Andy Burnham's coup, if he succeeds, isn't without precedent. When labour came to power in London in May 1981 there was an overnight coup and Ken Livingston became mayor. It herald more than 30 years of transport policy when successive mayors, tory and labour, gave pensioners more and more to become the envy of everyone else. In Torbay it is still Buses only from 0930hrs Mon-Fri.

 
I remember a few years ago 143s and 150s had bottled water on board so the guard could give to passengers. A lot of it was stored at Paignton.

 
Due to a signalling problem between Ashurst New Forest and Brockenhurst trains have to run at reduced speed on the line towards Brockenhurst.
What's Going On:
Train services running through these stations may be delayed by up to 10 minutes or revised. Disruption is expected until 20:00 25/06.

 
I don't have a Facebook account but can still see his pics; lots of Glastonbury Tor, and some Bath ones as well if you go back a bit:
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=1306987118274342

EDIT: well I could see loads of pictures initially, but when I checked the link in my post it only let me see a few before forcing me to login. So probably best if you have an account.

 
There's a Met Office yellow warning for thunderstorms Friday 00:00 to 10:00 covering quite a lot of the south west.
https://weather.metoffice.gov.uk/warnings-and-advice/uk-warnings#?date=2026-06-26&id=3aea87c4-1219-43f4-b22e-88ea06d9935b

 

..................and politicians !

 
Given that a red warning has now been issued for tomorrow (Friday), it's reasonable to assume that the current level of hundreds of cancellations/alterations will continue.

Have mentioned this elsewhere, but it's worth noting that a lot of the "more trains than usual needing repair" excuse would appear to be due to insufficient aircon in drivers' cabs.

 
Calling hotel staff by name?  Positively creepy, and puts me in mind of TV/radio news where presenter and reporter feel the need to repeat each others' names, or an overenthusiastic estate agent or car sales person. I wouldn't do it in any other conversation.

Don't think I'd be comfortable staying at a hotel so posh that phoning reception to get my luggage carried when leaving is normal, unless I actually couldn't manage it myself for some reason.

I have a lifetime's supply (at least!) of free mini-toiletries thanks to my parents who always took them on principle even if they didn't need them. Unless I'm travelling very light I therefore tend to take some with me so I can leave unopened any small complimentary stuff supplied by the hotel to be used for the next guest.

 
Is it only men who do this?   Asking for a friend. 

 
This appeared on X, attributed to "By Mike Jeffries via Facebook - This evening’s thunderstorm approaching Glastonbury." without a link to his Facebook. But its a stunning photo.

 
Ouch. Also, I've not really recovered from seeing Anthropic's logo yet.

Mark

 

This reminded me of an experience that my late brother recalled to us on his return from a short driving tour in Spain when he stopped at a small roadside hotel for the night some years back.  After an evening meal and (he assured us) just a small beer, he felt quite weary and had himself an early night.
The next thing he knew, he found himself waking up having sleep walked, stark naked, two floors down in the laundry room of the hotel at silly o'clock in the morning with a rather unamused night porter glowering and him.
He checked out quite early that morning.

 
The second page explains my puzzlement when you said you'd passed through Catanzero station, as, there it is, on the line passing some distance east of the station and close to the University.

The satellite view shows the *new* and under construction line connecting Catanzero station, the University and the city - not at all straightforward though it must have been some time in the planning as the road system makes some passive provision for it.

'Catanzero-style', the new route involves a substantial tunnel and viaduct and it's not unreasonable to compare and contrast with the amount of sucking of teeth that happens when, say, thoughts occur of the much needed line north of Dartmoor and its requirement for a new route and viaduct close to the Meldon structures.

Mark

 
What else am I supposed to do now that AI is doing all my work for me?

Seriously, I used to spend 99% of my time writing/reviewing code. Since my employer gave me my Claude Code (Anthropic) license a month or 2 ago I haven't written a single line of code, and Claude does the reviews (of its own work!) as well.

So I'll probably be spending a lot more time on the forum before long...

