Very long term - where will Bristol Suburban trains be?

[whole diary]

[grahame]

BRI^» (Bristol Temple Meads - next trains) - Bristol Temple Meads. Not BTM^▸ (Bristol Temple Meads (strictly, it should be BRI)).

I appreciate that the canonical code for Bristol Temple Meads is BRI, and thats the rail industry standard, but the wider public standard for abbreviations and acronyms is to take the first letter of each word and use that.   Of course, that could be harmfully confusing if the resultant abbreviation was a valid station code, but in this case it's not.

You could indeed argue that BRI is a vey poor public abbreviation for Bristol Temple Meads, as in a different context people would feel it equally applies to Bristol Temple Meads, Bristol Parkway, Bridlington and Brixton.

[JayMac]

You want consistency and accuracy or not? Whether there is confusion in this case is moot. If three letter codes are to be used then surely its important that the correct industry standard ones are used. Otherwise the next time I go to Birmingham and explain the ticket loophole I'm using to save money I can add confusion by referring to my destination as BNS^▸ (Barnes (not Birmingham New Street)). Then a walk to BMS or BSH for onward travel.

What about the request that short codes are explained the first time they are used in a thread/post?

[martyjon]

BPW^» (Bristol Parkway - next trains) - Bristol Parkway
BRI^» (Bristol Temple Meads - next trains) - Bristol Temple Meads. Not BTM^▸ (Bristol Temple Meads (strictly, it should be BRI)).

Sorry I used the wrong code, I was thinking about my next Easyjet flight from BRI (the airport) or is it BRS^▸ (Business Rates Supplement), somewhere I got it written down that BRI or was it BRS was for internal flights or was it international flights but now it standardised as BRS or is it BRI but when we 'ere in Brizzle we refer to BRI as the Bristol Royal Infirmary.

[martyjon]

BRI^» (Bristol Temple Meads - next trains) - Bristol Temple Meads. Not BTM^▸ (Bristol Temple Meads (strictly, it should be BRI)).

I appreciate that the canonical code for Bristol Temple Meads is BRI, and thats the rail industry standard, but the wider public standard for abbreviations and acronyms is to take the first letter of each word and use that.   Of course, that could be harmfully confusing if the resultant abbreviation was a valid station code, but in this case it's not.

You could indeed argue that BRI is a vey poor public abbreviation for Bristol Temple Meads, as in a different context people would feel it equally applies to Bristol Temple Meads, Bristol Parkway, Bridlington and Brixton.

Brixham anyone.

[grahame]

You want consistency and accuracy or not? Whether there is confusion in this case is moot. ...

Yes - "of course" - putting words into the mouth of the admin and moderator team, but I think I'm on safe ground, we would like to see consistency and accuracy.  Except it's not quite that simple, is it?  

We run a forum that's a friendly place, where posters are welcomed even if they're not 100% in-the-know on the technical stuff on which they post to be 100% accurate with station, Tiploc^▸ (Timing Point Location), airport, train, coach, ticket code.  We don't mind a few spilling mistooks - indeed if we did, I would have been banned years ago. And we certainly don't want to have a place that has such an aura of accuracy that newcomers are put off posting, and established hands think to themselves "do I really want to bother?"

Where a post does end up being misleading / confusing (you cite an example of Barnes, Bushey and Bromley South), then of course the balance is probably towards correcting it, typically via a gentle message to the original poster from the moderator / admin team, or a subtle reply that clarifies what was said in context.  If you feel that the team hasn't noticed something, you have a notify button through which we can be alerted, or you can use the personal message system to one of us.    We appreciate hearing such things where members think there's good cause, though (and it has never happened in my memory) harassing the team though over-reporting would be a different problem.  It's all about balance. 

What about the request that short codes are explained the first time they are used in a thread/post?

Indeed, and perfectly valid request, but only that.  Trumped by a requirement not to harass people / post in such a way that they feel threatened which (alas) is all too easy to do.  We work hard here to make this a friendly place, as well as being a place where we've built up an accurate archive.   Hope we have the balance right - accuracy of archive is no good if the place is so unforgiving in the first place that no-one dares post.

[grahame]

As this is a somewhat unjoined issue, I have edited my previous post to bring it up as a separate comment

New topic, but still relating to your post ... noting your public strap line:

Publicly accused. No opportunity to defend myself

I took a look at your posts over the past couple of days, and beyond a difference of opinion as to whether "sh*t", "go*n" and "b*stard" used about a member of operational staff was used in a context that was a personal attack on him, I can't see anything that our team or members hear might have said to cause you upset, nor anywhere we have locked threads or prevented you from writing "in your own defence".    Your strap line is public - indeed it looks like a public accusation and probably against "authority" here; please offer us an opportunity to defend ourselves by letting us know what your issue is, or making it very clear that the comment does not relate to this place. 

[metalrail]

.... a full loop service is much harder to timetable than a series of branch lines - at least, much was made of the difficulty of finding paths both at Narroways and also at the Filton Diamond that would turn into a full loop timetable without too much trainset time wasted ....

But that was too hard under a two tracked Filton Bank but we are getting a four tracked Filton Bank and one of the benefits for approving the four tracking was to enable a rail service to be restored on the Henbury Loop.

Indeed, and that's the concern for us living in North East Bristol...  without the loop option we're literally cut off from direct services to the whole of the SVB line.  Our nearest local convenient station either by bus or to use as a park and ride is BPW^» (Bristol Parkway - next trains).  With a Henbury spur, the only access for us to CFN^▸ (Clifton Down station) - for example which a mate of mine wanted to use as a much easier commute for him once the loop opening was completed - is to get a train south from BPW and change at BRI^» (Bristol Temple Meads - next trains) or SRD and wait for a train back up the SVB line, which is obviously not a viable option.  The same goes for anyone travelling from YAE

[grahame]

The Filton Diamond is a very interesting planning and timetabling issue - with six possible routes for trains (twelve if you count each way separate) through it.  On each of four arrival lines you have three departure directions.   Which ones to serve?    Serve them all and you thin out services, perhaps to the extent you put people off using the train?

Even on a triangle junction you have the same issue - three entrances, two exits and do you want to run passenger trains around all sides, at the risk of them being too thin to be useful, or leave one side out and make for connections?  I'm minded of the discussion we have going on in another thread about Newport;  with 1 train per hour from Ebbw Vale, it probably makes sense to have a single route (Cardiff has been chosen), but with 2, one to Cardiff and one to Newport seems to be more sensible - bearing in mind that a change at Newport would provide a good connection to Cardiff seeing as trains are quite frequent on the main line.

[JayMac]

I took a look at your posts over the past couple of days, and beyond a difference of opinion as to whether "sh*t", "go*n" and "b*stard" used about a member of operational staff was used in a context that was a personal attack on him, I can't see anything that our team or members hear might have said to cause you upset, nor anywhere we have locked threads or prevented you from writing "in your own defence".    Your strap line is public - indeed it looks like a public accusation and probably against "authority" here; please offer us an opportunity to defend ourselves by letting us know what your issue is, or making it very clear that the comment does not relate to this place. 

You may very well think that. I couldn't possibly comment.