Ironically, whilst I have cleared a couple of naughty-boys that were loading the server, I have not found whatever it or who it is that is spiking a couple of times every day - and because that thing is starting from a lower base after my cleanup of other issues, it's getting more headroom and spiking worse.

I am home tomorrow afternoon, Eurostar and Great Western permitting (feels a bit like double jeopardy) and will find a quiet corner with some canine company to take another look.   In the meantime, I suggest you copy and paste a local copy of long posts before you submit them, just in case your post falls onto a spike.

 

And they were told not to persevere with the 769s by the DfT to cut costs.

And had they persevered, they would probably have been less reliable than the 175s!

https://www.railbusinessuk.com/traction-rolling-stock/2022/12/23/gwr-fleet-to-shrink-further-as-it-abandons-class-769-introduction/

 
Oh dear - again.

14:52 Newquay to London Paddington due 20:23

14:52 Newquay to London Paddington due 20:23 will be started from Plymouth.
It will no longer call at Newquay, Par, Liskeard and Saltash.

This is due to a shortage of train crew.

 
Scrutinise all they like on the facts as given by RAIB - otherwise it is speculation of the worst kind

 

That's a valid opinion.

 
Which 175s have replaced IETs. The over used 150s are covering 175s giving short forms on Paignton-Exmouth (2 today, 2 yesterday). Yesterday I train on Falmouth, shortform on St Ives and two 150s on Newquay.
Something is coming from Wolverton tomorrow to Exeter believed to be a 150. Last week 175004 arrived at Exeter and must be in the shed.

GWR are not interested in the South West. They rebuilt  Exeter Depot with their own money but abandoned extending platform 2

 
The majority of the buses allocated to the route this week are now electric. Quiet, smooth, more room inside and air-conditioned. This is a step-change in provision and makes for a huge opportunity to attract more passengers.

I'm wondering if there's any appetite within First Bristol Bath to take advantage of this though as they'll need to address the ridiculous position that in 2022, at the height of the Covid pandemic they shortened the route - since then,  the 6 and 7 turn round while they're ten minutes walk from the bus station.

The current 'Walk the length of Manvers Street' enjoyed by bus passengers arriving via Bath's London Road has also been enjoyed by passengers heading for the stations on the 6 and 7 buses since...2022. The new electric buses provide such an increase in quality of the journey but that's offset by the fact that the route is isolated the rest of the city's bus network

Mark

 

Two months short of two years this thread - feels a very long time

 

The 175s weren't meant to replace 158s just yet. So far, they've only released IETs which have been put straight into use on the Bristol - Oxford services.

158s will only start to be released when the 175s begin on the Barnstaple services.

 

And if GWR had persevered with the 769s the turbos would have come west.

 

Why wouldn’t they?

I have sympathy for ‘the management’ as they have inherited an already unreliable fleet which needed much TLC to offer up OK levels of reliability with TfW and which was left to fester for a year or two in sidings.

A far worse decision from ‘the management’ would have been to chuck them out in service at a rate of knots, and watch them screw up the main line by failing on a daily basis.

Or another poor decision would have been to take the Class 175s over a much more reliable unit…but the 175s were all that was on offer.

 
All was well with the world, wherever I was driving in Europe, as long as I could hear Christopher Martin Jenkins or Brian Johnston.  Instant transportation to The Oval, or Headingley or wherever other blessed turf.  Sometimes even Priory Bridge Road

 
Only 175001, 175009, 175114 seem to be in passenger service today and no training trains.

GWR have 16 175s, two have been at Laira for 18 months.

Only one extra train has been provided since last December and no strengthening of services anywhere on GWR that the 175s were meant to bring by releasing the 158s to Bristol.

Will GBR keep the management on in December?

 
Lovely photo of those joyful horses, thanks for including that one.

Mark

 

It's mud racking, "scrutiny"  by jurno's comes after the real scrutiny by the professional investigators, RAIB and BTP

 

Some may regard it as muck-raking, others will consider it scrutiny.

 
From yesterday - 29th June 2026 ...

The longest journey starts with a single step (though as you’ll see in my images, my days are still walking exercised!).  70 seconds walk from my hotel to Bregenz Hafen station, which was less time than it had taken me to walk down from the 3rd floor.  Then a train ride of 89 seconds to Bregenz main station.  That's less than the famously short Stourbridge Town branch, on which 3 minutes are allowed.

