Great Western Coffee Shop

Anybody else notice the number of signs at our FGW stations seems to be growing at a daily rate? Most of them seem to be either inappropriate, confusing, or inaccurate, (or all three!) and I invite others to add others that they have noticed.

I continue my campaign to highlight stupid station signs with this view of the new, improved, cycle storage facilities at Hanborough.

(http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3012/2630977106_85dac88688.jpg?v=0)

Just in case you miss stupid meaningless sign no. 1 concerning the risk of your cycle being 'searched' at any time, a duplicate sign has been put up about 4 feet away. Not that you're able to use these facilities anyway however as the other sign clearly states that you are not allowed to pass that point and access the cycle racks anyway. I give up!

Brilliant. Love the irony.

According to a recent training session I had, cycle frame tubes can be packed with semtex and exploded remotely, using a cycle lamp as power source. Which is why, (I believe, that all stations having cycle storage must also be covered by CCTV).

Which is a little absurd as a person so minded could wear a belt around their waste packed with semtex

I hope you meant 'waist'.

If you didn't: urrrrrrggggghhhhhhhh....

TerminalJunkie, are you an online spell checker robot?  :P

Thanks for that useful information, G.Uard.  :)

Indeed, the hollow metal tubes making up a bicycle frame can be used to secrete explosives such as 'semtex' (other explosive substances are available), and I believe they were, in Northern Ireland in past days of the 'troubles', for example.

However, it's interesting that all stations having cycle storage must also be covered by CCTV.  At Nailsea & Backwell, the one area of the whole station that is not covered at all by the (two) CCTV cameras is the cycle storage area under platform 2: see http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/apr08photos/130408nailsea4.jpg

 :P ??? ::)

Morning

It is a hotch potch isn't it!

Two of the signs look to be the same in the picture
supplied.  Prehaps the signs were fitted by approved
contactor and they have just followed, or misunderstood
and put them up as seen.  The trespass sign does need
to be moved along with one of identical signs, that
would probably make things clearer?!  Altough TOCs are
hot on signage these days, prehaps to cover themselves
legally?

I wonder how long the new cycle shelter will last?!

Regards

Karl.

I like the sign on the up platform at Devonport which states 'this platform for stations to Plymouth', what stations would these be?? Wingfield Villas Halt is long gone!!

Your observation is well noted as far as Taplow is concerned.

Do you know we now have more no smoking signs than information about catching trains, getting tickets (when office is not manned) which platform for where, etc, etc.

I don't think we've got the cycle rack ones yet will be going up the station later.

I did post something about shouldn't railway stations have information about how to catch a train where you might go from that station and when, how to get tickets etc. There are still a large number of people who haven't travelled by train at all or for a long time who are totally bemused when they arrrive at the station as to what they need to do to catch a train.

But at least they know they are not allowed to smoke. Which is propbably a good thing because the stress might tempt them to light up.

Signs have recently gone up at Filton Abbey Wood too.

A number of signs reading "Cyclists dismount" under one with a 'No cycling' pictogram & number of signs asking you to hold onto the handrail when using the ramps. The sign above the ticket hut (which has been open about 10 times in the past 2 years) used to read "Tickets" now reads "Tickets & Information."  ;D

This will mean nothing to anyone who doesn't know what I'm on about...

Mojo, have any got lots of round circles on? :)

Actually the one about holding onto the handrails on the footbridge is quite appropriate at Filton as it's lethal in the winter as it's rarely de-iced and a number of people have come a cropper on it.

The new cycle shelter sits alongside an identical shelter that has been there for several years untouched by the vandals. There are two signs for two shelters as they were installed at different times. Common sense says you just need one!

With more and more people cycling to the station, the amount of parking has been doubled. The cycle parking used to be accessed from the car park but is now reached from the platform (due to a neighbouring development blocking the access). The original cycle and trespass sign were correct but now need to be moved to the next post along! I think all these works have been paid for by the county council, who also provided a new waiting shelter and fencing along the platform recently.

Tell me about it, I saw loads of people slip over, even up until March this year when it gets slighlty cold. It seems lots of the grip has come away with bare metal being revealed on the original part. Why can't they just resurface it?! I made a number of complaints after seeing others sliding along a few days!

Only problem... there is no handrail on the part over the third track, which is just as bad when it's frosty!

