The story develops. 

From the BBC


(Article continues)

 
From the Bridgwater Mercury:

 
From the Falmouth Packet:

 

 
Meanwhile in Wallingford last week I saw signs asking visitors not to feed the red kites common in that area.  They are apparently starting to associate humans with food in much the way gulls do at the seaside and risk becoming a similar pest, which would be a great shame given their successful reintroduction across the Chilterns.

 

Ah, it wasn't a Cadburys Flake advert being filmed in front of you then.

 

Err- no it was not! There was a large colony of Herring and Lesser Black-backed Gulls (much reduced since with the decline in coastal breeding of both species in the area) on Walney Island, on the southern tip of the Furness peninsula, that has a footpath running through it that has long been famous for the un-nerving aggression of some of the residents. But for real aggressive behaviour, nothing beats their much-smaller distant cousins, Arctic Terns, as anyone who has visited the Farne Islands during their breeding season and landed on Inner Farne will be able to attest!

 
Alterations to services at Twyford

Due to a fault with the signalling system at Twyford trains have to run at reduced speed on all lines.

Train services running through this station will be delayed or terminated at and started back from Reading.

Some stations between Reading and London Paddington will not be served. Disruption is expected until 18:15 24/06.

 
Travelled from Bristol to Plymouth last month, (behind D1015) and the encroaching undergrowth bashing the rolling stock was very noticeable. 

I'm absolutely certain that the vegetation on the trackside and on infrastructure (such as bridges) is not as well controlled as it used to be.  I assume it's less costly to deal with events such as fallen trees here and there, than it is to keep things neat and tidy.  I daresay there would be massive outrage if there was a significant programme to remove the lineside plants, shrubs and trees

 


Network Rail’s regularly programmed line and infrastructure monitoring trains detect tree and vegetation etc encroachments close to and in contact with trains and record and classify them as a ‘Guage Restriction’.
Infrastructure Managers are thus informed and should act accordingly to remove the offending
vegetation etc that caused a Guage Restriction.

 
To add to the above comments about Castle Cary - Platform 2 (the down main) is not accessible to trains coming from the Taunton direction. There is a barrow crossing at the down end of the platforms at Castle Cary. It does have gates and ?warning lights and is only usable with staff assistance.

Anecdotally, I was once travelling on a special from Minehead/Taunton to Weymouth and beyond. The initial plan was to reverse on the crossover to the east of the station (regularly used by trains travelling east from Weymouth). Such a reversal is not a signalled move so it was never allowed, especially with a loaded train. So it was necessary to reverse at Frome instead! 

 

Cynic 

 

Lets consider how difficult it is to transport water.
500mL = 500g
Allowing for on person can carry 25kg on flat level ground that's 50 bottles but as it would have to be carried over rough track ballast 12kg so that 24 bottles

To supply a train with 300 plus people that's 12 people or a number of multiple trips.

Better to utilise those people to evacuate the train and have the water at the station or track exit point.

The cause is allegedly down to a shake proof washer not being fitted on the shoe when the unit was last serviced

 
The old mysterious fire weeks after planning permission is refused

 
From the BBC:


My highlighting. CfN.

 
19-21/06/2025 - A Quick Family Visit For A Day At The Cricket
Including many of the usual rail service issues and failures.

Tickets
2 x Senior Railcard (SR) Off-Peak Day Singles DIG>PIN £5.70 (£2.85 each)
2 x SR Advance Singles PIN>LON £41.80 (£20.90 each)
2 x SR TfL Off-Peak Singles WAT>KGX £3.70 (£1.85 each)
2 x SR 1st Class Advance Singles KGX>WAK £78.00 (£39.00 each)
2 x SR Anytime Day Singles WAK>PFM £5.40 (£2.70 each)
1 x SR Anytime Day Return POF>HDY £6.05
2 x SR Anytime Day Singles PFM>WAK £5.40 (£2.70 each)
2 x SR Advance Singles WAK>KGX £31.40 (£15.70 each)
2 x SR TfL Off-Peak Singles KGX>PAD £3.70 (£1.85 each)
2 x SR Advance Singles LON>DIG £53.90 (£26.95 each)

Station group codes: WAK = Wakefield Westgate/Kirkgate - we changed at WKF in both directions.
LON - WAT outbound & PAD return.
POF = Pontefract Monkhill/Tanshelf