I found myself wondering at the two stations so close together - after all, I had been based in Bregenz for two nights and previous journeys had been to and from the main station, with a walk to and from my hotel through the town.  But the Hafen - "Haven" - stations is well used. This morning, I watched as a train arrived and a whole crowd got off, headed at that time of day for work.  And others boarded headed, not as I was for the main station to change but rather for other stops in the area. It works, I think, because all the trains that run to and from Bregenz to certain other stations also call at Bregenz Hafen, so that everyone travelling these journeys can simply use either station and not have to wait for a train that calls. It also works because stations here are "open" - ticket machines, but no barriers of checks as you get on and off the train. There is a strong police presence in places (several at Bregenz this morning) and I've not seen any issues with fare dodging / enforcement / staff trying to reach all their customers in a system that leads like a collander.

Comparisons sprung to my mind of Millbrook - that station famously close to Southampton Central - which is unbarriered and has a reputation as an entry / exit for the ticketless to the UK rail system. I have seen revenue protection checking tickets of people leaving Millbrook station and it was surprising what a high proportion had issues with their tickets. But the Millbrook has very limited appeal to many flows of passengers - the occasional train call but for most people leaving and joining at Southampton is the logical choice.

I make a comparison to Dilton Marsh, and to Avoncliff, here too. Now both of those may be considered to be satellites - of Westbury and of Bradford-on-Avon.  Dilton Marsh, especially, is much further separated from Westbury than my other examples.  It has its own significant urban catchment, and is NOT within the same easy walking circle as are Bregenz and Bregenz Hafen.  And yet Dilton Marsh is very much the poor relative where Bregenz Hafen is not.   Why is thet?
* All trains to and from certain destinations call at Bregenz Hafen. Not the case with Dilton Marsh
* Trains timetabled to call at Bregenz Hafen always do. No need to put in a request to stop
* Tickets are easy to buy - no fuss, no excuse, no rush for a ticket seller to check

Enough of Bregenz Hafen.  Or almost enough.  I have observed the bicycle provision and the copious number of cycles on trains (some pictures grabbed today at end-of-journey after they had vacated). Even on trains without this big cycle area, numbers are not limited and lots, lots, lots people take their cycles. Public transport and peddle power make such obvious bedfellows

My journey today has been a long one, and really shows the flexibility of Interrail.  My plan was to go Bregenz (Hafen ;-) ) - Memmenheim - Ulm ... north from Austria into Germany. But the 4 minute change at Ulm was likely to fail with the Zurich to Munich train running "10 to 15 minutes late" which really means almost 20 minutes in the end. And the whole day would have been pushed back an hour at Memmenheim and another hours at Ulm or shortly thereafter.  SO - local trains through Switzerland, heading east before north and changing at St Margrethen ( now in operation again if you saw my post the other day), St Gallen, Zurich, Olten and Basel.  From there on the northbound German Intercity Express (ICE) train as far as Mannheim.  Mannheim is a crossroads in the ICE long distance network, plagued with delays.  My train arrive on time at 15:00 - feel like a first - but the 15:07 connection was delayed, and enough to make it miss the next connection which only runs every 2 hours.  So I'm now penning this from the Hamburg train that was due to leave at 15:33 and was less that 10 minutes late which will take me as far as Koln Hauptbahnhof, from where a couple of local trains will get me to Aachen.  I have several options in my journey planner - will toggle on (to confirm by booking) on whichever is available, depending on the time we arrive in Koln - a station that's always congested and you get held up outside (rather like Westbury!)

An update (around 19:30) ... now checked into my hotel in Aachen, and walked out down-town for some food. It's Monday night but there are still people out.  Turned out to be 11 trains in the end, with a couple of S-bahns out of Cologne to connect with a local train onwards.  The main line is closed for engineering works. But the S-bahn is included in the pass; crowded in the evening peak.  Again, plentiful provision for cycles, pushchairs, etc; they don't seem to have the same craze here for filling every space with more seats to claim "we have increased the capacity of the line" - or perhaps they don't need to as the local trains I've been on today have all been at least 4 carriages long (even from Hafen to Bregenz) which I ruefully compare to the Stoubridge line with a single stubby carriage, or the main line through Bradford-on-Avon where, while some trains are 4 carriages, many are just 3 or 2.

