I know Chris- just trying to be clever by showing I know there's ex-TfL stock on GWR too when acknowledging the error you pointed out.....

 
I would add my endorsement to the Independent Map Shop at Upton. They were able to supply maps of Germany for me last year that Stanfords did not list, and even contacted me to let me know one I had ordered was about to be revised, so did I want to wait until the revised edition appeared. That's what I call service.

Perhaps CfN may need to change the title of this thread, to "....in Bristol and elsewhere - past and present"!

 
Don't forget you need French agreement before building that. [Image from here is not available to guests]

 

To be fair, the PCCs for Hampshire and Thames Valley do seem regularly to feature on southern regional TV. I'm not certain how effective they are and expect they are like most other figurehead regional appointments, like Mayors, who are hamstrung by what Whitehall and the Treasury allow them to do, and probably take the chance of standing as a stepping stone for something parliamentary in their parties by making a lot of noise to get noticed (or, if ex-MPs, something higher up the food chain). I'll leave members to suggest examples. However, with the limited interest most of the public have in elections for such roles, I think they fail to fulfil their objective of public accountability.

Whatever the size of amalgamated forces, they will still need a command structure and organisation that ensures delivery on the ground. Larger forces will probably mean more divisional offices, and not a lot of manpower savings, but from what seems to be happening currently, it will formalise a lot of current cross-force resource sharing.

BTW, I read somewhere earlier today that Gloucestershire was talking to Thames Valley - just Googled and found this - https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/01/27/britain-oldest-county-police-force-merger-gloucestershire/?msockid=2cb2a64906e467143577b04a075f66f2.

 
Errrr, you were referring to the 175s at the point you typed TfL....never been anywhere near them.

 
I have expanded the heading of this topic, in the interests of clarity and ease of future reference for our readers.

 

I do indeed Chris. The ex-TfL stock (the experimental 230s) are far to long out of Tube service and too modified for any blame to attach to their previous operator!

 
Hoprfilly, the driving examiner will have already inked the "PASS" stamp, so long as William doesn't run anybody over.

 
From the Mirror via MSN today:


Network Rail are looking into it, but no Night Sleeper tonight.

Edit: Just spotted TG's earlier message.

 

I can remember going there in the 80s or 90s just after the EU had introduced set-aside for agricultural land and finding a queue of Farmers waiting to order 25 inch maps of their land.

Only 6 miles from me in Pershore but Upton is not very well served by public transport these days. Buses from Worcester only and by 2 alternate routes ether east or west of the river Severn.

When I lived in Kempsey just south of Worcester in the 1970s there was an all day and evening bus service from Worcester to Gloucester via Upton and Tewkesbury. Now to get south from upton you need to go to Worcester. Then take a train to Gloucester. The only regular bus service between Worcestershire and Gloucestershire is Evesham to Tewkesbury.

 

Not entirely frustrated. I did eventually, by a circuitous route, become a health/medical cartographer. All sorts of fancy words; spatial epidemiology! It is useful to know where health conditions occur, it is also useful to know where health treatment occurs. The connection between the two is not always optimal.

 

I didn't know that.  And neither did the local police, it would appear.  A neighbour had £10,000 fishing gear lifted from his garden shed a few months back.  Our shed was broken into at the same time, but nothing taken.  Zero interest from the police for either of of the break-ins, apart from a crime number, and the arrival a couple of weeks later of a PCSO to drink tea and supply a crime prevention leaflet

 

Police are required to attend and investigate ALL domestic burglaries in England & Wales.

 

Now ongoing until 1700

 

Amongst local facilities/services lost to my home town of Evesham in the last 25 - 35 years that come immediately to mind:

Hospital services including Casualty and Maternity; Magistrates Court; County Court; Driving Test Centre; Ambulance Station; Police Station.  All centralised "to reduce costs and improve service"  The NHS even had the gall to sell off for housing a hospital that was not their property but held by a trust on behalf of Evesham people.

I am not alone amongst residents of what was once a lovely town that has lost so much who have seen neither a reduction in cost or a better provision of services

From my perspective, we've lost what's gone because the organisations concerned have looked too much into their own processes and empire building, and not enough at doing what they are handsomely funded to do

Before 1967, there was Worcestershire Constabulary.  That was merged with Shropshire and Herefordshire to form West Mercia Constabulary.  The new set up has seen nothing but reductions in police stations and police presence, year after year.  Have a burglary, and the best you can expect is a crime number to go on an insurance claim form.  The only place there isn't a shortage of police is at the doughnut counter of Lidl

Further merging police forces will save not a single penny, and will probably cost a fortune in reorganisation cost one-offs that will become permanent.

My father in law was a village bobby who retired after a lengthy career when he saw the deluge of paperwork that centralised "efficiency" seemed to produce and riot training became mandatory.  "Not what I joined for" he would say

 

So, not just the comedian's comedian then? [Image from here is not available to guests]

 
It would appear that we have a few frustrated cartographers here. [Image from here is not available to guests]

One of the jobs I wanted to do when I was a kid. Along with the obligatory 'train driver'.

 
Barrier and drain repairs are continuing on the M5 southbound between J28 (Cullompton) and J29 (A30, Exeter) as of midday 28/01/2026. Only one lane open.

As I found out this morning driving to IKEA in Exeter. Took nearly 45 minutes to get through the bottleneck. That was after abandoning my journey to IKEA Bristol yesterday.

I do now have the table I needed for my latest project...

[Image from here is not available to guests]

 
The Penzance bound sleeper was somewhat understandably 75 minutes late into Penzance. The London bound was at one point in the journey that late but made up a lot of the time to arrive 30 mins late.

 
Severe flood warning issued for Christchurch in Dorset (BCP in modern parlance):
Severe flood warning for Lower Stour at Iford Bridge Home Park https://check-for-flooding.service.gov.uk/target-area/111FWFSTOL819

Might be best not to plan a Christchurch to Poole run this Saturday.

 

The original Stanfords in Covent Garden before it was it modernised/improved had a fascinating and slightly hidden basement. It was run by two extremely knowledgeable gentlemen and stocked Military Survey and other specialist official maps. Too much of my money went there, and the staff added considerably to my mapping knowledge. Bad timing meant that I missed out on the detailed Falkland Island survey material. On the announcement of the task force MoD went and "recovered" the entire stock.

 
Ah, another good reason to re-equip bare-bones infrastructure provision at terminii. Newquay now on the destination list.

Mark

https://railway200.co.uk/Inspiration/

 
Delays to services between Reading and Newbury

Due to a points failure at Reading West disruption is expected until 13:30 28/01.
Train services between Reading and Newbury may be delayed.