And also broadgage.

 

Same management, same problems is my prediction.

Time will tell!

 

"Disruption is expected until the end of the day on 06/07/26" (!)

 

Indeed ... and I found a common theme in many of the excess visitors and diverted them away ... for a couple of minutes until I realised that I fell into the common theme too and I had diverted myself away.

I am looking for other themes / patterns ... watch this space.

 

I'm not so sure.

I wonder if GWR and their senior management presented their CVs for consideration, listing their "achievements" whilst at the controls, how would they stack up against (for example) a new team with fresher ideas and (for example) a more customer driven culture?

For sure they've had to deal with issues such as these ageing hand-me-downs, but if you look at the relative "newness" of much of the fleet (800 series, Electrostars etc) and all the opportunities they had to deal with historic issues when more was within their control, perhaps history may not be quite so forgiving.

Maybe, as with the onset of GBR, it's just time for a change all round.

No-one's irreplaceable, after all.

That said, other than a new colour scheme, I foresee very little (positive) change under GBR - I remember the excitement on these pages when it was first announced several years ago, and having asked the well informed people here at the time what real positive difference it would make to customers, I'm still waiting for an answer.............that's not a reflection on any forum members by the way, more on reality!

Perhaps the experience with the 175s are a metaphor for the future.

 
The number on line peaked at 8771 earlier today.  That’s a rather unwelcome new record for the most on line at anyone time in the forum’s history. 

 
From the BBC:

 
Several empty stock moves but anything for (sleepy) passengers before the 07:40?

Mark

 
Slide set - for Coffee shop members and thanks to GWR at:
https://www.firstgreatwestern.info/mirror/GWR_crcof26.pdf

 

More "guests" than usual needing repair at the same time? 

 
Ignore the "No Entry" sign and make your way to the platform if that's the way you've been directed. I can't imagine the sky would fall in as a result, although I get that it's somewhat confusing.

 
From the BBC


Public transport use *is* healthy - here's my last month's log - not in minutes but in kms, and from my phone so odd bits if walking around at home not carrying the phone aren't counted.



The low point days about a week ago were when it was just too hot to do much in Brindisi, followed by a day with a single very long distance train ride between two overnight stops chosen to be near stations.

P.S.  No getting off the bus a stop early - though reads will know I got off the train a stop early in Bregenz!

 
A rude awakening.............

23:45 London Paddington to Penzance due 07:54

03/07/26 23:45 London Paddington to Penzance due 07:54 was terminated at Plymouth.
It will no longer call at Liskeard, Bodmin Parkway, Lostwithiel, Par, St Austell, Truro, Redruth, Camborne, Hayle, St Erth and Penzance.

This is due to a broken down train.

 
1.  If I go to Chippenham Station late at night to catch a train and the main building is shut, how do I get onto the platform?

I am directed to the night entrance:



but if I go through there the approach to the footbridge is off limits:



2. If I come off a train and am going to connect onto a bus but don't know my way, how do I find out which of the spaced-out stops I want?  A, B or C?



No signs / suggestions - the best I have found is to go over to a random stop and see if my service is from that one ...

 
Alterations to services between Westbury and Reading

Due to a fault with the signalling system between Westbury and Reading fewer trains are able to run on some lines.

Train services running to and from these stations may be delayed or diverted. Some stations between Westbury and Reading will not be served. Disruption is expected until 08:00 04/07.

 
Just "pinging" this topic to let members know that I *am* aware (and working on it).  The traffic (on the worker server) has hugely increased; clues suggest that the extras are automata. Typically, we have 500 or 600 "guests" around in a 15 minute period, last night we had 8000 in one such period.  And, yes, there is an extra zero on the end of that number.

 
For completeness, continuity and clarity, I have expanded the heading of this topic, and now offer a link to the Rail Accident Investigation Branch report, at https://www.gov.uk/government/news/report-082024-member-of-staff-struck-by-a-train-at-st-philips-marsh-depot .

CfN.

 
I use this crossing very occasionally as one of a class of users termed 'Encumbered pedestrian'. (It's on a useful portage route between the canal and the river.) Every time I've encountered it, it's very trim and well maintained. Many people don't treat these as though they're stepping across one blade of a pair of scissors though. And then there's the issue of the 'Second train on the other line' as well. Thinking back to school, I can't recall the sort of safety talks about this that hopefully happen now.

Oh, and when I passed the driving test back in the day, one of the oral questions from the examiner concerned the approach flags for a level crossing - the 'Three stripe/two stripe/one stripe' sequence. They must have been feeling merciful as despite passing these many times on a road I used regularly on a bike, I replied that I had no idea, but they were obviously a count down to some severe hazard or other...

Mark

 
Significant. Google Streetview from 2024 shows damage to the fence at a similar position: there's possibly a recipe here: vehicle driver heads uphill too fast, overcooks the bend, becomes airborne at least enough to lose adhesion/steering and... lo!

Off-topic: there was a length of rail carrying one of those diamond bridge signs (the sign itself long missing). The post itself was present in 2015 but gone by 2024.

Mark

 
Whilst it may be 'dangerous misuse' (although I'm not sure Network Rail would use such language) there still remains a duty of care to the public who use the crossing.

 
2. Is indeed Italy (Cagliari) and 5. is Maastricht in the Netherlands

 

That is definitely a picture taken at Bristol Temple Meads.  The houses in the distance are the rather famously differently coloured terraced properties on Bellevue Terrace and Richmond Street.  Gosh, how I used to enjoy delivering groceries in those narrow streets up there! 

CfN. 

 

This is correct. The temporary fence was erected by Network Rail; the car was eventually removed by a road-rail vehicle

View from a different angle

 
From the BBC:

 
Google Streetview has the location from April this year and no sign then of the chain link fence - it might have been put in today as part of the work to make the line safe for use. It appears the vehicle driver has come up the hill from the beach, overcooked the turn  on to the bridge, probably more or less become airborne so no steering, dived under the palisade fence (though you'd expect the vehicle to be more scrawped) and... ended up foul of the track. A couple of photos from one Craig Munday on Facebook.

Mark

https://www.facebook.com/groups/384010423010289/user/683839768/

 
This photo on BBC News is more baffling

appears to be a chain link / mesh fence adjacent to a track with gate across it, which is still standing, then a demolished green metal palisade fence.

So unless the car entered from left of the picture, it appears to have jumped one fence, but knocked over second fence (and why 2 parallel fences unless prone to be damaged)

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cvgd0g9y7yqo

 
From yesterday - where/how is the Community Rail Network looking ahead - my notes

 
How about this one?
https://www.hellorayo.co.uk/hits-radio/cornwall/news/train-services-in-cornwall-suspended-after-car-falls-onto-tracks-near-carbis-bay

The houses in the background look like Bristol, but that's not Temple Meads, is it - too curved? And the roof looks wrong.

 
2.  Italy.

By somewhat of a process of elimination of possible countries, all the others in Europe have been identified, so it has to be Italy.  With the coastline and foliage, it has to be somewhere Mediterranean.

CfN. 

 
Just to confirm she left last week.  Her replacement, Bill Freeman, starts on 1st August.