Excellent evening with update from Andrew A.

For member - slide set here

Since never, but unfortunately I assume the days of our schoolchildren being taught something as useful as Ordnance Survey map reading are long gone.

Incidentally, since when were OS grid coordinates called X and Y?[/i]

This, now, from Travelwest.

Mark

https://travelwest.info/on-the-buses/closure-of-bridge-street-manvers-street-bath/

From the BBC:

07:45 Westbury to Swindon due 08:34
08:44 Swindon to Westbury due 09:26

08:44 Swindon to Westbury due 09:26 will be cancelled.
This is due to a fault with the signalling system.

Waverley paddle steamer helps out passengers after CalMac ferry breaks down

The crew of a 79-year-old paddle steamer offered passengers a lift from Mull to Oban after their CalMac ferry was hit by a fault.

The Waverley was headed down the Sound of Mull when MV Isle of Mull broke down on Tuesday.

Another CalMac ferry, the MV Loch Frisa, was available but not all the passengers could be accommodated on a 18:40 sailing and the Waverley's crew asked if it could help out.

Some 42 foot passengers were picked up at Craignure and returned to Oban.

(BBC article continues)

Teen's rail crossing death was accidental - coroner

The death of a teenager who was struck and killed by a train on a pedestrian railway crossing was an accident, a coroner has concluded.

Harry Basham, 17, was hit by the train in Taunton, Somerset, as he walked to work at about 07:00 BST on 24 October 2025.

Somerset senior coroner Samantha Marsh said there was no evidence he "intended to harm himself" but accepted why he was on the track remained "unanswered".

A Network Rail spokesperson said: "Our thoughts remain with Harry's family and friends and the local community following the tragic accident at the 5/13 railway crossing. We will continue our engagement with local authorities, stakeholders and the community on the future of the crossing."

(BBC article continues)

13:09 Bristol Temple Meads to Oxford due 14:29

13:09 Bristol Temple Meads to Oxford due 14:29 is being delayed between Bath Spa and Swindon and is now expected to be 17 minutes late.
This is due to a late running freight train

13:03 Oxford to Bristol Temple Meads due 14:15

13:03 Oxford to Bristol Temple Meads due 14:15 is being delayed between Swindon and Chippenham and is now expected to be 32 minutes late.
This is due to a late running freight train.

The accident happened because the signaller gave permission to the tractor’s driver to use the crossing, despite the proximity of the approaching train. The signaller had forgotten about the presence of the train when they gave permission and did not check signal box equipment which was indicating the presence of the train beforehand, as they had been trained to. The signaller’s actions may have been affected by an interruption to their established routine for giving users permission to use the crossing, an increase in their workload, distraction and the effects of fatigue.

As Nordan Farm level crossing is a passive user worked crossing, it has no engineered safeguards to warn or protect a crossing user of an approaching train and safe operation is solely reliant on the signaller’s decision as to whether it is safe to cross or not.

RAIB found that Network Rail’s level crossing risk assessment process did not effectively recognise nor control the higher risk present at some crossings during intensive seasonal use. This was an underlying factor. RAIB also found that Network Rail did not have a coherent process for deciding whether a vehicle using a user worked crossing should be considered as large, low or slow moving. This was a possible underlying factor.

That put me in mind of what might have been a previous Feltham resignalling programme. I never noticed the box at Teddington, but, crossing the footbridge on the Kingston end of the station, the sight and sound of the pair, home and distant signal arms, fairly close to the bridge, implied its existence, and there was also the signalbox for the keeper who operated the crossing gates for Bushy Park Road some way towards Hampton Hill - for good measure, there were gasholders close at hand there too. Think it was 1973 that all the signalling in the area was replaced with the colour light variety, the crossing replaced by a footbridge, and later the gasholders went, the site eventually used for a care home and slightly gasholder-shaped blocks of flats.

Mark