They completely fail to mention the many times when "family friendly" Southampton-bound Southern trains are turned back at Havant, or diverted to Bognor Regis.

The other thing SHRUG never does is highlight the abominable performance of Southern services to Southampton, yet constantly plugs them as the "good value" option from Southampton or Portsmouth to London by comparing their fastest time with the SWT^▸ (South West Trains) stopping services! Yes, Southern are cheaper but you pay for this in terms of service reliability, quality of rolling stock and journey times. Things have improved considerably on FGW^▸ (First Great Western) Wessex, but there's still plenty of room for improvement on punctuality, again this is not mentioned by SHRUG.

SHRUG also loves to suggest that only SWT cut stops for "OPERATIONAL CONVENIENCE", when in reality Southern and the other SE area TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) do this just as frequently but again this is glossed over so as to present Southern as the saintly company. Likewise, according to SHRUG, SWT's staff are all lazy jobsworths who will hand out penalty fares at the slightest opportunity, whereas all of FGW and Southern's staff are laidback and friendly.

It's no wonder SWT management stopped taking SHRUG seriously years ago.

The SWT^▸ (South West Trains) PIS displays were installed sometime between 2001 and 2003.

The approach taken by the SHRUG may have a positive effect on local MPs^▸ (Member of Parliament, or Mile Post - a method of measuring the railway in miles and chains from a starting point - usually London, depending on context), but it has certainly alienated SWT^▸ (South West Trains) management! Which isn't a particularly clever thing to do if you are actually trying to improve local rail services rather than just have a good old rant. It is also rather suspicious that SHRUG never mentions the poor performance of Southern services to and from Southampton, with regular cancellations and missed stops. Likewise, CrossCountry are to be praised where Virgin Trains were to be hated as they were 49% owned by Stagecoach.


I may be missing something, but isn't the graphic of which you speak shown on the previous page of this thread?

On Ditra they are preceded by "Attention please, this is a platform alteration", on ATOS/SEMA by "This is a platform alteration", on Funkwerk "Here is a platform alteration", and TOA by "This is a change of platform announcement" / "This is a platform change".

Announcements preceded by "May I/we have your attention please" are nearly always gubbins. You need to listen out for "I'm/we're sorry to announce that the".

What a stupid idea. They are useful for tourists and visually impaired passengers.

They are usual clear and precise, in fact those which aren't are usually made by staff and not a computer.

Announcements are no longer played across all platforms, but merely to the platform they apply to. "Birmingham New Street, this is Birmingham New Street" has returned. As far as I know no technical changes have been made.

If the systems at Victoria are replaced (there are two, one for each side), they will mostly like be ATOS Sarah, as at Charing Cross. Although, when Waterloo had its system replaced last year, it got a brand new Ditra system.

This is also a Ditra System (just only has one voice enabled). Phil and Celia are now both at Birmingham New Street following some changes to the system there. Charing Cross had, and Victoria has, a very old version of the Ditra System dating back to 1988.

Some clips of the various announcers:
Celia
Ruth
Thames
Sarah

I expect the old Thames systems will be replaced by Ditras soon-ish. I imagine the SEMA systems used on the ex-Wessex stations will be remaining in play for now.

Time to clear up some confusion about the four Dorises...

The older, posher "Doris" is a professional voice over artist called Celia Drummond, who provides the female voice for the Ditra System - which is the same system that Phil Sayer provides the male voice for. These systems are employed on South West Trains stations, and also at the original FGW^▸ (First Great Western) stations such as Plymouth, Exeter St Davids, Swindon, Reading, and more recently Oxford and Slough.

The middle aged, extremely posh "Doris" is an unknown voice over artist who can be heard on the ex-Thames Trains stations (she was recently replaced at OXF^» (Oxford - next trains) and SLO) such as Newbury, Maidenhead and Ealing Broadway. The likelihood is that she will be replaced if and when new CIS^▸ (Customer Information System) screens are installed at the smaller ex-Thames stations. I don't know who manufactures this sytem, but it wasn't particularly successful.

The younger, sarcastic sounding "Doris" is/was an employee of Wessex Trains called Ruth, she provides the voice for the ATOS/SEMA System used at ex-Wessex Trains stations.

The last Doris is the one heard at Paddington, known as "Sarah" although I do not know if that's her real name. She runs on the same system as Ruth; there is a male version also (although only used at London Bridge, Cannon Street and Gatwick Airport).

I've seen an 8 car once, I think it was 166 + 166 + 165, not sure if it was in service or ECS^▸ (Empty Coaching Stock) though.

Remember the SO 11:20 Waterloo - Paignton misses out Axminster, but calls at Honiton so as Mr Cairns suggests, Honiton is more suprising.

Anyway here are the initial SWT^▸ (South West Trains) Saturday timings... notice there are a number with very odd calling patterns!

Maybe slightly off the usual topic, but I notice that on Saturday 8th/Sunday 9th November, South West Trains will be running a Yeovil Pen Mill - Exeter St Davids shuttle service, as well as FGW^▸ (First Great Western) being diverted over the West of England line. Good stuff!

Don't be so sure, I'm bidding for the HST^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)) contract when it comes up!

As long as its not Nagging Northern Nora!

Good, because far too many dog walkers don't use leads.

I live near acres of lovely woodland but it's basically unusable thanks to the dogs.