Earlier this evening:


and so:


and for the record, this morning's busy 0818 Worcester Shrub Hill to Paddington service was short-formed yet again.

 

Where will we get the bags from, now that they are no longer supplied readily by supermarkets at checkouts, and all responsible suppliers of food and goods are phasing out plastic wrappers?

 

Step free access at Clifton Down Station for platform 2 is indeed a bit obscure as I recall.  Think it's to be found along the car parking area between Whiteladies Road and St Johns Road at the side of the old station building (now a pub).... unless it's been fenced or gated off now.  If you are wanting to get to Whiteladies Road you then have to get past all the pub's outdoor seating which from memory serves as a bit of a challenge for those less mobile, especially on a busy day.

 
I assume the 'any permitted' route includes routeing via Swindon and Bristol Parkway. Probably not particularly efficient for BB but looking at BRFares it's in a fare cluster with other destinations including Parkway, Filton etc, so the Swindon routeing could be very useful for other journeys with the same fare.

 
Coincided exactly with rain arriving on the scene after a breezy day, so I expect the conditions deteriorated quickly and were considered ‘reportable’ by the driver.

RHTT’s don’t cover the Thames Valley branches, so contamination is managed manually and locally by the Mobile Operations Managers.

RHTT’s show up as Class 3 trains on RTT, as ‘Departmental’ and often with the suffix Sxx for ‘Sand’.

I might be making that last bit up! 

 

Yup. Using Clifton Down Station the other week I looked for a step free access. Checking the map, I can see why I didn't find it. The signage isn't briliant either.

 
Also, would Realtimetrains display the path for a railhead treatment train?

 
How does this work please? Services on the branch ran 100% to time until the 16:45 from Twyford, which was cancelled along with all subsequent services, as a result of poor railhead conditions. Would it have been that that running services up to that point contributed to deteriorating railhead conditions and the train crew would have been aware that a line was about to be crossed?

(Also me: I didn't realise that the likes of the Henley branch were driver-only operated.)

https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/search/detailed/gb-nr:HOT/2026-11-10/0000-2359?stp=WVS&show=passenger&order=wtt

 
If you allow for the short walk down to Gloucester Road from Montpelier Station, the nearest bus stops provide a fair number of different services at frequent intervals.  Those same bus stop are also handy for Redland Station, which is also served by the 71 & 72 services, although they aren't spectacularly frequent.

 
Yes, Lawrence Hill has much potential, Clifton Down should be better than it is - the station could be a showpiece transport hub, but is instead barely accessible and hidden behind an awful 1970s oversite block. Portway Park and Ride also has plenty of potential, especially now the bus junction onto the A4 Portway has been upgraded.

Portishead could provide good interchange opportunities too, though I'm not aware of plans to ensure this happens; Bristol Brabazon not so much as far as I can tell - looks to be about 200m from the m4 bus stop!

 

I've just had a word with said thing; it's not thrilled as the aspersions over its weight.

 
Single leg pricing (i.e. the end of return tickets) does make sense.   

I just looked up Trowbridge to Bristol Brabazon fares for opening day, and I am offered ...



11 fares - and I think just two or three singles could be a sensible set
* Advanced fare
* Off Peak
* Anytime
with people adding in another ticket from the same three standards of coming back.

The $64,000 question is what the pricing should be.  Off peak single at half the off peak day return, anytime single at half the anytime day return  - sensible.    Just remove the return fares - near way of putting prices up while saying that you have not increased prices.

The lower priced off peak tickets are "any permitted" - the other off peak tickets are "via Bath Spa".   Yes, I am scratching my head over that one!

 
Wondering which of Bristol's stations make the best connections to the bus network, not sure if that would be Clifton Down or Lawrence Hill - though it would be mean to exclude Bristol Parkway. Concerning Lawrence Hill, it's impressive to see the frequency of services calling at a bus stop that's pretty well minimum viable product - though it does have a shelter.

 
To add my two pennorth: for a good suburban service around Bristol, we need more stations and more trains. At the moment the stations side of the equation is doing better than the trains side, in part due to the failure of the 175s to feed the cascade that would allow us here to use the old stuff from Devon and Cornwall.

