So it doesn’t yet exist (as a physical entity, employing people with an office). I think that is what I meant & I also think you know that

 

Over £100 million spent so far on something that "doesn't actually exist yet", well, this is the railway I guess..........one is almost tempted to ask "ooooooooos gonna pay for it?"

(The answer of course being straightforward......the taxpayer)

 
In my teens when learning, people from Newcastle would head 35 miles up the road to Alnwick for their test.  They got the same licence, but there were no traffic lights or roundabouts to navigate.

My cousin emigrated to the USA in the 80s before taking her first test somewhere in the deep south. It consisted of something like driving a loop around a residential block and then reversing successfully into a side road. She reckoned it was far easier than a British cycling proficiency test…

 

GBR does very much exist, it is just not a fully established as yet, 2026 / 27 is the plan for the establishment of GBR

 

From my own observations, Cross Country seem to be worse than GWR in terms of their percentage of cancellations on a typical Sunday.

 
Not just GWR havjng the usual Sunday issues today, although given the number of full & part cancellations from/to Devon/Cornwall today this won't help......

Route(s) affected
Between Birmingham New Street and Leicester / Nottingham / Stansted Airport, between Manchester Piccadilly and Bournemouth / Paignton, and also between Nottingham and Cardiff Central / Plymouth

Description
A shortage of train drivers means that fewer CrossCountry trains will be able to run, and as a result, trains may be cancelled or revised on the following routes:

Manchester Piccadilly and Bournemouth / Paignton

Birmingham New Street and Leicester / Nottingham / Stansted Airport

Nottingham and Cardiff Central / Plymouth

Disruption is expected until the end of the day.

It is recommended that you check before you travel today, as other routes may be affected.

 

1 cheer not 3. Not "reinstated" as far as passengers wishing to join at Swindon, Chippenham, Melksham or Trowbridge are concerned ...

Somewhat better news (2 cheers not 3) that the following return trip is no longer on the cancellation report, so id probably re-instated throughout.

 
All of these have now been removed from JourneyCheck, though the 19:58 will still terminate at Reading.

Later : and now the 19:58 has been removed from JourneyCheck.

 

 
Unless you are in coach 33 and have to walk through to coach 3 to exit the train.... 

 
...to which we have to add

 
Sunday June 1


Leaving a three-hour gap in the service towards London on Sunday evening!

 
Just reading this from the start.
My first visit to India in 2004 I was met at the airport with a car from our office. Mid way into Chennai I asked the driver whether they drove on the left or the right (it certainly wasn't obvious to me). He said "yes".
I asked him if he knew what the white lines were for. "Just some nonsense the British left in 1947, he said.
Then, nor in all my subsequent visits, did I have the courage nor skill to get behind the wheel of a car.

 
https://busandtrainuser.com/2025/06/01/britains-quirkiest-railway-station/
Britain’s quirkiest railway station
I’ve been meaning to visit Pilning railway station for years and finally got round to treating myself to that delight yesterday, so what better way to begin this summer’s blogging?

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

 
08:38 Exeter Central to Okehampton due 09:21
Facilities on the 08:38 Exeter Central to Okehampton due 09:21.
Will be formed of 33 coaches instead of 2.
Last Updated:01/06/2025 05:48

Bonus!

 
Berlin was hot and sticky even by midmorning. I have walked around the centre of the city in the past, and took a decision (as my unlimited train travel is all paid for ahead of time) to pop out to Potsdam, where the river had looked interesting when I passed though on yesterday's little jaunt. Slightly unfortunate, it seems that very many Berliners also had the idea of popping out to Potsdam too and the train was rammed.

My pass/ticket is first class and that let me escape within the train to a high eyrie (the trains are double deck, First class upstairs) but not before some gentleman who I'm sure was being kind informed me that all the seats were taken up there too, and wouldn't budge off the stairs.  I *am* still able to stand for a short while, and I got past him and up to the nest where us toffee-nosed folks go - amongst the posh ... some of whom take a look at this scruffy traveller and can't wait for the ticket inspector to come round. Only then to learn he is called "sir" because he has spent a lot more on his ticket than most fellow travellers.

