Great Western Coffee Shop

A Town Council event last night cancelled ... an opportunity to join the weekly outing of the Melksham Amateur Photography Group.  Bus to Bath (272, Faresaver) , bus to Bear Flat (522, First) and walk up to the viewpoint.   Back on the 22:13 train, change at Chippenham onto the 22:46 from there to Melksham, arrived 22:55.    The normal recommendation for travel from Bath to Melksham is to "use the bus" but this train conveniently fills a gap in the schedule.

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The 22:31 from Swindon to Westbury is the "new boy" on the block - not been running all that long and still building traffic.  It's also one of those trains that's running far from the peak, but is vital to completing the "all day, every day" need.     As it arrived into Chippenham, around a dozen people got off and five more got on - obviously, I don't know if the people who got off were Swindon starters, but this train does fill a service gap for London to Chippenham passengers and I suspect that many of them were longer distance travellers.  Onwards from Chippenham, there were 12 passengers on the train, 5 got off and 2 more joined at Melksham, so that's [14,7].   For the record, a Thursday evening so not exactly a busy night [in Bath].

In Bath, changing bus earlier in the evening and with time to spare (the Melksham to Bath bus runs every 30 minutes except when it doesn't, like between 5 and 6 p.m.) I treated myself to a FOSS rover to run from Saturday for travel 8 days out of 15.  Further Town Council cancellations next Monday evening, and also for the whole week, so a good opportunity. I will be posting further pictures.

From the first day of my FOSS - day trip from Melksham to Durdle Door and Lulworth Cove

Out via Weymouth, back via Wool and Southampton

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And the second day of my FOSS Rover - just Melksham to Bristol to meet a fellow Coffee Shop admin who is helping with a data update (I'm sure much more on that will follow).   I took the opportunity to take my cycle on the train - the first time in quite a while, with the objective of seeing how that worked and also trying out the new cycle (previous electric one stolen from our Ukrainian guests).

Here - first picture - at Westbury where I changed on the way out - a FOSS allows double back, and there was no point in trying to make a quick change at Trowbridge as I knew that the Portsmouth -> Cardiff had been cancelled and I would be 30 minutes later than optimum into Bristol.  Picking up the local 2 car train at WSB at least gave the opportunity to get a seat

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I had no formal plan after my meeting, in fact I expected to be going down to the Harbourside and doing whatever the mood took.  However, spur of the moment, I took the Bristol and Bath railway path

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Come Bitton, I was rather warm and ny battery life indicator was suggesting I might not have enough to reach Bath and also be assisted across Melksham, so I diverted to Keynsham Station. I will try the path again on some day when my tyres are inflated better and it's not so hot

And on the way home, a variety of awkward trains for cycles.  Plan was to go via TRO, but the Keynsham to Warminster local was cancelled so I connected into the local train an CPM - my goodness the cycle racks on the IETs couldn't have been more impossible to use even with this cycle with middling size tyres

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Yep, that was me, again. ;D

More news on the data update will follow - when I've worked out and become comfortable with the additional software I've been shown.

CfN.  ;)

3rd FOSS day ...

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Thrown by the the Gatwick Express set in the first image, not sure which station on the Southampton to Fareham line. Second is possibly Hamble.

Are we in "competition" mode, as I have a reasonable idea of some of the others.

Posted in "Graham is too tired to write much" mode, with a little devil in me that the "Gatwick Express" train was not exactly on a Gatwick service! 

Day trip to Hamble ...  writeup following

I will stick my neck out and Graham can chop it off as required.

This area is part of my Southampton to Gosport ride, although I don't go into the detail that Graham does.

Pure guess is the Gatwick Express at Netley? The miniature railway is presumably at the Royal Victoria Park. This is based on the grounds of what was the Royal Victoria Hospital built after the Crimean War https://qaranc.co.uk/netleyhospital.php (https://qaranc.co.uk/netleyhospital.php).

The railway line across the road I think is near Hamble station and used to link to the oil terminal at Hamble-le-Rice. The museum exhibits are, I presume, in the chapel of the hospital which is all that remains of the original hospital building. Never been in because I wouldn't risk leaving the bike outside.

The seats overlooking Southampton Water towards Fawley refinery is presumably the landward end of the pier that received the hospital ships.

The gravestones are part of the hospital cemetery, mix of headstones some Commonwealth War Graves style, others presumably predate it.

The pink ferry is the Hamble - Warsash ferry, I hope it is in better condition. Last time I used it it sounded as the the engine was going to fall out.

RVH main building was demolished in the 1960s, although the psychiatric unit stayed in use by the army. There is a certain irony to me that Hampshire Constabulary use the former psychiatric block as part of their training centre and will hire it out for weddings.

As always  more detail on RVH at Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netley_Hospital (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netley_Hospital)

Thank you and save me massive writing - I have much else on my mind today.   The Gatwick Express is at Woolston - the Southern train from Southampton calls just at Woolston and Swanwick between Southampton and Wareham Fareham.

I commend Hamble as a walking destination for the reasonably fit - just a hint of what's there in my post.

I think you mean Fareham and not Wareham

I did.   I have corrected it (and had to have a strong word with autocorrect in order to make the change stick!)

Thanks for that information, CyclingSid.  That particular image intrigued me - I thought some of those headstones looked like Commonwealth War Graves.  :-X

A quite amazing graveyard - and indeed the whole area was an amazing find.  I would recommend it as a day out.  I intended to pass through quite quickly to Warsash and onward (perhaps via Fareham) to Gosport and across to Portsmouth Arbour.  As it was, I just made the last ferry into Warsash and then the penultimate bus out of Warsash!