Ashley Down and Bristol Brabazon are good modern accessible stations which start out with too few trains calling, but they will soon have more - possibly many more, with 4tph at Ashley Down a distinct possibility within a few years. That will not only rival the local bus services - the 70 and the 17/18/24 on Muller Road - but will also make connections at Filton Abbey Wood much better.

Clearly something needs to be done soon about fares, though, to allow easy interoperability between bus and train and also to fix the disparity between the Severn Beach line and the rest of the burgeoning local network.

 
There needs to be clarification across all railcards (i.e. words to the effect of "if the ticket was purchased using a railcard then the restrictions of that railcard do not apply"). If an off-peak ticket can be used on an anytime train then the Senior Railcard L&SE "not before off-peak tickets" restriction makes no sense, for example.

 
From Roger French latest blog

https://busandtrainuser.com/2026/11/10/lners-simpler-fares-pilot-the-results-are-in/

The Department for Transport has published a review it commissioned from consultants, Systra, into LNER’s two current fare pilots – ‘Single Leg Pricing’ and the so-called ‘Simpler Fares’.

The good news is Single Leg Pricing comes out of the review much more positively than the Simpler Fares trial which for yours truly, as a fairly regular passenger on the East Coast Main Line, comes as no surprise at all.

...........................continues.............

 

Along the lines of Viz’s ‘Top Tips’ presumably?

Along with a ‘Bunker of the Month’ competition perhaps?

 
With Evesham being the location (at Wood Norton) of the BBC's "secret" Armageddon headquarters and broadcasting hub, I used earnestly to hope and expect that the Ruskies would vapourise us all in the first of the 8-minute attacks and hence avoid all this "Protect and Survive" nightmare

 
In my time machine, I'm going back a few years to save some of the Swindon Class 123 DMUs.  Perfect for jobs such as Bristol - Oxford and Exeter Cardiff limited stops.  And very nice units too.  Far more comfortable than any of today's offerings, and, I'd guess more likely to turn up.  Shame about the asbestos

 

Most of the railway companies, back in the day, used the words "fast" and "slow" lines.  The Western difference gave "Main" and "Relief" where there were four roads.  I think it's better - doesn't get confusing when you could have a slow train on the fast line being overtaken by a fast train on the slow.

It's still retained in the NR Sectional Appendix covering what was largely Great Western territory.  Shame about the very clear, but prosaic"Line 1", "Line 2" etc of the tracks outside Paddington.  Although I recognise the clarity and the fact that most (all?) the tracks are bi-di

 

I think we really do need a Coffee shop Forum "helpful hints" section, as little gems like this are invaluable in enhancing our day to day lives?

 

So as someone who lives 5 mins away from Ashley Down (ASD) and does use it frequently, I can chime in here.

Yes, the hourly service currently isn't good enough. Added to the fact you often get cancellations due to "more trains than usual needing repair" - which at this point is just gaslighting as it is actually "the usual number of trains needing repair". And I can also say that the fact the Sunday timetable is different (until December anyway) in that the shuttle doesn't exist so is replaced by stops on the Cardiff - Taunton / Exeter trains, and the shuttle is often dropped when there are engineering works (replaced with stops on other services) has caused a fair amount of confusion with local residents who aren't as in the know.

However what I will say is GWR are good at adding stops at ASD to other services when there are cancelations and when there are things on at either the Memorial Ground (Bristol Rovers) or the County Ground (Gloucestershire Cricket and every now and again international cricket). This proves it can be done so I do agree with you that adding a stop there on a non Filton / Brabazon shuttle would be useful - though I'd also be happy enough if they were to do the shuttle half hourly and maybe then the TfW burns services in a few years time can add one or two more trains per hour too.

