Succinctly, because those at the upper reaches of GWR tend to be Managers rather than Leaders, and there are few better examples than this long running issue.

 
You missed this one TG:

Hence my concern early because the train before also only gets as far a Plymouth. Again, let’s hope for reinstatements or it’s going to be tough going for those heading back to London later.

 
All week people have been bewailing the loss of the Penzance - Aberdeen service.

Just getting out of Devon/Cornwall from that point of origin will be a struggle today.


10:10 Penzance to London Paddington due 15:27
10:10 Penzance to London Paddington due 15:27 will be started from Plymouth.
It will no longer call at Penzance, St Erth, Camborne, Redruth, Truro, St Austell, Par, Lostwithiel, Bodmin Parkway and Liskeard.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

12:18 Penzance to London Paddington due 17:30
12:18 Penzance to London Paddington due 17:30 will be terminated at Plymouth.
It will no longer call at Totnes, Newton Abbot, Exeter St Davids, Tiverton Parkway, Taunton, Reading and London Paddington.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

15:18 Penzance to London Paddington due 20:27
15:18 Penzance to London Paddington due 20:27 will be terminated at Exeter St Davids.
It will no longer call at Tiverton Parkway, Taunton, Reading and London Paddington.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

 
Not a great start to the new timetable is it. Let’s hope there are some reinstatements later in the day, particularly for up services from the SW as there are some nasty gaps between trains.

Cardiff-Portsmouth isn’t look great either, particularly south of Westbury later in the day.

 
0612 Gatwick Airport to Reading terminated short at Redhill (it's DOO between Gatwick and Redhill) then headed to Reading ECS, so it may be safe to assume it's the lack of a guard for that one which was a 3-car. The next train, the 0759 is a 2-car. Train faults/crew shortage seem to be creeping in regularly/daily on the North Downs' Line. With a relatively frequent frequency compared to some, may not be a problem. Not sure I'd be relying on it if I had a flight to catch, however.

 
Depressing 

 

With crew shortages all over the place, so far the Westbury to Swindon service is doing far better than most today, having said which even a single cancellation on that line leaves a huge gap.   I have to personally wonder at why, after so many years, crew shortages seem to be almost routine and look to the management and direction (from inside and outside the TOC) for having failed to avoid such issues being so frequent, or to cynically have passed them off as an acceptable lack-of-service level.

 
.......judging by today's map & JourneyCheck,  it would seem that GWR BBQ season is underway......

 
Harlington Haven and Amsterdam Centraal - both, yes.  For the afternoon, I took the train out from Amsterdam to Leeuwarden then a semi-random regional branch line which I lucked out on.  A part I have never seen / looked at before.    The flat picture with the cows is in this area - I don't have an exact locations.  The final picture is at Zwolle where I changed trains - would not expect anyone to have identified that.  Onwards today ...

 
Taunton 5and13 Cheddon Fitzpaine ?...

 

Yes. Finn wasn't far from his new home in Taunton.

Now. Where is the crossing at what is it called?

 
The invisible river is the Tone.
So Somerset in or about the Taunton area.

 

Not a River Avon.

It's a river with a different style or timbre.

 
I have inside information, so I can't comment - other than to say that none of them are Taunton.

 
Let's see now.  Is it one of those rivers that goes by the name of Avon?

 
From National Rail, apparently the problem is at Southall.

Route(s) affected
between London Paddington and Heathrow Terminals / Reading

Description
Lines have now reopened following a safety inspection of the track between London Paddington and Heathrow Terminals / Reading. As normal service resumes, trains may still be cancelled, delayed by up to 10 minutes or revised.

Disruption is expected until 21:15.

 
Train failed in platform preventing other services from leaving the depot until the failure was moved.

 
1. Harlingen

 
The A return working has now turned up, though I imagine there's been some juggling of pieces of work:


18:45 : Reading - Paddington leg added (I hadn't noticed this before).
05:15 : spelling

 

Without checking I don't know for sure, but it's quite possible the TM assists on the way back, or that a Worcester based TM booking on standby could work it back.

 
2 is, unavoidably, Amsterdam Centraal. Seen across a rather damp bus station.

 
Number 4 looks like the Isle Of Wight, so I'll have a guess at Cowes. 

 
Okay, I guess it's a tough one.

Clue: There's a river behind the IET.

 
Enjoying the simple architecture, the quiet places and the magnificent mountains as I took the train to the end of the line.  Wait - that is not Lymington! Anyone able to place any of those pictures?

1.


2.


3.


4.

 
As you say, a journey of that length with three pieces of work is best described as "vulnerable".  But I would have expected the software to flag it as a potential issue. Alas, I'd fear that the report of the scheduling efficiency statistics wouldn't notice the shortness of the pieces - they'd be lost in any overall average.

It's odd that it's only a one-way cancellation - does this duty not go back to Reading at some stage?

 

Can't argue with that! 

 

Sadly that's what the computer churns out these days.  Works on paper, but not in practice as soon as anything goes wrong.  The powers that be, don't seem to get it unfortunately.

 
Saturday May 17

And after a good few days:


Which implies that the shortage is of train managers, with the stock working empty from Reading to Shrub Hill.  Though why any scheduling system would have three separate TMs (Paddington - Reading - Shrub Hill - Great Malvern) for a journey that is 2:22 long is beyond me.

 
Several branch cancellations this morning (shown as  train failure).
St Ives, Falmouth and Par all lost their first runs.
5C52 0354 Penzance T.& R.S.M.D. to Penzance (which then forms three branch services) was 16 minutes late into Penzance.
Thereafter, a few departures from Pnz were late leaving (delayed by broken down train earlier).

 
BBC story of a journalist given the wrong boarding pass, not picked up by gate passes, and the kerfuffle that ensues. https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp3q5kqj80vo . Can't help contrasting it to the mode I'm in today - "I think I'll get on that train", find its time and put in in my planner.   Took the 10:00 out of Amsterdam which has a Berlin destination.  As Lisa is still in the Amsterdam relaxing for the day, I got off at Amersfoort and am now on a local train - oh, never mind to where, the point is the contrast in security.   Their has been a brief ticket check, but being asked for ID on these trips does happen but is rare as hen's teeth!