From the BBC:

 
The old ticket office at Kensington Olympia (KPA) which was the old Motorail one from back in the days of old was staffed by an Ex-BR bloke who was fabulous. He knew everything and was always happy to do odd tickets that others would stuggle with, or check something in the fares manual for you. It has, since becoming an TFL Overground station, been closed and replaced by a portacabin type thing at the other platform entrance and a bank of ticket machines.

My gripe with GWR and their ticket machines at Paddington is that they don’t accept the three letter code for a station which I habitually type in first, before realising that it isn’t showing me my destination. This is really annoying if you’ve just arrived, a little late for the train you’re hoping to get. Also don’t understand why they took the ticket machine(s) away from the Taxi Rank at Paddington. Last time I was there there were HEX ones but not GWR ones, it may have been temporary ans they may have been put back subsequently. Still bloody annoying though.

 
The class 47s, as they became, first appeared in the early 1960s while Nottingham Victoria closed in September 1967.   So it was a brief co-existence.

 
Thanks, stuving. 

 

I presume that would replace the sadly missed Lady Foley's tea room at Great Malvern.

 
Duly inspired, I am currently refining my plans for an autumn visit.

 

C12: Castlebar - I thought that one looked familiar, though not by being the other Castlebar that I grew up close to.

 
29/08/26 - Exeter To London + Local Travel & Cricket
DIG 0914 (OT) > EXD 0926 (OT) : 2T11 EXM > PGN : 1 x 166/2 (3 Cars)
EXD 0946 (OT) > PAD 1209 (1214) : 1A77 PGN > PAD : 1 x 800/3 (9 Cars)
TfL Underground Paddington > Warwick Avenue (Bakerloo Line)
TfL Underground Warwick Avenue > Paddington (Bakerloo Line)
PAD 1824 (OT) > WEA 1836 (OT) : 9H66 ABW > HAF : 1 x 345 (9 Cars)
Tickets (All With Senior Railcard, 1 Pax, Price Per Person):
DIG > PAD Super Off-Peak Return £76.65
TfL Underground Single £1.95 x 2
TfL Elizabeth Line Single £2.15

I had originally booked to travel on 2T07 + 1A73 (DIG 0714 > PAD 1008) but the overnight/morning rain was obviously going to prevent any play at Lord’s until the early afternoon so I delayed my journey by a couple of hours.
2T11 was initially lightly loaded but a large number of pax boarded at POL. Ticket, but not Railcard, checked.
1A77 was also not very busy to start with but plenty of pax joined at both TAU & CLC. Service slightly delayed at CLC and then more significantly between Lavington & Woodborough due to residual heat related track issues (one particularly noticeable track dip) and arrived PAD 5 late.
Ticket, but not railcard, checked.
Static Standard Class trolley service, between coaches D&G, for only a short time. The customer host(s) was/were serving 1st Class most of the time.

On arrival in London the rain had essentially stopped so I did my usual one stop trip to Warwick Avenue and walked to Lord’s from there. The Bakerloo Line ride quality was awful!
After a rain shower interrupted afternoon of cricket play was suspended at around 1730 and finally abandoned about an hour later.
I made my way to the West Ealing Holiday Inn Express which had been significantly improved since my last stay there.

30/08/26 - Local Travel & Cricket + London To Exeter
WEA 0924 (0936) > PAD 0937 (0947) : 9W40 HAF > SNF : 1 x 345 (9 Cars)
TfL Underground Paddington > Warwick Avenue (Bakerloo Line)
TfL Underground Warwick Avenue > Paddington (Bakerloo Line)
PAD 1903 (1916) > EXD 2110 (2126) : 1C94 : 2 x 802/0 (10 cars)
EXD 2153 (OT) > DIG 2205 (OT) : 2F28 PGN > EXM : 1 x 166/2 (3 Cars)
TfL Elizabeth Line Single £2.15
TfL Underground Single £1.95 x 2
DIG > PAD Super Off-Peak Return (See Above)

Lots of late running & cancellations in & out of PAD in the morning. I don’t think you have to be a genius to figure out the primary cause was probably staff absences due to it being the first day of the Notting Hill Carnival.
9W40 was absolutely rammed and some pax were unable to board at WEA.
After the match ended (England victory) there were no issues on the Bakerloo Line but spectators leaving Lord’s were advised to avoid the Jubilee Line.
On arrival at PAD I noticed that 1C94 was already showing a departure delay of 7 minutes. That was somewhat optimistic because the incoming train, 1A26 from BRI, was already 20+ minutes late.
In the meantime our booked platform, 4,  was occupied for about 15 minutes by an Elizabeth Line 345 unit. Very odd.
1C94 eventually left PAD 13 minutes down and this level of delay hardly changed on the run to EXD.
Of note was the chap sat diagonally opposite me was found by the TM, who did a full ticket & railcard check - wonders will never cease!, to be travelling to Taunton on a railcard discounted Advance but didn’t actually possess a railcard of any kind. The passenger told the TM somebody else had booked the ticket for him. TM warned him about doing that in future and charged him £71.95 for a brand new ticket (your task, should you decide to accept it, is to figure out where the TM got that price from, I was unable to solve the riddle!).
And finally in an unexpected outbreak of common sense on our railway 1C94 was routed into P5 at EXD so intending passengers could do a cross-platform change to P6 where 2K15 the last OKE service of the day, which had been held for 8 minutes, was waiting. Well done them!

