Hmm. 

That rather reminds me of at least two occasions, many years ago now, on which I (inadvertently, honest!) flooded the coffee machine at grahame's hotel, in breaks during meetings there.  I was just trying to 'top up' my preferred cappuccino into my existing mug, rather than using a fresh one for the measured dispense.

However, it all worked out rather well in the end: despite my mistakes, I am now an admin on this forum. Sorry about that.     

CfN. 

 

Hmmm - since the drop in passenger numbers? Show me the evidence.

 

Hear Hear!

 

One of the interesting "first impression" things and interviewer gets is to whether the interviewee has read (and followed) directions in the invite for interview.  I never did it, but I can quite imagine asking in the call for interview for someone to arrive with a drink for [him/her] and for the interviewer (mine is a long Americano without milk or sugar, medium strength).   A key marker at interview is whether any directions / suggestions have been noted and followed.

 
There's no need: Donald Trump is apparently dealing with it personally.  From the BBC:


CfN.

 
I wouldn't expect a generalist journalist to do a particularly good job of this, but the Guardian piece is bylined (inter alia) by its transport correspondent, who ought to know better.

Oxford's bus speeds, after a long period of decline, are finally on the up again - at statistically significant levels - thanks to the city's congestion charge (which becomes "traffic filters" tomorrow). The charge only applies to cars.

 
My personal view, again. 

In a previous employment (financial services, office based), I did a bit of recruitment interviewing of applicants.  If any of them had turned up with a takeaway coffee, I would have been startled, thinking "they're not taking this seriously".

Mind you, that was many years ago, when my employer at that time insisted that we all (males) wore suits to work, in the back office - even though none of us ever actually met a customer.

(NatWest, if you really want to know. )

CfN. 

 

The RAF don't have Sundays in the working week.

 
Back in the day when I was recruiting for an IT consultancy I would have been horrified if an interviwee had turned with a take away coffee.
I am also surprised by some of the comments in the article (and elsewhere).  If the job market is tight then I would expect an applicant to work towards meeting the expectations of the interviewer who is probably older with their own expectations.

 

You are welcome to think (most of use do, much of the time) but it is entirely up to a member whether or not they confirm identities.  The name of the author of this article is familiar to me, but my memory often fails to put a name into the context in which I have come across it.

 
This has been the subject of a long discussion on RailUK.  The points made include:

• It is owned by HAL who make a profit from it so why would they want to close it?
• The paths used do not exist West of Airport Junction as they are blocked when the preceding semi fasts either stop at Slough or slow down to transfer to the relief lines
• Elizabeth Line could not use the paths to Paddington and then continue through the core because there is no useable connection at Paddington
• As has been commented above the use of advance tickets substantially reduces the cost.
• These issues could be reduced by significant investment in grade separated junctions.

 
Just three cancellations on GWR Journey Check,  Guess where and why ...

 
I think the authopr is a member here? Good man is Graham!

 
I was coming here to say the same  that HEX finishes currently in 2028. It must be costing Heathrow a large sum of money now for these paths & with the third runway in the offing, looking at alternatives? Flying taxi development?

 
A good question, Mark, but in a word: No.

The historic coal mining activity in and around Nailsea was on the more level ground.  There was, for example, a mine within yards of Nailsea & Backwell Station, nowhere near the nearest 'batch', at Bucklands Batch.  Cambridge Batch, at Flax Bourton, is actually the hilly outcrop which Brunel had to tunnel under for his Bristol to Exeter railway line.

CfN. 

 
By the way, are the 'Batch' names in Nailsea related to mining activity?

 
No problemo, perhaps it can have either meaning: that's a very, er, actively drained piece of land, and subtly slightly lower than its surroundings.

https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/#zoom=17.0&lat=51.38715&lon=-2.82812&layers=178&b=GoogleSat&o=100

 
I have to disagree with you here, Mark.

In the local Somerset dialect, 'batch' means a hill, hillock or mound of earth.  See a Google search, at 'meaning of batch in somerset' .

We have many of them, in and around Nailsea: Bucklands Batch, Cambridge Batch, Stony Batch, etc.

Chris from Nailsea. 

 
Here's another example, for taking the precaution of keeping at least a reasonable stock of bottled water.  From the BBC:

 
A resident, after three suspicious vehicles were seen in the village in the early hours of Sunday morning:

“Evidently, they phoned the airbase police, who didn’t answer the phone,” he said of the person who reported the sighting. “It just rang out so she dialled 999.”

