But now

And
1W39 13:45 London Paddington to Great Malvern (16:16) : departed +19, held Oxford (+32), arrived Worcester Shrub Hill +43 and cancelled thereafter.

 
Terrible quality image, especially as it's a deskewed clip from a street scene photo and is also short on pixels - this was a billboard on Julian Road, Bath, late sixties or early seventies.

Now, the hunt is on for a clearer copy.

Not sure if Bath *had* through train services to the north by that time, but then, in the early 1990s, Oldfield Park saw an 8:30am through train to... Stockport (and then Manchester) and after that ceased, Regional Railways instroduced through services to Manchester and to Liverpool. Much later still there was the ~6:15am Crosscountry Trains through service to Edinburgh. Perhaps in earlier years but after the demise of Green Park Station, there were others.

Mark

 
And now

 

20:38 Westbury to Swindon due 21:23
20:38 Westbury to Swindon due 21:23 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.

20:38 Westbury to Swindon due 21:53
An additional bus service has been planned to operate as shown 20:38 Westbury to Swindon due 21:53.

Madness in all but the most exceptional of circumstances - it takes 67% longer, it's two buses so it require twice the driver, and calls for special runs for vehicles.  Not sure what happens when they get to Swindon either - the train would have run back as the 21:34.   Not sure what the bus v train emission comparison would be, nor how much longer in distance these bus jouneys will be by the time they pick their way in and out of the stations along the way.

 

Isn't that why the arrival of the railways was so popular at the time?

 

 
Oops, Milsom Street closed for roadworks so the P&R on its usual alternative stop in Queens Square. So far so good, but with Milsom Street reopened the service has reverted to its usual Milsom Street Stop. (The returning customers, however, are waiting for the bus up the hill in a long rain-soaked queue at the Queens Square stop...)

Mark

 

 

A workmen's train on the Larkhill Military Railway. Sir John Jackson Ltd was a major engineering company that built many of the Great War camps on Salisbury Plain. A Royal Commission judged that it had made excessive profits following contracts being rapidly issued to deal with the urgent need for soldiers' accommodation. On February 4, 1915, the locomotive and wagon made up most of a Royal Train that conveyed George V (in a small carriage) along the railway to a temporary station near the Bustard Inn, reviewing Canadian troops in heavy showers and a bitterly-cold wind. Some of the troops left for France three days later.

 
Grahame's OP brought back memories of trying to drink coffee/tea on the WAT to SOU trains back in the 70s. The restaurant car (remember those ?) steward would only half fill your cup; any more than this and the motion of the train would soon fill your saucer to overflowing.
The steward would also stand your teaspoon in the cup in the hope that this might damp down the violent sea state therein. When you put the cup to your lips, there was double jeopardy - 1. What little liquid was in the cup would soon be on your chin and heading for your nice clean white shirt. 2. The teaspoon handle would poke you in the eye.  There would be mass slurping of tepid/cold drinks at Woking, Basingstoke and Winchester

Ah !  the good old days.

 
Sunday October 19

Stock running from Shrub Hill to Paddington ECS.

Added 13:45:

Added 13:45:

The 14:45 is an odd working - it doesn't turn round at Great Malvern. Instead, it runs ECS back to Stoke Gifford (17:30-19:54).

 
A visit to the Strawberry Line yesterday - I walked from Congresbury to Yatton ... used the pub rather than the Cafe (to attend a Railfuture meeting being held there).  Probably worth taking the bike by train next time and exploring further.

Here to update this thread, pictures from the Congresbury to Yatton section

 
A little more background here, perhaps, on why the proposed move back home fell apart.

Mark

https://www.hawaiipublicradio.org/the-conversation/2022-05-04/falls-of-clyde-scotland-honolulu-harbor-department-transportation-maritime-history

 
Will that be a wrought iron hull, albeit now somewhat inaccessible?

Mark

 
Meeting report in our Transport Scholars section

 
I get enough funny looks while doing on board surveys and asking people where they are travelling to.  Asking for a funnel might just tip the balance.

 
I went under this bridge on the D1 bus the other day and I see the metal work on the Bath side has already been buckled, presumably by an over height vehicle.

 
Given that Southampton had drawn five of their first nine league games another draw was perhaps not a surprise...

 

I had indeed wondered wy it was a "U"; it does run at weekends, but to a timetable so thin it needs to be planned for ahead of time and plans adjusted to suit.  I got to Bristol bus station at around 09:25, no U2 at 10:00 so the next one would have been 11:00 which would have left me late for the meeting after my walk.  Plan B was the 09:35 on X1.  That did a no show (simply disappeared off the departure board)nbut it didn't matter too much as I and loads of other just waited for the 09:55 - plan C - which did run

I have documented this because it's such a good illustration of the differences in attitude and approach one can take, and how one plans travel, around services that are frequent versus those that are infrequent.

I caught the 18:00 off Temple Meads at the end of the day - first Bath train when I got to BRI and then sat and worked out my way home.  Another little challenge and one I know we always have, with a need to plan based on six different services one of which runs frequently all day and every day - change at Trowbridge or Chippenham onto a a train (and take care they are not cancelled), or at Bath itself or Bradford-on-Avon, Chippenham or Trowbridge onto the bus.   Sadly, another glitch is planning as the 18:15 bus (a very tight connection anyway) from Bath does not run on a Saturday now - and I dipped back to a very busy double decker at 18:45.  Still better that only other route would have been.