Here's the running for the last fortnight, weekdays





In the absence of any official answer, what the **** is going on with the 17:35 train from Swindon - the busiest of the day?

Rumour has it that the 16:23 Westbury to Swindon and 17:35 return are rostered to a driver based in Exeter who's one of their IET drivers, and used as a route refresher turn so that (s)he knows the road via Melksham and Swindon in case or diversions.  Problems arise when the driver in question has been off that route so long it has to be relearned and (s)he can't take the train alone, or that (s)he is an IET driver who doesn't have traction knowledge for a 158 / 165 / 166 as might be in use on the Swindon train that day.

One of the questions asked at the Central Timetable Briefing a couple of of months ago of the timetabkle planners concerned how the base timetables were built / made more robust in consideration of how things are handled on imperfect days.  The question was sidestepped at the time, and I have not really been filled in since; it rather suggest to me that ruggedness in the event of being able to handle something going wrong is not a priority.

 

Interesting thought - though with 15 ticketed passenger journeys on average per day, I wonder what the case is. Having said which for robustness of the service through Roche, if slewing would make the service more robust there could [have been/be] a stronger case.   Are there predictions for traffic growth at Roche and other intermediate stations between Par and Newquay?  Are any of them anticipated to be growth hubs to help HMG reach towards its new housing targets??

 
Just a thought brought about seeing pictures of the flooding at Roche on the Newquay branch.

With all the money being thrown at this metro idea, I would have thought, in the interest of H&S, the old up platform at Roche could have been rebuilt and the track slewed slightly and therefore negating the need for passengers to cross the track via the barrow crossing.

 
9. Kirkcaldy

 
13: Budapest, Hungary

 
This started yesterday 22/12 when some services ran SAL>EXD with 3 cars when 6 would have been expected, and some trains were 3 cars for the entire WAT>EXD trip.

Many services were reported as 'Full & Standing' and consequently delays resulted, one assumes, from issues with pax changeovers at stations.

1L33, the 1220 ex-Waterloo, departed as a 5 coach train, was almost full when it reached BSK, where one of my sons boarded, and then dropped the 158 unit at SAL. It arrived at EXD 48 mnutes late, ran into Platform 1 rather than the customary P3, skipped the Exeter New Yard 'tea break', and immediately returned 10 minures late to WAT as 1L64.

Given that this seems to have taken SWR by surprise is fuel contamination a possible cause?   

 
20:06 Westbury to Cheltenham Spa due 22:06
20:06 Westbury to Cheltenham Spa due 22:06 will be terminated at Swindon.
It will no longer call at Kemble, Stroud, Stonehouse, Gloucester and Cheltenham Spa.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

 
20. Périgueux, Nouvelle-Aquitaine, France.

 
No.16 .York.

 

I had a quick look at 1X01's schedule on RTT and the passenger stations that stood out to me as having variations on the standard calling pattern are: Winslow, a nameless station between London Fenchurch Street and Barking, a nameless station between Elsenham and Bishops Stortford, Altnabreac, and Aberdare, presumably for various reasons.

I was reassured to see that Naughty Kid is due to receive their usual present.

 
2. Regua, Douro Valley, Portugal.

 

I'm happy with either / both - some of the locations within the countries are very difficult questions

 
Cancellations to services between Liskeard and Looe
Due to flooding between Liskeard and Looe the line is closed.
Train services running to and from these stations will be cancelled. Disruption is expected until the end of the day on 04/01/26.

 

My quick glance through the Garry Keenor pfd it is very comprehensive, anyone reading it cover to cover will have a very good understanding of OLE railway electrification.     Although I will add the techniques, equipment and systems are evolving all the time

 
05:03 Penzance to London Paddington due 09:54
Facilities on the 05:03 Penzance to London Paddington due 09:54.
This is due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time.
Will be formed of 5 coaches instead of 10 from Plymouth. There are no reservations on this service

04:54 Plymouth to London Paddington due 08:35
Facilities on the 04:54 Plymouth to London Paddington due 08:35.
This is due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time.
Will be formed of 5 coaches instead of 10. There are no reservations on this service.

