£32M spent to date?  Astonishing

A reminder of what the costs of complying with the years of accumulated legislation and consultants tying themselves and everyone else into ever tighter knots are doing to our economy and to the chances of ever getting anything done. 

 
My experience was to be greeted by a "No cycling" sign as I exited the station, which the council had obviously bought job lot of. I cycled down the old railway to Portland, returned and got on a train and left. Net economic benefit to Weymouth, zero.

Similar at Bognor. Cycled from Chichester and along the sea front. Thought I would get the train back and found an encampment of near do wells outside the station entrance. As I didn't fancy being ransomed I caught the bus.

Yet places like Lymington, Bournemouth there is no problem.

 
The Met Office https://weather.metoffice.gov.uk/forecast/gcn8t1p3y#?date=2025-01-24 forecasts gusting to Violent Storm 11 at Bournemouth. Fortunately in the early hours of Friday morning, so nobody should be at risk of having their deck chair and windbreak blown away.

Being a Southerly wind I would expect a fair amount of the beach to be dumped on the promenade. Not the conditions for the Brompton.

 
Yesterday there was talk of the "fast tracking" of the Filton/Brabazon station and today the Beeb reports similar hopes for the Portishead Line with trains apparently running in two years.
Here's a link to the article:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn57yy9xneno

 
According to this article,


Which is all very depressing.

However it does go on to say:

 
There's now talk in the telegraph that a number of rail projects are supposed to be getting the.chop except for hs2, east-west rail etc.

Considering the work done and money already  spend on it if the Portishead project gets the chop I expect a major backlash.

I do think keeping it going and actually open it is an easy project and not that expensive in the grand scheme of things plus the benefits to the local economies

 
I can definitely se this being a bad one . They saying it's going to hit us with category 2 hurricane winds when it makes landfall

 
The only one I can actually see happen is Gatwick plan to expand . Airlines should I stwad of all wanting to.use Heathrow make use of spare capacity at londons other airports

 
The link above for the drop in event also leads to another link for a "fly through" of the proposed station where I couldn't help noticing that the proposed footbridge design included floor to roof glass sides.  All very bright and attractive but I get the feeling that the designers still don't take into account the very real potential for vandalism at unmanned stations.

 
Apologies, I'm a no-show for the 28th.
Been booked for Grandson minding on the day (he's 3, I'm NOT)!
 

 

"Trumped" (forgive the pun!) by economic concerns.

 

So you are right! Nothing to do with that proposed tax.

 
Climate emergency ?

 

Just in time for Storm Eowyn to leave a few trees down on lines and others flooded.

 

Somewhere in those crowds were myself, my dad and late grandad.

 
Cue Boris laying down in front of the diggers!

 
Collective Cabinet Responsibility? I should imagine Ed Miliband choked on his bacon sandwich when he heard about this.

 
https://busandtrainuser.com/2025/01/21/avoid-paying-75-more-without-using-railcards-split-or-advance-tickets/

They say the railway’s byzantine fare structure is going to be sorted when Great British Railways (GBR) finally gets up and running. But that promise is like Billy Bunter’s never arriving postal order. Every incoming Minister in the DfT over the last couple of decades has promised to sort the complex system of rail fares and tickets out usually ordering a “full review” but instead another raft of additional price options are added to the mix. It’s happening again even now with the Great British Rail Sale.

Continues

Another excellent article by Roger French

 
Looking forward to Friday



All trains to or via Westbury also call at Trowbridge
All trains to or via Swindon also call at Chippenham

Return trains from Westbury run 17 minutes BEFORE trains leave Melksham for Swindon
Return trains from Trowbridge run 10 minutes BEFORE trains leave Melksham for Swindon
Return trains from Swindon run 27 minutes BEFORE trains leave Melksham for Westbury
Return trains from Chippenham run 10 minutes BEFORE trains leave Melksham for Westbury
(Yes - those are much quicker than the buses!)

 
Draft response from me -  at https://www.passenger.chat/mirror/ltp4_graham_0.9.pdf

 
I now understand Trump's railings against socialist Britain.

He has obviously been told that we keep inviting reds back here. 

Perhaps he has even spotted one on his golf course!

 
https://charfieldparishcouncil.gov.uk/2025/01/17/charfield-railway-station-drop-in-event-wednesday-22nd-january-2025/

 
Nothing to do with the planned 100 per cent tax on those residents living outside the EU who would like to buy a property in Spain.

 

Personally, I would prefer it if those were of the grey variety ... .  However, in Jersey, when I visited that island for my aunt's funeral, there were dozens of the red ones, scampering all over the trees in the distance.

 
Also 'Rocket 150' railway cavalcade on YouTube.

https://youtu.be/6HnPxa0FAnM

 
Dear Passenger,

You complain when a train/bus is late. I agree.

Dear Passenger,

You complain when a train/bus is on time and you miss it.


Dear Passenger,

You may call it turn up and go.

We call it a timetable.

Early days of Failtrack and a passenger on the Severn Beach line complained that the train didn't wait for him whilst he was running along the platform towards the train...

My explanation was probably ignored but goes like this...

I stop and the guard releases the local door to let you on and we leave 30 seconds late.

And it happens again at Sea Mills, Clifton Down and Redland. By now we are late enough that if a passenger is looking at a train departing then you should have missed it by some way.

Anyway this service is a few minutes late approaching B360 at Narroways Junction and the signaller pulls off....

But we are late and the VXC service gets a yellow at B233, Lawrence Hill instead of a green. By the time B235 is showing proceed after the Beach service has cleared the junction the 47 is in first gear (1st stage field divert) and therefore staggers up Filton Bank and is held at B143 for a right time Paddington Swansea to depart BPW.

That VXC service is now 5 late and gets regulated at Standish for a right time Paddington Cheltenham, now 8 late leaving Cheltenham.

At the top of the Lickey it follows a right time Central Trains service. Whoah, 15 late into Birmingham. The regulation continues and the train terminates at Newcastle 30 late.

Delay attribution get involved, SW+W get the bill and the train crew get an unwanted chat. So yes, I'll wait for you at a station but you can pay for the delay minutes and passenger compensation.

That's privatisation for you.

 

There's a significant population of reds on the Isle of Wight* too. I'm a frequent visitor and have yet to see one there. The Isle is said to be grey free.

I spent several months in Cumbria and the Lake District in 2022 as well, where there's also a significant population of reds. Didn't see one there either.

Elusive beggars!



*One of the HMP Isle of Wight sites is called Albany, CfN. Perhaps there are some reds doing bird there.

 
That is indeed what I meant: thanks, ChrisB. 

 
I use ACCTIM - which is updated realtime with the nuclear clock. That's accurate enough for me.

 
Or even Alderney