OK - better connectivity here and I had cleared a problem.  No obvious pattern with the quick look I have had, so this may of may not have fixed it.  Server load dropping again as I write, so promising.

 
From the BBC:

 
Nine years previous to the video on the link below, the Great Central, not without a struggle, quietly opened its station in the centre of Nottingham - in a city that largely had no electricity supply the railway company had to organise its own power generation for its new facility. There doesn't appear to be a record of the reaction of residents to a large public building lit by electricity - at night, for those times, it must have been outlandish.

Thinking of Swiss railways, I'm always never less than rattled that the video below - an electric train running on a challenging line - was filmed around 1910 - and even more rattled that in 2026 the UK is still struggling to achieve something that the GCR never did - electrify the railways themselves.

Mark


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGNgZb-NDzo

 
From the BBC:

 
You parsed a list of places you passed, as it were.

Mark

 
From the BBC:

 

Hadn't noticed that one but I did notice us passing Pasing today.

 
Our worker server has been overworked again - not sure of the details.   I have done something which I hope has brought it back - a test post suggest it's running.   I'm on a train and will have better connectivity in an hour or two.

 

The arrangement is that in the event of a cancellation, tickets routed "via Melksham" will be accepted via Bath Spa on the first  alternative train.   That is not always made clear, and indeed GWR's ticket sale site if a train is cancelled will not sell you the lower fare via Bath - "Hey - we've cancelled your train and we'll rub it in by putting the price up".

I have never heard of a "via Melksham" ticket being refused via Bath when the service via Melksham isn't running.

Note to any readers from GWR - the problem becomes less if you cancel fewer trains 

 
From National Rail;

Route(s) affected
Various routes across the Great Western Railway network

Description
There is a shortage of train crew available across the Great Western Railway network today.

As a result of this, trains running on various routes may be subject to cancellations or alterations.

This is expected to be the case for the rest of the day today.

Customer advice:

Please check your entire journey in full before setting off today.

Check before you travel:

You can check your journey using the National Rail Enquiries real-time Journey Planner.

Compensation:

You may be entitled to compensation if you experience a delay in completing your journey today. Please keep your train ticket and make a note of your journey, as both will be required to support any claim.

 
From the BBC:

 
If I buy a ticket from Westbury to Chippenham intending to catch (say) the 1217 direct service - and that service is cancelled, can I then travel via Bath on that ticket ? OR .......do I have to wait for the 1418 service (assuming that isn't cancelled too), OR........... buy a new ticket before I board the Bath train, OR...........??

Silly thought - if I am allowed to travel via Bath on my "cheap" via Melksham ticket, can I then claim delay repay for my late arrival in Chippenham ?

 
20:38 Westbury to Swindon due 21:23
20:38 Westbury to Swindon due 21:23 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

21:34 Swindon to Westbury due 22:16
21:34 Swindon to Westbury due 22:16 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

 

Oops - north from Milan.   Thanks. Following sentence clears that, but I will edit ...

 
The frequency changes in November 1978 may have moved frequencies by 2kHz but it also saw a change of slot for many BBC National Radio stations - Radio 4 took over the old Radio 2 Long Wave position, while Radio 3 took over Radio 1's famous 247 wavelength.

There was even a song about it.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbSMMNVOT0o

 

Hmmm. North from Munich into Switzerland. Do you mean north from Milan or south from Munich?

 
It is particularly the end of an era as it is the last west European long wave service to close. The nearest I can find still operating are in Poland, Romania, and north Africa. The last age of the era started in 1988, when the relay transmitters at Burghhead and Westerglen opened. At the same time all the national allocated frequencies shifted (mostly by 2 kHz) and the wavelengths became unround numbers (so not 1500 M, but still 1.5 km). 

I remember that as Westerglen was close enough I could see it while diving to work. At the time I was listening to France Inter from Allouis (164/162 kHz), which was swamped by local competition until I worked out how to exclude it. Allouis's transmitter power got up to 2 Mz by then, but the electricity bills for what was essentially a cloud heater became too much and it was turned down, and then off in 2016 (there is now a time signal).

In the pre-internet age it was the most reliable way to listen to other European countries' radios, without the complexity of receiving on short wave (which was not domestic services in any case).

 
In case someone lands on this thread and is looking for the consultation, here's a link.

Mark

https://www.southwesterntimetable.com/

 
The South Western Railway timetable consultation - from the web site.

'As we develop our plans, we’ll seek views and feedback on our proposals from stakeholders, customers and the wider community, including running a full public consultation in Autumn 2026.'