 
Sorry Grahame,  can you clarify please,  are you looking for the precise  location or just the country for each photo?

 

 
Tuesday December 23


Sad news indeed, especially at this time of year.

Service changes currently reported on JourneyCheck:

EDIT (08:45):

Line now reported open. Updated service changes:

 
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I was planning to do "Home and Away" pictures for the last two Advent days. However, the home clues are going to be easy and solved in a day, and I suspect the away ones many take longer that 24 hours, and of course we want to be tidied up and at the station by 23:55 on Christmas Eve in time for 1X01.

So here you are - I have been through the pictures on my camera and found no less than 30 with transport links, each from a different country.  Tomorrow there will be transport pictures from our own area.  I've called the quiz "Carlisle and Settle" because we're running in the opposite order to convention.

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It's not just GWR singing this song, but this will no doubt create extra pressure on already overcrowded services today.....

From National Rail


Disruption between London Waterloo and Exeter St Davids, and between Salisbury and Yeovil Junction via Westbury until the end of the day


Service alteration details
Incident reported: Tuesday 23 December 2025 at 04:11


Last updated
Tuesday 23 December 2025 at 04:35

Train operators affected
South Western Railway
Route(s) affected
Between London Waterloo and Salisbury / Yeovil Junction / Exeter St Davids, and also between Salisbury and Yeovil Junction

Description
More trains than usual needing repairs at the same time that run between London Waterloo and Exeter St Davids, and also between Salisbury and Yeovil Junction via Westbury means fewer services are able to run. Trains running between stations may be cancelled or revised.

Disruption is expected until the end of the day.

Customer advice:

Due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time, some services between London Waterloo and Exeter St Davids along with services between London Waterloo and Salisbury and onto Yeovil Junction via Westbury will either be cancelled, revised or formed of fewer carriages than normal.

South Western Railway are arranging for you to be able to use your ticket at no extra cost with other train operators. We will let you know when this is in place.

 

I think the distinction is that Christmas on the railways is planned chaos, whereas the rest of the year chaos happens randomly and at any time.

 
Twelve minutes of live footage, from one of the canal users on the scene, via YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4DGXAPE_lA 

 
That's two events in the last week or so that involved transport infrastructure, and for both of them the visuals have suggested that they were a product of artificial intelligence - but they were all too real. Add that to the episode the other week in which Network Rail were spooked into thinking that a viaduct on the WCML had failed, when it had not, and then on top of that the power of A.I. to recreate someone's voice from a short sample of their speech and then use that for malicious purposes, this ... *waves hands at everything* ... is very difficult for many people.

Mark

 
May I post here, to the effect that I have probably only continued to quote such ongoing 'news' updates from the BBC, as they enable me to add yet more fresh images of ferries on this forum.

I love ferries. CfN.

 

Even by the usual standards of public investment, this has been a shocker. I would expect Turkey to be cheaper than elsewhere, as it is for dental implants and weight loss surgery.

The ride home from Cemre is going to be a plum job for the crew if they haven't retired by then. It's on the Asian side of the Sea of Marmara, close the the Bosphorus (translation: Ox-ford). Tourists pay good money for a cruise along that route.

 

Years ago, we took our kids (youngest now 40) the the Disney park outside Paris. We They had an excellent time on the many rides. One ride we didn't do was train to the place, but there was a station within the grounds with RER, local rail, and Eurostar services. If this is going to be bigger than that, someone should start drawing up timetables from all directions now.

 

Indeed. The remains of the Nynehead boat lift being one such piece.

 
For some information on the charity, at least initially, tasked with the ... erm, unenviable task of repairing the Llangollen Canal at Whitchurch, Shropshire, see https://canalrivertrust.org.uk/about-us .

All the best of good luck and public support to them. CfN.