I had the pleasure of travelling yesterday on this great railtour by Pathfinder Tours over the Heart of Wales route. My table and dining companions proved to be two elegant ladies from Westbury having a jolly girls day out. This is very different from the male gricers usually encountered.

Due to various technical hitches we departed Shewsbury 45 late, but arrived Westbury 15 early. The 2 x 37 clearly did very well together with some effective train regulation. My final impression from the car park at Westbury was that one of the 37s on departure sounded very rough. I hope they made it back to base without any hitches. 

IIRC^▸ ('if I recall/remember/read correctly') these services ran in the HST^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)) era but I do not know the start dates. They did indeed mainly constitute the Kennet Valley commuter services. The evening service was the c17.05 from PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains) and initially used the avoiding line as Graham indicates. The actual FRO^» (Frome - next trains) service has always been c18.05 PAD and whilst it returns in service to WSB^» (Westbury - next trains), it then runs empty to Bristol.   

On the original list: 18 visits and 15 with train usage. I can add quite a few more countries where prompted.

3 = Weymouth; 8 = Southampton Central

As a reasonably regular user of Weymouth Station over many years, I have rarely seen this anti-social behaviour which so often gets quoted. It is true though that the toilets were closed by SWT^▸ (South West Trains) several years ago due to frequent vandalism and their use for drug taking. It is difficult to see any resolution unless the anti-social issue has reduced, other than to employ security staff (not likely) or possibly consider a very secure form of "pay to enter." Toilet access was only available during booking office hours which generally concluded around 18.00. Rail staff are not expected to police this anti-social behaviour although the station is (unusually) staffed to close of service. 

The source of any anti-social behaviour probably originates within the local residential areas which surround the station. Many would describe these areas as "deprived." The station has been a useful social gathering point although the platform area has been made more secure with new gates and fences, locked overnight.     

As a mere amateur, I am surprised at the "high-priority" scheme for a loop north of Yeovil Pen Mill on the Heart of Wessex route. I recall that GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) themselves have stated previously that a new loop was required to enhance HoW^‡(resolve) services. Each of the single track sections currently take about 20 minutes to traverse which does not seem too challenging.

If a new loop was really required, then I was thinking Yetminster, but maybe nowadays the additional SWR^» (South Western Railway - about) services consume more capacity in the section north of Yeovil and this becomes the pinch point. 

As above the early driver shifts (current normal timetable) are covered by Westbury drivers travelling by taxi. Unsure whether this requires 1 or 2 taxis spaced accordingly. A few TM^▸ (Train Manager, or possibly Ticket Machine, depending on context)'s are based in Weymouth. Someone may know whether the driver from the late arrival returns to Westbury by taxi after the driving duty but I imagine they do.

In the previous timetables with an 05.33? departure, there was a partial practice for the driver to "rest" overnight in the station offices at Weymouth. Presumably the resting time formed part of a full working shift.

The current confused system of "market-based" fares arrived in the 1970's when BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)) started to try to fill off-peak capacity. Prior to that (and also subsequently for many years) the main offer on tickets was a normal or full fare ticket, or a cheap day return. I would hazard a guess that the single fare was around half the full return fare (please correct me if this was not so). BR did in fact taper longer distance fares to make them realistic (or affordable!). How this was done may be lost in the mists of time. Now all these fares had historic origins but very likely had some basis in being distance based.

If someone was bold enough there could be some merit in using an older BR fares manual as a template to start introducing a more logical system. Unlikely to happen since BR is still regarded as bad in many official eyes and of course, modern "marketing" is an industry in itself to create a desirable and also "profitable" product.

Split ticketing is really nothing new either. I imagine many may remember having to purchase a series of cheap day returns at each of the relevant ticket offices. This was in order to make an extended day trip more affordable since cheap day returns were generally only available for up to 50 miles and for specific routes only.       

A public toilet is available at Frome during ticket office hours, normally Mo-Fr mornings only. One has to request the key! However, I imagine (optimistically) the station will be staffed over longer hours during the disruption period.

Anomalies abound. The fare from Frome to Taunton is the same as Grahame quotes. This one might expect being part of the the Westbury group. This fare is valid by either of the two (obvious) route options, which are via Bristol or "direct" via Westbury or Castle Cary. However, buy a ticket from Westbury and then there is a higher cost, via Bristol option, also available. 

There is a major article in the Daily Telegraph today detailing Lord Hendy's extensive and varied family history and career. Although written from a Telegraph perspective it does not make comfortable reading but very enlightening.
I cannot provide a link and normal access routes arrive at the paywall. I found it through the Google news feeds which provided the full article unembargoed. Recommended reading. 

I cannot find the reference now but I have read previously that the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) contract is expected to return to the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) in 2025 at the next break point.

The agenda shows that it might be an amusing meeting to attend - To view the number of limp kites being flown and pink elephants in view.

I did get a lengthy questionnaire handed out on a Heart of Wessex service ca 1.5 months ago. It did appear to be GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) specific only so I am unsure if this is relevant to Transport Focus. I would also doubt the data has been processed so quickly.

Always worth remembering that any proposed form of "renationalisation" will not recreate a fully integrated BR^▸ (British Rail(ways)) in the previously accepted sense. Labour is really only talking about nationalising the passenger TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company)'s (when contracts expire) and perhaps integrating them better with Network Rail to form ?GBR^▸ (Great British Railways).

Large parts of the overall rail operation are now fully in private hands and unlikely to be brought into public ownership. These include ROSCO^» (Rolling Stock Owning Company - about)'s + suppliers of new trains with/without maintenance contracts, infrastructure contractors, repair workshops, freight operations, open access passenger operators.