More detail https://www.cwgc.org/visit-us/find-cemeteries-memorials/cemetery-details/39250/netley-military-cemetery/ (https://www.cwgc.org/visit-us/find-cemeteries-memorials/cemetery-details/39250/netley-military-cemetery/)

From Saturday ... a real mixed bunch of a day!

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Can somebody tell me about the Inspection Train, which I also saw at Eastleigh on Saturday. Presumably not the same as a measurement train, and not the modern equivalent of what was used by senior management in days of yore.

you may be interested in this (https://www.rail-record.co.uk/guide-to-network-rail-test-trains/)

A (belated) post from Sunday saw me headed just out of the FOSS area (with an off peak day return beyond)

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There remains a challenge in travelling - especially with multiple connecting trains - with copious cancellations:

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And a very interesting log from my phone (which data I had not realised it was collecting) which gives away something of my lifestyle and shows how using public transport helps keep me fit with all the walking involved. 

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From yesterday ... 8 trains and 1 bus
MKM - TRO - BRI - WOP - GMV
MVL - WOF - WOS - CNM - BRI - BTH - Bus

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I worked out where you were in the pictures, and then realised I didn't have to  ::)

Apparently Wu City has the 7th best High Street in England.  Lord help the other 1,234 High Streets is all I can say (especially the urban devastation that is Evesham these days)

Ah - but can you work out where I have been today?   2 changes outbound, 3 changes on the return, none of the five changes at the same place

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Aren't those Woolston and Bitterne stations, both in Southampton.

They are - a visit to family in the area.   Train, Melksham to Woolston with changes at Westbury and Southampton Central, walking within the area around Woolston where I met family and to their home, and then onward to Bitterne Station. Return train changes at St Denys, Romsey and Trowbridge.  Two hours 20 minutes from Bitterne Station to walking in my front door.  Six trains and one bus.

Yesterday was the final day of my "Freedom of Severn and Solent" and in a last minute change to plans, I visited the Forest of Dean Railway before a short stop in Barry Island (extra fare from Cardiff) and a journey to Westbury to catch the returning summer Saturday train coming up from Weymouth to Swindon.   Nine journeys on National Rail services, five on the (same) steam train as I visited Parkend, Norchard, Lyndney Town and Lydney junction as well as plain old "Lydney".  Three trains that I was planning to catch cancelled, none late, one last minute scrambled platform change.

The crowds were out, more so in some places than others.  The operational staff right across, with the singular exception of the lady on the barrier in Gloucester who perhaps I rubbed up the wrong way, are wonderful and doing their best on a system that is not performing to the provision standards set for it. Enjoyable, but defensive / fall-back option planning and acceptance of where that option has to be used is (for my complex journeys) a necessity, and for "Joe Public" making more conventional journeys the whole thing is normally good, but still failing to deliver too often.

We are in times of great change - anticipated, announced, but we will see. We await the detail.  And we have very little passenger and potential passenger input and comprehension as we see those changes happen.   The UK does "consult" a great deal and we have a lot of "consultants" around. Good, but we can overthink things, and we can consult of issues in which the consultees have little knowledge or views, or time or interest even though it's there future.

Seated in a bay of seats with tables on the CrossCountry train from Gloucester to Cardiff, a young family joined me across the aisle. Dad had a bottle of beer, mum was looking after three children all under the age of 4, who were motoring around and who had not yet learned to keep their voices down or themselves to themselves.  Dad's mobile phone had run out of juice and there was no way to charge it on the 170, and at times he was clearly stressed and using language and exhibiting behaviour that were not a good example, with stress of the trip impacting him.  Kids had bubble blowers - two blue ones for the boys and  a pink one for the girl.  She was the older child and, I kid you not, at her very early age already looking out for her brothers.    The late teen who had been across the way rapidly moved when the family arrived, trolley came through, and they bought supplies from the palty offerings it had.

These are the people the train is for.  The baby, nappy being changed on the table.  The kids who joined me to enthrawled by the screen save of a bright pink ferry and then entertained with another picture show (And laptop angled to that mum could see the pictures too), a charge for their phone taken off my laptop (with care not to permit data transfer!) allowed Dad to sort out onward plans in Cardiff.

These children have every possibility of being really good people for our future, but neither they nor mum and dad are in a position - time, desire, knowledge - to help inform the future of the systems they are using.  But yet they are the people for whom the system is provided and the future generations that will be using it.

I'd hope that suitable nappy changing facilities are available on board trains in order to prevent the necessity to use a table which people may well be using for food etc?

If memory serves, (I am sure someone will keep me honest) GWR IETs have such facilities on board?

They do - in the accessible toilets.   Not that I have tested them out....

I think I overlooked posting my tourist pics last night

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Yes, on an IET ... but this was a 170 and I don't know.

The family WAS of what I would describe as "good heart".  Mum, and Dad in his less stressed periods, were aware of the the safety and interaction of their children with those around them, and after making a shocking mess did more or less tidy up / clean up after themselves.  And the changing was padded underneath with a towel / mat.

As a generality, people and fellow passengers ARE good even if I / you might wonder at first look.   Much comes down to the attitude of approach.  I'm thinking of three seatings over the weekend - a family on holiday and not English speaking, occupying 3 of the four seats of a bay with themselves and one with their paraphanalia.   One of a young man sprawled into the second seat of an airline pair.  And one of the care taken on the 2 car Cardiff - Portsmouth on Saturday evening that was so packed that a young lady nearly passed out.