And I'm sure we can get you all charged up during the day - both electrically and about socially necessary bus services!

 
I shall be there, in my electric powerchair....

 

Is the 67 minutes rather than 60 because that earlier train also calls at Keynsham and Oldfield Park and needs to be on-the-clockface through the more crowded Solent areas?

2 car then 6 car suggests to me 1 x 158 and 2 x 166 and a lack of compatabity means they can't balance better as a 3 car and 5 car.   Not clever - do you remember those more compatible times when a 142, 143, 150, 153 and 158 could all couple up?

 

The 08:06 Warminster to Swindon was delayed 15 minutes at Westbury too; ironically, the reported delay on Journeycheck has turned out to be only 6 minutes.

No great harm done even by the 15 minute delay for passengers headed onward to London - just a shorter wait at Swindon for the Paddington train.

Edit to add - no connection failure at Chippenham off the up train either - just a shorter wait there.

 
Looks like today's 1F09 09:18 Cardiff - Portsmouth is just a 2car 158

And its subsequent 1F20 13:09 Portsmouth - Cardiff and 1F29 17:25 Cardiff - Portsmouth are same 2car unit

Meanwhile realtime trains is suggesting 1F11 10:25 Cardiff - Portsmouth (why 67 minutes, not an hour later) is a 6car, along with its return 1F24 14:09 Portsmouth - Cardiff

 
09:08 Swindon to Westbury due 09:49
09:08 Swindon to Westbury due 09:49 will be starting late from Swindon.
This is due to engineering works not being finished on time.

 

Ooops - missed that one !

 

In my case, it was a measure of success.  My team at that time was 'Marketing Technical Services': we answered queries about changes in legislation and taxation, particularly around the end of the tax year (5 April). The more calls we took, the better it worked in terms of our helping the sales team to promote the use of our particular financial services company.

CfN.

 

Going further off topic, is a large number of calls to a helpline a measure of success or a sign there is a problem with the product?   I am involved with one and managers get very exercised when the number of calls or emails rises (as they tend to seasonally).

 
On dates - I, too, find it very hard to pin things down to years or even groups of years.

On Brunel's pneumatic railway and whether it was a "noble failure" it probably was - but I had already listed the Waterloo and Whitehall railway which would have been pneumatic, and I considered the Crystal Palace [upper] experiments and the mail rail (I think it was) link to Euston.   There was no real science to the things on the list, except to have a bit of variety.  Only one battery train, ignoring the Aberdeen to Braemar, for example.

 

As a former UK employer, we simply had a team that was large enough to cope with holiday leave absences (and medical and occasional compassionate ones too) ut that did increase the cost of employment.  But then in the UK, even in our hospitality business where the USA standard is based on significant tipping, we looked to pay a decent base wage and the (very occasional) tips that came in were pooled for a shared Christmas box, shared out based on the number of hours each of the team members (not the directors) had worked in the year.   Different culture, and what - to me - feels far more equitable, social, caring; perhaps I am going to much to the left in my political thinking here, but I would find it hard to vote to the right as my parents did in a national or regional election. 

In Chris's case, as one of a team where others pick up while someone's on leave it works well and the measured stats of individual team members when on vacation provide a useful and comforting "control" that emphasises their worth at other times.   Where a role is unique to one person (dangerous) either the job stops while they're away - and for the training courses I gave that was reasonable, with no need for anything in the calendar those weeks, as training was scheduled a year ahead (public courses) and typically 8 to 12 weeks for private ones.   Neither Lisa not I really take vacations where we switch off; whilst not physically around in the UK, we have done some memorable work (including volunteers) from all sorts of places and do to this day.

 
Thanks for this - that's pinned it down a bit. Note to former self: did you notice your friends keeping diaries? Yes. So do the same yourself.

 

Back in April 2003 (I think) I took a pre-arranged three week paid holiday (out of my contractual five weeks entitlement) from my employer at that time.

Some time later, when looking at spreadsheets showing my generally excellent number of phone calls taken on my team's UK helpline, a manager asked ' what happened for the dip in that April?'

I simply said, 'I was out in South Africa for three weeks'.  He rather ruefully acknowledged that was a reasonable explanation.

