Great Western Coffee Shop

These emergency engineering works have been causing short workings and delays all day:


See http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/LiveUpdateList.aspx

Signal gantry down on Dainton is the only information I have.

0 trains have ran from Plymouth towards Exeter today, meaning lots of HSTs stuck in the wrong place, including 2 XC HSTs.

Oh, also. Its known as "Newton Abbot"

Swindon are just silly for calling it that  :D

Thanks, devon_metro - you're quite right, I just absent-mindedly typed the second 't' while I was referring to their post.  ::)

It's rather like the 'London's Burning' influence, where HST TM's announce that their train will be calling at Nailsea and Blackwell ...  ::) :D ;D

As did the recently posted signs at N&B advising passengers about rail replacement bus services, but referring to Blackwell.

It's not that long ago that a sign appeared at the entrance to Moreton-in-Marsh station which welcomed you to Moreton-in-the-Marsh, which some of the Bristol conductors working Hereford services are also prone to calling us. The name is thought to be a corruption of Moreton Henmarsh and certainly never featured a 'the'.

I think Apcoa were responsible for this one. After I got it ridiculed in the local papers, it was swiftly taken down, only to reappear with a strip of something firmly glued over 'the' and it's still there now.

Apparently there was overnight engineering in the area (Saturday night), and one of the road/rail tractor looking vehicles bought the gantry down.  A crane had to be sourced from South Wales to remove it.

I was lucky enough to miss it all, but from what i've heard with the rail replacement buses all busy in Bristol and Penzance areas and XC being as helpful as ever terminating everything at Bristol, it was not a good day to put it mildly.  (Unless you were a taxi driver of course - one hopes that NR will be picking up the taxi bill that ran into the thousands!)

Another one which annoys me is Evesham pronounced "Eve -er- sham." >:(

I had friend traveling down last night from Reading late on an Advance Purchase - was advised not to travel. Traveled today to Plymouth as all restrictions had been lifted for travel today on yesterdays tickets (even Advance Purchase which seemed valid on any train).

And I hope NR will be able to recover the cost off the subcontractor (or more likely their insurers).

Another question is what has happened to whatever was on the gantry (usually signals)?

What's wrong with a bit of Worcestershire dialect? At least they don't say Asum, another old variation, which would cause real problems. Asum apparently came from Asum Ales, which were brewed at one of the town's pubs.

I know we're straying somewhat from the original topic, but just to illustrate this nonsense:

(http://img150.imageshack.us/img150/4476/picture003hrg.jpg)

Can anyone else spot the other mistake in Chris's Photo?

No, although instead of "mid May" you would have thought they could have given the date. And instead of "may" result in significantly longer journey times, "will" would seem more correct.

By the way, be careful if it's a grammatical error, as there is one in your mail preceding this!

Ah, the dreaded apostrophe  :D

Paging Terminal Junkie...  ;D

Not Quite ;)

I was thinking more that Weston Super Mare is written as Weston ::)

Whilst yes it is the shortened name for the town. If you asked the national rail enquires automated service, Weston, would indeed be rejected or questioned as to which Weston (Weston-Super-Mare or Weston Milton)

D_M was referring to the mistake in your email I alluded to.

I think Weston is a reasonable abbreviation given the space.     

I've just spotted that error as well! Sorry, English Grammar was never my strong point at school ;)