Great Western Coffee Shop

Forum members - please feel free to add comments about individual pictures and the text I've put with them - help inform both me and my audience. Thanks!

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Tomorrow (as I write) - that's Saturday, 26th October - I'll be leading a practical session on Twitter at Railfuture's annual Groups and Branches day. For delegate, here are some picture that I've taken earlier this month - they are welcome to use them in their tweets - a link back to the Coffee Shop at http://www.passenger.chat would be appreciated, but I'm not going to insist on that as many newcomers make their first ever tweet.

The accompanying talk will be online at http://www.passenger.chat/rf20191026.pdf (there's a preliminary version there already) and the images and text of this post will also be available at http://www.passenger.chat/rf20191026.zip .  I will have a small number of LOAN memory sticks with me tomorrow so that people can copy from them too.

Here are some people you might with to alert to your tweets
@CoffeeShopCRP
@MelkshamRUG
@TravelWatchSW
@Railfuture

And here are some search (hash tags)
#railways #environment #bettertransport #railfuture
#RailwayInnovation #TransportIndustry #Trains
#Rail #Varsityline #Varsity #EastWestLink

Please (when tweeting) feel free to add links to the stories I'm suggesting to post where they're covered in more detail.

The event is in our diary - details at http://www.passenger.chat/21709 in Frequent Posters.  Although Railfuture branches all hold public meetings, and there's an annual national conference too, tomorrow is more of an internal operations event and is by branch and group invite - so no public call / please don't just turn up if not already booked.

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Twice a year, representatives of community groups with a transport interest, rail industry managers and local government meet for an updated from TravelWatch SouthWest and for a networking opportunity with partners

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Trowbridge - passengers from Melksham change here for trains to Bradford-on-Avon, Bath Spa, Bristol Temple Meads and Filton Abbey Wood.

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London to Bristol Temple Meads electrification is stalled at Cocklebury Lane to the East of Chippenham.  When will it continue past Thingley Junction - pictured here with a brand new but unused electric substation and gaunt electric masts to Bath Spa and Bristol Temple Meads?

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The buffet is gone and now the refreshment trolley on GWR's InterCity Express Trains comes round to you at your seat. No longer the risk of loosing your seat or having to take your luggage with you.

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There are over 2500 stations on the UK Network - some of them so small (such as this one at Dilton Marsh) that passengers have to indicate to the train that they want it to stop.  But don't be fooled - the busiest train of the day can drop as many as 30 passengers here!
http://www.passenger.chat/22329

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Towns such as Devizes lost their railway in 1966, and the only public transport there now is the bus.  Far better than nothing, but slower and less comfortable than a train, and subject to the vagaries of road traffic

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Rail to road interchange, Red Cow, Dublin - is this how it should be done? A few paces from the tram to the bus to the Airport, which is waiting to make the connection.

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Signage looks clear enough ... except that the Holyhead train is a slow one, and passengers for Holyhead should catch the Liverpool train and change at Crewe. If they caught the direct train they would (literally) miss the boat to Dublin!

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The new rail minister talks of re-opening smaller stations.   Here's one that was formally closed within the last year - Norton Bridge, Staffordshire.

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A new town - Telford - with road and rail links going straight though the middle.  But why, oh why, put a kink into the cycling and walking route that makes the journey for self-propelled people needlessly long?   I bet this was planned by a car driver!

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Passengers and freight can and should share the same railway - though with the dramatic rise in both passenger numbers and container traffic from places like Southampton Docks, there need to be better co-operating on scheduling and signalling, and freight needs to run to timetable.

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Old signals are lovely and nostalgic, but belong on Heritage Railways. Here are some of the remaining ones on the UK network - can you place them?

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Nearly 500 people came together at the Community Rail Awards gala dinner earlier this month to celebrate the communities involvement in and help with making best use of the railway up and down the country.  Every £ spent on Community Rail brings £4.20 in benefit to the community.

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The Devon and Cornwall Community Rail Partnership won first place for their "CreativTea Trains" project at the recent ACoRP awards - "Best Community Engagement Project".

