Six of the best!

[whole diary]

[John R]

5. Bont y bermo.

Et en anglais, s'il vous pla^t? Je sais qu'il doit ^tre ^crit en gallois, mais pour les indig^nes de l'Angleterre leur propre langue trop serait utile!

Dim siarad Cymraeg? Yn Saesneg, Barmouth Bridge.

[Chris from Nailsea]

You can't expect me to be good with numbers. 

Well, I can see why you didn't take up accountancy! 

Meanwhile, of some concern to me, from a personal safety on the railways point of view, on the subject of lines on platforms is this:



I think we need to get a line painted across the end of the level part of the platform, with a warning sign that the public should not proceed beyond that point onto the slope down towards the track.

[Rhydgaled]

No yellow line at melksham.

Nor at Glasgow Central, it would seem from the photo. Tactile paving seems to be replacing yellow lines, or is that just low-speed stations?

Dim siarad Cymraeg? Yn Saesneg, Barmouth Bridge.

Is siarad the way you spell the word which I believe is pronounced 'sharad' and translates as 'speak'? Don't know what 'Yn Saesneg' could be though. And shouldn't the Welsh for Barmouth Bridge be 'Pont Abermaw', since there's nothing before the word Pont to mutate it and the Welsh for Barmouth is Abermaw (mouth of the river Maw).

Sorry, might have been talking nonsense there because I can't actually speak or read Welsh, I've tried a few lessons and haven't really got beyond 'dim sharad Cymraeg' but I've seen enough road signs etc. to know things like Barmouth is Abermaw.

I think we need to get a line painted across the end of the level part of the platform, with a warning sign that the public should not proceed beyond that point onto the slope down towards the track.

Why not? It's a ramp, it's part of the platform and it can be walked on safely. Just so long as they don't get all the way to the bottom and put their feet on the ballast. You make an intersting choice of wording though, where there are such signs it often says: "Passengers must not pass this point of cross the line". Some pepole on the platform may not be passengers, so the wording of the sign does not apply to them even though it probably should (although not in the case of one such sign at Aberystwyth which is daft, as there is recently refurbished perfectly serviceable platform beyond the sign).

[John R]

Y Bermo is a colloquial name for Barmouth, and similarly for the bridge. Indeed a Class 37 was named Bont y Bermo back in the 80s.  I would agree with pont v bont, but have only ever seen it referred to as bont - maybe the rules are bent for what is a colloquial name as it is more alliterative. I am a long way from an expert on mutations, although I did once question with a welsh speaker whether the sign Croeso I Comet outside a branch of the now closed retailer was incorrect and he confirmed it should really have been Croeso I Gomet.

And yes, siarad is pronounced sharad.

[bobm]

I think we need to get a line painted across the end of the level part of the platform, with a warning sign that the public should not proceed beyond that point onto the slope down towards the track.

On the 8th December 2013 there was a somewhat faded sign - although you might have had to stray quite a way down the ramp to actually read it!




However by March it had been replaced by one similar to this one at the other end of the platform

[grahame]

As an aside, I love this picture of yours, Bob.  I recall you took it just after getting off the train, and it shows the bus into Melksham Town Centre, Melksham Forest, Queensway, Snowberry, Campion and Bowerhill passing just before people have had a chance to get from the train to the nearest stop {which isn't as near as it should be, but that's another story}

[bobm]

I did indeed, after which I then walked into town for a meeting. I could then catch a bus from outside the meeting venue which dropped me directly outside Trowbridge railway station!

[grahame]

I took a look at the (new) signs at Melksham Station today.  The sign at the north end says "Passengers must not pass this point or cross the line" and it is situated at the bottom of the ramp. So I suggest that it's reasonable for people to assume that it's OK to walk as far as the sign - in other words all the way down the ramp.

[Chris from Nailsea]

... which is clearly nonsense.  The reason all of those galvanised metal gates and rubber mats have been installed at stations such as (just for example) Nailsea & Backwell and Keynsham is to try to stop members of the public from leaving the level part of the platforms.

Members of the public have no need to go down the ramps at the ends of platforms: they will not be able to board any train from down there, and the closer they get to the tracks, the greater their danger.  They also choose to place themselves in the firing line, so to speak, of any discharges from the toilet flushes on those many trains still operating without retention tanks ... 

[JayMac]

... getting a short sharp shower of...

[Chris from Nailsea]

... shurely not?