11:52 London Paddington to Hereford due 14:44 will be terminated at Great Malvern.
It has been delayed between Oxford and Evesham and is now 31 minutes late.
This is due to a speed restriction over defective track.
Last Updated:28/08/2025 14:09

15:18 Hereford to London Paddington due 18:29 will be started from Great Malvern.
This is due to a speed restriction over defective track.
Last Updated:28/08/2025 14:09

Just done so ... clicked through for more info and got taken to the National Rail data I originally quoted ;-)

2. "How to buy" - "The Heart of Wessex Day Ranger can be bought at most staffed stations across the whole of Britain or via Great Western Railway Telesales on 0345 7000 125." OK - can it also be bought online,

Try this? and navigate to "Southwest England" in the drop down menu on the left.

She was passing by the coats as part of one of her trips around town country’s coastline.

My home town:

North Somerset Council introduced charging fees at the station car park, a few years ago.

Now, however, they don't seem to be sure whether they actually own any of the land - from the BBC

It's clear from the responses that GWR are aware of the issues and want us to know that. It's clear that they have given some thought to how that might be fixed and indeed have done some analysis / background work as to how that would/could be done.

Can you write a letter that might be sent by a train company apologizing to a customer for poor service - late and/or cancelled trains etc?

[Train Company Logo/Headed Paper]

27 August 2025

[Customer Name]
[Customer Address]

Subject: An apology for the recent disruption to your journey

Dear [Customer Name],

Please accept our sincerest apologies for the significant disruption and poor service you have recently experienced on our network. We have received your feedback and we acknowledge that the standard of our service has fallen well short of what you, and all our customers, have the right to expect.

We understand how frustrating and inconvenient late and cancelled trains are. Whether you were commuting to work, travelling for leisure, or trying to make an important appointment, we know that the unreliability of our service has had a real and negative impact on your plans. For this, we are truly sorry.

The primary causes for this recent period of poor performance have been a combination of urgent, unscheduled track maintenance required by Network Rail and higher-than-usual levels of staff sickness. While these issues present a major challenge, it is our responsibility to manage them and deliver the service we promised, and in this instance, we have failed.

Please be assured that we are taking urgent steps to restore a reliable service. We are working with Network Rail to better schedule engineering works and have implemented a new staff rostering system to provide better cover during periods of absence.

Words alone are not enough to make up for the inconvenience caused. As a tangible gesture of our apology for the service you have received, we would like to offer you [e.g., £50 in rail vouchers / a full refund for your last ticket purchase / two complimentary First Class upgrade vouchers]. To claim this, please visit our website at [Website Address] and use the unique reference code [Reference Number].

We are committed to winning back your trust. We value you as a customer and hope to have the opportunity to provide you with the punctual and reliable journey you expect and deserve in the very near future.

Yours sincerely,

Anya Sharma

Anya Sharma
Head of Customer Relations
[Train Company]

Travel sustainably. Leave only footprints. Support local businesses in the country you visit.

But make sure those local businesses are kind to their animals and pay a living wage to their employees. Try not to support oppressive regimes, and before you go check the country's record on press freedoms, LGBTQI+ rights, the rights of women and sustainability…

It's a lot to remember. Choosing to travel well is hard, and a holiday shouldn't be a chore. But for many of us, it's worth a little extra effort to travel responsibly.

Thank you for this thought-provoking answer. It's always difficult making international comparisons. What you say does surprise me: do German local authorities really have cash available to subsidise steam railways? Are EU funds really directed to areas that look - from Graham's photos - to be extremely well-off?

Maybe UK heritage railways have subsidies that aren't available in Germany? I'm thinking of the zero-VAT in UK, whereas VAT is levied on train fares in Germany.

There are places where this co-operation has led to fruitful interactions to the mutual benefit of the national and heritage railways. The Spa Valley Railway with their parallel running into Eridge and the Chinnor and Princes Risborough with their brand new Chinnor Independent Line parallel to NR's Thame Branch Siding.

I think a few others have through ticketing arrangements as well.

Thankyou Mr Cromwell 

One major difference between UK heritage railways and the majority of the German narrow gauge steam lines is that the latter were mostly transferred as “going concerns” from DB to a “private” company (in most cases probably majority local authority owned, complete with subsidies, possibly lucrative contracts for schools traffic etc. They are also almost exclusively in areas that qualify/qualified for numerous EU grants. As such their financing structure bears little resemblance to what we would understand as a heritage railway. The German equivalents of those look enviously across the channel…

There seem to be a number of Scottish castles on the market at present - here's another

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c17n170gqkqo

Seems to come with a history of plans to do something to make a future user it that aren't in agreement with how the Scottish Government would like it used.  Ferry from Mallaig.   Mallaig has one of the highest proportion of local people arriving at the station by other public transport and proportion of use.