I recognised 1. immediately: "It's that small station near Bath Spa"!  But then I simply couldn't remember the actual name of it, so I could post an answer here.

Sorry, Timmer - I know it's your local station.

Browsing around on the Coffee Shop forum, as I do (usually looking for something else ), I stumbled across this topic.

Noting that it's exactly a year since I posted, I'll give it a gentle 'bump' here.

CfN.

Small point to the BBC:

    One of the Isle of Wight's ferry operators taken over by new owners.

Have they sorted out the Hythe ferry?

The owner of a Grade II listed pier in Southampton Water says it will remain closed to the public for now despite essential electrical works being completed.

People in Hythe have raised concerns about what the closure means for the potential return of the ferry service.

The vice-chair of the parish council, Mark Clark, said it had not received responses to any letters to the ferry's parent company requesting answers about the return of the service or the reopening of the pier.

When contacted by the BBC, a spokesperson for the ferry company, which leases the pier from its owner, said: "Essential works to support the pier and ferry operations are progressing."

The ferry service between Hythe and Southampton has been suspended since August 2024 when damage was found underneath the landing pontoon at the pierhead.

Again? Or is this still an issue of engines being away for servicing that caused a lot of problems in the summer?

1. Oldfield Park

20:06 Westbury to Gloucester due 21:41 will be cancelled.
This is due to a broken down train.

* One guess at the most-visited city among Interrailers (let’s just say it’s home to a very famous tower…)

Train firms warned over ‘best price’ claims after watchdog bans ads
Advertising regulator said operators and a ticket seller could not prove bookings were cheapest

Train companies have been warned over price claims made on their ticketing websites after the advertising watchdog banned ads run by three sellers.

The Advertising Standards Authority ruled that claims made for fares booked via ScotRail and Greater Anglia’s website, as well as by a third-party ticketing site, My Train Ticket, were misleading.

In all three cases, the ASA said, it found the companies could not provide evidence to show that people would get the lowest available price by booking train tickets through them.

[....continues]

Boat stranded on canal hole edge pulled to safety


The Pacemaker was left perilously close to tipping into the large hole

A narrowboat that was left teetering on the edge of a giant hole after part of a canal in Shropshire collapsed has been pulled to safety.

Paul Stowe's boat, the Pacemaker, was perilously close to falling into the hole on the Llangollen Canal in Whitchurch, which opened up on Monday after an "embankment failure". Mr Stowe, originally from Solihull, escaped barefoot with his wife, son, and two cats at about 04:10 GMT after he woke and heard rushing water "equivalent to the Niagara Falls".

Shropshire Council said the boat, which the family live on, was rescued at about 22:00 on Tuesday using a specialist winch operation. Once in location, the winch was able to haul the boat along the drained canal away from the breach hole," the authority said in a statement. "The boat is now safely located next to the lift bridge," the council said, adding that it would be refloated in the new year, when a dam would be constructed beyond the boat.

Overnight, water was pumped into dammed sections created by the Canal and River Trust on Tuesday, and as of 06:00 on Wednesday, water levels were recovering. "This means that one of the boats near to the breach site, plus six further up the canal, are now beginning to refloat," it said. "They are expected to be fully afloat by later today."

Mr Stowe previously told the BBC that all of his and his family's possessions were on the boat, and that they had escaped with only the clothes on their backs. He said they had no phones or credit cards, and added his birthday was on Christmas Day. "I'm not sure I'll ever moor in this area again, I'm not sure I'll ever moor on an embankment again," he said. "I'll be honest with you, it's very debatable [that] I'll ever want to go on a boat again."

The authority added that investigations had begun into what caused the collapse. "This will continue after the new year together with the initial plans to recover the two boats in the breach hole and the long and costly process of rebuilding and reinstating the canal."

"Now the initial emergency response, including the concern for boaters' immediate safety, has passed, our teams have been working hard to refill the Llangollen Canal around the site of the breach," said Campbell Robb, chief executive of the Canal and River Trust. "This will mean the boats in the immediate area are refloating, and navigation along other affected areas will be restored."

He said the trust would be providing regular updates and assurance to the local community and boating community in the coming weeks. "Thankfully, breaches of this scale are relatively rare, but, when they do occur, they're expensive and complicated to fix," he said.

The trust previously told the BBC that repairs could take months.