I’ll concede the Twyford points failure didn’t help matters, but maintain that had the 05:03 Penzance to Paddington not lost over half an hour in Cornwall this morning due to a points failure, the train’s next working (1C77, with the TM^▸ (Train Manager, or possibly Ticket Machine, depending on context) for the TransWilts on board), would probably not have been late enough into Westbury to have knocked-on to the 12:17 to Swindon. 

Indeed not anywhere near Wiltshire - actually this points failure mentioned by GBM elsewhere on the forum https://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=28556.msg359538#msg359538, which was in Cornwall.

Slight stab in the dark to finish this quiz off; is number 24 Cheltenham Spa, I wonder?

Coincidentally(??), the same train as was on the 17:50 Gloucester to Salisbury yesterday (165132 according to RTT^» (Real Time Trains - website)).

Swapping units at Westbury this morning caused an eleven minute delay to the TransWilts train, but presumably there were working toilets on the substitute train (and an extra carriage), so not all bad news (unless you were on the Castle Cary to Filton train without a working loo from Westbury….)

I recently travelled with LNER^» (London North Eastern Railway - about) - no seat reservation as the ticket was purchased at the booking office about ten minutes before departure. Luckily it wasn’t too busy, so I took a seat (with a window, although it wasn’t long before sunset), which happened to be one marked with the orange light - “May be reserved later”. Not wishing to have to move, I decided to have a go at reserving ‘my’ seat, and after registering with the LNER website, I soon had a reservation from the next booked station call to Kings Cross (in another carriage), which I was then able to change for the seat I was sat in. It passed a few minutes, but the progress was pretty straightforward.

Incidentally, the display didn’t change to show that the seat was reserved after the next station call, so whilst the back room reservation system knew the seat was taken, the train’s systems remained unaware!

I completely agree.

Of course…. by the simple(?) expedient of providing the information on which seats have restricted views on the page of the booking site where you select your seat, rather than requiring you to open a second browser window to view the seating layout pdf (https://www.lner.co.uk/globalassets/_page-structure/azuma-content/azuma-seat-maps-aug2021-min.pdf), which you then have to cross reference to the booking page to ensure you don’t get a ‘no-window’ window seat.

Easy enough when you’re aware, but would be easier if you didn’t have to because the information is all on one page…

And 3 is Conon Bridge; a station I’ve only visited once, but which is quite distinctive.

2 is Beauly

11. Filton Abbey Wood

4. Corwen, with a rather drunken looking lamppost in the background 

Bit strange that, given that usually an out and back from Westbury would be cancelled if there’s a shortage of crew, rather than two unrelated ‘half trips’

It wouldn’t surprise me if the 13:15 runs from Swindon (train 2M26), and the last train of the day from Swindon, the 22:31 to Westbury (train 2M36) ends up being cancelled.

3. is Portsmouth and Brighton to Warminster (and Dilton Marsh), pre-dating the May 2022 removal of the through GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) Brighton to Bristol/Great Malvern services (and also the end of on-board catering, which I learn from this Forum was from April 1st 2022).

12. is Trowbridge.

1. Is the Swanage Railway’s DMMU (Diesel Mechanical Multiple Unit), a class 117 leading a class 121 ‘bubble car’ between Corfe Castle and Norden.

Neither train is particularly unusual in it’s own right, but the fact that they are registered for mainline running, and have carried fare-paying passengers on the national network in recent years, does make them unique.

Sadly those days seem to have passed, and I don’t expect they’ll be seen running into Wareham under their own power anytime soon.