From the BBC:

 

It has been noted by us on the admin team here that those images are only viewable to registered members of 'railforums'.  Any guest reader there just gets a blank.

Many, many, years ago, I registered there as a member: I have no recollection even of the username I used, never mind the password.

If you could possibly post those photos where they can be viewed here on the Coffee Shop forum, REVUpminster, that would be much appreciated.

Chris from Nailsea. 

 

Made me reflect on the last time, away from preserved lines, I used a barrow crossing. Exeter St Davids, some time ago, encumbered by a bike with camping gear. Was that crossing provided with white lights that were lit when it was clear to cross or is that my imagination?

Oh, and, come to think of it, Carmarthen at the start of this year, though perhaps that doesn't quite count as a barrow crossing.

Mark

 
Re pictures 5 & 6. Why can't we treat rail passengers as adults in this country and let them cross the track?

Do they have higher railway accident rates in Europe?

 

If the steelwork is ok then it's a matter of stripping out the wood that's likely to fall down and that's what they seem to be doing. I went down yesterday and will go again tomorrow. Let's hope they are working. Gilpen demolishing the building opposite don't work weekends. One of the reasons it's taking six weeks.

 
From the link

 

Thank your for that excellent summary.

I suppose the answer to the question about the current "infrastructure" allowing the (re)laying of a third line depends on what you call "infrastructure".   If your definition include signalling and other cables, then I don't believe there is room any longer for a track where the up relief used to be.  If you define it as purely track work, then, yes, there is room.    I believe we have a similar issue with the 4th platform at Westbury, where the old trackbed, we are told, hides so many vital cables that would cost a 7 figure sum to move ...

I look, sadly back with hindsight, and wonder how different things woful have been if people at formative days had been somewhat more helpful - both in looking for a practical way to work the Minehead line alongside the main line, and for a way for buses and trains to work together rather than the trains being regarded as competition to the buses that risked putting them and their drivers out of business.  But that's another chapter in the same story.

 

The GWML between Cogload and Norton Fitzwarren Junction (NFJ) was upgraded in the 1930s to four roads.  The Up and Down Mains, and the Up and Down Reliefs.  So up until the closure of Norton Fitzwarren Junction Signal Box (1969?) there were four lines from there from/to Taunton.  The main lines were in the centre, and the relief lines were on the outside; in line with GW practice

After the the closure of NFJ, things changed a bit.  The Down Relief was abolished between Silk Mill and NFJ.  .The Up Relief line between NFJ and Silk Mill became a part of the token-worked single line.  The 'box at Bishops Lydeard was taken out at the same time, so the single line was a long section, from Williton to Silk Mill.

So, when the present WSR came into being, there was a line that could have been used exclusively by WSR trains - the old Up Relief.  The Taunton end would have been in the west-end bay (Platform 8 as was).  The connection at Silk Mill would have been retained, to be used for any through trains and stock moves

The management at BR(WR) Bristol Division wanted a ransom amount of money for the use of this two and a bit miles of track.  They wanted to add part of the signalmen at Silk Mill's wages.  They wanted big money to inspect any rolling stock using the line.  They insisted on all staff being qualified in BR Rules.  It was massively unreasonable, and too much for the penniless, fledgeling company.  So the Up Relief etc got ripped up as part of the 1985 remodelling and resignalling, and signal posts and location cabinets were planted along its length

 

Really good to see the effort has been made to list the connections to and from the buses.  The question, as always with these sorts of services, is how long the bus will wait for the incoming train if late?

 
A hotel we will not be using again ... a Trip Advisor review from last (2025) December:


I have to admit also feeling like second class citizens at dinner on the day after we arrived .  We were kept standing (no easy for Lisa) for a while before being seated, while service went on all around us.  When we were seated, at an awkward table than would not have been our choice, service was slow.  Others who arrived and were seated after us were served first. Drinks arrived wrong, and that after a careful discussion on what was wanted. I needed (and that's a need not just a want) water to help me eat, but it was very hard to attract any of the wait staff's attention and when we did the order was taken but never delivered.  We raised this with the waitress in charge - who was the one who had eventually taken our order - and she *did* apologise - sort of, passing the blame on to here team who she said she had told.  As far as I could see, we were the only ones with service issues.