 
Here we are, the complete line, and another page on developments for Catanzero itself. From Wikipedia (in Italian).

Mark


https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrovia_Cosenza-Catanzaro_Lido

https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Servizio_ferroviario_metropolitano_di_Catanzaro

 

...and then went on the forum.   

 

The thunderstorm that hit Bath on Monday was more than just your everyday thunderstorm. In the space of just a few minutes, daylight seemed to have been replaced with darkness, and the torrential rain was accompanied by very sudden and violent gusts of wind. I read later that tornadoes had been seen in Devon and Somerset, and I wouldn't be surprised if what we had here was a tornado. With Bath's long steep hills, many roads at the foot of these suddenly found themselves being turned into lakes, and some suffered quite a bit of damage (a friend of mine witnessed Prior Park Road being broken up in front of her).

These sort of events are what we are going to have to get used to with the fast changing climate.

 

I was recently staying in an upmarket hotel by the Thames on the outskirts of London for a conference.   Apparently during the night someone got up for the loo and took a wrong turn and ended up locking themselves out of their room while naked.

He then had to make his way down two floors to reception to get assistance.

The bit I didn't understand was - he told everyone the next morning!

 
Only one train for Newquay (not a 175) and one on Falmouth and Okehampton, none on Looe. It has had the benefit of more 150's on  Paignton- Exmouth.

 
Don't get me going (today - I've not got time!) on hotel design. Interesting topic having done it, and learned from the experience.   

The article was more about guest behaviour.   Should you scoop up the freebies?  Should you take the towels home with you?  Should you notify the hotel of your expected arrival time?  What should you do with your rubbish?  Should you ignore staff, chat with them, ignore them?   Should you walk around in the public areas with bare feet?  In your jammies? In your Birthday suite?  If something's wrong, what should you do?

 
Ah, thanks, that explains it. (I also chased that narrow gauge line serving Catanzaro across Google's satellite view - it turned out to be a mistake to follow it to its terminus as every time I thought I'd found the last station on the thing, it turned out that the line left the station site in a tunnel and what I thought was a headshunt was not...)

Again, Catanzaro from the sky looks like a grand laboratory for transport schemes - from the 'Halifax on drugs' road viaducts to the recently built but out of use funiculars, 'Ebbw Vale on speed' that defy anyone to find an end point - or comprehend the strange structures that link the foot of the funicular to the site of the (out of use) station, and then, the impossible-to-follow narrow gauge line. I thought at first it was surely out of use and fading away, but it now appears that in 2025 various parts were under heavy repair. Anyway, timetables on the link below.

Mark

https://web.ferroviedellacalabria.it/orari-dei-trasporti/

 
Email from the Wilts & Berks Canal Trust https://wbct.org.uk/

 
.

13 amp sockets are often installed on the party wall separating rooms because it is cheaper, the same cable can serve outlets on both sides of the wall.
I change sheets once a week at home, and would expect the same in an hotel. In all but the very cheapest hotels sheets should be white, 100% cotton, and generously sized. NOT containing ANY poly-anything.
No i do not change towels every day at home.

 
The Grand Central Waterloo-Bristol rumour's now the subject of an article in Rail magazine. (Subscription required).

Mark

https://www.railmagazine.com/news/grand-central-planning-new-london-routes-from-manchester-and-bristol

 
This one did not fit neatly into any of our line boards - which rather confirms that it would be a useful new service.

There's. a photocall from our MP (Brian Mathew) and the mayor of Bradford-on-Avon (Sam Blackwell) who asks

 
South Western Railway (Or is that now Great British Railways | South Western) are re-doing their whole timetable for December 2027 and are looking for inputs from knowledgable parties (Stakeholders) to help inform them.

