Having been a passenger in India, I can't imagine how I could ever be a driver. Cars, trucks, motorbikes with a family of five on board, all turned onto the main road from the left without slowing, at places where in England there would be traffic lights or a roundabout. It scared my wife. I think though that nobody would ever get anywhere if they didn't drive like that.


Minehead was popular at one time, especially on Butlins changeover days. I don't think they do tests there any more.

 
And the halts train will be cancelled this afternoon:

 

Was this the archive item about the 1978 blizzard?

Days I remember very well indeed.  When the WSR had the purpose of being a useful public transport link for the people of West Somerset, and remembered all those people who queued for hours at Minehead station a couple of years earlier to buy shares that they'd been told would bring their Taunton trains back

The blizzard that very nearly killed me at the age of not yet 23

 

In the end, both of these journeys operated normally.

But:
2E77 05:10 Oxford to Worcester Shrub Hill was cancelled throughout (train crew)
2E80 07:00 Worcester Shrub Hill to Didcot Parkway was cancelled throughout.

Stock has run empty from Shrub Hill to Paddington.

1W11 0553 London Paddington to Great Malvern arrived Shrub Hill +24 (blocked by the 08:18 perhaps), Worcester Foregate Street +35 and was cancelled thereafter.

 
01/06/2025 - A Day Out In Paignton For The Riviera Airshow
Pretty good work from GWR despite challenging circumstances

Tickets
2 x Senior Railcard Off-Peak Day Returns DIG>PGN» £15.40 (£7.70 each)

Outward - 01/06/25
DIG 1013 (1015)>PGN 1125 (1147): 2T11 EXM>PGN : 1 x 166/2 (3 Cars)

We arrived at DIG to the sight of some 40-50 pax waiting to board the train. The shape of things to come - the service was essentially full departing EXC, lost time to some extent at each stop due to the expected boarding issues, and eventually arrived at PGN 22 mins down. I noted that GWR staff were present at the normally unmanned DWW.
On arrival at PGN all pax had to walk to the southern end of P2 and then back along the station car park - to avoid platform crowding - into the clutches of GWR Revenue Protection. All tickets & railcards / passes were checked by a 1st line team and passengers presenting with issues were directed to a separate team for a chat.

Although we didn’t use the option - being comfortably ensconced in our seats on the stopper - it would have been possible to change at EXD onto 1C75 PAD>PNZ and then swap at NTA to 2Z31 - a 9-Car IET - for the run down to PGN.

The airshow was very busy, well organised, and the sun was (mainly) shining. Happy days! 

Return - 01/06/25
PGN 1631 (OT)>NTA 1645 (OT) : 2Z40 PGN>NTA : 1 x 802/0 (5 Cars)
NTA 1654 (1657)>EXD 1713 (1716) : 1A90 PNZ>PAD : 2 x 800/0 (10 Cars)
(We had planned to catch 2F20 back to DIG but decided instead to use the buses to get home - free with our ‘Crusties’ passes - just in case that service was full)

At PGN all the normal entrances to P2, save one fully staffed for the use of disabled passengers, were locked shut and all pax were directed to the queueing corral at the south end of the car park. We were counted onto the platform when the train was ready and, once again, all tickets & passes were checked.
On departure 2Z40 was full with a small number of standees.

 
Another day - another delayed German arrival.  For all the past reputation of German efficiency, I/we have had a whole series of late arrivals in Germany and indeed that reputation of being on time hasn't been the case. However I/we (2 of us on some journeys - me alone on some) have always easily know about out options when we arrive at final or connecting stations, and we never had a lack of information nor very much extended waits for connections.

Part 1 - from 18th May 2025

(Amsterdam) to Osnabrück
Osnabrück to Hamburg (-10 thoughout (note 7))
Hamburg to Rostock (-8 into Rostock (note 6))
Rostock to Warnemünde (-15 into Warnemünde (note 1))

Warnemünde to Rostock (whole day on time)
Rostock to Tessin
Tessin to Rostock
Rostock to Bad Doberan
+ Bad Doberan to Heiligendamm
(Heiligendamm to Rostock by bus)
Rostock to Warnemünde

Warnemünde to Rostock (whole day on time)
Rostock to Wismar
Wismar to Bad Kleinen
Bad Kleinen to Rostock
Rostock to Warnemünde

