Recent content by mrcheek

technically an offence, but if youve done all you can to get attention, or find a member of staff, then nobody can blame you. I have had to do this a few times to avoid missing a train

yes, at some times of day trains are too long. What do you want to do, abandon a few coaches on the way? Or shorten them for the whole day, so that they are also overcrowded at times. It happens. Last train I was on, early morning Cardiff to Plymouth. Full all the way from Newport to Bristol...

This is correct, for many years the second platform (actually confusingly numbered Platform 1) at Weston wasnt used at all, everything used Platform 2. Occasionally, if there was disruption, you might have a service terminate on the other platform, but nothing would depart from there. As at...

I seem to recall this idea has come up several times. On one occasion, they even came up with a price for the track changes, resignalling etc. As soon as the figure was given the suggestion was quickly dropped. Expect it to eventually happen when the Weston loop is redoubled. Which is a long way off

I wasnt fortunate to have been on the pacer that famously substituted an HST on a Temple Meads to Paddington service (it got as far as Swindon), but I was once waiting for a Cross Country Voyager at Taunton, heading south, when we were surprised to find a 153 showing up in its place.

Im sure I recall stories of trains being sent out along new lines whilst they were still finishing off the last bit of track at the other end!

Back in the days when you could smoke on stations but not on trains, if a train was due to sit at a station for a few minutes, it would usually be announced that people could get off the train to "get some air", or "stretch their legs", when of course most were just getting off for a quick smoke...

One fairly common complaint: The buffet being closed. I recall one particular lady complaining that if she couldnt get a drink on a train, then the service should be cancelled. I politely pointed out to her that as it was an evening departure from Paddington, the train was full and standing, as...

yes. any chance to get rid of cheaper fares will be taken. Apparently, surveys have said that passengers want simpler fares. Funny thing is, every time they get "simplified", they go up! (See LNER)

weirdly, the review is generally negative, until the final half sentence, which is generally positive

Weston-super-Mare was probably justified in being singled, since BR could not have envisioned how much the town would expand from the 70s onwards. Its been on the list of potential redoublings for many years. Although since GWR have dramatically improved punctuality and operations over the last...

Liskeard to Looe takes approx 24-28 minutes. So the service runs hourly all day. So there is literally no recovery time

Taunton to Weston is begging for improvement. With only one train an hour, most people simply find another way to travel If they doubled the service to every 30 minutes throughout the day, the number of passengers would more than double

I suppose its possible that even though station staff would empty the bins themselves, the refuse they collect would eventually be collected by the binmen who are on strike. So it may be to do with that. Of course, older readers will remember in the mid 90s when virtually all station bins...

totally agree. Aesthetically, its as good as any major station in England. But badly needs a revamp. so many conflicts of movement, the ends of platforms are terribly exposed, and the retail offering must be the worst of any major station. But very difficult to get done in reality. Even the...