Great Western Coffee Shop

I had a business meeting in Bristol, five minutes from Temple Meads, convenient for travelling from Maiden Newton.
The meeting was at 11.30, meaning, with the new timetable, a 0759 departure. Next stage look to buying a ticket online. GWR fare placed the cost, returning the same day, at £40.80. Stating that this was the cheapest for my journey.
However, by scrolling down the page, Other return tickets available with one at £31.20.
I decided to simply by buying the ticket on the train.
The day arrived and the 0759 was cancelled, traction fault. This meant I had to catch the 09.55. Luckily we live just 20 minutes from the station so I was able to delay my leaving the house. Those living not so near would have a long wait.
The bonus was that the 0955 day return fare was now £21.50.

The train scheduled as a two car but arrived as a five car, picking up the now working failed unit. This was just as well since the train was very busy with levels easily more than pre Covid.
Behind me a passenger wanted a return to Stockport from Yeovil PM. The conductor spent five minutes advising him of the possible fares. The cheapest was via Hereford!  A very good example of the complexity of the current fares system which needs urgent reform.

Of the journey, the dominant thought was the advance of vegetation to the extent of carriage bashing. A number of the views were obscured by this.

Sadly the return was by car as the others at the meeting wanted to see the Dawes Twine Work and I was the historian there to explain.

Off peak travel according to the data within the industry looking to be higher than pre lockdowns, in part probably to the change to hybrid working


Vegetation growth this summer, to quote the Off Track team on the Route I work on, has been very aggressive, this is due to the wet weather this summer.  Add to this the change to the rules to access lineside areas to do work, line blocks are required the use of Lookouts to warn staff of trains now consigned to the history books

"Leaves on the line" delays are likely to be a key issue this autumn

O

To "blame" one poor summer for the state of trackside vegetation is disingenuous to say the very least.

I recently tried to recreate an old railway photo - I couldn't take the new one from exactly the same position as the the old one because of............you've already guessed it !  The photos speak for themselves.................

I seem to recollect very similar photos appearing after the Salisbury tunnel accident.

(https://i.postimg.cc/HLB0n2WJ/Publication1.jpg) (https://postimg.cc/Lqgg0j1R)

Steam trains very usefully used to kick out hot rocks that set the vegetation alight & kept it under control....

I think it was the PW gangs that used to keep the vegetation under control (cutting back and controlled burning) in order to avoid the accidental ignition of undergrowth by ash and sparks from the locomotives.  I suspect the green lobby would have a paroxysm of fury in the event of Network Rail returning to this policy

Undoubtedly !....................but what is/was the true "original" vegetative state of the track shown in the photos ?  The green lobby would be loud in their claims that the bushes/trees were the true state and they must be afforded a similar preservation status to Stonehenge, but the 1938 photo would seem to disprove that. I think we can say with some certainty that there was no vegetation along this track from 1856 (when opened) until some years after the 1938 photo.

How much to buy & run a fleet of RHTTs ??

Grassland is itself a valuable habitat, especially as many railway earthworks may be nutrient-poor and species rich. A visit to the GWSR is instructive as they're not keen on the tunnel-of-trees approach and do their best to mitigate it.

Mark