Friday - Starcross

 
Monday - Newcastle

 
Thursday: The Hard Interchange, Portsmouth

 
The Go-Ahead group have been fantastic in providing us with coaches and drivers for free travel from Swindon to Taunton and from Bournemouth to Taunton.  On this occasion, we are unable to cover the Swindon north Bristol route, however this will be in place for March 7th meeting.

If there are people who should be attending and have so far being unable to because of the transport costs, please encourage them to use the service. Even if they have to download Podcasts and take a picnic it is good to have more people onboard.

Get in touch with us to reserve your space.

secretary@travelwatchsouthwest.org.uk

 
I have asked the question. Some of you may remember me bringing Teasel to events at other venues in Taunton.

 
1: Tuesday - Southend Pier

 
That is being solved by the acquisition of those 13x5car Mk 5a sets from TPE, which will allow a cascade of 168s onto the Oxford & EWR services....but they'll obviously want paying to employ guards/TMs if the unions get their way - and I'm guessing they will (or that depot will remain unused & Chiltern will run these out of Banbury as originally suggested).

Might have a long wait though....GBR decision anyone?

 
Perhaps they can use the delay to build an extra carriage for each of the trains to stop them being crowded from day one? 

 

Stratford International

 
Tuesday


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Monday

 

Yeah ...   https://www.facebook.com/watch?v=674750311993073


The trains are so infrequent that a single cancellation is significant. Next train after the 06:32 is the 09:10, so plans to be refactored and written up.    422 views, 14 likes and 4 comments in the follow ups.

 

Don't know ... asking. 

 

Nothing but praise here again for The League of Friends at Musgrove Park Hospital in Taunton. Mum had a recent extended stay after I gave her Covid*. She much preferred the tea from the LoF to that provided on the ward. Miles, a Somerset tea producer, tea bags. Much nicer than the Costa offering. Every visit I would grab a cup of tea for her from the LoF shop. It was only in the second week of her stay that one of the League's staff told me there was a loyalty card for hot drinks. I said in passing that I'd probably purchased a dozen cuppas of the past week. She got two loyalty cards and stamped each six times. Two free cuppas!

Their range of sandwiches was far superior to those from the M&S food outlet at the hospital.



*Covid. I contracted it in September. Mum and I have just been offered our annual vaccination. That's somewhat closing the stable door...
Poor Mum ended up with a chest infection and pulmonary embolism. Discovered after she had a fall that necessitated a trip to A&E. Badly bruised and sprained, but fortunately not broken, ankle.

 
Get some of that Jet-A1 and the Coffee Shop could really take off.

 

Are dogs allowed? He is a rail user after all!

And Chris, I think he's okay around cups of coffee so your trousers will be okay.

 
Got to love where spellchecking takes Scottish friends on Railfuture Campaigners

 

Oxford Clarion are reporting that EWR services won't be starting this year (https://web-cdn.bsky.app/profile/oxfordclarion.bsky.social/post/3m3p7cbgnnc2c

"Chiltern Railways has conceded that East West Rail services from Oxford to Milton Keynes are unlikely to start this year, after troubles were first reported by the Clarion. A statement that “we are confident that trains will be running this year” has been quietly removed from their website. The site now says “A date for passenger service introduction will be communicated once all the necessary authorisations and agreements are in place.” As we reported in September, although the track is complete and the trains ready, rail unions have objected to running the trains without a guard."

Given that over £1 billion has been spent on EWR, the track is ready, the trains and drivers are available why is it we still have no idea when trains are due to start? 

I just don’t understand how this industry can be run so badly — or why we keep spending money on it.

 

As soon as the singling of lines between Oxford and Hereford was proposed in the early 1970s, the staff on the ground knew what chaos would ensue.  But the management just was not interested in listening to anything the LDCs had to say. The cutbacks went ahead.  Despite some more recent replacement of double line, the hassles and the delays continue.  If you added up the cost of all the delay and inconvenience over 50+ years, I'm quite sure it would far outweigh whatever has been "saved" bu having fewer miles of track to maintain

 
Another flash in the pan ?

 

And having expired at Foregate St, it was then in the way of 1P24 09:56 Great Malvern to London Paddington, which had to drum its fingers at Henwick (+25), be held at Norton (+37) and skipped Didcot.

Everything on our line has consequences...

 

You're quite right. I tend to view the world in terms of departure times from Charlbury 

 
Many of these dates to be added to the Coffee Shop's diary in due course if they're not there already - looking to avoid clashes and "set up too late"s for 2026.

https://www.firstgreatwestern.info/mirror/mtug_2026_diary_v11.pdf

 

The above is formed from 1W15 0750 Paddington to Worcester, which was caped after Foregate Street, where it had arrived 17 minutes late.  It was more-or-less on-time until arriving at Shrub Hill

 
"Users squat, while holding onto handles."  According to my wife (late 50s, arthritis, dodgy knees) you do need to be fairly fit to use them so doesn't suit everyone.  On the other hand at the right event with a mostly youngish clientele they can indeed reduce queues, the alternative being to provide a greater number of sit-down cubicles which increases both cost and space needed.  Wouldn't work at my favourite festival (Cropredy) with a high proportion of us older folk, and the longest queue is often men of a certain age desperate for the male urinals.

 
  The delays in construction and the pandemic slowed the process but, it was predicted, indeed many local authorities such as RBWM, Slough planned for it; also you only have to see the amount of house building in the Hayes and Southall areas showing it is a popular line to live along, from my limited travel to the South East there is house building in the Woolwich and Abby Wood areas

Used to be called the 'sparks effect'

 
As webmaster, I get a number of emails from people looking to help us take the Coffee Shop forward, and a significant proportion of those are approaching us without taking even a perfunctory look at what we do ...



Amusingly off topic, cold approach invites are fun to read occasionally, but there's a much more serious side to taking the Coffee Shop forward too.   Yesterday's AWS outage did not effect the Coffee Shop, but I have taken a look at AWS for hosting our historic archive which contains a large amount of information which we don't want to lose, but each piece of which is only read once in a blue moon.

 

Thank you, ChrisB, for that vote. AGM topics there but irrespective of where the job we have been doing on the "excellence" scale fits, yes, it ought carry on. It fills / fits / tackles some important areas - niches - which are otherwise not or poorly addressed, and does so for the mutual benefit of multiple parties.

 

Indeed, with the advent of GBR in the rail sector, obtaining funding from the TOCs (as now) is likely to dry up, especially if the organisation isn't recognised in the Railway Bill as a consultee/stakeholder. The Bill should be published by the time that the AGM is held, so the meeting can be informed about funding from the rail side of things.

Money ought to still flow from the bus side of transport however, with a favourable wind. TWSW does an excellent job, and ought to continue!

 
For diary - 2 to 3 pm on 5th December 2025 - TWSW AGM ... online ... separate thread to follow, but noting here f.y.i. - standard form is that each year a three directors / a third are up for re-election; personally I probably have 2 years yet to serve as I was formally elected last December.