Outward - 19/06/25
DIG 0913 (OT)>EXC 0922 (OT): 2T11 EXM>PGN : 1 x 166/2 (3 Cars)
EXC 0930 (OT)>WAT 1249 (1303) : 1L36 EXD>WAT: 2 x 159/0 (6 Cars)
TfL Underground WAT>Warren Street (Northern Line)+Warren Street>KGX (Victoria Line)
KGX 1403 (1417)>WKF 1558 (1619) : 1D17 KGX>LDS : 1 x IC225 (9 Cars)
WKF 1642 (1643)>PFM 1705 (1706) : 2A23 LDS>KNO : 1 x 150/2 (2 Cars)

As seems to be increasingly common on the route there were no ticket checks on 2T11 between DIG & EXC.
1L36 was initially delayed by 8 minutes at PIN waiting for the late running 1L09 to clear the single line. 1L09 (SAL>EXD) left Salisbury on schedule, lost time after AXM, was 7 late at HON and got to PIN 9 minutes down. No idea why. Our train lost a little more time up to GIL where it was further delayed, to +24, waiting for 1L21 (OT) to clear the section from TIS. These two trains should have passed at the Tisbury Loop. Shortly after leaving GIL the TM announced that the ADV, WOK & CLJ scheduled stops would be skipped and passengers for those stations should change at either SAL or BSK as necessary. This enabled 1L36 to reach WAT only 14 minutes late (bit of a saving on Delay Repay!)
Tickets / railcards were checked.
Of the 6 carriages only 2 had working air conditioning.
It is episodes such as this which reinforces my view that  some more of the line should be restored to double track as a matter of urgency; it takes very little to throw the timetable out of kilter. Not surprisingly the TfL journey was somewhat toasty.
The delayed departure of 1D17 was announced as a power supply train fault. Given that these units are all at least 34 years old, and are due to be replaced by 10 CAF trains in 2027, the occasional glitch is probably to be expected. The LNER 1st class service was, as usual, very good. Also, as per normal, there was a full ticket / railcard check shortly after leaving KGX.
Unusually for Northern there was no ticket check on 2A23.
Possibly slightly off topic but nobody could miss that the viaduct immediately south of WKF, to/from Doncaster, seems to have more vegetation growing on it than Kew Gardens and Network Rail should be thoroughly ashamed of themselves for allowing it to get into such a state.

20/06/25 - Cricket England v India Ist Test Day 1 At Headingley
PFM 0845 (OT)>LDS 0925 (0927) : 2A04 KNO>LDS : 1 x 158/7 (2 Cars)
LDS 0959 (0953)>HDY 1006 (1007) : 2C30 LDS>YRK : 1 x 170/4 (3 Cars)
HDY 1943 (1953)>LDS 1953 (2001) : 2C67 YRK>LDS : 1 x 170/4 (3 Cars)
LDS 2029 (2030)>PFM 2104 (2113) : 2A31 LDS>KNO : 2 x 150/2 (4 Cars)

Slight delay on 2A04 at Whitehall Junction; most passengers familiar with the area would be surprised if this didn’t happen.
Yes, you read it correctly, as soon as they could cram no more pax onto 2C30 it was permitted to depart from LDS 6 minutes early. Operational common sense. Where possible more of this please. Obviously no onboard ticket check but revenue protection were in attendance at HDY. When asked one of the team said very little ticketless travel was being detected.
After play had finished for the day we decamped to the Headingley Taps pub rather than join the inevitable scrum. Good call - on 2C67 there were almost more Northern Trains Travel Safe officers than paying passengers.
2A31 is formed of the 2 x 150/2 stock from 2L28 (SHF 1902>LDS 2024) so wasn’t exactly overcrowded. 

Return - 21/06/25
PFM 1245 (OT)>WKF 1309 (1312) : 2A12 KNO>LDS : 1 x 150/2 (2 Cars)
WKF 1329 (OT)>KGX 1530 (1535) : 1A31 LDS>KGX : 1 x 801/2 (9 Cars)
TfL Underground KGX>PAD  (H&C Line)
PAD 1703 (1704)>EXD 1910 (1914) : 1C90 PAD>PNZ : 2 x 802/0 (10 Cars)
(2F30 EXD 1916>DIG 1929 Missed Connection)
EXD 1946 (1947)>DIG 1959 (2000) : 2F31 PGN>EXM : 1 x 166/2 (3 Cars)

