Now revised to "till the end of the day" and "Do not travel" notice issued.....

 

You don't need to blip the throttle when the car will do 0-60 in a shade over two seconds! That's the Model S Plaid.

I've test driven a Tesla Model S P100D for a mystery shopping assignment. That still scared the bejeebus out of me when I, with the permission of the salesman, launched it. 0-60 in 3.4 seconds. That was 'cold'. No battery preconditioning. Plenty fast enough for me. And this is a large four door saloon remember. I wasn't allowed to use 'Ludicrous' mode!

Red lining an ICE engine at the lights is so 20th century.

 
Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Reading

Due to failure of the electricity supply between London Paddington and Southall some lines are blocked. Disruption is expected until 21:00 18/09.
Train services between London Paddington and Reading may be cancelled or delayed.

Customer Advice
-
What has happened?
-
We have had a report of a fault with the Overhead Line Equipment between London Paddington and Southall. Overhead Line Equipment (OLE) is the name given to the overhead wires and other equipment on electrified railway lines that provides power to the trains.
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What are we doing about it?
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Engineers are investigating the fault. Currently we are unable to run any trains between London Paddington and Reading, in either direction.

 

It’s nothing to do with owners being dissatisfied. They’ve not been sold in the first place. So many dealers offering EVs that have only been registered to themselves for 40-50% off new price. They are second hand as they’ve been registered to the dealership.

 
From The BBC

 
If you take a test on an automatic / car without a gear shift, that's all you get the license for.  But if you take a test on a manual car, you get a license for both.  Big, though decreasing, decision to take an automatic test, and I would suspect that many people learn and take driving school car tests with a manual as something of an insurance policy to give them future flexibility.

 
An update, from the BBC:

 

Spot on! Spent a couple of hours there enroute from Kilmarnock to Stranraer. The Station Hotel is a very sad sight, having been gutted by a deliberate arson attack a few years back.

I only managed barely 5 minutes at Stranraer, so unable to take many pictures, but I recommend the trip down to Stranraer for its scenery - endless golf courses followed by a switchback over peat moorland, liberally splattered with big windfarms

 

That in itself skews the figures enormously. It may sound facetious, but it could be that many new Electric/Auto car owners are so dissatisfied with their cars that they are putting them up for sale.   Most applicants for a driving test are in the younger age groups who cannot afford to buy a 2025 car or, quite possibly, any electric vehicle.  Add to that the enormous cost of insuring a 2025/electric vehicle and the majority of driving test applicants will still be for aiming for an older manual car. The good old Fiesta/Corsa/Golf group which mainly come with manual gearboxes will still be the first target for new drivers. I would go further and say that many of the applications for Auto tests are probably from youngsters who are going to drive their parents' car in the immediate future.

Apart from which, how are the boy racers going to "blip" the throttle on their Tesla at the traffic lights ? 

 
I had the misfortune of spending an hour or two at Ayr earlier in the year. I think that might be where you were.

 

Having just watched it pass Watford Junction on Railcam it is just in its old TfW livery, but unbranded.

 
Six out of 18 trains through Melksham cancelled  from mid-afternoon yesterday ... 33% of service - with JourneyCheck warning that service was out for the rest of the day (but buses provided).    But then the final round trip was re-instated (at about 8 p.m. I understand), and ran with just five passengers including myself from Trowbridge.  Train manager tells me that this is normally a quiet service with just a couple of dozen passengers - "it's much busier on the return from Swindon to Westbury".

The rail industry reporting - as seen through ontimetrains - reports just 22% cancelled - in other words their statistics report a much better situation than was really the case - four out of five passengers turned away for that final train, yet the rail industry gives itself a pat on the back for running it.   And even so, Melksham's performance is rated 2451st out of 2600 stations - and that for a station where the service is so thin that there's no opportunity to just wait for the next train.