Sir, I fear you underestimate me. I do grammar, too :D

Has FGW lost the plot? It's not just the signs - it's the announcements! Twice last week I was waiting on Platform Six at Reading station waiting for the 08:12 to Ealing Broadway and heard "Please stand well away from the edge of Platform Six - the approaching train is not scheduled to stop at this station!"

If you are not familiar with platform six, this was rather worrying - if the train did not stop, it would demolish the buffers, a brick wall, the escalators & WH Smiths before coming to rest in the middle of a coffee shop!!!!!

The second day this announcement was made, they compounded the error by announcing a platform change to Platform Ten, just as the train was about to draw into Platform Six! Some of the passengers had already made it on to Platform Ten, but I stopped to ask the guard, who said it was definitely Platform Six, so I yelled the news over to the unfortunates who had to come all the way back again. (They did finally make the correct announcement!)

That would be down to however the train was being viewed as coming in, if the system doesn't recognise it as booked to go there, then the announcement will sound, whether it is a bay platform or not.

I am not sure who has the ownership of the CIS systems if it is the TOC or NWR, the system does interface with the signalling system and the announcers at places like Reading and Slough are located in the Panel (Signal Box), that aside the CIS system in the Thames Valley has been playing up of late, either metal mickey has got some bugs / techie problems or someone has programed him / her wrong

The signage at Hanborough has now been corrected. There is only one silly sign telling you that your bike may be searched, and the 'do not pass this point' has now been moved to the post nearest to the end of the platform. Did someone read it on here? Either way, praise where it is due!

May have been a reaction to the posts here, but I know that Teresa Ceesay, the Cotswold Line service delivery manager, does regular checks on all the stations and acts on the things she finds, so she may have spotted the silly signs herself. And when I emailed FGW to point out that the platform lights at Kingham were switched on in glorious evening sunshine a few weeks back, someone fixed that fault sharpish, though a similar problem on platform 2 at Oxford persists.

While we are dishing out praise to FGW employees (see a couple of other threads), Teresa and the staff who work at Evesham, Moreton, Kingham and Charlbury do an excellent job in looking after things, in conjunction with community groups. While Charlbury's prizewinning garden is the envy of many, there are now flowerbeds and tubs at other stations, including Shipton, where I believe they are sponsored by the adjacent FWP Matthews flour mill.

Even Network Rail are doing their bit at Moreton, by repainting the signalbox in Great Western colours from the battleship grey its timberwork has worn for some time. Now if only someone would cough up to deal with the dreadful grey footbridge and the endless unpainted galvanised fencing that surrounds it...

Thanks, willc, for further confirmation that at least some of what we say here is noted by 'the powers that be'!

Hopefully, someone will also note our concerns about the state of the bridge at Nailsea & Backwell - see http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=1732.msg11863#msg11863

Unfortunately that would be a Network Rail responsibility Chris, so don't hold your breath.

I did say, "Hopefully, ... "   ;) :D ;D

Is there anyone from Network Rail here on this forum, who would care to pop their head over the parapet to comment, by the way??

There are some picturegram Cycle Route signs on Truro station that point along the platforms.

Railway By-laws state: CYCLING IS NOT PERMITTED ON PLATFORMS

Oh such "fun" who's running the railway these days?

I suppose it would help if we posted a picture of the rustbucket, but I'm not sure how to do it (post it, not take the picture :))

Hmm, yes, the link in my original post doesn't seem to work any more.

On the other hand, a quick bit of 'digging' on the internet produces these pictures, on the excellent 'bristol railway archive' website, at http://bristol-rail.co.uk/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page :

See http://bristol-rail.co.uk/wiki/index.php?title=Image:Nailsea17.jpg

See http://bristol-rail.co.uk/wiki/index.php?title=Image:Nailsea18.jpg

Ah yes, the Backwell view (18) shows it at it's best.

The improvements at Hanbrough are yet another investment by Oxfordshire County Council. They funded the larger waiting shelter, new metal fencing, and some extra seats along the platform, as well as the new cycle racks and the shelter. The signs were always down to be moved but there was a time lapse between the cycle shelters being turned around (you now get to them off the platform rather than from the car park!) and someone taking down the old duplicate sign.

Work is now about to start on upgrading the approach road in a joint scheme between the county council, FGW and Network Rail.  This will see the many potholes filled and the road resurfaced, with a new footpath amd car park bays clearly marked to improve safety, and comes after the previous expansion of the car park by the council and FGW Link a few years ago.