The impending change in management of GWR to join SWR in the 'Nationalised' stable rather sounds as though it's not the sort of consultation for which the conclusions are already set in stone.

It would be good to have people managing the nationalised rail service realise that the provision, initially of a service of three trains a day between Bristol and Waterloo is very achievable - and that the service that ceased in 2021 was an efficient use of train paths, was popular and which had the potential for further growth.

It would be a big win = for rail services in Wiltshire in particular - if this was represented in the data collected by the consultation.

If the nationalised railway is looking for stellar examples of relative minor changes that much improve the network connectivity of their services, this one is a contender.

Mark

https://www.southwesterntimetable.com/

 

Newquay short run AGAIN!

 

But, sadly, this sort of thing has become an accepted norm in many ways, hasn't it?   Just as - here I Germany for example - it's generally accepted that long distance trains are frequently late - I'm not even going to bother to tell you that we set off from Bregenz about 5 minutes late and we're now 25 down as we head for Munich.

 
I see that you passed through a town by the name of 'Hard' too which seems fitting.

Mark

 
It did get a mention on the previous night's 6 o'clock news but it's disappointing that they didn't mark it at least in a quiet way at the time. I was away from home without access to a LW radio so didn't tune in, but I'm glad I hadn't made a special effort given the lack of any real farewell.

 
And a follow up about my departure from Milan ... posted to "Interrailing for the Older Crowd"

 
11:03 London Paddington to Newquay due 15:51

11:03 London Paddington to Newquay due 15:51 will be terminated at Plymouth.

It will no longer call at Liskeard, Bodmin Parkway, Par and Newquay.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.


Cornish branches generally getting clobbered too due to crew shortage.

 

So yesterday was "a near normal service, with some minor changes" 

 
The end of 1500m Long Wave feels like the end of an era.  Many happy and some not-so-happy times shared with Radio 4, including the start and end of broadcast times.

 
I planned to check in to my hotel at 17:30 yesterday, but got here at around 19:45 - two hours late and the longest delay on my trip.  The hotel wasn't going anywhere, and was staffed for check in until 21:30 and is a larger one, so I really wasn't too bothered about that - but what an interesting experience of things going wrong and that they do go wrong "even in Switzerland". 

Milan - Cadenazzo - Goeschenen - Andermatt - look around and lunch.  Andermatt - Goeschenen - Arth-Goldau - St Gallen - and then the Bregenz train that got as far as St Margrethen where we pulled in for our scheduled stop at around 16:45, and there we stopped and stayed.

At 17:00 we were told that there was a problem with the line ahead and it was closed.  Please sit tight and we'll know more in half an hour.  "Please remain on the train - we have the AC on and it's hot outside".  At 17:30 a further message from our train manager told us that he was still awaiting news but would keep us informed (as best he could). At 18:00 we were asked to leave the train and wait on the platform because the train had to turn around and go back whence it came filling in for one that couldn't come the other way.  And, lambs that passenger are, we all did as we were told. And - yes, it was hot.  So hot, indeed, that the failure of the line ahead was at-a-guess going to be weather related.

So - operationally, the train turned around and headed back towards Basel or wherever it was going and a sea of perhaps 100 to 150 passengers was left sweating and with luggage on the platform.  The onward journey - though just 15 scheduled minutes to Bregenz, then another 15 minutes to Lindau is no ordinary one.  It runs - or, rather, was supposed to run from Switzerland into Austria (Bregenz) then on to Lindau (Germany) with the train continuing to Munich. And as with many international borders, local public transport across them is thin - VERY thin. Look at the network maps displayed at St Margrethen and you'll see it's at the very edge of wonderful provision, with just a solitary line pointing to the train (the line had failed, remember) into Bregenz.

Now - the local language is German and I can pick up the gist of it.  And while we were still on the train, the train manager was giving us a summary in English too over the good tannoy. But on the platform, it was hard to hear what was being said and I don't know how much if any of that was relevant or indeed in my language anyway.   This will be forming a public post - so at this point I should let new readers know I am completely deaf in one ear; I miss things even in English if I'm not listening for them and don't have any directional clues as to where sounds are coming from / if they are directed towards me. Other sounds around especially interfere - I'm fine in a quiet place and the casual person conversing with me does not even know my issue, nor do they need to. It does have the advantage of letting me buy a disabled rail card in the UK which gives me more (stuff like companion discount) than my previous senior card, but I digress.

There's over 100 people and their luggage sweating on the "Island" platform at St Margrethen. At first, one hassled train manager who knows no more than we do and is ordered back east into Switzerland by control and has nothing to add in passenger terms about what's being done for this astonishingly complacent crowd, even though it has become increasingly clear to me and some others that we can't just drop back to following trains - the next one over the border is show as cancelled, the IT screen tell us the next is still scheduled but as someone helps me they tell me that it will probably be cancelled too.

