Yes, and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motorail_(British_Rail) seems to confirm my recollection that there was a service to Stirling.

I suspect this would have been Air UK^▸ (United Kingdom), or its charter subsidiary Air UK Leisure.

In our case I think Exeter Airport would be the only viable departure point - a trip via Bristol might be doable - and vitually all the services, certainly at this time of year, are provided by aircraft based at what would be the destination thereby making an 'out & back in a day' impossible.

The only current exceptions would be some of the various TUI^▸ (Touristik Union International. Also known as TUI Group - ) Fly services which use an Exeter-based aircraft and, for example, tomorrow (24th March) one could potentially do a day return to Gran Canaria. Although, assuming on-time flights, you would only get 45 minutes in Spain! And I haven't checked whether that would meet the check-in/boarding rules for the return.

I am taken back to the late 1980's when I started my employment with a large telecommunications company that had just established a new data centre (DC^▸ (Direct Current)) in Exeter. The DC supported all the company's business application IT for Cornwall (inc. the IoS), Devon and a significant part of Somerset. Staff numbers were around 150 people and it was a 24/7 operation.

Pretty small beer compared to Heathrow Airport.

As part of the new employee 'tour' we discovered that the building had two separate mains power supplies, which could be switched over very rapidly, two fairly hefty UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) battery packs which automatically fired up in a matter of seconds in the event of a mains power failure, and a diesel generator which could be brought online in 10 minutes . These units were fully tested on a quarterly basis.

It seems to me that, given the importance of LHR in the national picture, Heathrow Airport management, possibly aided & abetted by the National Grid, have completely failed to render the site as operationally secure as should have been the case (e.g. automatic switching to one of the alternative mains power supplies should have been an absolute requirement).

The easterly wind was very strong in the Exeter area yesterday so the sea would have been surging directly towards the railway line. As a result of this I suspect NR^» (Network Rail - home page) would have implemented Single Line Working (SLW) between DWW and TGM^▸ (Teignmouth station) (West) and would have cancelled these station calls to avoid making the resulting capacity issue even worse.

Anybody wanting to try the UK^▸ (United Kingdom) > Singapore 'All The Way By Train' journey better get a move on because when the new Johor Bahru<>Singapore RTS link opens in the near future the current KTM heavy rail service across the Causeway will cease and, I suspect, shortly thereafter the tracks will be lifted to provide more space for motor vehicles.

Some DoubleEweD40 might help with this?

I thought it might be helpful to mention that Railcards can be 'purchased' - no real money changes hands - using Tesco Clubcard rewards.

Terrible idea which I hope will be consigned to the bin forthwith.

Where necessary liabilty for an RTC involving cyclists should be apportioned to the actual guilty party rather than on the basis of a preset assumption.

And in my experience - I cycle around 5000 miles a year - it is quite commonly other cyclists or pedestrians at fault.

 

If this is true I would venture to suggest that the BritRail Pass marketing team are not doing a very good job. Or the product does not adequately meet the requirements of a significant number of visitors to the UK^▸ (United Kingdom).

On the basis that eight members of our Singapore family branch visited the UK in the late Spring of 2023 armed with BritRail passes, and Two Together Railcards, and travelled widely - to various places between Exeter, Manchester and Edinburgh - without any problems after we told them how to apply maybe the marketing is a bit off.

17 & 13

05/02/25-08/02/25 - A Few Days Away In (Mainly) Warwickshire
Daytime ‘touristy’ stuff and evening meet ups with our son who was at one of his Warwick Business School MBA on-site sessions - a useful occasional taxi service.

Tickets
2 x Senior Railcard Advance Singles DIG>RDG^▸ (Rail Delivery Group, or Reading station, depending on context) £41.90
2 x Senior Railcard Advance Singles RDG>LMS^▸ (London Midland Scottish - 1923 to 1948) £23.40
2 x Senior Railcard Off Peak Day Returns WRW>BCS £26.10
2 x Senior Railcard Off Peak Day Returns LMS>SAV £11.70
2 x Senior Railcard Advance Singles LMS>RDG £27.00
2 x Senior Railcard Advance Singles RDG>DIG £41.90

Outward - 05/02/25
DIG 1114 (1120)>EXD^» (Exeter St Davids - next trains) 1124 (1129) : 2T15 EXM>PGN : 1 x 165/1 (3 Cars)
EXD 1143 (OT)>RDG 1349 (1350) : 1A81 PGN>PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains) : 1 x 800/3 (9 Cars)
RDG 1415 (OT)>LMS 1514 (OT) : 1M50 BMH>MAN : 1 x 220 + 1 x 221 (8 Cars)

2T15 was delayed at TOP by 6 minutes, waiting for the late running 2F13 to clear the single line.
Lightly loaded. No ticket/railcard check.
1A81 was very lightly loaded - in our coach there were only 10 pax on departure from EXD. Tickets but not railcards checked after departure from WSB^» (Westbury - next trains).
1M50 was very busy from RDG and, taking a leaf out of the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) playbook, there was a PA^▸ (Public Address) announcement apologising for the lack of catering in the front unit. Tickets & railcards checked. Following an on time arrival at LMS we took a (free for us) bus to the Leamington Shopping Park and then walked (10-15 minutes) to our chosen hotel - the Leamington Holiday Inn is not served by public transport.