Warnemünde to Rostock (whole day on time)
Rostock to Hamburg
Hamburg to Kiel

Part 2 - from 29th May 2025

[Prague] to Berlin Hbf (-70 late into Berlin (note 2))

Berlin to Magdeburg
Magdeburg to Quedlinburg
+ Quedlinburg to Alexisbad
+ Alexisbad to Eisfelder Talmühle
+ Eisfelder Talmühl to Nordhausen Nord
Nordhausen to Halle (-6 into Halle (note 3))
Halle to Berlin (-10 late from Halle, -25 into Berlin (note 4))

Berlin to Potsdam Hbf (-5 into Potsdam (note 5))
Potsdam to Berlin (-15 into Berlin (note 5))

Berlin to Offenburg (-95 into Offenburg (note 8))
Offenburg to [Strasbourg]

Notes

+ - Not a train on the Interrail pass network

[place] - outside Gernany - this was an international train

1. Inbound conenction missed (just) so we were half an hour down and then the train to Warnemünde left on time but had to wait for the single line section for a delayed train coming the other way. This line is normally double tracked all the way but active engineering works replacing the second track mean all trains are sharing the single line.

2. The train from Prague ran AOK to Rzepin but then the locomotive had to be replaced - don't know why - at such short notice it appeared to have taken them by surprise.

3. Reason not known; I think it was congestion.

4. Classic case of 2 wrongs making a right - because of delay (3) my short connection actually made - I don't know why the train was late when I joined it, but further time was lost as we went past engineering works "wrong line" - out of path and had to wait for the single section

5. Trains overloaded and extra station time needed, especially on the journey back into Berlin.  They would have been on time if it wasn't for those pesky customers.

6. We joined this train running a little late and no time was made up. Reason unknown

7. Reason unknown.  Just slipped back?

8. About 15 late into Mannheim - again due to engineering works. But we sat there for an extended period, and we then sat for an extended period at Karlsruhr too. Explanation - translated by fellow passengers for us - was that the train was overloaded and would some people please get off.  Sort of "Mexican stand off". Eventually enough people found alternatives / gave up and got off to allow us to proceed.

 
Monday June 2

 

So it doesn’t yet exist (as a physical entity, employing people with an office). I think that is what I meant & I also think you know that

 

Over £100 million spent so far on something that "doesn't actually exist yet", well, this is the railway I guess..........one is almost tempted to ask "ooooooooos gonna pay for it?"

(The answer of course being straightforward......the taxpayer)

 
In my teens when learning, people from Newcastle would head 35 miles up the road to Alnwick for their test.  They got the same licence, but there were no traffic lights or roundabouts to navigate.

My cousin emigrated to the USA in the 80s before taking her first test somewhere in the deep south. It consisted of something like driving a loop around a residential block and then reversing successfully into a side road. She reckoned it was far easier than a British cycling proficiency test…

 

GBR does very much exist, it is just not a fully established as yet, 2026 / 27 is the plan for the establishment of GBR

 

From my own observations, Cross Country seem to be worse than GWR in terms of their percentage of cancellations on a typical Sunday.

 
Not just GWR havjng the usual Sunday issues today, although given the number of full & part cancellations from/to Devon/Cornwall today this won't help......

Route(s) affected
Between Birmingham New Street and Leicester / Nottingham / Stansted Airport, between Manchester Piccadilly and Bournemouth / Paignton, and also between Nottingham and Cardiff Central / Plymouth

Description
A shortage of train drivers means that fewer CrossCountry trains will be able to run, and as a result, trains may be cancelled or revised on the following routes:

Manchester Piccadilly and Bournemouth / Paignton

Birmingham New Street and Leicester / Nottingham / Stansted Airport

Nottingham and Cardiff Central / Plymouth

Disruption is expected until the end of the day.

It is recommended that you check before you travel today, as other routes may be affected.

 

1 cheer not 3. Not "reinstated" as far as passengers wishing to join at Swindon, Chippenham, Melksham or Trowbridge are concerned ...

Somewhat better news (2 cheers not 3) that the following return trip is no longer on the cancellation report, so id probably re-instated throughout.

 
All of these have now been removed from JourneyCheck, though the 19:58 will still terminate at Reading.

Later : and now the 19:58 has been removed from JourneyCheck.

 

 
Unless you are in coach 33 and have to walk through to coach 3 to exit the train.... 

 
...to which we have to add

 
Sunday June 1


Leaving a three-hour gap in the service towards London on Sunday evening!