I picked up this particular review after the event, having looked back to see if our experiences were unique.  On the hotel side, the young lady who checked us in was pleasant and polite and seemed helpful, but seemed to struggle with the computer system in finding our booking and giving us our room.  My time and motions hat had me crawling with frustration, and it later turned out as far as I could tell she had only encoded the key card for one day, meaning a further trip to the reception (in a different building) and another long wait on the IT system.  As we checked out, I paid the room tax ("cash only") and it was the same young lady who told me we weren't staying there ... read out for me the guest names in the building we were in and then - "oops - those are the names for tonight" and then she found us.

"Room 422 in the building just across" - building easy to find, guess at where to hold the keycard, and it worked.  But only 2 floors and it was a guess in the lift.  No use of the convention of the first digit being the floor number. We *did* find our room on the second floor.    The room was nice - very nice - but we got the feeling that some aspects were designed by a designer and not by someone who stayed in hotels.   Lack of a bedside table, lack of a light controllable from the bed, or indeed a light over one side of the bed, electronic door lock that closed so quickly we could hardly get into the room. 

I read the review I quoted at the beginning; yes, I do think the hotel treated us differently and less caringly because we were from far, far away.   The review quoted talks of being part of a group, and I suspect the wider issues are part of the concerns they had across the region. Certainly we have found that in Germanic countries and touristy areas that the groups can be off-putting to even us as individual tourists, with guides somewhat pushy as they look after their groups to the exclusion and comfort of others.  "Do you mind moving your bag so we can sit" works well with the general population and leads to conversations, but it was a tour guide who blocked us on the previous trip from getting to the mobility impaired seating for Lisa - "these seats are all reserved" when they were not!

We may return to Wernigerode - the town is lovely, the other restaurant we ate in got it so exactly right that they put our hotel to shame with the contrast, and the Harz railway system and area and places it passes are fascinating.  In some ways "preserved" but not really - heritage haulage on a tourist line up the Brocken, modernised in so many ways, with branches and lines off which are varied and perhaps suffer from being far too close to the "honeytrap" section when they are worth a visit in their own right. 

Well - should I post a review? Some concerns were raised with the restaurant manager / head waitress but she fobbed it off onto her staff - and did give us a bottle of water to take up to the room. "If something's nor right, please tell us" is a common line / desire from places, but here I got the impression that it was a nuisance to raise issues and they know better than we could. I will probably not post any review, but if you're headed to Wernigerode and pick up this post, I'll be happy to name in private and help friends not have the same clouds spoil the otherwise wonderfully sunny feel of the town and area.

 
GWR/NR are aiming for a re-opening of Tuesday.  Initially was Monday but pushed back a day so aspirations are more realistic. 
Considerations are a temporary entrance via the car park needs to be made, train formations need to be restricted to prevent any part being under the damaged structures and there'd be no direct access between platforms 1 and 2.

 
No. 2 is indeed Vienenburg in Lower Saxony, and No.s 3 and 5 are somewhere on the HSB (Harz) network; we have other members familiar with those lines who may be able to be more specific.   No. 8 isn't even in Poland - though we were waiting for an international train to Poland at that station. 

 
Fair comment, noted: posts now moved and merged.  CfN. 

 
After much more head scratching, I think we're back in Poland, for 8. Wroclaw. 

 
I only just managed to stop myself from posting 'Cue stuving' here. 

 
Both 3 and 5 look like the HSB - seen last time in Wernigerode Bahnhofsplatz - which is where both of these are too, I think.

 
Lest it be thought that I have 'inside information' here, I don't. 

The printed itinerary which grahame gave me tells me where he is now - not where he was when he took those pictures. 

After two mugs of coffee and two slices of chocolate cake to give my brain some energy, I can offer the following:

1.  A hybrid train, somewhere in Poland.  Sorry, that's the closest I can offer.

2.  Vienenburg station, Lower Saxony.

Other members of the Coffee Shop forum, familiar with Europe, will do far better than me on this one. 

 
Hmmm ... 

Very kindly, grahame gave me a printed sheet of A4 detailing their itinerary for their 'grand tour' of Europe.

I'm still struggling - but will hopefully offer a couple of suggestions here, when I've mulled them over with a mug of coffee and slices of chocolate cake. 

 
Lisa and I have travelled through former East Germany and are now beyond.   No detailed log as I might do for UK journeys, but we have seen platform changes, delays, crowding, and a train terminated short and having to rush over tp another.  These things are not unique to the UK, and the number of incidents I could report is such that I can be sure they're not as unusual over here as might be wished either.

Would anyone care to hazard a guess - or perhaps more than a guess at any of these?   Bearing in mind they are a bit specialised, please feel free to identify several if you can

1.


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9.