Yep - It's a model on the main concourse at Frankfurt (Main) Hbf ... a change of trains and - err - a hamburger and a coffee there this morning.  For a Euro, they allow it to be driven by drivers of any age.

 
Looks nice - once they decide where they are going to put it..............

 

Ah - frankfurters am Main HBf then.

 

I'm not a hamburger today ... but there may be a similar foodie link

 

Only if it’s a Sunday!

 

 
I'd say Hamburg - at least when you go for lunch.

 

Would they have Sunday in the woofing week?

 

Blimey. Hot enough for a BBQ! 

 

The mercury may have reached the balmy heights of 26 degrees but track temperatures reached 42 degrees. 

 

They would need to bear in mind that dogs are highly organised pack animals like humans, and this would just lead to demands such as the right to demand treats after they have wee-ed in the places provided for them, and the right to work wearing nothing but a leather collar.

 
Third rail traction from DB - but where?

 

That is so useful, Richard, that I quote in critical review ...


I sat on the 205 yesterday watching people struggle to get on around Paddington, and struggle to get off in the Euston / British Library / King's Cross area and know they can look forward to struggling off and on additionally along the Marylebone Road in the future.   And I watched substantial flows leaving Eurostar arrivals with very much more in chattels, aids and dependents with them and heading for the front of the station ... for a proportion I'm sure the 205 to Paddington would have been useful should they know about it.

Is an underground fare more than a bus fare?  How much does it cost TfL for each person they carry in each way between Paddington and Kings Cross / St Pancras?   Are they looking at a raising of extra revenue from the transfer market of none-residents between the termini, and prioritising that over the convenience and care of those people?

 
Tuesday June 17

And after a good day yesterday, today there has been a signal failure between Swindon and Gloucester.

In a very sensible move

Meanwhile, the failure affected the 08:18 Shrub Hill - Paddington.
The incoming stock, train 1G01 0632 Swindon to Shrub Hill was caught up in this. It arrived Stroud +70 and Cheltenham Spa +87 and was cancelled thereafter.

 

 


Not a bad idea, but don't let ASLEF/RMT hear your proposal or they'll have everyone out on strike!

 
Roger French has written a very good blog about the Consultation on the 205 here https://busandtrainuser.com/2025/06/07/whats-the-point-of-consulting/

 

Big improvement in Spending Review.  https://www.newcivilengineer.com/latest/spending-review-transport-for-london-grateful-for-2-2bn-settlement-and-dlr-boost-11-06-2025/

 

 
Some pictures from yesterday and this morning, 17.6.2025.   Saving precious inbound/outbound days on my 3 month continuous global pass, which I am splitting into 4 x 2 week trips, I used Eurostar snap to take the train to Brussels yesterday.  It cost me £45, booked about a week ahead for any train between 13:00 and the last train at 19:34 which it inevitably was when train and seating were notified to me 48.5 hours before departure.   I arrived at St Pancras very early - I wanted to do some research first hand from Paddington watching flows of passengers, especially those on journeys with limited mobility (not only 'disabled' but fearful and luggage-encumbered too) and also to allow for any disruption on my 100 mile journey in to London.

St Pancras, and it's neighbour next door at King's Cross - and Paddington too - are lovely stations but overrun by the popularity of services.  But if you arrive early, you can find a quite spot just a flight of stairs up from the main concourse.  In preparation for the Zoo of departure on Eurostar with crazy zigzag lines for security and passport control followed by waiting in an overcrowded lounge where an element of people feel that it's OK to put there baggage on the seat next to them, even if others are left standing.  There *is* a polite and thoughtful element / side to people and I found a seat ...

Paris trains were running an hour late with the last of the day cancelled, the 19:00 being held back to 20:00 so it was really the next-to-last schedule that failed to run.  There was a warning that our Brussels train would be delayed as crew were coming in on another train, but in the end it ran on time.  And so to Brussels, and on to a late check-in at the Ibis Budget in Leuven - but that's a follow up story.

 
The mercury reached the balmy heights of 26 degrees at the end of April and we had cancellations and speed restrictions due to what was described at the time as "severe weather" (much to the memorable hilarity of tourists at Paddington from countries who get genuinely severe weather!) , so it's probably safe to assume similar/worse once it rises a few more degrees.

 
It has recently been announced that British steel have won a five year contract to supply rails to network rail.
Good news in my view.

 
I booked "snap" about a week ago for the start of my second Interrail trip - £45 for yesterday with a departure "between 13:00 and 19:34" from London to Brussels.  Easy online booking system, and I was informed 48 hours (and a few minutes) before the journey that I was in coach 4, seat 27 of the 19:34 departure - last train of the day, which is the train I had made an educate guess that I would be put on.   Ticket printed out and worked the gates easily ... seat was of course a rear-facing aisle seat with company that included a toddler-on-lap who was not used to others around him and a mother fighting for a degree of control.   But that's rather part of a Eurostar experience than a snap one.   Other company around the table in the few quiet seconds told me how glad she is that snap is back, and that it's almost always the very first or very last train.

 
There are a number of others .... I think we had a post or two about the donkeys in Santorini carrying people up the hill with 500 steps (and I read that the tourist trade has been decimated by the earth's activity.  And wasn't there a thread on Paternosters?   Both of which illustrate the sense in keeping a general board rather than excessive splitting.

I recall a journey some few weeks ago where an individual leg involved a mobility scooter, trains, a bus, a ferry and a car and the total journey should be posted .... where ... ?

 
Lulu is actually a very lively dog - despite her 'posing', just for that photo.

 
... and Greyhounds. 

 
Don't forget hot air balloons and dirigibles. And if we're including bulbous air/gas filled means of transport then space hoppers too.