I think we probably followed each other around Bristol on Saturday, going to most of the places you did (including the bookshop!) after a tour of the Redcliffe Caves.  I was impressed with the new floating bridge which I will cycle over sometime (maybe today).

I cycle around Bristol a lot and am always finding something interesting to look at.  The only downside with cycling (apart from the dodgy driving around you) is seeing things but not stopping to photograph them, walking is much better in that regard.

Cheers,
Chris

 

Hmmm ... it must be frustrating for bus drivers to have to sit an wait at a bus stop when they just know that later on their journey they're going to get held up and become late.

I do note that many of the times presented to the public these days - the times for minor stops - are estimates between formal timing points and you may expect the buses to be early sometimes.  The nearest stop to our home is like that - Bathwards the previous timing point is a long way back and the time fluctuates based quite a bit, Devizeswards we're the first stop after a timing point and the bus is much less likely to be earlier than estimated.

 
Trains are now able to operate from Didcot Parkway to head west.

 
I was booked on the first RDG-Newcastle this morning but they’ve cancelled these today it seems. All starting BHM.

The Xc Manchester services are running south as far as OXF.

 
Are these third party issues becoming more prevalent?  Are we simply noticing them more?  Are we being more careful than we were before in shutting down as a precaution?  Are we taking longer to sort things out? Is the disruption more widespread because of the limited resources and increased specialisation that is the modern railway?   Is it just a bad morning and I happen to have noticed it today?

 


Yep ... Gas Leak has closed all lines between Didcot and Reading.   Extra calls on some West of England trains at Westbury to pick up / drop off passengers between London / Reading and Chippenham / Bath (and presumably Swindon, Bristol and even South Wales). Advice is "don't travel unless you have to" past the closed area.    You will also have had Swindon / Chippenham to Bath / Bristol customers, as the only trains that don't go through the affected area are the Oxford -> Bristol ones. 

Turnbacks at Swindon (and Didcot?? and Oxford??) from the west will be limited, and lots of IETs that would run services from London via Didcot will be stuck at the North Pole!

 
... although quite a few got off at Trowbridge with me and have boarded the Bristol train. It's going to be pretty cozy by the time we reach Temple Meads...

 
That'll be the gas leak I guess?

 
Something going on this morning - the 05:11 Gloucester Southampton that I've boarded at 06:31 Melksham, usually pretty empty, is packed. Asked the TM - disruption at Didcot, everyone going to London via Westbury or something...

 
Thank you for the info but is it being held on

Wednesday 23 September or

Thursday 24 September 

 
Network Rail now has the following on the "Disruption" section:

https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/service-disruptions/didcot-parkway-20260922/

"No trains between Oxford / Didcot Parkway and Reading: major disruption is expected until at least the end of the day on Wednesday 23 September."

Long list of suggested alternatives for today, but for tomorrow: "It is not yet known what service will look like for either CrossCountry or Great Western Railway on this date. Please check back later."

 
Smug git

It was good to have a couple of beers and a chat, bobm.

 
There seems to be an information failure on JourneyCheck for eastbound trains at Goring & Streatley which still shows the 22-46 and 23-03 running, although 23-36 cancelled. There is a click through on the heading for each journey with a long note about the closure, but it starts with "This train may (my italics) be affected by the following route problem". There's no sign of any running trains west of Reading on Open Train Times....

 
Meanwhile I had an uneventful 15 minute walk home.   

 
The Bristol to Oxford services have been running via the west curve as usual.

 
Flixbus - the Ryanair of buses? 

Again, that is my personal opinion, certainly not the official view from the Coffee Shop forum.

CfN. 

 
Looking at the photo of the Conflat wagon outside of M Shed on the docks.made me grin as I was quite possibly on the other side by the former Lloyds building looking at cranes 30 & 31 in action, particularly the former, lifting and swinging barrels from a truck to a wagon on the docks railway...or was it vice versa?  Either way, I was very pleased to see them in working order, which I hadn't realised that they were.

 
Apparently contractors working on the new Lidl site have damaged a gas main on the site of the old gas‑holder beside the railway. What’s odd is that Marsh Lane, the road running under the railway right next to the site, hasn’t been closed.