As an aside, that graphic reports that 22% of trains were 5 to 9 minutes late too.  Provided that connections are not missed, that's pretty immaterial to me.   That 21:22 Trowbridge to Melksham that was re-instated was one such delayed train.   The Portsmouth to Cardiff train just ahead of it from Westbury was running a couple of minutes late and held it up, and then the Portsmouth to Cardiff train had an extended station stop at Trowbridge while the train manager got out a ramp to allow a wheelchair user to join on his way to Bristol.  A delay that the railway could not have foreseen as the wheelchair user had not pre-booked assistance;  I do note, though, that many modern trains and stations have level boarding as a flap that automatically extends to touch the platform whenever a door opens for (any) passengers, and had that been available at Trowbridge, there would have been no further delay to the train waiting behind.

 
Not GWR
But at 08:20 to the bemusement of local commuters

 

Locos 57311 and 47593 at rear

 

My figures were filtered to 2025 cars only which gave just 14% manual

Not all cars including older ones that are on sale, which includes those from few years ago when majority were manual.

So I checked further, filtering to just 2024 gives 19% manual
But take older cars, eg 2007-2008, then 59% are manual

 

Should pass Bath Spa at 13:55

Rumoured to be unit 175 003 and will be first time a GWR liveried one appears, unless it is in some new GBR colours

 
I bought a Seat Leon with a DSG box a few years back now, I wouldn’t voluntarily return to a traditional manual now.
The DSG is as i understand an automated manual with double clutch system. Very smooth, better mpg than its manual equivalent.

 

Sorry, No

 

My understanding is that the RNLI would like to return to their still very serviceable launching station: it's the safe access to it, for their volunteer crews, that is the issue.

As a charity, they cannot write an effectively 'blank cheque' to provide that.

 

That had occurred to me too.  I understand that historically they have already made some contribution to the purchase of the island.  Quite how it might pan out remains to be seen.  I can see why they would find it easier to be able to launch from the island again.

 
 I'm going to have a stab Gourock .

 
I have a vague memory from many moons back that the White Horse was "converted" into a stallion !

 
I do know where it is, and PhilW has said I can answer, but I'll let others have a chance.

 

I am tempted to say that ads in auto-trader do not accurately represent the nationwide split between manual and automatic transmissions.

Motoringresearch.com states (14 March 2025) that auto cars have risen by 118% in a decade...............and.......... "1 in 3 cars on UK roads is now an automatic", OR........ to put it another way 2 in 3 are manuals = 66% (my highlighting). I believe these figures are from Insurance companies.  This aligns nicely with the original quote of 25% of tests being for autos.

To paraphrase Mark Twain..........."reports of manual death have been greatly exaggerated"

I have all those wonderful "auto" gizmos on my car - but I got a manual gearbox. It was cheaper and I get a lot more miles per gallon...................and I like it !

 

Some of mine are a bit like that. 

 

If it helps, CalMac do operate from here - or so the CIS on the platform says!

 
Blimey! 

I should have let Finn answer, after all. 

 
I took one driving test, in the early 1980s, on manual cars. Passed.

That has covered me for all of my driving since then - cars (manual and automatic) in the UK and overseas, provisional motor cycle, and grocery delivery vans.


Before I retired, I drove Mercedes Sprinter delivery vans - which were all manual. If there was snow, the fleet was grounded, for safety concerns. I remember one occasion, when I had offered to make the very last delivery of that evening to a remote customer, before the snow really arrived. I pulled out of a junction onto the A38 at the top of Redhill (very near Bristol Airport, which had already closed due to the weather) at walking speed - and the van slid sideways on the compacted snow and ice.

No problem: there was no other traffic - they couldn't get up Redhill in those conditions.  I was just laughing to myself in the cab that I'd managed to get a Mercedes Sprinter van to go sideways. 

 

Sorry Chris, you - along with JayMac earlier today - are actually incorrect! I'll be there later this week 

 
Due to its very distinctive architecture, it's got to be Wemyss Bay railway station.

The terminus of the Inverclyde Line, with a connection to the Caledonian MacBrayne ferry terminal.

(CalMac being one of my pet topics. )  CfN.