Ah, the train manager's just been on with news of the points failure at Sutton Bridge: we're at Newtown at the current back of the queue for the exit from the line... TM was making it sound as though we're here for the next couple of days.

Mark

 
And the first sighting of a buffet trolley: on the lovely class 158 as it left Aberystwyth, with me aboard, by the skin of my teeth. There's a squeaky five minute connection between the bus from the south and the train for Birmingham, and the bus stops across the road. While there's a crossing, to get to that the traveller needs to cross the 'T' of Terrace Road (leading from the station to the front) and like everywhere else, Aber is car sick these days and people on foot need to be assertive to cross in less than a few minutes.

This 158 is now powering up the gradient from Cemmaes Road - reminding me that BR laid on a loco and coaches at peak times from Aber, these would grind up this same slope and would be down to what felt like 10mph at times to the general alarm and despondency of what lineside residents there were.

Just passd Talerddig where the cutting is these days trimmed, netted and nailed back and if there's a loop there I had the impression that there was something that wasn't a passenger train in it. Perhaps this, perhaps not.

https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:H20736/2026-01-02/detailed

Mark

 
Very interesting

Taplow to Paddington shows a 54.2% drop and (perhaps a better representation!) Maidenhead to Paddington a 36.6% drop - I think that'd almost certainly be due to increased WFH in the Thames Valley.

 
Yes, near-midnight Yorkshire taxi person on a railway contract working on a dirty night took me to the door rather than to the... awkwardly situated station some distance from the village.

Mark

 
On the Chippenham-Melksham route they've been kind enough to drop me off at the bottom of Westlands Lane a couple of times (home is in Whitley). Once I was the only passenger so it potentially saved them about 2 x 1.5-2 miles of driving, but there was a couple of us on the most recent occasion.

 

I would agree with that.  And in this case he had to do a drop off and perhaps a pick up too.   They are averse to letting you off early - "you're driving past the end of my street - can I get off here?" either - but then so are buses, and have you ever asked a train not due to call at Dilton Marsh to make a stop there, even if the local train that should call is cancelled?

 

 

Split ticket at Cheltenham can save a significant sum

 
Because the train service is provided by IETs.
Often shorter, and no reservations when short formed.
No buffet. Uncomfortable seating.

 
Indeed, me too - and it's one ticket 'type' yet to be offered within other ticket apps/planners that have split ticket functionality.

 

I suspect you're right. But every member of staff I've encountered so far has seemed somewhat unfamiliar with the ticket. As this is the day of it's issue its validity is explicit, but I'll follow this up for the ensuing days.

Mark

 
He was given the CBE two years ago - and there's apparently an unwritten rule that no one can get more than one or 'promoted' within three years - so he is again eligible in a year's time. He'll get a knighthood then, I'm sure.

 
The omission of Kevin Sinfield comes to mind......

 
Now on the T1 bus from Carmarthen, which as it turns out is electric.

I'm attempting to journal all this on this Bluesky thread. (A few photos there include blue sky too...)

Mark

https://bsky.app/profile/markannand.bsky.social/post/3mbgdkul46k25

 

It is - always - worth a quick thought on splitting when analysing figures - and indeed over / under runs too.  Historically,  a lot of people bought "Melksham Specials" with no intent of travelling to, from or through Melksham and I know a host of examples where it's better to buy a longer distance ticket.

 

Several years ago, and ORR estimates for individual stations had added an adjustment to account for split ticketing.  And the station by station flow data (ODM) adds up to the numbers in the ORR estimated and thus it follows that the adjustment applies there too.


Also of note


and for Devoners



And there are some more - some interesting clues in some cases into innovative ticketing.

 

Not surprisingly we could see this in Didcot last night, it wasn't the most exciting light show.

If you get a chance I would recommend visiting Diamond Light Source at Harwell to see what happens there. I would also recommend a visit to the JET (Joint European Torus) Fusion reactor at Culham before it is dismantled.

 
Serena Wiegman for a start....

 

Significantly! As is station footfall sadly! Whilst my local community (can't call it a village any more) of Pinhoe has grown significantly with development over the recent past, the station is a popular split for long distance tickets. The increase in station usage shown in various statistics cannot be just folk genuinely starting and ending their journeys there.

 

Errr......your ticket is to the *station* - not your 'preferred destination'. Taxi drivers are usually required to meter to the station & won't be paid any additional mileage incurred - so don't be surprised if your taxi will only go to the station. This is definitely the case when carrying more than 1 passenger - each passenger can not insist that they are dropped at their 'preferred destination' - but at the station concerned.

 
Doing a few quick sums, I would suggest that there will be about 30,000 honours holders at any one time (base on numbers here) and that they typically come to more mature people so life expectancy at time of award might be 15 years.    So that's 1 in 2000 of us has an honour.  That looks about right when we look around at member here and contacts, and I take my hat of in respect to those I have the privilege to know. And that includes people who are or have been remunerated for the role played. 

I'm not writing totally "sweetness and light" for the system. There are, I also know, others who would from what I know of them be deserving of a "gong" but haven't been nominated, or if they have turned down / filtered out / declined.  And I do not know - for example - any of ChrisB's suggested athletes for whom the criteria for selection may involve general public perception.

 
I thought rovers/rangers with multi-day validity - when printed on 'ordinary' stock - come with a second coupon that had 31 day boxes printed on it, and you completed each day by filling in the box? the mag strip didn't function in the barriers & you had to produce both coupons to staff in order to proceed?

 
I'd agree with Noggin's daughter's analysis.

We need to be clear that private vehicles would not be banned from Park Street by this scheme. Park Street and all its side roads would all be accessible to private cars. Only through traffic would be banned, diverted via Anchor Rd. Here's the map:



Many small retailers believe that cars passing their shop are good for business, and that having heavy traffic outside encourages people walking by to linger or even go in and buy something. Are they right? Or would removing through traffic make this a more attractive place, increasing footfall and bringing more business?

 
Daughter takes the bus along Park Street most days and reckons there's rarely congestion due to private cars - it's mainly the Anchor Road junction at the bottom which backs up.

Also, vehicle access still needs to be provided to Charlotte & Great George Streets where there is considerable residential and office property - Hill Street is not safe for any significant volumes of traffic.

 
I wonder to what extent point-to-point journey figures are distorted by split save? Certainly it feels like it's a long time since I did a journey on XC which wasn't split.

 

There may have been more than 1 stranded train, the headways through the tunnel means at least one other train will have lost power other than the one entangled in the OLE

 

It does not surprise that its been a rollercoaster of the last 3 or 4 years, the pandemic certainly accelerated things like "working from home" and "cashless society" I suspect it will take 3 or 4 more years, maybe longer for the actual trends to "normalise".  In a decade or so time the recovery patterns and trends will be a lot clear to understand