Hendon

There is similar photo of Hendon in this article

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hendon_Aerodrome

Interesting the trackbed of the Mill Hill East -Edgware line that was being converted to double track and scheduled to become part of the northern line as part of Northern heights, but was abandoned after the war is clearly visible as light colour

 
It was interesting to read the piece on this in the Swindon Advertiser too (I think we have another thread going on that?) and see how public comment was "it's all very well about the midlands - but what about south from here?".   And indeed the Swindon MPs might like do well in the popularity stakes to sort out in-county travel to places like Trowbridge and Salisbury - get it reliable and hourly - before they head off on a brand new project of trains to Birmingham.

 
Does anyone recognise where this is?

Mark

https://historicengland.org.uk/images-books/archive/collections/aerial-photos/record/raf_hla_499_v_6006

 
No, I'd have called him Jeremy from Accounts. That seemed to work out well.

 
Yes, that Stroud building, a very positive step with a tale to it?

https://www.stroudnewsandjournal.co.uk/news/19033111.20-years-since-strouds-hill-paul-saved-demolition/

The Cotswold Canal Trust has recently put a new web site together, good, visually appealing, information-rich too.

Mark

https://www.cotswoldcanals.org/

 
I meant that you wouldn't have called a male Chancellor of the Exchequer 'Bob from accounts'.....

 
Ahhh....of course. The toilet would need swapping for an(other) accessible one if you were to add a third position on a 5car too.

 

I missed II's request previously. As a wheelchair user, I find the two current spaces on a 5car ample, as I've only met one other wheelchair on a service in over 2 years that I've been in one - & I'm on IETs at least 4 times a week (2 returns at least, across their network) - never mind two others.

Also - these current spaces are both in 1st class, where I'm sure most wheelchair users are quite happy, thank you. THe wheelchair space in the Standard coach A on a 9car is nowhere as nice 
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Yes indeed...it would be the lowest priority from my wishlist.  Though it would give a bit of flexibility should the Universal Access Toilet be out of use in the first class section, and on the rare occasion a station platform is too short to have the doors on the first class carriage avaiable.  But it is very useful having the spaces in first class as that's where there are more staff on hand to help board and alight.

 


Hmmm.......making it all up again.....we'll see.

 
Not from me.

I think Rachel Reeves is in an unenviable position, with the press and pressure groups writing her Budget speech for her, before she has a chance to reply.

 
That'll be the refurb date half-way through it's lifespan, if at all. It would likely mean a seat redesign & refit, and they're owned by Hitachi, nota ROSCO or the DfT. Lots of dosh.


I missed II's request previously. As a wheelchair user, I find the two current spaces on a 5car ample, as I've only met one other wheelchair on a service in over 2 years that I've been in one - & I'm on IETs at least 4 times a week (2 returns at least, across their network) - never mind two others.

Also - these current spaces are both in 1st class, where I'm sure most wheelchair users are quite happy, thank you. THe wheelchair space in the Standard coach A on a 9car is nowhere as nice 

 
Travelling on three class 80x's yesterday, on 2 out of the 3, many of the seats visibly had the DVT-inducing defect. I'm moved to follow up the enquiry to GWR and see if there's a timescale to address this. On a 20 minute journey this is merely going to be uncomfortable. Paddington to Cornwall, for passengers vulnerable to this, must push it into risk territory

Mark

 
From the Swindon Advertiser

Swindon to Birmingham train line return to bring 12,750 jobs

An extract

 
Slightly misogynistic?

 

This is a false comparison as the electrification is capital investment and a new service is revenue. 


OK but this service would transform journeys from Swindon to the midlands and the north as the change at Cheltenham can be somewhat of a lottery adding up to an hour to the journey time.   Think how much pollution this would remove from our roads.

 
Swindon to Melksham - 25 miles via the A3102. Google estimates around 45 minutes, with 5 minutes to be saved if I were to go a longer but quicker way via the M4.

Swindon is one of the major employment and business hubs in our area - how good is it to get there by public transport from my home town which has a population of around 25,000 and growing?  How easy is it to find out your options?

Home to Swindon

Yesterday morning, I left home at 07:38, walked to the station and caught the 08:02 train which should have arrived in Swindon at 08:28.  50 minutes door to door (my destination was a long distance train). However, the train left Melksham on time but arrived in Swindon 26 mimutes late - long after my connection had gone.

Swindon to Home

Coming home, my return train arrived in Swindon at 16:02, at platform 1. Having been out walking for the day and unsure of my pace and what I would find, that was not a time I had predicted earliers in the day, so I arrived and then had the question "how do I get home"?

* The next train to Melksham was not until 17:35 - so that would have been 18:00 into Melksham, 18:22 at my front door. 140 minutes door to door.   From Platform 2, Westbury train

* There was a train at 16:26 as far as Chippenham which would have left a wait at Chippenham for the 17:35 bus (last bus of the day) - 18:02 into Melksham Market Place, 18:07 home. 125 minutes door to door. From Platform 4, Weston-super-mare train

* I walked up to the Fleming Way bus boulevard.  I had visited Stop "Y" first to look up Devizes bus times, and as I got to Stop "H" I saw the 55 to Chippenham pulling out (16:10) - probably a good job I missed it as it had a 3 minute connection in Chippenham into the last x34 of the day to Melksham.  125 minutes if lucky, 140 minutes if not (train from Chippenham).

* I visited Stop "E" where the 99 service by Coachstyle also runs to Chippenham, but there was no service until 17:05. Had I waited for that, I would have arrived at Chippenham at 18:36 ... after the last onward bus, after the direct train (option above) leaving me to fall back to the train at about 20:00 which - oops - was cancelled last night to it would have been a rail replacement taxi, estimated time 250 minutes from arriving in Swindon to being home.