In terms of the does anyone use it question though - yes people absolutely do! Its worth saying that whilst the 70 is more frequent, the time it takes means it is often just as quick to wait for the next train! (E.g. you could get the 07.29 #70 bus from Sefton Park Road and get to Temple meads at 07.58 assuming no delays, or you could get the 07.52 train from Ashley Down and get to Temple Meads for 08.01). It also doesn't help the reliability of the 70 hasn't been great recently, and whilst as I said above the train does suffer the same fate, at least there if I miss a connection because the train didn't show up / was late I can get money back, but if I miss a connection because the bus doesn't show I am stuffed. As already said by another commentor the station numbers we have from last year show it at the equivalent of ~100k per year (based on ~50k in its first 6 months of being open) and I wouldn't be surprised if the full years figures which will be released soon will be higher than that as people get used to it being there. Certainly my experience is that the rush hour services at least (especially the 07.52 to Temple Meads and both the 17.04 and 18.04 to Filton) have got busier over the last 2 years since the station opened. It also helps that the timetable, whilst sparse, does work well for some journeys. E.g. Ashley Down to Cardiff Central and the return actually provides a pretty good connection at Filton most of the time (of course disruption does mess that up quite badly when it does happen though).


It is a bit frustrating because a good all mode ticket does exist (the Freedom travelpass), but is poorly advertised and is only available as a paper ticket.
It isn't available digitally, nor is integrated with either First bus's tap on tap off payment method or GWR's payg option - despite the GWR payg option having its zones and fares based on the Freedom Travelpasses zones and pricing!

 
Many years ago maybe 10+ years ago a younger and fitter broadgage sat upon a thief to detain it until the police arrived.
So doing rendered the quite coach VERY noisy, as they "squealed like a stuck pig" there is a report about the incident somewhere on this forum

 

It looks like it's to do with the air conditioning unit. Laira cannot fix it. The trains have been stuck on a siding since arriving at Laira on 1 October 2026

Cannot see Mark Hopwood being on radio Cornwall again in the near future.

 




Post includes AI generated content (?)

 


Yes ... and although the x34 from Chippenham RAILWAY Station runs every half hour from 14:41 to 17:38 only on Mondays to Fridays, three times from 16:05 to 17:35 on Saturdays and 9 times from 09:25 to 18:25 on Sundays.  Daytime Monday to Saturday runs from Chippenham BUS Station only, and no service any day of the week after the last bus has left from the railway station.   Need to know, and normally no through ticketing, no waiting if the connecting train is drawing in even as the last bus leaves.  In the opposite direction, Melksham Market Place is about a 15 minute walk from the railway station, 3 early buses Monday to Friday (last service 08:15), two services Saturday (last service 08:05) and (on request to driver) Sunday services from 08:50 to 17:49 call at Chippenham Railway station.   On weekdays, it's a commercial service meeting the main regular flows, and on its Sunday a supported service - interesting to see the different perspectives.  If you know how it works and it works for you, good. But there are so many potential journeys untapped outside the hours that it runs.

For Bristol Brabazon, I note fill in buses too ... perhaps all-mode ticketing and connections are better there? Way back in the days I was with TransWilts, we produced an integrated corridor timetable and perhaps the Bristol folks will be doing so?   Should be easier - at least for three weeks both buses and trains will be First operations.

 

The best way is to poo into a bucket, lined with a plastic bag. Don't trust the bucket to bear your weight, but sit on a chair with the seat removed. If available apply sawdust, cat litter, or dry earth to reduce smells.
Wee in a separate container that is emptied outside.

 
Hmm. 

Posting this personally here, not as an official of the Coffee Shop forum or of my erstwhile employer (a High Street bank):

For several years, I worked in a complaints department, dealing with customers who had an issue. I was given authority to pay out up to £1,000 (in those days) without any need to refer to management.

I don't think I ever paid out anything like that: I simply looked at their file notes, decided they were right, and offered them £200 or £300 as compensation, 'in full and final settlement'.

That is not to say that the tactics used for sales of other services by all of the High Street banks in years gone by were good: history has shown that they were not.

Chris.

 
My own impression of San Bento, Portugal, is this clip from YouTube: safe for family viewing, but it takes a while to get to about 3 minutes before the music happens. Some 14 minutes of viewing.

(The guy with the yellow surfboard needs a punch, in my opinion).

CfN. 

 

There is, of course, the half-hourly Faresaver BUS service x34 from Chippenham railway station to Melksham Market Place, as a 'Plan B'.