St Margrethren is a network hub.  Other trains run, and some are making plans to go elsewhere. I ask a driver of a bus in the attached bus station about services to Bregenz and he confirms there are none, looking at me as if I'm asking a stupid question and that I should know German to be allowed here without a minder.  Speaking with fellow passengers, many of whom have English as a second language, they tell me of rumours that buses are being arranged to take us.  But they stress these are just rumours and even in German nothing confirmed - no estimated time, no-one talking capacity or anything like that.

My hotel booking is not cancellable / changeable. I need to get to Bregenz. I have a "management decision" to make as to whether to try to contact them to let them know I'm delayed, but there seems little point in so doing as they'll still be there and my immediate concern is onward travel - "Race Across the World" stuff too, as my mobile phone, on which I have an unlimited contract, IS limited to "fair usage" and I have been warned that I'm over 80% of my month's allowance gone, so it's in Airplane mode most of the time.  So - no call to hotel.

People are phoning for taxis.  All sorts of calls / numbers from what I can understand, and they're all (what a surprise) fully booked and frustrating.  And a taxi or three is only going to make a small dent into the crowd, and at what cost.

I spot - and so do a couple of other folks - a taxi dropping people off with a logo / phone number that suggests he's from Austria.  Over the border.  A handful of us approach him - does he have a return ride and a couple of minutes later I find myself wedged in the back seat middle between a mother in perhaps her 50s and a old-enough-to-have-his-own-family son who are off from their home in Switzerland for a hiking holiday in Austria.  With her brother / his uncle so it sound like a family thing. The front seat taken by a quiet gentleman so I can't share his story. 

The journey's quicker - much quicker - than the time we have been waiting to make it.  On the meter and I'm thinking "how is that going to rack up" and "yikes, I have no Swiss Franks cash".  Mother and son planning their onward train into Austria, and are slightly concerned as to whether they'll make the next one, or have a one or two hour wait. So, hey, Bregenz main station rather than Bregenz Hafren suits me; local stuff can be sorted.

And so it is, wish my new temporary friends a good holiday as they dash off.  Taxi - bless him - was on the meter and it was just 10 Euros per person and gave me the opportunity to split my emergency 50 Euro note; everything else being on plastic this trip.

Bregenz main station to Bregenz Hafren in just 2 minutes by train - and I opted to walk along the main road.  Another taxi passed by, and one of the very recognisable people who had been in the crowd in Switzerland gave me a cheery wave.  Nothing like adversity to bring people together.  A lovely look on the front as I found my hotel (actual just up in the town) and checked in with a concerned Sonja who had been trying to reach me when I had not turned up at the time I had given as my e.t.a.  I apologised, explained my concerns at grabbing that taxi over letting the hotel know my new e.t.a, and have been show around and introduce to this hotel where I spend two nights.

Yes, I did look at plan B "Abandon Bregenz and stay somewhere else".  Plan C - take trains to Konstanz then round the lake towards Singen and Lindau and back to Bregenz.  Plan D - walk (10 to 15kms - not in this heat, thank you). Real "Race across the world" stuff!

---

Learning lessons?   The importance of customer service / having someone look after and keep the passengers informed, or able to act as a hub / knowledgable contact point when things go wrong.  The good nature of people. And i the end, here we are, just another day and the memories of the journey from Italy to Austria yesterday will be much more in the lovely places I saw and photographs from the trains than the little hassle at the end of the day - with limited picture because I was too concerned with the logistics!

 
At 01:00 this morning, 27th June 2026, Radio 4 transmissions on 198kHz (long wave) ceased.

There was no special ceremony; just the usual end of day: "Sailing by" introducing the shipping forecast; the National Anthem; the time signal.

A few seconds silence, then a repeating closure information loop.

I decided to wallow in a bit of nostalgia (like a final train service day) and listened to this on a GEC transistor radio that is around 65 years old, like this one: https://www.radiomuseum.org/r/general_el_bc502bc_50.html

This same radio has been in the family since I was a tiny tot. It was with me at university and relayed the results of the 1979 election that brought Margaret Thatcher to power.

In the days of e-waste mountains, it is a testament to how long electronic equipment can last.

 
GWR website has following information under the banner headline


Then goes onto say

Isn't that a bit having your cake and eating it, planning changes, then claiming near normal.   Anyone else think this is close to unreasonable

https://www.gwr.com/weather