Recent Public Posts
| Re: 'Railway 200' events and commemorations 2025 Posted by ChrisB at 20:46, 28th December 2024 |      |
I hope Graham's work manages to retain new topics started while he's at work.
| Re: 'Railway 200' events and commemorations 2025 Posted by Chris from Nailsea at 20:28, 28th December 2024 | |
Thanks for posting all of that, JayMac.
However, I'm going to post here a small request for us to also remember Richard Trevithick, from Cornwall, who ran (albeit unsuccessful) passenger railway trains long before the Stephensons.
| Re: Weekend of 28th/29th December - Coffee Shop offline for engineering works Posted by JayMac at 19:48, 28th December 2024 | |
The first 95% of the work takes the first 95% of the time - the final 5% will take the second and third 95%s of the time
{like} ;-)
| 'Railway 200' events and commemorations 2025 Posted by JayMac at 19:38, 28th December 2024 | |
I've started this topic so we have one place to share details of, and discussion about, the many events going on throughout 2025 to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the opening of the world's first locomotive passenger railway.
The Stockton & Darlington Railway opened to passengers on 27th September 1825 with the first passenger train hauled by George and Robert Stephenson's Locomotive No. 1.
There is a dedicated website for Railway 200 supported by rail industry stakeholders.
https://railway200.co.uk/about-railway-200/
One of the first events is the 'Railway 200 Whistle Up' at midday GMT on 1st January 2025, when heritage locomotives across the UK (and further afield) will sound their whistles to herald the start of the year long Railway 200 commemorations.
From Network Rail:
Global ‘whistle-up’ on New Year’s Day signals start of rail’s 200th anniversary
- Biggest railway heritage mass participation event ever - more than 50 railways and up to 200 locos to sound off with whistles and horns to start year-long celebration.
- Overseas railways, train modellers Hornby, commemorative loco 910 and Thomas & Friends™ to join in.
- Public invited to get involved and share activity on social media.
A celebratory cacophony of train locomotive whistles and horns at midday on 1 January 2025 will signal the start of the 200th anniversary of the modern railway.
The Railway 200 Whistle-Up, spearheaded by the Heritage Railway Association (HRA), will involve more than 50 heritage railways in the UK and abroad blowing the whistles of nearly 200 vintage steam and diesel locomotives to herald a year-long celebration. Railways in other countries, including Holland, South Africa and Sierra Leone, will be taking part, some with British-built locos. The HRA claims it will be the biggest railway heritage mass participation event ever.
Train engine horns at mainline stations will also sound off at the appointed hour to welcome in the anniversary year.
At the other end of the scale, train modellers Hornby will be getting a variety of model trains to toot and whistle on their track layouts. There will also be a special appearance on social media from everyone's favourite blue engine, Thomas the Tank Engine.
Railway 200 is a year-long celebration of 200 years of the modern railway. It will explore how rail has shaped national life and encourage more people to consider a career in the railway. The anniversary commemorates the launch of the Stockton and Darlington Railway (S&DR) in 1825, a journey that changed the world forever. In tribute, at the adjoining Locomotion museum in Shildon, County Durham, the whistle of the North Eastern Railway’s locomotive 910 will be sounded once more. The 910 is currently undergoing restoration, ahead of its display next year, and is the only locomotive to have appeared in all three of the previous S&DR anniversaries, in 1875, 1925 and 1975.
Community rail groups will be participating in the Whistle-Up too.
Everyone is invited to join in by recording themselves, family and friends blowing whistles, sounding horns or ringing bells at noon on New Year’s Day and posting on social media, using #Railway200 and #WhistleUp200. If no whistles, horns or bells are to hand, try a Christmas party blower or popper, or just pucker your lips and whistle!
Welcoming the start of Railway 200, Rail Minister Lord Hendy said:
"The world changed forever in 1825 with the birth of the modern railway in Britain, and rolled out across the globe. Railway 200’s celebrations are a unique opportunity to honour a groundbreaking moment in our history while looking boldly towards the future. The Whistle-Up event marks the start of a year that will showcase how the railway continues to transform lives, connect communities, and create growth, jobs, housing and tourism.
This milestone reminds us of the integral role rail plays in a sustainable future and is our chance to present the railway as a forward thinking, digital industry with vibrant and diverse career paths for a new generation. Together, let us celebrate this extraordinary British achievement and inspire a shared vision for the next century of railway progress."
Alan Hyde from Railway 200 said:
"The 200th anniversary of the modern railway marks a major milestone in our national life. In time-honoured fashion, the Whistle-Up fanfare launches what promises to be a memorable year with lots of exciting activities and events planned to celebrate the past, present and future of rail."
Steve Oates, chief executive of the Heritage Railway Association, added:
"The railways made so much of the world we now live in possible. From package holidays to commuting and even the concept of standardised time, it was the coming of the railways that kickstarted it all and transformed communities across the globe. It’s important that we don’t let the landmark 200th anniversary go without a sizeable celebration.