 
The old railway line conspicuous in the middle distance. The land proposed for housing there is named on old maps as 'The Batch', meaning "a brook, stream, or a valley through which a stream flows", so that's ok then**.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/sep/27/high-court-floodplains-development-safety-test-north-somerset-yatton

** Not ok.

 

Are you writing that from the bunker? Has the family sized jar of pickled eggs been deployed?

 

They could instead be used by other trains running fast, then switching to the slow / relief lines further out.    South Western has done this for decades with trains running fast to between Berrylands and Surbiton (beyond where the branches to Kingston and via Motspur Park branch off), then switching to slow tracks.  A similar thing happens at Woking with trains to Basingstoke and Alton etc.

The GWR layout of paired by use makes it harder, but there is no reason why high speed crossovers and a flyover (in the Iver / Langley area) wouldn't allow similar too.   There is the speed restricted Dolphin Junction (which doesn't seem to work on a warm summer day) which Network Rail are currently spending £27m upgrading.


Heathrow Express had its track access agreement extended in June 2024, with access granted to continue until June 2028.  Previously there were number of end dates eg 2018, 2021 etc based on estimated Crossrail opening dates.   
As far as I'm aware no further extension has yet been authorised.  Unless it is extended again HEx ends in 21 months time.   

 
Reports are coming in of a "major incident" at RAF Fairford.
Suspects have been detained, and several charged with offences under the explosives act.
A number of residents have been evacuated.

There seems no likelihood of direct consequences for food or fuel supplies, but it another example of the threats that we face, that could have wider consequences.

suggested viewing "The fourth protocol"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Fourth_Protocol_(film)

 
It's not just train operators who have problems brought by infrastructure issues:

 



Ah yes - West Country expresses diverted via the single line, which then causes a jam if one of them later that timetabled.  A few minutes delay is not a problem (and neither are 2 and 3 carriage substations) provided that connections into sparse onward other services (trains or buses) are not missed.

 

I have received in the post the October issue of RailWatch - the magazine of RailFuture - which includes a whole page article on Pilning.  I have blurred the text here so that I'm bringing up the station again and helping keep it on the radar, but yet not crossing any Railfuture copyright lines.



Network Rail and (First) Great Western had a problem when electrifying the line.  But some of the things done (and not done) by them to this day remain, in my opinion, very poor practise, leaving a bad taste and getting away with things they should not.  At the same time, the local communities around the area were seeking outcomes which were unsustainable, and options which would have included a forward looking stations - bringing a much improved service and helping raise (for example) house values for current residents - were opposed in anticipation of potential negative side effects,  even where those could have been mitigated.

 

I've always thought that the arrival of the Elizabeth Line should have heralded the end of Heathrow Express.  Passenger numbers have dropped by a third from the figures for the last year before Covid, to an average of less than 100 passengers per train - approximately 85 if my maths is correct.  All on an 8-car 387 trains which are far less 'premium' than the previous Class 332s they replaced, taking up four departure and arrival paths an hour at Paddington.  

Not a good use of track capacity by any metric.

When the Old Oak Common station opens it will need to stop there, thus further diluting the speed advantage it has over the Elizabeth Line.  In my opinion the paths it could free up would be better allocated to longer distance services operated by either GBR or an open access operator, rather than more Elizabeth Line services.  My opinion on that could be swayed if a way of routing some of the  Elizabeth Line services from the east that currently terminate at Paddington onto the main lines to still give a comparable journey time could be found without crossing them over on the flat, but a grade separated junction would be very expensive.  When Old Oak Common opens the 90mph top speed of the 345s would be less of an issue on the main lines out to Airport Junction as their better acceleration would mean little difference in the sectional running times with that intermediate stop included.

However, in effect, the way the service is structured means it can continue to operate for as long as its owners want it to.

 
A simple division of number of trains run in revenue service versus passenger numbers suggests ~80 passengers per 460 seat capacity HEX train - in context, HEX is a 15 minute frequency service from ~04.30am to a bit before midnight.

 
HEX key stats from the ORR April 24-25.

https://dataportal.orr.gov.uk/media/tlbajaix/heathrow-express-key-stats.pdf