Great Western Coffee Shop

Happy Christmas Everyone!

I've started - three times - to write a deep and thoughtful Christmas Message to post.  So much has happened in the last year - so much water has flowed down the river (or should I say so many trains have passed through - well, Reading or Bristol if not Melksham!) that I don't know where to start. And in spite of the Christmas season, there are some short tempers around caused by a timetable change with (at best) teething problems, and staff shortages that leave passengers feeling not so much like customers as they should.

And yet ... I'm not downsprited.

In the short time that I've been involved with the campaign for an appropriate service on the TransWilts line, and with (I hope) helping at a wider level across other parts of the First Great Western area, I've come to realise just what wonderful people we have doing the day to day work on our local railways - and I want to thank them, and to wish them a happy Christmas.   

The managers and directors have a difficult job to do, as to the Civil Servants at the Department for Transport, the staff who work for Network Rail, for Wiltshire Council and for all the other Transport Authorities.  And there are some people in each and every one of those organisations who really are "railwaymen at heart" and really want to see the system improved for the better - to regain and retain some of the excellent reputation, based on performance, that the railways have had in this country in the past.   To these ladies and gentlemen, I also wish the very happiest of Christmases.

And where would a railway be without passengers?  Many are individuals that I just see passing or rushing by with a worried look on their faces, a heavy suitcase in tow, or hiding behind a newspaper - easr stuffed with earphones to drown out the experience of travelling, or glues to a mobile phone as a personal crisis won't wait even for journey's end.   I hope these people get a chance to stop and relax - and celebrate Christmas - just a little over the next few days. 

But there's another group of travellers too - those of you who take an interest in what's going on around you as you travel (whether as customer or staff), who read this board, who have perhaps even signed up and post here from time to time, or more frequently. To you, I have to say the biggest of Thank Yous for making this board what it is, and I wish you the very best of Christmases.

And a very merry Christmas to you Grahame and to everyone else on the forum, lets hope we have a better 2008 for the railway!
All the best,

Vacman

Merry Christmas Everyone, enjoy the last 3hours 42minutes.

Merry Christmas to all.

Let us hope that 2008 brings in some improvements!
 
:)

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL

For all the problems of FGW and other TOC's, it's the excellent work of the "Coal Face" railwaymen and woman, that get the Trains to run, OFTEN on Time, it's a pity that Human nature is such that if your train is ON TIME 99 times out of 100, it's that once that gets remembered and talked about.
Railway staff are the Best, Happy New Year to them all and their Passengers.

Happy Christmas and New year!

I can't remember that last time my train was on time though, and I know lots of other people on here have the same experience!  So it's not just remembering that one time out of 100, it's remembering every single (late) journey!