* I took the service at 16:30 from Stop "Y" on route 49 to Devizes.  Around 15 minutes there to change to the 17:55 from the same stop (at The Pelican) onto the 273 Bath bus as far Spa Road (Cowslip Mews) from where there is a five minute walk home. Home at 18:15 - 133 minutes after my arrival into Swindon.

* Considered the direct National Express coach to Melksham but ruled it out as a ludicrous option as it doesn't leave until 21:25 on a Saturday - from Stop "N1" or "N2" on Fleming Way and would have been 350 minutes from my arrival in Swindon!

* I had also considered taking the 49, on which alternate buses extend to Trowbridge, and which stops at Semington 2 miles from my home.  On a nice summer's eveing with it still light (and had I not already been out walking) this would have been an attractive option

Lessons to be learned

1. The train service needs to be hourly

2. Buses on route x34 should run into the eveining

3. Should there be better maps / guidance for passengers arriving into Swindon for destinations such as Melksham and Cirencester (train to Kemble or bus all the way?) and Calne (train to Chippenham and bus, or bus all the way?) . There is no central enquiry point - not even a map showing all the direct routes ... let alone connections

4. Should there be a central smart display at the midpoint of the bus boulevard, perhaps dupicated at the railway station, allowing people to enter destination (town, attracttion, area, postcode) for a real time display of your immediate options and where they start from?

5. Should there be guidance on this lot with regard to fares and ticket interchangability for those of us on return fares?

Starting point


Arrival point in Swindon


Baffling choice of not-brilliant starting points for the return

 
Article in 'Nature' and a link to the map itself. Turning to the UK, it's curious to think of those engineers and planners addressing the same topography (and some of the same settlements and transport needs) as did the railway pioneers of the nineteenth century.

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-03626-z

https://itiner-e.org/

 

Pages 251 - 256

https://sacuksprodnrdigital0001.blob.core.windows.net/sectional-appendix/Sectional%20Appendix%20full%20PDFs%20September%2025/Western%20&%20Wales%20Sectional%20Appendix%20September%202025.pdf

Newton St Cyres 120m
Crediton down 135m, up 155m
Yeoford 136m
Copplestone 87m
Morchard Road 90m
Lapford 81m
Eggesford down 85m, up 92m
Kings Nympton 90m
Portsmouth Arms 74m
Umberleigh 139m
Chapelton 100m
Barnstaple 142m

Class 150 vehicles are 20m long, 158, 165 are 23m long, class 170 are 24m long, class 800,802 are 26m long.  So some can take 6car trains, some can't even take 4cars

 
6.  Stroud - the Thames & Severn canal at Wallbridge Upper Lock, with the Hill Paul building in the background.

To my mind the building looks much better than it did before it was converted to apartments.  The conversion added the extra two-storey 'cap' on top of the original stark rectangular block of a building, which makes it feel more balanced.  Ah, happy memories of seeing the improvement from my occasional journeys over the years on the beautiful Golden Valley line.

And wishing future success to the Cotswold Canals Trust for all their work on restoring the Stroudwater and Thames & Severn canals.

 

Reminded me of this scene

 

Not as far as I know. The powers that be were asked but weren't prepared to tweak things to enable buses to stop at the racecourse station, which is disappointing as it's certainly a destination that's in demand (and it wss an opportunity to mitigate the vehicle traffic generated by the station/visitor attraction) - so the buses on the established bus route will continue to sail past having stopped ten minutes walk to either side.

Mark

 

First 5 - Coffee Shop specials ...











Second five - as shared on Facebook

 

Some of the route is already wired, although only 2 of 4 tracks are done around Kings Norton.  I think the Midlands Hub is due to do this anyway.

And the section from near Yate to Filton is also electrified.

There is a short section of electrification at Swindon end of line from Kemble too.

If Filton Bank into Temple Meads is done, then don't need to add very much (makebe short section to accelerate northwards from Yate) to allow Battery EMUs (rather than bimodes) to take over the service. 

And as the bridges to Water Orton are being raised for adjacent HS2 tracks that section would be easy to electrify too (which allows BEMUs to reach Central Rivers Depot)

Regarding New Street after the cross city line was electrified air quality was much better, but has become lot worse since voyagers were introduced 24ish years ago, as it was rebuilt with expectation of locos at the end of trains, so the exhausts were in open air section, not in the covered section with concourse and shops above.

 

A standard problem right across the train and bus network is that the seats that are available (when limited) tend to be occupied by those who least need them / are most able to stand.   Sometimes people are polite and thouthful, sometimes they are not ... and sometimes the services are so packed people with limited balance or mobility can't even get to the seats!

Edit to add ...


More like "campaigning" rather that "working"?  To me, this reads rather as is Railfuture has some sort of direct ability to run longer trains.

 
The headline and picture reminded me of Pilning.

Except that there they took the bridge away, permanently, and provided no alternative - resulting in a withdrawal of all westbound trains.  I note that more recently the car park has been provided with a heavy security gate, and the 8 parking spaces advertised at the time are no longer available.

 
From the BBC:

 
Don't know the lengths of the platforms between Exeter and Barnstaple,
but could a non stop service service be introduced from Exeter to Barntaple?

 
Would this West Midlands money be better spent on bringing over heads wires to Bristol temple meads for the Bristol to Manchester services?

Just think how much more pollution would be removed from Birmingham new street train station.

 
An update, from the BBC:


I quote the BBC article verbatim - I'm not going to even try to interpret, or comment, on the implications.

 
From the BBC: