This addresses so many of the questions that people wonder about.

 


Article in the Guardian, includes a chapter that's refreshingly honest on skiff camping, and the photo also includes the Salters pleasure boat 'Wargrave', built in 1913, which put me in mind of the passenger services that Salters ran on the Thames, many of which were tied in to railway services, allowing various one way trips to be taken.

At a time when there's likely to be a meticulously researched book on any small facet of the railway system, longer distance pleasure boat services on the Thames are a somewhat unexplored facet of transport. I've never come across a personal account of a trip on the very long running through service between Kingston and Oxford which lasted long after the majority of its passengers had disappeared.

I heard that what finally made this service and others struggle is that there was a change in policy at the Thames Conservancy - previously the Salters boats were given priority passage at locks, which allowed the services to maintain a timetable in the same way that you'd expect a bus or train to turn up on time, but after this was dropped and the services had to queue in turn at the locks, that did away with the punctuality.

https://www.theguardian.com/travel/2026/aug/23/my-best-ever-british-holiday

 
At one time there was a swan on that reach whose attitude was beyond terrible: understandably he had come to the conclusion that boats were the absolute worst and anything with sculls was directing threat-signals at him. A tactic was to start a half flying half running approach from about 150 yards followed by a heavy landing at the stern of whatever had threatened him. Intimidating, especially when he overshot.

Mark

 
Turning this article over in the back of my mind for a bit.

https://humantransit.org/2020/04/whats-wrong-with-an-empty-bus.html

 
Thanks, as ever, for your very detailed and helpful reply here, IndustryInsider. 

Chris from Nailsea. 

 
In terms of route clearance for passenger services, I've attached a screenshot of the latest GWR IET Operational Restrictions file which should help.

You can also find more detail in the National Electronic Sectional Appendix at:

https://www.networkrail.co.uk/industry-and-commercial/information-for-operators/national-electronic-sectional-appendix/

There's a whole section on route clearances for different types of traction in each of the seven areas of Great Britain.  In the document for the Western and Wales region it starts on Page 709.  Though rather interestingly the Class 80x IET units are not included for some reason, but if you search for 'Class 80x' or 'IET' you will find lots of individual entries, usually in the Local Instructions section (starting on Page 866).

 
I have just received the latest Modern Railways. It includes a detailed article by Roger Ford about the "issues" with the Class 810s. It makes quite sobering reading (and I have only glanced so far). In this case maybe the RMT are fully justified in refusing to work them when certain types of faults exist (listed in article - some appear to be "quite" safety critical).

 

I very much considered it in post #7 yesterday!

 

Surely the main response to an emergency is by the ambulance service and the police force and possibly also the fire brigade, all of whom were working normally, and could be called by any passengers, staff, or passers by. Clearing the line of any debris is done by network rail, again without any need for the TOC control.

 
1. Network Rail should be fencing the rail boundary.

2. Network Rail would have been a consultee on the planning permission application.

3.Unfortunately not.

 
I don't want a pile on on this one and I am being deliberately tangential so the actual case isn't revealed.

Previous Situation.
1. Main GWML runs through countryside with unfenced track.
2. Nearby business open for years within their own well contained grounds.
Happy coexistence.

Change in situation.
1. Business expands, lawfully with required planning consent, resulting in its containment being lost.
2. As a result of de-containment access now possible for customers via third party owned countryside from business premises to open GWML track.

Questions.
1. Who should be dealing with this situation?
2. Should planning have addressed this issue when deliberating granting the changes to the premises?
3. Does anyone have other examples of this type of issue?

I really get on with this business but the issue is there and it needs addressing before there is an incident. I will need a lot of tactical forethought before moving to report the matter.

Guidance welcomed.

 

Sadly, not jiust thay one


And has me wondering why an earlier safety inspection causes cancellations so many hours later.

 
15:14 Swindon - Westbury cancelled because of a safety inspection of the track earlier today

 
Hey! We didn't sink or wreck it 
More amphibus than usual needing repair perhaps!

 

 

I was referencing Oxford as being a 10 minute walk (assuming you know the route)

 
I note that the Windsor venture involves a new-build amphibus, can't think why.

Mark

 

The power went off on Saturday evening, I think around 19:50, yet all XC trains appear to have run until close of play so that doesn't seem to have been a problem.

Derailments are quite a rare event so why not take the risk and if such an event did occur then involve other operator's control rooms, XC tracks are all covered by other operators so presumably they would know what to do in the event of an incident.

 

To be fair, even when control is working, when there is a problem, it often takes ages to inform passengers, or those waiting for a train, or get those disrupted to destination promptly.

Control is often so remote from the incident, that they are getting info (selective without full picture) second or third hand anyway, so questionable if better decisions are made than by those actually on front line.

 
What no one has considered is what they would have done in the case of an emergency - dealing with fatalities/derailment for example without a control would simply fall apart.

 
Unintentional humour in the banner on this page:

https://www.bigducktours.com/en/windsor/help

 

I find myself agreeing that apparently having to adequate hot-linked backup looks very poor.  But once the failure with no apparent standby / alternative system available, perhaps the best way to get things back to running was for the (limited number available?) specialists to set a checkpoint and work it for a restart from there?   Just asking - I have no data that backs up the suggestion, but I am aware that looking for immediate fixes takes a lot of resource and can elongate the disruption.

 
https://www.bigducktours.com/en/windsor/?gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22529776036&gbraid=0AAAAA_co4OHo1DB-_cl8cxVcCwjv7aPCy&gclid=Cj0KCQjw16_UBhCqARIsAIdOaXxsidBI4N5JxTaczHsXhdZa0C2uDJLEnJyzz_GRRs1aEntvyuBfRTgaAiU2EALw_wcB

We went on this a few years ago.
Lovely trip.
A minibus that floats!

 
The BBC reported on 24th August 2006 that the UK population had exceeded 60 million - see http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/5281360.stm .  The report was from the Office Of National Statistics for the year ended 30th June 2005.

I have looked back - in 30 year increments

33,200,000   1876 (includes Ireland)
43,400,000   1906 (includes Ireland)
47,100,000   1936
54,600,000   1966 Railway modernisation as per the Beeching report
58,200,000   1996 Privatisation
70,000,000   2026 (guestimated as of 30th June)

At Sheffield Park on Saturday, I picked up an old timetable for British Rail's Western Region dated 1965, showing services on lines lost over following years.  Some were - dire - in their frequency, not fast, and looking at the "diagrams" there were a lot of trains busy doing nothing for hours on end.   I find myself wondering with a 28% increase in population since then, and modern environmental concerns at the inefficiency of modern cars for transporting people (not only fuel use, but congestion and the need for road and parking capacity) how different things might have been had the population been so much greater in those days.

 
Need to make a point.  Maximum effect to draw attention.
Unfortunately that's what a strike will do (as we all know).
Little point in taking a strike when a line is closed for engineering works.

 

It is ridiculous, did nobody have a paper copy or even a PDF of the crew & stock diagrams?
Even if the missing diagrams were the root of the problem, surely it would have been possible to produce a simplified set of diagrams. They might not have been able to cover every destination or maintain the full timetable, but they could at least have operated a reduced service, maybe use a tool such as  Excel!
Instead, it appears they decided the task was too difficult and simply cancelled everything.

Perhaps they should take some advice from their sister company, Chiltern Railways. Chiltern managed to find both crews and rolling stock to operate an almost hourly service between Oxford and Birmingham Moor Street via Banbury, to fill the gap left by XC.

 

Guessing - an (urban) fox or someone's dog?

 

 

20 minutes, Town Hall to Station, is what I personally budget and that gets me to the station a couple of minutes before the train. I know I need to push it if I pass over the Town Bridge with only 10 minutes to go and sods law states that if you're short of time the train will be on time.

 
Thank you Grahame for your reply.