I have made my strong feelings known on this sorry subject before. 

 

Why not focus on improving services rather than punishing customers?

 
If that was Ventnor station, down by the beach, it might have survived through to today.

 
I am seeing pictures of ex Brighton Belle power car "Celia" on the read of a London to Gillingham excursion - with various comments about it being less than authentic/original in parts.

Adding two and two - this looks like a spare power car [body] that's been converted into a "glorified observation car", and is separate from the [4/5]BEL project to get an up and running electic pullman set out on 3rd rail lines.   Have I added 2 and 2 correctly to get 4, or is there a different situation here?

 
Happy memories there, Phil.

I went to prep school at Stoodleigh, near Tiverton. Always went back to school by car, but rail home. Usually Tiverton to ESD, then Taunton to Castle Cary, on a couple of occasions via and changing at Yeovil Pen Mill. And on a couple of occasions when there was extensive flooding at Stoke Cannon, then Tiverton, Dulverton to Taunton and Cary. Hey ho.

 

Here's another - Hamster Power

 

"some only to pick up passengers" is a joke really, and may as well be dropped! Yes, I know that Reading does not appear on the departure boards at Paddington on the far west services on a Friday afternoon, but all of the regular commuters know that the train stops there! I've boarded the 1703 Penzance service on a Friday and it was packed to Reading, but suprisingly empty after Reading!

What GWR should do, on a once-only basis, is let the train run non-stop through Reading station and stop it at Reading West, with an army of RPI waiting on the platform. Of course, pax waiting at Reading will have been pre-warned to make their way to Reading West!

 

Yes - there's Pullman catering available on the 13:03 and 19:04 from Paddington to Plymouth, and the 13:15 and 18:16 back from Plymouth

 
Here's a picture. It's AI. From here on Facebook, and the commentary with it.


I note a follow up:


How do we stand on the Coffee Shop?  We have already somewhat discussed this - over 100 messages on the Coffee Shop match " AI " - some of them in our none-public areas.  But worth a re-iteration:

If something is very clearly marked, even for the "scan reader" then AI images are allowed.  A small footnote on the base of a long piece of text saying "images are illustrative to show what we are describing" is NOT, to me, "very clearly marked".

 
Back in 1967 (I was 10 years old), my parents decided to have a family day out on the Hoe at Plymouth. We were a family of 6 and a car that would only take 5, so dad offered both my brother (who was 14) and I the opportunity of travelling down from Exeter (Pinhoe station had closed by then) to Plymouth by train. Of course, we were both train nerds and the opportunity of passing both Newton Abbot and Laira sheds was too good an opportunity to miss!

We go to the Exeter St David's ticket office and are asked 'did we want to go via Newton Abbot or Okehampton?'. Of course, you can guess the answer.  With the benefit of hindsight, the biggest mistake of my rail enthusiast life! I never did get to travel over the SR route to Plymouth!

My father was an avid golfer and a member of Tiverton Golf Club. He used to drop me off at Tiverton Junction to do some spotting whilst he played golf. I wish I could have travelled on the Tivvy Bumper!

Later on in life, I went to Bath University. I wish I could have had a trip on the S&D   

So, in summary......
1.  SR route to Plymouth;
2.  Tivvy Bumper.
3.  S&D
 

 
Does 4 also include the Pullman service?

 
Two halves of what should have been one line but never were

   Shoreham by Sea to Christ's Hospital
   Christ's Hospital to Guildford

Now cycled most years as the Downs Link

   Chichester to Midhurst

Partially cycled most years as the Centurion Way

I didn't include Brighton to Kemp Town because at this range I am not sure whether I actually travelled on it or not. The memory gets mixed up with my first fag (Perfectos) was I on a train to Lewes and just saw the Kemp Town viaduct.

The mists of time!

 
This thread has popped up "on this day" 10 years ago - "DOO strikes start on Southern" on 26th April 2016.

Makes me sad - there must be better ways of resolving differences between parties to all wish (or state their wish) for a safe, modern, efficient, reliable, affordable passenger railway system.  Or am I being naive?

Nothing fixed in 10 years on the principle here.  My understanding is that we have bought a modern railway at goodness know what cost from Oxford to Milton Keynes and Bedford that sits unused apart from some empty passenger trains and occasional freight train.   I do hope that the line is open for passenger use in the near future; it would have been so useful to me in my working days - Melksham to Bow Brickhill, for example - was not easy ... and I really hope it's not as litlle used as Coryton to Treforest, or as stillborn as regular new passenger services from Taunton to Minehead in the '70s.