And a final update / comment - the morning of 30th June, posting before breakfast and a much more leasuerly  day - Aachen to Leuven, in preparation for Eurostar home tomorrow at 07:57 from Brussels.  I write, perhaps, far too much and loose many topics into a sea of material. Pictures attached are all from yesterday and I have ensured that within the 32, there is at least one from each location taken, genuine, yesterday.  St Gallen with the 3 minute change renders just one poor picture ...



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Pictures numbered to help with any comments

 
Not good, sending props, and that Manvers Street walk rapidly gets old. (Been hiking it since 2021 when First Bristol Bath incarsterated the 6/7 bus routes...)

Mark

 

In the end I got my morning walk in by picking up the first 271 bus at Melksham Market Place instead of the nearest stop, had a bonus walk from Bath Grand Parade to the station, and caught the 07:47 Weston train at Bath.

Bus again coming home - should have caught the 15:00 Paddington train from Temple Meads to connect with the Melksham train at Chippenham, but the former was running late and would have missed the latter (it's a bit tight, but an official connection). So caught the 15:04 Frome train to Bath, walked up to Guildhall and caught the 272 bus back.

Ho hum.

 


......getting closer......but shorter!

11:08 Newquay to London Paddington due 16:29
11:08 Newquay to London Paddington due 16:29 will be terminated at Reading.

It will no longer call at London Paddington but will call additionally at Ivybridge.
It has been delayed at Plymouth and is now 46 minutes late.

This is due to a fault occurring when attaching a part of this train.
Will be formed of 5 coaches instead of 10.

 

Indeed it was. 

Just over 77% of trains through Melksham ran - probably in line with the overall GWR figure in what was a pathetic challenging week!

 
Cornwall being hit by vehicle shortage again today.
Falmouth and Newquay branches service reduced.
St Ives trains reduced to 2 car.
Newquay -
11:08 Newquay to London Paddington due 16:29
11:08 Newquay to London Paddington due 16:29 will call additionally at Ivybridge.
It has been delayed at Plymouth and is now 46 minutes late.
This is due to a fault occurring when detaching a part of this train.
Will be formed of 5 coaches instead of 10.
Left Paddington as 10 cars. 5 detached at Plymouth, with remaining 5 to/from Newquay.
By the looks of it, only 5 will continue to Paddington.

 
Oh, hold on just for a moment: there is an excellent brewery there! 

 
There are some who'd argue that "at speed" is the best way to go through St Austell. 

 
Nostalgia moment…

My most vivid Long Wave moment was on a Danish campsite, near Aabenraa late in July 1977. A friend and I, both keen birdwatchers, went on a camping holiday across the Channel, to Belgium, Netherlands, West Germany and Denmark and back, my ageing Mini and his tent. I took my old transistor radio with me, I cannot remember why, but this was during the 1977 Test series against Australia, so I guess in hope that we might pick on some cricket commentary, as it was on 1500 Long Wave in those days.

On the first day of the Trent Bridge Test, I switched it on and put it up on the roof of the car, and with a bit of dial twiddling, ariel extension and moving the radio around a crackly signal was obtained. The big news of the day? A promising young Somerset cricketer called Iain Botham had been selected for his first test.

We were travelling back to the Netherlands over the next few days, and at each stop we were able to tune in for ever-clearer commentary as England secured victory. Happy days…. 

 

It did get a quiet mention. The duty continuity announcer Al Ryan finished reading the shipping forecast and then briefly paid tribute to the long wave service and the three transmitters - Droitwich, Burghead and Westerglen. Then the national anthem, the GTS and that was that.

 
You jest but with Manvers Street closed to vehicles, the walking routes to either side of the works are not particularly good* and there needs to be a signed accessible route + more guidance. The bus station's slowly gaining paper notices but these are all pretty perfunctory. All else aside, this must surely be having an effect on bus service profitability/viability.

The east side of the street, the two vehicle entrances to what was the police station, the ramp for those extends across the entire pavement and must be in excess of 10%, I'm not sure that people using wheelchairs would even be prepared to attempt to cross them.

Mark

 

Plan C - bus to Manvers Street.   Oh no, wait, that's closed for engineering works at the moment.

 

Surely not the Telegraph muck-raking? A new signal on the Up Fast on the approach to Bedford South Junction would have been of no relevance to the second train, which was not on the fast line until switched to it at South Junction. At the end of the article, the NR spokesman does point this out.