1. One of their (SWR / GBR|SW) current services runs from Salisbury to Waterloo Station in London, with calls / onward connections at Clapham Junction, Waterloo and Woking for trains to destinations in South London, Kent, Surrey and East Sussex

2. Great Western Railway (to become Great British Railways | Great Western in December) now run services on the "Bristol Metro" from Bristol as far as Salisbury, serving Bristol, Keynsham, Oldfield Park, Bath Spa, Freshford, Avoncliff, Bradford-on-Avon, Trowbridge, Westbury, Dilton Marsh, and Warminster along the way.

3. The SWR services are run using class 158 (and 159) trains, and the GWR services often are class 158 - they are run from a pool of class 158, 165 and 166 trains. SWR terminate in Salisbury's platforms from the east, and GWR services terminate - often at the same platforms - from the West.

4. My "Rumour Mill" suggests that Grand Central (an Arriva owned Open Access operator) have applied for rights to run a Waterloo, Salisbury, Warminster, Westbury, Trowbridge, Bradford on Avon, Bath Spa, Bristol Temple Meads service.  Which rather confirms a view in the industry that there is a demand for such a service worth backing up by serious investment, and that (under Open Access license terms) it is not "primarily abstractive" of traffic of other services, and that there is capacity for it.

5. The distance between London Waterloo and London Paddington where current Bristol and Bath to London services go is about 4 miles (6.4 km), putting them into different walking and cycling catchments.  London is a huge city and onward public transport from both is good, but underground and bus are daunting / difficult for many occasional passengers.

6. Suggestion - why not join up the Bristol -> Salisbury and the Salisbury -> Waterloo service from December 2027? Trains arriving in Salisbury from the west already join on to extra carriages before they continue to London, and 2 or 3 carriage trains of class 158/159 from Bristol (there are already a couple from Westbury) could do that, up as far as 8 or 9 carriage trains onwards

*** To be noted amongst the major benefits:
* A whole raft of popular new / restored service for which there is significant identified demand.
* Economic benefit of through London services from Keynsham, Oldfield Park, Bradford-on-Avon, Trowbridge and Dilton Marsh
* Operational improvement - efficiency at Salisbury
* An easy early win for Great British Railways

*** Previous services along the length of this corridor

Through services on this route ran preCovid and I summarised why they should remain - to no immediate avail - documented at https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/16-reasons-continue-through-trains-london-graham-ellis/ and http://waterloo.savethetrain.org.uk (link is an old one - http not https!). Here are some updated / comments on issues at the time

* We had two operators under commercial contract from Bristol and Bath to London, and our dominant operator to Paddington wanted rid of the competition which undercut them, all be it with a less frequent and slower service.  They would now be complementary services

* As SWR and GWR were separate organisations, each needed their own drivers and route knowledge for the Bristol service for SWR crews was hard and expensive to maintain.  Under GBR, all staff are under the same banner and would be changed along the way.

* Train paths were being cleared for MetroWest between Bristol and Bath (Bathampton). Fair enough - those paths have been taken up by the MetroWest service which is the very service we are asking to link on to Waterloo. No problem any more

* HMG were looking to save money by thinning out services in the postCovid era.  But we are back up to 1.83 billion journeys a year (to March 2026) versus 0.99 billion journeys which was the latest data when the previous service was cut.  The strongest regrowth, you will note, is in the occasional traveller / leisure / personal business (such as students to/from Uni) markets which are the very market that this service will address.

 
From the BBC:

 
Melksham-Bristol commute not too bad - the Plan A 05:11 Gloucester-Southampton (to Trowbridge) was cancelled (train fault), but the plan B 06:35 Salisbury-Worcester (to Chippenham) was ok.

Then the 06:28 Paddington-Weston was delayed by 23 mins at Chippenham (speed restriction), but the official connection of the 07:00 Oxford-Bristol was only a minute late (07:48) so got to the office on time (for plan B).

I could claim for the plan A cancellation but not going to bother. I could/should have worked from home today, but I had to do that for the other 2 days I was supposed to be in the office this week (not due to weather), so felt I should show my face.

 
Pretty bad day for anyone needing to (rather than choosing to) travel

Graphic on front page currently has
Cancelled 225
Part route 97

Rare to be over 300