 
Just reading this from the start.
My first visit to India in 2004 I was met at the airport with a car from our office. Mid way into Chennai I asked the driver whether they drove on the left or the right (it certainly wasn't obvious to me). He said "yes".
I asked him if he knew what the white lines were for. "Just some nonsense the British left in 1947, he said.
Then, nor in all my subsequent visits, did I have the courage nor skill to get behind the wheel of a car.

 
https://busandtrainuser.com/2025/06/01/britains-quirkiest-railway-station/
Britain’s quirkiest railway station
I’ve been meaning to visit Pilning railway station for years and finally got round to treating myself to that delight yesterday, so what better way to begin this summer’s blogging?

....................continues..............

 
08:38 Exeter Central to Okehampton due 09:21
Facilities on the 08:38 Exeter Central to Okehampton due 09:21.
Will be formed of 33 coaches instead of 2.
Last Updated:01/06/2025 05:48

Bonus!

 
Berlin was hot and sticky even by midmorning. I have walked around the centre of the city in the past, and took a decision (as my unlimited train travel is all paid for ahead of time) to pop out to Potsdam, where the river had looked interesting when I passed though on yesterday's little jaunt. Slightly unfortunate, it seems that very many Berliners also had the idea of popping out to Potsdam too and the train was rammed.

My pass/ticket is first class and that let me escape within the train to a high eyrie (the trains are double deck, First class upstairs) but not before some gentleman who I'm sure was being kind informed me that all the seats were taken up there too, and wouldn't budge off the stairs.  I *am* still able to stand for a short while, and I got past him and up to the nest where us toffee-nosed folks go - amongst the posh ... some of whom take a look at this scruffy traveller and can't wait for the ticket inspector to come round. Only then to learn he is called "sir" because he has spent a lot more on his ticket than most fellow travellers.

The First Class eyrie exists on many local and regional trains here in Germany. sometimes as small as a single seating bay and even at that size markedly less crowded than the rest of the train.  On a normal journey regional journey, I prefer to sit with everyone else - observe, listen, and sometimes chat.  Long distance, the first class gives us wider, more comfortable seats and sometimes extra luggage space and the extra was worth us paying for - the price difference on Interrail is not huge.  Occasionally there's an extra perk in some countries like a complementary (not really - we paid for it as part of the package) cup of coffee.

Posters on various Interrail groups - newcomers to Interrail - often pose the question "should I spend the extra on a first class pass?".  It's an excellent question and one that only they can answer based on their personal review of the evidence people who have gone before them can provide. The above is written to help inform; our own personal choice is based on past experience

Potsdam was a delight of water frontage, historic buildings, walkways, and an example of how to "do" a station approach too.  Train back another zoo below the eyrie - with the train manager having trouble getting the doors to close because it was so rammed.

Now - do I post pictures of crowds, or of Potsdam?



Both ...

 

My niece in Surrey found it quicker to get a test in Portsmouth. Apparently a few of her school friends have done the same.

 
Saturday May 31

 
GBR doesn't actually exist yet, so there won't have been anyone from GBR present

 

Yes, a muriel (you've got me at it now!) can be an enhancement but Ashley Down is still relatively new and fresh looking while other local stations appear distinctly more tired and so would benefit more greatly, I would argue, from a spot of refreshment.

 

And six hours later ... the almost inevitable cancellation of the train in the return direction

 
Seven trains - 3 diesel, 3 electric, 1 steam in a round trip yesterday. My destination was The Harz on a round trip; Lisa spent a non-travel day in our current base.

This update illustrated by the seven trains and the big "gain" for me was th experience of how everything connects and comes together - how they do it here in Germany. Mostly they get it right, though it's not really the 100% everything-works as per reputation. We got back to Berlin about 25 minutes late - but then that was along a line undergoing engineering works on one of the two tracks which in another scenario / country might have resulted in complete line closure with long diversions or bus replacements.   

On most of the trains, announcements about where to change, and what platform to go to as we approached each station. Where the train did not have facilities to do that, or when the ticket checker knew my German is very limited, advise helpfully offered to make sure the customer was AOK in virtually every case.  Such advise and support IS commonly offered by train crew in the UK, but our mix of on-train and barrier checks means that train crew are mush less likely to be seen, and I have found the metrics of interaction with gate staff to be more of a policing-control nature than a customer-assist nature.