Ironic given that the DfT rail mandarin par excellence was (the late) Stuart Baker, guiding spirit behind the IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train) but also creator of Baker's Rail Atlas*.

* other rail atlases are available

I reluctantly gave up on the struggle recently and started using a third-party host to send transactional mails. I use Amazon's SES, which allegedly stands for "Simple Email Service" though nothing with AWS^▸ (Automatic Warning System) is ever simple. But it works and the emails get delivered, which means I no longer have to answer queries about "my registration email hasn't arrived, how do I log in". There are lots of alternatives which tend to be easier to set up, but at a higher per-email cost.

https://www.mail-tester.com is really good for diagnosing mail deliverability issues though not foolproof.

edit: AWS in this case isn't Automatic Warning System (prevents SPADs^▸ (Signal Passed At Danger) aka Signals Passed At Danger) but Amazon Web Services (prevents SPADs aka Server Panics And Dies).

It's one of those proposals where a railway reopening would be a no-brainer in a sane country (Bridport 12k population, tourist potential, route mostly unobstructed). But as this is the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) it's out of the question and even a cycleway will take years of negotiation. I often wish we'd had the foresight to "rail-bank" former trackbeds as happens in the US.

It's going to be an eight-figure sum to fix. Peel Holdings (who own the canal) can afford it, but I suspect they will try and get some money out of Government to do so.

There were negotiations a long time ago for British Waterways, as was, to take on the Bridgewater from Peel - I remember reporting on it for Waterways World. But BW were worried about maintenance liabilities and nothing ever came of it. I wonder if this might be a prompt to reopen that discussion.

And here's another update:

https://www.systemed.net/atlas/

Northumberland Line, HS2^▸ (The next High Speed line(s)), south-west Scotland. And Ashley Down!

It definitely went via the North Cotswolds and missed out stops after Evesham. I was planning to get it; had checked it had departed from Worcester on time; only to get a text message from a relative at 9.04 saying "have you seen the 9.27 is cancelled?". I frantically jumped onto the folding bike and made it down to the 9.09 10 seconds before the doors closed!

A shame that services couldn't run to Worcestershire Parkway and reverse there. I see an ECS^▸ (Empty Coaching Stock) made it through Shrub Hill earlier: https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:36768/2024-12-08/detailed

Nothing running at all this afternoon or evening.

I would have sworn 2 was Burton-on-Trent, looking towards Derby. On reflection it couldn't be (Burton is an island platform) but they do look very similar!

Ah, I spotted another one.

WTF: Pilning.

FTW: Fort William. (Or "For The Win".) I have visited, but a long time ago.

And cut big swathes through the local service for the Marcher stations, but they're in England so they don't count.

I try not to be too reactionary about TfW's attitude to the stops between Hereford and Shrewsbury, but they really could make more of an attempt to at least pretend to care. Two morning stops are being dropped from Church Stretton in this attempt to "deliver a standard pattern", which means no departures between 0937 and 1104. There are several more of these 1.5-hour gaps through the day, and southbound to Hereford too.

Anyway, back on topic - is 3 "staff halts"?

Indeed!

Norwood Tunnel is on the Chesterfield Canal - indeed it's the current limit of navigation of the "connected section". (There's an isolated restored section beyond the tunnel.) Significantly collapsed; the restoration plans envisage opening up a large part as a cutting.

Greywell is on the Basingstoke Canal, also the limit of navigation. Full of rare bats so not going to be reopened. (Plus the "navigable" part of the Basingstoke has enough problems of its own without adding more.)

Drakeholes is also on the Chesterfield, but it isn't closed - it's part of the navigable section, and it's actually broad-beam (14ft) so that wider boats can proceed some way from the Trent before the locks start in earnest.

And a brewery.

(We used to moor our boat just down the road from the Marstons Brewery in Burton. At one point Marstons Pedigree sponsored the English cricket team. When the Ashes came along there was a big banner on the brewery gates proclaiming: "England has history. Australia has previous.")