ASLEF have announced strike days for drivers working for Elizabeth Line

Dates announced so far are: 27th February, 1st March, 8th March and 10th March from 00:01 to 23:59.

More information can be seen on the ASLEF press release: https://aslef.org.uk/publications/train-drivers-strike-elizabeth-line

 

A superbly informative day and such a contrast in many areas.    Home a few minutes ago

Rail Innovation Exhibition, Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre, 13.2.2025

Plan
06:32 Melksham to Westbury arrive 06:55
07:00 Westbury to Paddinton arrive 08:35

18:36 Paddington to Westbury arrive 19:58
20:06 Westbury to Melkshan arrive 20:21

Actual
06:36 left Melksham late at 07:15 arrived Westbury 07:30.
Connection not held so ...
Dropped back to 07:57 from Westbury, arrived Paddington 09:24

18:36 Paddington to Westbury left on time but 20 mins late as Westbury
Connection not held so ...
Dropped back to 21:16 from Westbury, arrived Melksham 21:31

So that's
Outbound - 49 minutes late arrival
Homeward bound - 70 minutes late arrival

I will write up the conference and exhibition tomorrow.

 
Always a bit worried about the drivers, one having picked me up from a notoriously cold stop the other night and he was a bit blue around the edges too.

Mark

 

Optares are about the only modern vehicles that are fitted with heating. It’s forced through the vents at the rear seats from the engine bay.

 

This reminds me of the 1960s when I was a schoolboy travelling on London buses.  Most of my journeys were on the older buses, RT/RTL/RTW, and these had no heating at all.  Until latterly some of them had a small heater fitted underneath one seat at the front right of the lower deck.  Oh the delight of getting the seat behind the heater and warming my cold feet on that heater!  And then we got the luxury of an occasional journey on the new Routemasters, which had the built-in warm air heating outlets, on both decks.

 
The current sustained three degrees centigrade (and flurry of cancelled services) and also the memory of making it to the seats at the front and downstairs to sit within reach of a small grill that emitted warm air - on what may have been a London routemaster... all this  caused me to reflect on 'Heating on buses' which in 2025 often doesn't seem to be a thing.

It's so much not a thing that I wondered if Optare buses might actually be not fitted with heating for the passengers at all. Looking *that* up though, they do.

Then, the next hit on the web search was to a couple of threads in railforums with wry observations that various bus companies turn off the heating in winter as that benefits the engine - and then turn it on in summer to provide additional engine cooling - and then an interjection from another bus operator that he was passionate that his firms bus's did not run with heating defects and that any that did were repaired immediately. Where the truth is in all this I'm not sure.

Mark

 
This made me think of one aunt in particular, and of the nailed-up timetabled train from Paddington in that direction - loco and coaches at 16:45, which used to depart rather serenely, just in advance of most of the evening rush.

Checking Realtimetrains and yes it still runs, at 16:48, a five carriage IEP to Malvern, backed up by a 10 carriage set 40 minutes later.

Mark

https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:Y22372/2025-02-13

 
A slack day at the letters desk at the North Somerset Times then. Some will just never admit that they have lost the argument, do they? I doubt that any of his protests or submissions were taken at all seriously, but he really needs to concentrate on the day job. That circus needs its clown fully focused.

 
Yes, the content of Barry Cash’s letter is quite similar to his response to the DCO. I’ve tried to establish how big the membership of his Portishead Busway Campaign is, but as far as I can tell it’s just Barry.

I believe he lives in Bishopston, Bristol. So why he has devoted so much time and effort to try and deny Portishead it’s railway defeats me.

He recently had a letter published in a local freebie maligning the new station at Ashley Down (which is at least somewhere near where he lives!) so we can expect more of the same from him as MetroWest develops. For editors, he’s an easy go-to guy for the anti-rail angle.

 

Unfortunately the rail industry managed to make a balls of that too......

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cyx0p18kq74o

 
Criminal court fines are not enforced through the County Courts. Enforcement of these is by threat of. or actual, imprisonment. If no attempt is made to pay an arrest warrant is issued, thus ensuring attendance at court

 

Some people are in such a financial mess with debts, arrears, fines, CCJs etc especially in the current climate that another one makes little difference, it's just added to the pile.

Their credit rating is amongst the least of their worries in this context.

 
Mr Cash has never obviously travelled on the Translohr rubber tyred system of Clermont Ferrand. Not for the faint hearted or those of tender derrieres. I think that letter represents the last gasps of a dying enterprise.

 

I wouldn't be so sure of that.......

https://www.northsomersettimes.co.uk/news/24927819.bus-service-makes-sense-expanding-portishead-rail/

 
It feels that the main issue right now is the late afternoon/evening peak. The morning and daytime services seem to be largely ok (at this end of the line, anyway).

 
Sorry the day started like that, hope it hasn't cost you an arm and a leg.