The First Class eyrie exists on many local and regional trains here in Germany. sometimes as small as a single seating bay and even at that size markedly less crowded than the rest of the train.  On a normal journey regional journey, I prefer to sit with everyone else - observe, listen, and sometimes chat.  Long distance, the first class gives us wider, more comfortable seats and sometimes extra luggage space and the extra was worth us paying for - the price difference on Interrail is not huge.  Occasionally there's an extra perk in some countries like a complementary (not really - we paid for it as part of the package) cup of coffee.

Posters on various Interrail groups - newcomers to Interrail - often pose the question "should I spend the extra on a first class pass?".  It's an excellent question and one that only they can answer based on their personal review of the evidence people who have gone before them can provide. The above is written to help inform; our own personal choice is based on past experience

Potsdam was a delight of water frontage, historic buildings, walkways, and an example of how to "do" a station approach too.  Train back another zoo below the eyrie - with the train manager having trouble getting the doors to close because it was so rammed.

Now - do I post pictures of crowds, or of Potsdam?



Both ...

 

My niece in Surrey found it quicker to get a test in Portsmouth. Apparently a few of her school friends have done the same.

 
Saturday May 31

 
GBR doesn't actually exist yet, so there won't have been anyone from GBR present

 

Yes, a muriel (you've got me at it now!) can be an enhancement but Ashley Down is still relatively new and fresh looking while other local stations appear distinctly more tired and so would benefit more greatly, I would argue, from a spot of refreshment.

 

And six hours later ... the almost inevitable cancellation of the train in the return direction

 
Seven trains - 3 diesel, 3 electric, 1 steam in a round trip yesterday. My destination was The Harz on a round trip; Lisa spent a non-travel day in our current base.

This update illustrated by the seven trains and the big "gain" for me was th experience of how everything connects and comes together - how they do it here in Germany. Mostly they get it right, though it's not really the 100% everything-works as per reputation. We got back to Berlin about 25 minutes late - but then that was along a line undergoing engineering works on one of the two tracks which in another scenario / country might have resulted in complete line closure with long diversions or bus replacements.   

On most of the trains, announcements about where to change, and what platform to go to as we approached each station. Where the train did not have facilities to do that, or when the ticket checker knew my German is very limited, advise helpfully offered to make sure the customer was AOK in virtually every case.  Such advise and support IS commonly offered by train crew in the UK, but our mix of on-train and barrier checks means that train crew are mush less likely to be seen, and I have found the metrics of interaction with gate staff to be more of a policing-control nature than a customer-assist nature.

 
ITV West to celebrate 70 years of ITV,

had an item on the West Somerset railway from 1978 on the local news at 6pm on Friday 30 May 2025,enjoyable.

 
Saturday morning May 31st at 05:30am very interesting and lots of new things I did not know about the Paris Metro.

Available on catch up.
 

 

I guess it does.  Problem is ... railways don't run on paper ... they run on people, and engineering, and trains and rails, all of which have less continuous availability than a sheet of paper which remains a miracle that can be written on and still read years later.

 

The RoSCos will no longer (in theory) have a free market in which they can lease their assets to the highest bidder but will rather have a single major customer - HMG, with open access minnows taking a little.  In practise, who-leases-what has been specified by HMG anyway with the move from franchises to operational contracts.

A very few trains have (already) been TOC / TOC Parent owned - thinking of the five HSTs that First purchased at one point.  And I would envisage future train purchases might by by HMG and managed by RoSCos.  Can anyone help with an answer here?  Of course, you could also nationalise the train building and heavy maintenance business too and call it (Great) British Rail Engineering, couldn't you?

 

---

Time flies - it's been two weeks not one, hasn't it, ChrisB?   And I fell for that without doing a fact check ... I have not looked back at the first week after the changes; that record commented on is for the second week as they should be bedding in.

 
For any one who may I have been at the launch,was any one from GBR actually there,or was Heidi Alexander the face of GBR?

I think most of us know the biggest issue is the leasing of the trains,
will the separate company's be allowed to buy there own sets?

 

Almost all depots have lost routes with the May timetable. I guess it works on paper. Believe Oxford are the odd ones out who’ve actually gained a new route.