It’s also unclear from the NR/GWR updates whether the Didcot to Swindon and Didcot to Oxford lines are actually open. If they’ve been shut, that would be strange given the incident is roughly half a mile east of the station..

 
Flixbus customer service is horrendous.

I was driving a Falcon about 12 - 18 months ago, and come across a lady at a stop we shared with Flix at Taunton who was heading to London. She spoke little English but I established her Flixbus hadn’t turned up. I did some research and whilst Flix didn’t have a direct number, I knew a driver who drove the local Flix bus at the time, so gave him a call to get information.
I assessed the lady as potentially vulnerable as she was distressed, spoke very little English and in an unfamiliar place in a foreign country (to her), so as I had plenty of spare seats decided I’d take her to Bristol, and walk her to a Flixbus at Bristol bus station. Now in my head I thought flixbus reps/ drivers at Bristol would help and get the lady to London. Apparently not. They told me the upcoming Bristol to London departures were operated by a different partner so they couldn’t transport her. A national express person over heard the discussion, and put her on the next NX to London.
Overall I was left less than impressed by Flixbus customer care.

Despite this I gave them a go myself, £6 for a single Krakow to Kosice. Service cancelled. Told they wouldn’t refund as it was under the minimum refund amount, even though it was them who failed to operate! I shall avoid as far as possible now, unless I have a back up.

 

Donald Trump getting a third term, for example?

Sorry - I did say that out loud and it is my personal opinion, certainly not the official view from the Coffee Shop forum.

CfN. 

 
Services terminating at Falmouth Town after 08.45 Wednesday morning

 

That's good: it isn't a cruise missile, after all. 

 
I happened to find myself in Swindon with some time to spare, so I invited fellow admin bobm to join me for a pint in our preferred Wetherspoons there, the Savoy.

Having enjoyed a couple of beers and a good chat with bobm, I then strolled over to Swindon station to get a return train to Nailsea.  However, it turned out to be not quite as simple as that. 

Firstly, I missed one west-bound train, by about two minutes, so I waited for the next one. That was supposed to be going through to Taunton, stopping at Nailsea & Backwell, but it was being terminated at Bristol Temple Meads 'due to more trains than usual needing repairs'.  In fact, the very apologetic female train manager in her announcement said, rather tersely, 'this unit is going to be used for something else'.

Then, on the journey, the train braked fairly hard and came to a stop somewhere between Chippenham and Bath Spa.  The excellent train manager made another announcement that we had stopped because a couple of children had run across the tracks in front of the driver, and the driver was on the phone to the signaller.  Next, she announced that the driver had got out of the cab and was looking for the children, to make sure they were safe.  Indeed he was: we saw him out of the left hand carriage windows, wearing GWR hi-viz and scrambling down some very steep embankments - I was rather concerned for his safety, frankly.

Resuming our journey, we eventually arrived at Bristol Temple Meads at least 15 minutes down, so my connection to Nailsea (which shouldn't even have been necessary, had that particular train continued to Taunton via Nailsea) was missed.  There was nothing for it but to find a Wetherspoons for a quick pint before the next train to Nailsea.

CfN. 

 

Yesterday it may well have been a 250 kg rocket, but today the BBC have it as 250 lb and quote the CO of the bomb disposal team as saying it is an "air-dropped bomb".

 
As I write, RTT is currently showing the 1857 from Paddington to Great Malvern as simultaneously "At platform 9" at London Paddington and "At platform 3" at Oxford. Schrödinger's train?

 
This looks to be pretty horrible for people. A few inbound services terminated at Didcot from where the best route to London might be the hourly service to Oxford and then Chiltern to Marylebone. The hourly service to Oxford is still two carriages, mind...

 


and



Comparing rail and road ... I am rather glad that a train leaving on time with people on board does NOT remove the need for compensation or provision to "get you there" if it's delayed on the way. 

Have any members here ever left on time on a train, and then been delayed on the way so that a connection misses?

 

If a diet of pickled eggs is being followed in such an enclosed space, I would urge you to be extremely careful of introducing any naked flames in the vicinity.