At the moment Great Western are not allocating any actual seat reservations. However as you can book well in advance and the policy has only been in force for about a month it means there are still a few reservations showing.

The system is supposed to be turned off so nothing is showing.

But if things are that tricky, presumably you could switch out all of the boxes except at each end, and run a shuttle from Shrub Hill to Hereford with a WM five-car unit.
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None of the signal boxes between Worcester and Hereford can be switched out.  Hewwick and Newlands control level crossings.  Malvern Wells and Ledbury operate points.

Actually the metro quotes the mayor incorrectly.  He actually says bus workers in his tweet.  This would include anybody working for a bus company.

Well it has been 7 years since the last dividend.  So while they intend to maximise returns to shareholders I don't think they will be getting anything anytime soon !

Running extra trains up from the West Country probably. Bank holidays are more like Sunday demand wise from Cornwall

Its one of those reason which on the face of it sound wrong but when explained fully make sense !  Because of the train crew shortages yesterday sets were out of place.  I believe Stoke Gifford had too many sets and North Pole not enough.  So services started from Paddington were short formed by splitting a 10 car.

So yes train crew shortages but from yesterday.

Pritvatisation takes a large part of the blame in my book.  Previously drivers were a common resource working for one company.  Splitting into myriad different companies is inherently inefficient. 

Great Western have a tiny depot in Weymouth so when short of crew a train has to be cancelled.  Most of the time South West Railway will have a spare drive who could have covered the work in British Rail days.  So a driver or guard are available just not the right one.

When new trains are introduced into an area it means a large part of the workforce for the Train Operating Company need training.  Ideally you would recruit extra drivers for 18 months but that is not a realistic option.  So you have to rely on overtime working which is fine for most of the year but there inevitable pinch points, such as a bank holiday, when you will not get sufficient volunteers so trains have to be cancelled.

Don't forget Great Western have a huge increase in service in December and the staff have to be trained.  Usually for the peak summer season you would stop the training for 6 to 8 weeks.  However this is not really an option with a hard deadline of timetable change in December.

For me the problem with the trolley is that it is over complicated.  Hot water comes from urn which has to be plugged in to heat up.  So if it has not been turned on you have to wait 20 minutes so the trolley can't operate until then. 

Also when you run out of water the urn is so heavy that it cannot be carried so the trolley has to return to the urn location which also takes time and causes delay doing so.

Why not have a couple of portable urns like used in first class.  Then when one runs out a member of staff could go and fill one up again while the trolley continues to operate.  (Perhaps the Train Manager could do this ?)

There were only reservations for A to E so does not appear to be short formed. 

But are they all in use ?  I haven't seen 800001 or 800002 in passenger service yet.

Some years ago the T&C of the Network card were changed from not being valid on trains SCHEDULED to depart before 10 o'clock to not being valid on trains departing before 10 o'clock.  This means that the Network card is valid on any train that departs at 10 o'clock and later.  If the 0959 departs 1 minute late then your Network railcard ticket would be valid.


Above is quoted from the Network Railcard T&C. 

I think it might also be for the in cab CCTV^▸ (Closed Circuit Tele Vision) for DOO^▸ (Driver-Only Operation (that is, trains which operate without carrying a guard)).

I think the intention has always been for passenger doors to be contrasting.  The 2014 simply make that explicit.  AFAIK^▸ (as far as I know) the doors on power cars have never had a contrasting livery.

Trains have run between Paddington and Reading with only a driver on board for over 20 years. All the turbo services do so.

I think you are reading too much into it.  For the season ticket the last station from which it is valid is Didcot so the combination will still be valid. 





Edit note: Quote marks fixed, for clarity. CfN.