06/02/25
Morning stroll + bus to Warwick Castle which unsurprisingly was very quiet. A very interesting visit with plentiful historical information although some parts of the estate were still closed it being winter.
On a cold but bright sunny day we walked to Warwick Railway Station - there is no direct bus service - and headed for Bicester Village as SWTSMBO^▸ (She Who Thinks She Must Be Obeyed (affectionate term for wife or female partner)) wished to have a look at the latest handbag offerings!
WRW 1314 (1315)>BCS 1351 (OT) : 1H45 BMO>MYB^▸ (London (Marylebone)) : 68015 + DVT^▸ (Driving Van Trailer (carriage) or Deep Vein Thrombosis, depending on context) (6 Cars)
A minor annoyance was the fact that our tickets had to be purchased separately from the Chiltern TVM^▸ (Ticket Vending Machine) because it did not allow the specification of multiple Senior Railcards in a single transaction. This was not the case with some other railcards such as 2-Together.
First trip on one of these Chiltern ‘push-pull’ trains; they are fitted out to a very high standard. Arrived at BCS on time and took the electric BV1 bus (National Bus Passes accepted) to the village. Even in winter you might expect the outlet to be full of PRC tourists but it was surprisingly quiet largely, I suspect, because of the parlous state of the domestic PRC economy.
Steps retraced to Leamington via the bus and
BCS 1627 (OT)>LMS 1659 (1658) : 1G43 MYB>BSW : 1 x 168/1 (4 Cars)
Tickets & railcards checked immediately after departure from BCS. We used the ‘Break Of Journey’  to alight at LMS rather than WRW.
Note that the two platforms at WRW are  currently isolated from each other while the subway is closed due to lift installation and getting to P2 from the town centre can take up to 10 minutes longer than usual.

07/02/25
LMS 0939 (OT)>SAV 1013 (OT) : 2D16 LMS>SAV : 1 x 168/3 (2 Cars)
Same issue with the Chiltern TVM at LMS re Railcards. Tickets & railcards checked immediately after departure from LMS - with 3 staff doing the necessary! Have the TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) identified major levels of fare evasion on this route?
Average speed on the journey was a smidgeon under 27mph and the infrastructure apparently only permits a two hourly service I suspect to accommodate the hourly Worcester to Stratford-upon-Avon via Birmingham service. I wouldn’t mind betting that the train service to one of the UK^▸ (United Kingdom)’s principal visitor attractions could be significantly improved by reinstating the line between SAV and HYB given that it would reduce the rail distance between these two stations from 67 to 9 miles and allow the provision of a 'circular' service in both directions via Birmingham and Worcester.
We were mightily impressed with the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust guides’ breadth of knowledge concerning the life and times of the great man and his family.
The return portion of our tickets were not used as we stopped in Stratford for dinner and returned to Leamington by car.

Return - 08/02/25
LMS 1138 (1143)>RDG 1242 (1250) : 1O12 MAN>BMH : 2 x 220 (8 Cars)
RDG 1301 (1303)>EXD 1505 (1504) : 1C81 PAD>EXD : 1 x 800/0 (5 Cars)
EXD 1518 (OT)>DIG 1531 (OT) : 2F22 PGN>EXM 1 x 165/1 (2 Cars)

1O12 was delayed after ADD^▸ (Automatic Dropping Device) and arrived at LMS 5 down. It was already very busy on arrival and pretty much full on departure. It lost more time passing KGS & XAN arriving into OXF^» (Oxford - next trains) 8 late where many pax alighted. Service did not make up any time and also arrived at RDG 8 late. The same platform - P7 - transfer to 1C81 was most welcome. Reservation data had not been uploaded to 1C81 and the TM^▸ (Train Manager, or possibly Ticket Machine, depending on context) explained that this was due to it being 5 cars rather than the scheduled 9 car unit. However all the RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website) information available to me indicates that 1C81 is invariably only 5 cars. Tickets but not railcards checked. A female with four kids in tow, one in a pushchair, who subsequently alighted at PEW were politely removed from 1st class; the pushchair avec sprog was moved by one of the GWR staff while the passenger dealt with the other three ankle-biters. The service caught up time by WSB and ran to schedule for the remainder of the journey.
2F22 was well loaded - I am not sure two coaches is sufficient on a Saturday coming up to tea time - and a group of very loud Scouser CTCRM inmates received a b*llocking from a couple of travelling GWR staff over their behaviour. Well done them!

Since you ask the answer is 'Yes' - in fact two seats when we were travelling to the south west of France to watch Exeter Chiefs play.

Our seats were occupied by a couple of Twenty Somethings who quite happily moved when I pointed out, in my best Failed GCE 'O' Level schoolboy French, that we held reservations for them.

I don't have much interest in football / soccer / wendyball* but it would be remiss of me not to mention that tonight it is Exeter City FC^▸ (First Class, or Fat Controller, or Football Club, depending on context)'s turn to try and make headlines by seeing off Nottingham Forest.

(Given Exeter's recent form I guess the bookie odds on this would be pretty good).

*Choose your preferred pronoun. 

Quite obviously I disagree; occupying a seat which is quite clearly marked as reserved (when you don't hold the reservation) qualifies as inconsiderate, any such individual who then refuses to move when asked to by the reservation holder I regard as worse.