 
I am amazed at the hugely wide variety of lines selected here.  I wondered as I asked the question whether I should run a poll.  I "chickened" on that, not knowing what options I would choose ... and suspecting that the most votes would be for "something else".

Our regrets at missing out on these lines are absolutely not suggestions or justifications of any potential re-opening campaigns, though it is interesting to think about a scenario where things might have been different.

 
My English grandparent's back garden abutted against the old Nottingham Suburban Railway Line from Daybrook Junction through Sherwood and into Nottingham (Victoria I think).  It closed before I was born but I have a picture of me being carried by dad in my grandparents back garden watching the last train on the main line going past Daybrook Station.
As children, my brother and myself had many happy hours on the deserted railway lines as it was a quick hop over the back garden fence.  I've often thought what it would have been like actually travelling on the lines and can't help thinking how useful they would now have been to the city's transport system.

 
Didcot, Newbury and Southampton.
Swindon, Andover to Romsey
Southampton Terminus -  I may have done this as I was born before it closed and I did live in Southampton.

 
That crossing, together with the ones at Hungerford and Kintbury, are controlled from the crossing box at Kintbury.  I think they can be closed independently but often I believe all three are closed at the same time to give a “clear run”. 

 
Renfrew Branch - walked past it most days when at college in Paisley. My planned trip on it was changed when we were offered a footplate ride behind a black five to Elderslie Junction and back.

Killin Branch - spent hours at Stirling watching the trains to there but never caught one.


Castleman’s Corkscrew - Brockenhurst to Poole via Wimborne. I only ever did the Poole to Wimborne section.

 
Hayling Billy

Isle of Wight

Severn Bridge

 
I'd left my car near Hamstead level crossing, two miles to the east, and when I returned had to wait six or seven minutes for the barriers there to lift as two trains passed.

At Kintbury I thought that rail passengers have to take special care crossing over the canal bridge just before the level crossing: there's no pavement and at 1100 on a Saturday I had to draw in close to the wall to allow cars to come through.

 
The Dundas Arms by Kintbury station is worth a visit - for the unusual counter top to the bar if nothing else.

Just remember the level crossing if you are heading east.  The gates come down a good few minutes before the train comes in and there’s no footbridge. 

 
Somerset & Dorset, of course (I live on top of it!)
Withered Arm
Port Road (to Stranraer)
Waverley Route (in theory I just could have done)
Callander and Oban

 
Walking along the Kennet & Avon Canal this morning, I came across this re-purposing of old rails to strengthen a bridge. (Would that be exactly standard gauge?)

I popped into the station at  Kintbury, which was as boringly modern as those at Bedwyn and Hungerford. Its destination boards were literally on the blink - and the card-reader at the village shop wasn't working (no doubt a coincidence), so I dusted off a £10 note.

 
From National Rail

Between Abbey Wood and Heathrow Terminal 4 / Maidenhead / Reading, and also between Shenfield and Heathrow Terminal 5

Description
A fault with the signalling system at Hanwell means that all lines are blocked. As a result trains running between West Ealing and Heathrow Airport / Slough may be cancelled, delayed by up to 30 minutes or revised.

Disruption is expected until 18:00.

 
I'm rather parochial on my three:

North Cornwall Railway, to Padstow, where we used to holiday;

Plymouth to Yealmpton Branch, through Plymstock and Elburton, where I used to live;

The Primrose Line, to Kingsbridge, near where I met my wife.

Obviously, there's also the Portishead Line - but that is being rectified, so I can hopefully travel on it at some time before I fall off my perch.

CfN. 

 
The Somerset and Dorset Joint would have been high on my list.

 
Andover to Swindon, with a diversion to Tidworth  (I did Andover-Marlborough, but it was in the dark.)
Lambourn Valley Line
Sidmouth Junction - Sidmouth

(And if I had a time machine, the Larkhill Military Railway between 1917 and 1922)

 
Didcot to Winchester, Oxford to Cambridge and Carlisle to Edinburgh on the Waverley line.

 
This is something of an inconvenience for me. Mrs 81D is rather fond of Hotel Chocolat's products,  especially their truffles, so it was very useful to be able to take a short train journey to Reading to buy an appreciated gift for any appropriate occasion!

 
My three would be:
Exe valley, Dulverton (Brushford) to Exeter.
Somerset and Dorset Bath to Bournemouth.
Three Cocks Junction to Moat Lane.