Peak of design or the first of their kind?  Which in the UK would be the Class 81?

 
My contribution is to agree that an HST power car must be included.

As the £10 note, this giving it the widest coverage.

 
There's a lot of grumbling from rural France about the loss of local shops and services - medical in particular. But it's patchy; I think having a large town offering competition nearby is a big factor. Of course not having one means there aren't many jobs. On the whole, though, small towns in France do still have most of standard features you expect - including a restaurant doing proper meals - but it can be hard to see how they survive.

The Atlantic coast is a bit different. I've never made it all the way to Le Croisic, largely because there's not much there. It's a long coast, with similar little places all along that are doing fairly well. In some ways they are supported by all the holiday second homes, as well as local trippers and people working inland. The big towns and cities nearby help with the last two. Of course Le Croisic has the added feature that the trains serving St Nazaire and the built-up coast west of it (including La Baule, which is rather posh) need to stop somewhere before its wheels get too wet.

Second homes don't always have a positive effect, of course. But in France they are owned by people much further down the income scale, and in larger numbers, than here (3.7 million vs 0.7). They were built in large numbers from the 70s, when buyers wanted small new apartments rather than primitive old one to do up. More recently builders have even offered new-build tiny fisherman's cottages! So they don't compete to occupy the locals' housing, and are often let much of the year via local agents so they also supply further holiday visitors. The problems have been more with overdevelopment and building in the wrong places.

The countryside does have a holiday market, and gîtes, but it's mostly diffuse and only a few honeypot locations can do what the coast does to support businesses.

 
A detail from that article, the train that overnights at the terminus with the crew having a permanently-booked room at the nearby hotel.

Mark

 

There’s not a shortage of staff, there’s a shortage of fully trained staff; then there’s the potential to have staff off sick, failed medicals, maternity leave etc etc or off trains for operating incidents. This is factored in but this case fluctuate.


I don’t know. If you’re ex-BR staff I know you don’t have to give much notice should you wish to retire, a matter of weeks. 


I think this has been mentioned before, block week leave is all rostered in, the occasional day leave can be requested but will only a certain number will be authorised depending on the depot size. Some depots may only authorise two drivers daily leave. 


Agreed, tell that to the DfT! 

 
Please Grahame, this is the GWR Coffee Shop!

It has to be a (proper) Castle class,  not a Schools class!

 
Some more pictures - this time from Limoges to Felletin for the more rail folks

 

* An early locomotion - or Puffing Billy or rocket

* The peak of steam locomotive design - how about a 4-4-0 Schools class

* An HST Power car - has to be!

* Peak of electric locomotive design - what is the peak there?

 
https://railwayworld.net/2025/03/28/death-of-a-french-branch-line/


Picking up on Gareth David's article ... I took the opportunity to visit Felletin today while there's still a chance - I have written at https://grahamellis.uk/blog1647.html

 

Aren't Saturdays part of the working week? Presumably staff are rostered for these services? Is there just a general shortage of staff or is it a workforce management issue?

Have there been a lot of retirements or other departures?

Surely we can't have a situation developing where the whole weekend is characterised by mass cancellations due to staff absence?

I'm sure everyone likes having Saturdays and Sundays off but there is a service to be provided?

 
I'd suggest Puffing Billy, the oldest surviving steam locomotive as a possibile contender.  It has a certain Heath Robinson/steampunk visual appeal to it.

 

Indeed - we had the huge benefit of people knowing before they joined us what the job entailed.  Well actually not - it turned out to be a longer are far more permanent job than we planned.

 

Everyone knew when they joined the railway Sunday’s was outside the working wek, that’s the contract.


True. But current service disruption would indicate people like having their Saturdays and Sundays off

 

Wait and see! 

Are you being offered a Vote? 

 

It's fortunate that some people understand the concept of a "7 day operation".

 

How about Locomotion, Rocket (two firsts), Mallard and an HST power car (two record breakers)?

 
We used to run a 24x7 business, with the most work of the week in the hotel department being on Sundays. Our team comprised people with various preferences but everyone knew when they joined that it was every day.  We only had a few days that we were staffed by people who would wanted that particular day off, and we never turned customers who had already booked with us away because we didn't have the staff to provide service for them.  Just reporting experience and saying that not everyone wants a day off each weekend.

P.S. - Did I ever mention in another job ... 8 days on, 6 days off, 10 hours per working day.  Friday was the busiest day of the week, and the double staffing on that day was a huge help and an excellent way to pass over continuing work issues.

 

Posting personally, I disagree.

Before my retirement, I worked as a driver (grocery delivery vans, not trains) for ten years. It suited me to work every Saturday and Sunday - in return for a guaranteed Monday and Thursday off. My employer was delighted with that arrangement, as they were struggling to recruit drivers for either day of the weekend.

CfN.

 

You were telling us the deal is dead in the water?

 

Surely the opposite? 

In order to maintain a work life balance (should a deal be proposed and accepted) you’re going to want a guaranteed Saturday or a Sunday off per week. 

 
Apparently, the Bank of England is asking for ideas for a theme for new banknotes and one suggestion is locomotives. Which four would you choose for the £5, £10 £20 and £50 notes and why?

 
The additional drivers required to bring Sunday into the working week should benefit Saturday’s as well.

 
This morning ... bright and early, a coffee and a croissant.   And a day to come that perhaps should not be in "the lighter side".  I am taking a ride out to Felletin ... just two trains a day and scheduled to close at the end of next month due to the condition of the infrastructure and very low passenger numbers.

 
Furze Platt another year older today.

 

Looking at today's map and the lengthy list of full/part cancellations due to staff shortage, they might want to include Saturdays in the discussion.....

 

 
Small portable generators are now available cheaply.
Unfortunately, basic knowledge on how to use them safely is very lacking.

Instances that I have seen include.
1) Connecting a generator to the fixed installation via a suicide lead.
2) fueling a petrol generator whilst running.
3) Use of a petrol generator indoors.
 
And of course a general inability to understand watts, amps, and other electrical terms. And women in particular consider that electricity used in a babies room does not count towards a limited total.
ME------- you have only about 4KW in total available. Therefore you can use only ONE HEAVY LOADING APPLIANCE AT A TIME. Supplied a list of heavy loading loading appliances
WOMAN---HELP, generator not working.
ME----It has tripped out due to overload, what was in use at the time ?
WOMAN--Only the lights that you said were ok, and a small kettle.
ME- what about that fan heater ?
WOMAN-- but that is for my babies.
Sorry if this be considered sexist, but it is based on long experience.

.

 
I read the whole of the white paper. Even allowing for GWR's pride in this being their baby, it's impressive, and suggests that the results of the trial exceeded expectations by a margin. Any misgivings I had about the concept are now gone, and I look forward to the next step. I doubt that will be soon because the report acknowledges the need for replacements for diesel stock nearing the end and the difficulties that would be faced in retrofitting diesel trains anyway. This technology would really be best used in retrofitted EMUs and entirely new units. The charging infrastructure sounds astonishingly easy to install, a fit for any station really. I like the exploration of fringe benefits too, which make sense.

Time to start negotiations with the unions, and for DfT to draw up specifications for new kit. The former will be busy with the slow but steady march towards nationalisation, looking for problems that didn't exist when they were calling for that. So it will take time, but doesn't everything?

 
The class 230 appears in the 2023 GWR Facilities Guide, on page 36 including a seating plan - the year it was expected to enter service. The fleet: one unit. Looks like it may well join the 769, also in that Guide, which didn't enter proper service.