The trains between Pontefract and Leeds via Wakefield are frequently subject to minor delays due to poor quality track, conflicts with a significant number of non-passenger services, and especially the absence of a fourth platform at Kirkgate (WKK).
1A31 proceeded normally until between New Southgate and Alexandra Palace where the service was temporarily switched to the slow line. A number of the ‘Orange Army’ team were observed trackside.
During the journey south perusal of the TfL website indicated that the Underground had suffered a serious meltdown; just before our arrival at KGX 7 lines were shown as having ‘severe delays’. On arrival at the Circle / H&C / Metropolitan Lines westbound platform we waited 1 minute for an H&C train to PAD. Reggie Perrin (actually his brother-in-law Jimmy) syndrome - bit of a cock-up on the information delivery front?
Of no importance whatsoever but 1C90 left PAD slightly late whereas the TM decided a specific PA announcement of an on-time departure was necessary. Odd.
IC90 arrived at RDG to time but was then held for no apparent reason - it certainly wasn’t anything to do with passenger numbers - and departed west 6 minutes late.
A little later when the TM appeared to perform a ticket check I asked him whether he could enquire about the possibility of the Exmouth train (a 6 minute connection) waiting for a short while. Computer said ‘No’ but he expressed the hope/expectation that the delay would be recovered en-route, and he also explained to me how such an action would delay loads of other services and cause absolute chaos. Given that a self-contained ‘dead-end’ branch line would have been involved this was of course absolute cobblers.
The train arrived at 1914 on EXD P4 and we got to P1 to see our intended connection depart. System still being run to suit the staff rather than for the benefit of the paying passengers?
One slight oddity I noticed at EXD was that our train to EXM used P3, and P2 at EXC, whilst the 1L49 from Waterloo used EXC P2 as normal but then ran down the hill into EXD P1 the reverse of the normal arrangement. RTT indicates that this is a Saturdays-only job. Anybody out there knows why this is done?

 

Looks like the train has been uncancelled ... let's see what's said today - mind you, I have heard so much on the topic of cancellations in past years that I'll only believe that they are down to an reasonable level when we actually see trains on the line, consistently, at all the times in the timetable, week in and week out.  Words are cheap - "you can fool all of the people some of the time, some of the people all of the time - but you can't fool all of the people all of the time".

By the way - there will be rare occasions when a train is logged as cancelled but then re-instated, but they should be rare.  This is a major disruption to people who have replanned their day based on the initial report - they have cancelled / reformed their plans. 

 
Thankfully the booking office was staffed and also the passenger assistance cave, with two or three staff from that also out and about being proactive. It's fortunate though that they didn't seem to have many passengers to deal with, and the lack of on train loos (cos, no trains) was an issue. There were also three police at the station, mainly dealing with one of the three alcohol / mental health I'd encountered on the 100 metre walk up the road to the station from the beach. Oh, and parts of the pavement on that road have their width massively comprimised by scaffolding, including a generous helping on both ends of the pelican crossing close to the station - something that contributed to one of said incidents.

To answer Infoman's query about Castle Cary - the station had all three platforms occupied so the train to London was in its usual place and around 20 people took the footbridge. Not sure what the provision is for wheelchair users at that station, perhaps there's a barrow crossing for accompanied use only. If not, it would have been on to Westbury... but are the lifts out of use at Westbury?

Mark

PS The lifts at Bath Spa are fully operational again now and not constrained to 2 people only.

 

Sardines, anyone?

No reason for the substitution supplied.  The appeal to allow those most in need the use of available seats is something I'd not noticed before on JourneyCheck

 
I guess this could have been a pretty serious incident had it fallen at the wrong time. Is trackside vegetation monitored in any way to check for and prevent this sort of thing? Doesn't look easy along the lines in the picture.

 
From the BBC:

 
A further update, from the BBC:

 

Customer care at Weymouth Station has left something to be desired for a while.   I sometimes get the feeling that the railways would run much more smoothly without customers - and indeed that was proven during the earlier part of Covid lockdown.  Perhaps, now that there's no financial incentive, we'll continue to see a further reduction to a very basic service indeed in an attempt to reduce complaints and costs, without too much worry about the loss of income.  Fares can always be "simplified" up and the taxpayer help.  I have my fingers crossed that this is not the nightmare scenario planned.

The other thing of note is that Weymouth is just one station on that line - it isn't hugely busy mid afternoon, with services to London gathering substantial traffic at Dorchester South, Wareham and Poole even before they reach Bournemouth - and for those other stations, GWR services would have been no use.

If the 17:28 was 3 car - probably a turbo.  2+3 seating and plenty of standing room - that should squeeze 'em in!

 

Blimey!  Did they not have access to a spirit level when they built that?   

