflect on what I am learning, not all of which concerns rail passenger figures...

 

Hence my comment "Last non sleeper train to Plymouth during the week is the 2104 from Paddington".

I was referring to Hafren's comment "I note that Plymouth's last non-sleeper train is similarly earlier than Swansea's, with similar running time (if we round liberally). One is offset by the sleeper while the other involves the political advantage of a capital city". which you challenged.

Possibly you're at cross purposes?

 
Both those Sleeper trains from Euston allow seated passengers on Advance Purchase and regular tickets just like the rest of the day. Only differences are compulsory reservation if you are using a regular ticket, and no 2115 or 2345 on Saturdays.

 

2345 is a sleeper, I think the post referenced the "last non sleeper train"

Last non sleeper train to Plymouth during the week is the 2104 from Paddington.