Watch: Great Western Railway offers video view inside its control room

Great Western Railway (GWR) launched a four-part, behind-the-scenes video series called Beyond the Journey that takes viewers inside the daily operation of its control room on Friday 11 September.

The video is told from the point of view of control room workers, and shows the split-second decisions, high pressure and hard work that go into keeping the railway moving.

Production company So-Motive has co-produced the video series with GWR.

The video follows staff from both GWR and Network Rail during high-pressure days on the job. Workers can be seen live from the control room, as they carry out actions including rerouting services, keeping rails safe as temperatures rise, dealing with tens of thousands of football fans travelling to and from a major stadium, and making sure that the final 24 hours before the opening of a brand-new station run smoothly.

Episode 1: 24 hours to opening day (link to YouTube). Staff from Network Rail and Devon County Council, together with GWR’s Head of Third Party Delivery, Ian Mundy, look at the busy final 24 hours before the opening of the new Okehampton Interchange station.

Episode 2: Match day at the Principality. Staff, including GWR’s Customer Service and Events Manager for South Wales Kay Davies, manage the crowds as Cardiff’s Principality Stadium hosts Arsenal v Manchester City in the FA Community Shield. This involves managing additional train capacity and moving tens of thousands of fans safely to and from the game.

Episode 3: Beating the heat. This summer’s heatwaves provided a challenge to the railway network that was so severe that it had to impose speed restrictions. In this episode, Network Rail Track Maintenance Engineer, Michael Payne, explains the work that railway workers have to carry out in order to keep trains running safely during extreme heat. He also talks about what climate change will mean for the railway’s infrastructure in the years ahead.

Episode 4: Inside the Control Room. Staff at the joint GWR and Network Rail Control Room respond to live incidents across the network in real time. Along with GWR Duty Service Delivery Manager, Amy Sansum, they make split-second decisions that keep passengers moving when difficulties arise.

Episode 1 is already available, and the remaining three will be released one per week on GWR’s social media channels.

Planned Gibraltar-sized rail testing centre has cost taxpayers £70m but hasn't been built


The project is based at the former Nant Helen opencast coal mine in Powys

The future of a proposed rail-testing centre that has received £70m of taxpayers' money but still has not been built is to be decided by the Welsh government.

The Global Centre of Rail Excellence (GCRE) has not found the private-sector funding it needs as the risk is "too great" for potential investors, its boss has said.

Launched five years ago, the project is based at the former Nant Helen opencast coal mine near Ystradgynlais, Powys.

Ministers are now being asked to approve plans for a data centre there, which GCRE hopes will attract more funding for the rail project.

The Welsh government said GCRE - which it owns - has been "exploring a range of projects to revitalise" the site.  "We are working with the company to assess next steps, in light of our productivity mission," a spokesperson added.

The Welsh government has given GCRE £50m since it was set up by Labour in 2021.  The former Conservative UK government also provided £20m.

GCRE hoped to find £330m from private backers to transform the mine near Bannau Brycheiniog national park - also known as the Brecon Beacons.

(BBC article continues)

Taumatawhakatangihangakoauauotamateaturipukakapikimaungahoronukupokaiwhenuakitanatahu. ?

Given the length of the totem, Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch perchance?

A great feature of London Pride is that it can be consumed in the dark.

Westbury: Lifts out of order

The lifts will be out of order between Platforms 2 & 3 and subway from now until further notice at Westbury station.

Additional Information

Platforms 2 & 3 have no step free access.

> Your journey may be possible using services to/from platform 1 at Westbury.

> If possible, staff will arrange for the train to use another platform with working lifts.

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The National Rail Accessibility Map (accessmap.nationalrail.co.uk) may be helpful to plan your journey featuring accessibility features at every station.

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Let us help you:

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Please speak to staff, use a station help point or call our Passenger Assistance Team on 0800 197 1329.
Last Updated:12/09/2026 06:57

The only items I seem to have overlooked are bottles of Fullers beer: I shall rectify that later today.

I was struck on Instagram this morning by the long lists of qualifactions and memberships of a significant proportion of the LinkedIn contributors and responders on a post I shared earlier.  I have redacted the names, and these are NOT the person I quoted earlier, where I was able in a 100 word summary to encapsulate the gist of what he was saying. Just look at these:
[redacted] CEnv, FEI, FISEP, CMILT, CMVP, MSc, CRWM
[redacted] MAPM, MRailEI, MIET, MIfSE, ACIRO, MCIM
and someone who bangs his drum in a different style:
[redacted] "Senior Industry Expert"

Later SNCF stated that they had recovered a length of rail from the scene, within a built-up area. They believe that this was the cause and was put there in an act of vandalism (or worse).

Many reports elsewhere, speculate that a redundant length of rail was placed deliberately, presumably by russian sponsored persons.

A few days ago I wrote an article about Great British Railways that was, if I am being generous to myself, sceptical.

[snip]

The infrastructure will still need maintaining. Trains will still need servicing. Drivers will still drive them, signalling will still need operating, stations will still require people, electricity will still need buying and, unless somebody in Whitehall has been keeping a particularly exciting technical breakthrough quiet, rails, bridges, tunnels, embankments and overhead lines will continue to deteriorate when exposed to weather, weight and time.

[snip]

Perhaps the real opportunity is not in who owns the railway at all. Perhaps it is in finally removing some of the extraordinary amount of friction involved in running it.

Couple surprise wedding guests with mini steam train


Woody the dog joined Helen and Rory at the wedding and on the train - Image © Helen Appleton

A couple who met while working for a train company gave their guests a "complete surprise" at their wedding when they put on a miniature steam train to take them to the venue.

Helen and Rory Appleton, from Golborne, near Wigan, have been together for 10 years and tied the knot at Bashall Barn in Clitheroe, Lancashire, last week.

"Without the railway there's no me and Helen," Rory said, "So we felt it only natural to include some railway elements into the wedding."

He said it was "absolutely bonkers" to come back from honeymoon on Wednesday and see a video of the train full of wedding guests posted by the venue had one million views on TikTok.

Helen, 38 and Rory, 48, work for Avanti West Coast based out of Preston where Helen is a manager, and Rory is a train driver.

Helen said they kept the wedding train "a complete secret from everybody so it was a surprise for all the guests.  I was getting ready so I didn't even see anybody on the train until afterwards," she said.

"My bridal suite had a door that led just where the track was going and one of my bridesmaids opened the door and she was like 'erm, Helen, there's some train tracks being laid outside' and I said 'oh yeah that's just our steam train don't worry about that'."

The train took friends and family on a short journey from the car park to the venue.

(BBC article continues)

Thank you for reminding me.
We still have a large Maglite in the cupboard.  Tried it a minute ago, and still lights up, but not used it for years!