The whistle-up is a great chance for everyone involved in railways, big and small across the world, to join in the celebrations and see in 2025 in style by reviving a tradition from the age of steam. And, unlike in decades past, we’ll be able to join it all up thanks to the power of social media by using #WhistleUp200."
- Biggest railway heritage mass participation event ever - more than 50 railways and up to 200 locos to sound off with whistles and horns to start year-long celebration.
- Overseas railways, train modellers Hornby, commemorative loco 910 and Thomas & Friends™ to join in.
- Public invited to get involved and share activity on social media.
A celebratory cacophony of train locomotive whistles and horns at midday on 1 January 2025 will signal the start of the 200th anniversary of the modern railway.
The Railway 200 Whistle-Up, spearheaded by the Heritage Railway Association (HRA), will involve more than 50 heritage railways in the UK and abroad blowing the whistles of nearly 200 vintage steam and diesel locomotives to herald a year-long celebration. Railways in other countries, including Holland, South Africa and Sierra Leone, will be taking part, some with British-built locos. The HRA claims it will be the biggest railway heritage mass participation event ever.
Train engine horns at mainline stations will also sound off at the appointed hour to welcome in the anniversary year.
At the other end of the scale, train modellers Hornby will be getting a variety of model trains to toot and whistle on their track layouts. There will also be a special appearance on social media from everyone's favourite blue engine, Thomas the Tank Engine.
Railway 200 is a year-long celebration of 200 years of the modern railway. It will explore how rail has shaped national life and encourage more people to consider a career in the railway. The anniversary commemorates the launch of the Stockton and Darlington Railway (S&DR) in 1825, a journey that changed the world forever. In tribute, at the adjoining Locomotion museum in Shildon, County Durham, the whistle of the North Eastern Railway’s locomotive 910 will be sounded once more. The 910 is currently undergoing restoration, ahead of its display next year, and is the only locomotive to have appeared in all three of the previous S&DR anniversaries, in 1875, 1925 and 1975.
Community rail groups will be participating in the Whistle-Up too.
Everyone is invited to join in by recording themselves, family and friends blowing whistles, sounding horns or ringing bells at noon on New Year’s Day and posting on social media, using #Railway200 and #WhistleUp200. If no whistles, horns or bells are to hand, try a Christmas party blower or popper, or just pucker your lips and whistle!
Welcoming the start of Railway 200, Rail Minister Lord Hendy said:
"The world changed forever in 1825 with the birth of the modern railway in Britain, and rolled out across the globe. Railway 200’s celebrations are a unique opportunity to honour a groundbreaking moment in our history while looking boldly towards the future. The Whistle-Up event marks the start of a year that will showcase how the railway continues to transform lives, connect communities, and create growth, jobs, housing and tourism.
This milestone reminds us of the integral role rail plays in a sustainable future and is our chance to present the railway as a forward thinking, digital industry with vibrant and diverse career paths for a new generation. Together, let us celebrate this extraordinary British achievement and inspire a shared vision for the next century of railway progress."
Alan Hyde from Railway 200 said:
"The 200th anniversary of the modern railway marks a major milestone in our national life. In time-honoured fashion, the Whistle-Up fanfare launches what promises to be a memorable year with lots of exciting activities and events planned to celebrate the past, present and future of rail."
Steve Oates, chief executive of the Heritage Railway Association, added:
"The railways made so much of the world we now live in possible. From package holidays to commuting and even the concept of standardised time, it was the coming of the railways that kickstarted it all and transformed communities across the globe. It’s important that we don’t let the landmark 200th anniversary go without a sizeable celebration.
The whistle-up is a great chance for everyone involved in railways, big and small across the world, to join in the celebrations and see in 2025 in style by reviving a tradition from the age of steam. And, unlike in decades past, we’ll be able to join it all up thanks to the power of social media by using #WhistleUp200."
Edit to add main date to calendar
| Re: An update on this weekend's work (28 & 29 December 2025) Posted by Chris from Nailsea at 19:13, 28th December 2024 | |
Thank you for all of the work you have done here, grahame, 'out in the workshop', to maintain and improve the service we can offer everyone on the Coffee Shop forum.
CfN. ;-)
| An update on this weekend's work (28 & 29 December 2025) Posted by grahame at 19:01, 28th December 2024 | |
7 p.m. on Saturday 28th December 2024
This A progress report on the engineering work I have been doing on the "Great Western Coffee Shop" forum which has been tuning on my servers for the last 18 years. Intended as an 18 week project when it was set up in 2007, it is overdue for upgrade - it is looking very dated, doesn't fit well on the small screens people use on their phones these days, and uses the old protocols which set off all sorts of alarm bells in virus checkers. So there was a lot to be done! I closed the door in the early hours, completed a download (67Gbytes), updated the status page at http://status.firstgreatwestern.info for any members who had missed the alerts that had been going out for that week.