Mark

 

They sorta-did - they said I could use SWR services. Then in the same breath (I assume they breath in call centres) said my ticket would only be accepted if I dropped back to the next train on the same route, and I could not take the 07:21 and travel via Swindon - which (had the 07:21) been on time) would have put me in London 20 minutes down and not nearly 60!

I *had* considered going into Waterloo in the first place but chose to gain the extra few minutes earlier arrival (ha, ha) by going the more expensive way.

 
Surprised they didn't offer ticket acceptance on the London Waterloo service.   A slower train but would have cut your wait at Westbury and got you nearer the venue.

 
The location proposed in 2014 for Ashton Gate Station is about 500m closer to Parson St Jct that the old site, just south of Barons Close. All the details are here: https://travelwest.info/app/uploads/2020/05/MetroWest-Stations-Package-Ashton-Gate.pdf

 
From home at 6 a.m. for the 06:32 train ... and only just on my way from Westbury now at 08:00 towards London. That's an hour late and I will probably walk in during the Peter Hendy keynote.  Information sources poor along the way ...  good illustration of how poorly the customer is informed, even if the operational recovery of services was probably done as well as might be expected.

 

Just pulling in to Trowbridge on the 06:32 from Melksham - it's now 07:22.   Missing the 07:00 connection at Westbury to London for the Rail Innovation Conference and exhibition.  Information was lacking (!!) at Melksham and not even a train manager coming through to check tickets and help people.

 
Cancellations to services between Westbury and Chippenham via Melksham
Following the police dealing with an incident at Trowbridge all lines are now open. Disruption is expected until 07:30 13/02.
Train services between Westbury and Chippenham via Melksham may be cancelled.
Customer Advice
Due to ammunition being discovered near the railway in Trowbridge, no trains can run until the police say it is safe to do so.

 
Yes, one of my early runs involved a bit of a route I'd never done, so did a shout out to passengers.
The lady's husband had been a driver on that route years ago.
Back for a meal break, and discussed this, only to be told the way I went was old "We don't use that nowadays as our now larger vehicles get stuck on the sharp bend".  Oops.
No, I didn't get stuck, just another tight turn for me.........

 
being reported by Radio Bristol at 07:00am,knock on effect causing issues at Bath and Chippenham stations

Anyone listening to BBC Wiltshire?

 
I recall being on one of the trains in the Berlin area,

and two mean looking guys, one boarded at one end of the coach and one got in the other end of the coach

and then demanding to see passengers tickets after showing their I.D. 

They managed to find two who were not in possession of the correct tickets,

the two guys got the two passengers off the train and started interviewing them on the platform

 

Received overnight

 

You're welcome! Although I don't remember if I came up with that sobriquet or read it somewhere.

 
Ah Southall was it?!
2hrs to get home to Maidenhead tonight via Elizabeth Line tonight including getting retrained at Slough so that the empty train could arrive at Reading faster.

Interesting to see how the timetabling and track priorities shift over the evening. During rush hour the Didcot services were running fine and the Elizabeth Line trains ran slow with 40min delays. Now, at the end of the day, Didcots are cancelled and tfl is running ok(ish)

 

Mayor Dan was very quick off the mark, but is it really a victory for him? The real victory will come with the first train. Dan will not be the Western Super Mayor (thank you JayMac) by then, so is getting his claim to a part of history in quickly.

There are still potential stumbling blocks, but plenty of reasons to believe it will really happen this time. Not least is having the political ducks in a row, with WECA and the national government being of the same party. That national government will need all the good news it can present come the next local elections, and this fits the bill. Others will claim some of the credit, as all have a hand on the controls at one time or another - this has been going on for so long that even the Whigs may have been involved - but if Dan and the current powers that be get this line over the line, I would think they can claim most of it. The previous administration did rather drag its heels and go back to square one a couple of times, entirely without need. A lot of the preparation has been done already, granted, but always without giving the final nod. I expect to see former Mayor Dan on the first service with whoever the transport secretary is by then. Whoever is wearing the WECO hat by then will have only a supporting role on the podium.


The platform was still there in 2012, and I can't think of anything that has happened since that would have caused it to be ripped up. There's two as it happens, either side of what was once double track here.



I may be wrong, but I don't think this is the site envisioned by WECA for the reopened station.  Land has been set aside by the Ashton Rise development, adjacent to the car park side end of the MetroBust skew bridge. This Bristol Post article is unusually helpful in describing the location, with a bonus photo of the station in use in the Olden Days.

 

Specifically Southall!

Cancellations to services between London Paddington and Newbury via Reading

Due to a broken rail at Southall fewer trains are able to run on some lines. Disruption is expected until the end of the day.

Train services between London Paddington and Newbury via Reading may be cancelled.

Customer Advice
Due to a broken track in the Southhall area, only a limited number of trains are able to run on this line. As a result, some train services may be cancelled or delayed

.....also affecting Didcot services.