 

I didn't realise the 47s were that old my first recollections of Nottingham Victoria was as a multi-storey car park and that was 51 years ago.

 
I have been there too, really worthwhile.

 
https://secretldn.com/london-bus-museum-heritage-days/

 
Going off at another slight tangent (and I can, because I'm an admin ), there is a human equivalent reliance on familiarity here.

On a couple of occasions, I have used the ticket office at Nailsea & Backwell, on weekday mornings when it is open, on the principle, 'use it or lose it'.

On both occasions, staff were very efficient.  The young lady, from her accent possibly East European, so English was not her first language, had never heard of 'Melksham' or 'Kemble' - but was happy to look them up when I spelled them out for her.  I got the impression she had to type in the full name on her ticket machine, rather than the three letter station codes, which I offered her as an initial suggestion.

CfN. 

 
Here they are: https://centenarylounge.com/our-story/

 

Stroud is the one I forgot. So 4 it is at the mo - two more possibly following at Great Malvern & Surbiton....

 
B4, Bregenz Austria.

 
Chain? ....only just I think - perhaps 4 or 5 maximum. Started off at Birmingham Moor Street, expanded out to Leamington then a couple more. This I think is the only one off the Chiltern route. The owner is a lovely lass too.

 

By coincidence and train cancellations, I found myself at Taunton Station on Sunday with an hour to wait and tried out the Centenary Lounge showing in the picture.  They've made a half decent job of the interior with separate access from outside the station too, along with outdoor seating. It also did a corking Cappuccino and Blueberry Muffin.  I was a little surprised to find it was a part of a chain serving a number of stations.... perhaps Temple Meads could take note as they could do worse.

 

Never underestimate the wide knowledge of our members, grahame.

Except me, obviously.

 

Looking at the map and putting my brain into gear,  the station-barriers-free route (and ~100 yards shorter) is head down the station ramp to the rather savage T1 stop.

 
Looking at the route for the No 8,, the Avon Street / Temple Way junction is or was left turn only so has presumably been very recently heavily  remodelled...

 

Yup, that's me - plus a Page not found 404 warning. Now getting the imbedded photo.

 
That's an issue, as the direct route is presumably back through the station barriers.

With regards to the east entrance and development, a series of recent work in progress photos are to be found in recent posts on this thread on the Skyscrapercity site.

https://www.skyscrapercity.com/threads/bristol-university-of-bristol-temple-quarter-campus-u-c.2028021/page-9?nested_view=1#post-198778681

 

If people who are occasional users should exit to the "old" stop, how easy is it for them go get round to the new stop?

 

There is something "odd" with that photo/link. Originally I posted the link to the photo, but it came up, confusingly, as the home page of the aviationmuseum.eu. Then it came up with the photo on the second try - so I posted just the photo, with the website address solely as an attribution.

 
The stop's already on Google maps, it looks to be about 160 yards from the new entrance. Given that this is Bristol Temple Meads, if we look at walking distances from the locations used to halt many of the shorter trains at the ends of the station platforms, they're about a 400 yard walk from the new location for the number 8 bus - about a 100 yard increase on the previous.

(Streetview of the stop's location is... bleak, but that's because in 2023 it was a building site, hopefully it's now tamed...)

Mark

 
I have a problem. Do I publicise the last through train day trip to Weymouth from Melksham and back for Saturday 5th September 2026, or promote the Food and River Festival which is also next weekend?

I have a solution to suggest - why not go to Weymouth on Saturday, and the Food and River Festival on Sunday? 

On Saturday, the train leaves Melksham at 09:09, getting to Weymouth at 11:08, and returns at 19:38 getting to Melksham at 21:32.  Return fare - £23.60 (adult), £15.70 each (group or railcard) £11.80 (child). Pay on the day at the ticket machine, or if paying in cash and joining at Melksham, on the train.

On Sunday, the first boat trip on the river is at 10:00 and events carry on until a close at 16:30. See https://www.facebook.com/MFRFF for more details.  Free entry, but on past form I'll end up spending far more at the festival than I will on my train fare.

 

Err - which one?   The links all seem to work for me

 
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