* I have moved the domain name (what the site is called) to a new, more modern server that should be good for the next 5 years. It has more capacity (as the Coffee Shop has grown) and responds to the newer https protocol. It's also shared with other more recent domain names so we can move on no manner who is running our trains.
* The old forum software is so old it cannot be easily upgraded, and needs to run on an older version of underlying software, so I have left it where it was. And I have set up the modern server as a proxy server, facing the internet and acting as gatekeeper for the more mature server. I have used a balancer, so should we grow in the future or add resource greedy code (there are various temptations!) I can simply add another server. Rather like a doctor's surgery with a single receptionist adding another doctor. Again, this should be good for five years.
The forum software by far the most complex and oldest application on the server, and also the one that gets far and away more accessed on our server that everything else on there put together. So this re-engineering has been the bit task that I allowed 48 hours for - delighted to have go to where I am after 16 hours of work.
The following remain to be done over the next few days - the more major stuff starting at dawn tomorrow. No need to stop the service - the big structural change has happened and your posts are safe and into our backup systems again
1. The LIKE system does not like (!) the new front and back room setup - I didn't write it with that in mind and it needs fixing. There are issues with smiley faces too, and the post editor
2. The document mirror (2000 transport industry .pdfs totalling 10Gb needs a lick of paint to make it work again. It's vital stuff but not in particularly frequent use
3. There are odd bugs from the move, such as setting up your avatar
4. The forum support pages and indexes all need relinking, adjusting and testing. Lots of stuff there - maps, fare manuals, usage statistics and probably a dozen other things I will think of in the morning, and there will be an ongoing debugging and cleaning up process
5. Over coming months and throughout 2025, you'll see extra facilities added to the Coffee Shop, and the software becoming far more phone friendly. We have grown this year - from around 800 to 900 posts a month last winter to over 1500 posts a month in the last quarter so we must be doing something right (or the railways something wrong, which is another story)
| Re: New Oxford - Bristol Service Starting Sept 14th 2024 Posted by Mark A at 17:55, 28th December 2024 | |
Whew, nearly went to Oxford to collect something heavy.
"Changing at Reading", eh?
Mark
| Re: New Oxford - Bristol Service Starting Sept 14th 2024 Posted by grahame at 12:51, 28th December 2024 | |
12:02 Oxford to Bristol Temple Meads due 13:12
15:18 Bristol Temple Meads to Oxford due 16:29
17:12 Oxford to Bristol Temple Meads due 18:27
28/12/24 17:12 Oxford to Bristol Temple Meads due 18:27 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.
Additional Information
We are sorry that this service is cancelled today due to a shortage of train crew. Alternative services are available by changing trains at Didcot Parkway or Reading.
15:18 Bristol Temple Meads to Oxford due 16:29
17:12 Oxford to Bristol Temple Meads due 18:27
28/12/24 17:12 Oxford to Bristol Temple Meads due 18:27 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.
Additional Information
We are sorry that this service is cancelled today due to a shortage of train crew. Alternative services are available by changing trains at Didcot Parkway or Reading.
| Re: Weekend of 28th/29th December - Coffee Shop offline for engineering works Posted by grahame at 11:55, 28th December 2024 | |
Aha! Just tried the 'like' button...
The first 95% of the work takes the first 95% of the time - the final 5% will take the second and third 95%s of the time
| Re: Weekend of 28th/29th December - Coffee Shop offline for engineering works Posted by Red Squirrel at 11:33, 28th December 2024 | |
Aha! Just tried the 'like' button...
| Re: Weekend of 28th/29th December - Coffee Shop offline for engineering works Posted by grahame at 09:30, 28th December 2024 | |
| Re: Weekend of 28th/29th December - Coffee Shop offline for engineering works Posted by Red Squirrel at 09:26, 28th December 2024 | |
I almost prefer it without the CSS…
| Re: Weekend of 28th/29th December - Coffee Shop offline for engineering works Posted by grahame at 09:13, 28th December 2024 | |
A further test piece
| Re: Weekend of 28th/29th December - Coffee Shop offline for engineering works Posted by grahame at 02:57, 28th December 2024 | |
The Coffee Shop is going offline for maintenance work. See http://status.firstgreatwestern.info for updates.
You may also find the forum available at http://worker.firstgreatwestern.info in read only mode for much of the time.
We will be back by 03:00 on Monday 30th December at the latest.
| Re: steam engine 5552 Posted by Chris from Nailsea at 00:16, 28th December 2024 | |
Just to illustrate this topic:
| Re: Places to go - rail interest in 2025 - AQ24 Posted by Chris from Nailsea at 20:15, 27th December 2024 | |
Blimey! Good luck with that one!