CfN. 

 

Hmm.

As an admin on this forum, I must be impartial.  However, that becomes increasingly difficult, when I read such posts.

Can the railways really not offer at least some more constructive suggestions as to possible alternative travel arrangements, when they apparently can't cope themselves?

CfN.

 
Well unless the strange quirks of life intervene, I intend to turn up outside there. 
For easy identification regarding other Coffee Shop members, I considered wearing my giant green chicken costume but I doubt it would be ready with the dry cleaners by then...oh well, jeans and polo shirt it is then.

 
12

 
I have registered - it's free, and fairly easy to do (that qualified comment is only due to Eventbrite, not TWSW).

The venue, at Firepool Centre, Taunton, is very easy to find: it's just a slight slope down from Taunton station and a traffic light controlled pedestrian crossing of Trenchard Way.  If anyone does need assistance with mobility access, that can be arranged - please do just let us know.  The venue itself is very modern, all on the ground floor, with the appropriate facilities.

I look forward to meeting some of our Coffee Shop members (and indeed guests).

CfN. 

 

I'll have a return ticket from Nailsea & Backwell, so I will be able to do either.  I'd suggest the ceremony will probably be outside, as the weather forecast is for 'bright and sunny', and there's more room outdoors for those attending, rather than trying to cram everyone inside into the concourse.

I shall be wearing a Coffee Shop badge for identification, just in case anyone here wants to approach me, and I will hopefully be in company with my esteemed admin colleague here, Red Squirrel.  For a squirrel, he is remarkably tall, when he stands up on his hind legs, so you can't miss him. 

Look forward to seeing some of you there.  CfN. 

 

Indeed - it was very interesting when Lisa and I were courting, with her job in Naples (Florida).  That's where we both learned to work remotely even in the early days of the Internet.

 

Unlikely to have been 1971. The APT-E (Experimental gas turbine) didn't begin testing until 1972. APT-P (Prototype 25kV electric Class 370) First ran in 1978.

 
A strong breeze is about Finn's limit. Plays havoc with his ears.


(Giant's Causeway earlier in 2026)

 
Should we perhaps also include one of Isambard Kingdom Brunel's notable (rather than 'noble' or 'ignoble') failures here?

The Atmospheric Railway, in South Devon: see http://www.ikbrunel.org.uk/index.php?n=Atmospheric-Railway

 

 

I couldn't, but apparently GWR can. 

I was thinking of giving it a go, on that last through train to Weymouth, but I was put off by my premonition that the rail services would very likely go pear-shaped, making it difficult for me to get back home to Nailsea without a load of stress and strain.  So I didn't. 

CfN. 

 
10 plus some not listed.

2 or 3 new countries by Christmas
Definitly Tunisia and Denmark. I will find it difficult to resist a train journey over The Øresund Bridge whilst in Copenhagen adding Sweden to my list.

 
I'm delighted to see that (provided there are enough storms in the next year, which does seem rather likely), the alphabetically sixth one will be named Storm Finn.

From the BBC:


    

 

Couldn't make it up, could you?

 

The Swindon-Weymouth and its return working did, in fact, run! (as I write, the northbound service is at Pen Mill).

 
I make it 22 off that list (not inc UK), plus quite a few not on that list. USA, Norway, Lithuania, Russia, El Salvador, Puerto Rico, Guadaloupe, Malaysia, Pakistan, Senegal ...plus quite a number of UK "protectorates" - or whatever they are called nowadays.


Another large factor in stopping many US citizens travelling abroad is the paucity of paid holiday in most American workplaces coupled with the American work ethic.
In UK/Europe it is easy to take (say) 3 weeks (paid !) holiday in one go - in most American jobs you would probably have to take unpaid leave to do this. This has two effects: 1. Loss of money. 2. Gives the impression (rightly or wrongly) that you don't care about your employer and the wonderful job that he has kindly given you !

 
From Twitter:

The fire brigade is dealing with a fire which has caused a loss of power to overhead power cables between London Paddington-West Ealing.

This has blocked all lines between Paddington-Reading and disruption is expected until the end of the day.


https://x.com/networkrailwest/status/2096312536446431604?s=20