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Promoting the local train service - which has increased from 2 to 9 trains each way per day - at the Over 55s engagement day at Melksham Assembly Hall

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The first train at Melksham - 06:36 and, yes, people use it.  As from 16th December, we have an even earlier train at 05:33 than connects into London with an arrival just before 07:00

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It doesn't take long for the brand new signals at Bristol Temple Meads to take on a "weathered" look

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From the train window - travelling by train allows you to relax, sleep, and watch the scenery go by too.  We have some wonderful views out of our train windows. Conwy.

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Trams are returning in our modern cities - Manchester, Edinburgh, Dublin, Nottingham, Birmingham, Croydon.  Where next? Bath, Bristol, Cambridge, Leeds, Halifax, Cardiff, Glasgow?

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Is it a tram?  Is it a bus?   No - it's a Glider.  Belfast

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Rail Minister Chris Heaton-Harris addresses the GWR Stakeholder conference, reminding the delegates just how much progress has been made in the last decade and creating a positive ethos for the next decade

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We are in leaf fall season and some train schedules have been eased for a few weeks as trains slide on the lines.   Special trains are running to clean leaves off the rails and they are helpful

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Electrification is reaching Cardiff, with GWR's IET trains running into there under electric power from 6th January 2020. Big "Thank you" to the team who have done the work - and an earnest wish that you can move on to further electrification and not be laid off.

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Rails end ... where in the past they used to carry on up the valley

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Special Network Rail track monitoring trains travel the network, helping to pick up track irregularities long before they come a major issue and helping to keep trains running smoothly for longer hours rather than closing lines for manual examination.

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It's just not cricket - at TravelWatch SouthWest, we addressed the issues of the loss of rural bus services because of the economic environment in which they are operated, yet at the same time we hear pious words about how government supports the greener public transport environment

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Nine times a day, trains leave Westbury for Swindon, via Melksham and Chippenham.  Connecting trains from Portsmouth, from Weymouth, and from Plymouth - and places in between - give a wide range of journey opportunities

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Each Railfuture branch has its strengths, and we should use the strength of branches to support their neighbours who could make use of it.   Trains don't terminate at area borders, and our branch activities should not either.

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The Melksham Rail User Group has helped turn a virtually unused station (5 arriving and 5 departing passengers per day) into a thriving one.  See http://www.mrug.org.uk


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In 1680, it took 100 hours to travel from London to Liverpool.  By 1830, that was down to 25 hours.  In 2019, the journey can be made in just 2.5 hours.
http://www.passenger.chat/22299

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The 17:36 from Swindon to Westbury.  In 2012, this train didn't exist. In 2016, a single carriage was overloaded to the extent that no more passengers could be carried.  Here's a picture of the train at Trowbridge earlier this month - now 2 carriages, and pictured after all the Swindon and Chippenham to Melksham commuters had left the train.

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The 17:45 London Paddington to Swansea service as it approaches Swansea. It might be very busy from London, but there are plenty of seats at the Welsh end.

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CrossCountry service from Cardiff to Manchester via Bristol Temple Meads. At first glance an oddball service, but in practise it brings in crowds from South Wales to Bristol and is good use of a train.

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Old stations across the network replaced by new.  They may lack the history but they provide the utility for a service for passengers that's far more frequent than has even been run in the past

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Urban trains pass through and behind rows of houses, and stations every mile or two with trains every 30 minutes or more frequently whisk people to work, to leisure, and for other purposes

Is 11 Shrewsbury?  And as we are past 24 hours, I'll guess 23 as Merthyr Tydfil?

Not really guessing ... but there are both Shrewsbury and Merthy pictures there

OK - now back properly on line

3, 5, 7, 18, 21, 24, 33, 34 and unlabelled with location and will make a quiz. Already identified:
11 Shrewsbury
23 Merthyr Tydvil

Number 3 doesn’t look too pleased you took the picture  ;)

5 is Swindon bus station