 
An update, from the BBC:

 
I'm on an experience-gathering mission. Most of the time things run fine, but in every system / on every railway things can go wrong and delays happen. And it's interesting to see how connections work too.  I will leave it to the knowledgable reader to contrast and compare to the UK way in such circumstances.

Zilina Station is being rebuilt. There are only half of the tracks in use at present, and access is via a single long subway which is crowded with people as train platforms are only announced a few minutes ahead - standard practise in Slovakia and when you see how narrow the platforms are, you'll understand why you really don't want people waiting on them. 

Our 07:44 departure was called a couple of minutes before it was due to leave and it left about 3 minutes late - because of the trek out to the platform, and the incredible crowds - it would appear that all the young people here have broken up from school and parties are being taken for school trips - days and summer camps - and the station and trains were crowded to the extent they added to delays.

A further couple of minutes were lost as we snaked our way east along the remaining operation line through the building site that's the station throat at the moment, and we arrived in Vrutky around 5 minutes late.  Oops - "short connection" according to the journey planner, but the onward train to Banska Bystrica was held, people who needed to do so made the connection, and it then left - around 3 minutes late.

A lovely ride to Banska Bystrica, but the beauty is another story.  We were due there at 09:25 and can't have been far off that though I did not note the time - I left the station for a cup of coffee and a cake and returned in good time for my next train - the 10:17 diesel service to Margecany.

Arriving back into the station at Banska Bystrica, now caffeined up, an electric train - the 10:15 to Bratislava which starts from there is waiting. The incoming diesel - due at 10:12 - pulls in perhaps 4 minutes late but the Bratislava train waits until passengers have transferred before leaving.  Meanwhile another electric train, this from Bratislava pulls in and people come across to the diesel train, a modern 2 carriage train, and we set off a handful of minutes late on the 3 hour 36 minute (scheduled) journey to Margecany.  It's a thinly served line - just two trains go the whole way on winter weekdays, boosted to four trains at weekends and in summer.

We toddle along - not part of this story - until we get to Cervena Skala high in the valley we have climbed and just before the watershed into the next valley.

Everyone else is getting off and I do know that some short workings terminate here but, no, the line to the next station is closed for engineering works and we are transferred to a bus.  As one of the last people to leave the train (I don't speak Slovak) the staff helped ensure I found the bus, and I got just about the last seat in amongst a typically teenage population in there with bags, cases and camping gear. And we set off.

Not a very long drive - to Telgart where the bus drove up the station approach and parked to allow up off near the platform.  No train waiting, but a couple of minutes later one arrived, passenger going the other way got off and transferred to the bus, and our gang joined the train.  I would estimate that we pulled out around 15 minutes behind schedule.

Many more stations, little and big, people off and on. I had chosen the opposite carriage to the school parties so I don't know where they left us, and a sparsely occupied carriage got busier as we headed down the next valley, more people getting on than off. We pulled into Margecany - scheduled 13:53 still a little behind schedule.  Ongoing passengers for the local train onward to Kosice transferred over (it may have been held a couple of minutes) and the local train to Strba called too a few minutes later, with the return train up the valley picking up its connecting passengers before it left - back on time, I think - certainly a planned connection that made.

I took the express back along the main line to Zilina (it was a loop I had done) and it left on time.  We were around 15 minutes late into Zilina - delay caused by some single line working past engineering works; we had to wait for a train coming the other way, and then a very slow approach to Zilina itself as the train snaked in over the few tracks currently in place.

So there you have it - for me as a passenger, it worked as I would have wanted it to.  All connections worked and there were no unplanned long waits.  Necessary track-work carried on without wholesale closure, bus help was provided where needed and the whole thing was a very pleasant experience.  And, no, I really wasn't worried about being 15 minutes or so late back into my digs.

 

That needs to be a GWR invite I'm afraid as numbers are of necessity limited.   I'm pretty sure reports will appear on the Coffee Shop - indeed if I manage to connect (two connects pretty poor here) I'll tell you about it. I have chosen today as a non-travel day for the purpose.

Edit to add - as backup, I should also receive a recording to watch when better connected ... this hostel seems to have WiFi with a traffic limiter, so the Coffee Shop with its "thin" design works well but other things don't!

 
More training runs today between Plymouth and Newton Abbot 5D01, et seq..

 
Perhaps questions for the GWR "VIPs" at the Community event tonight - along with asking why we are now moving from a situation where they don't provide sufficient staff to run their services at weekends, to a place where we have weekday, peak services regularly cancelled for the same reason, and what are they doing to address it? 

 
... in English. 

CfN.