Now it is HS3!!!

[Suff]

Ossie they probably released them to pay for the new services. Scotrail is in the middle of constant strikes right now as they are removing the guards from most services and just having a driver. The Union thinks they are going to strike their way to victory on this.

What the Union seems to fail to realise is that the company has contracted for services based on a model without guards and also that the SNP are very "socialist" on ticket prices, refusing to allow them to rise much. So, in short, the company has no choice but to suffer the strikes until the Union gives up.

The whole thing is going to descend into the same kind of mess the French rail system is currently in with travellers not knowing whether they're going to be able to travel or not. up here I use the car/tram or bike. I don't use the train if I can avoid it and we have a lot of free car parks here too.

[Workingman]

Ossie, thanks for the information.

I get a big hint that you think the whole rail operation is running about as inefficiently as could be imagined. I am sure it could be made worse if only the experts would put a little effort in.

What happened to Scotrail also happened to Trans-Pennine. At the time the 'Northern Powerhouse' was being bigged up by Osborne and HM Gov't the rail companies were sending our trains to Chiltern and replacing them with refurbished tube trains.

Kaz, it seems crazy why a through train, London - Penzance, should go anywhere near Cheltenham and Gloucs. The natural route is Lon, Reading, Swindon, Bristo and then on. A spur from Bristol stopping at both C&G would do the job. The line to Cardiff and S. Wales is another matter. There the natural route is Lon, Oxford, C&G, over the bridge and on to Newport, Cardiff and Swansea. I used to use that route when I was at St Athan and the train used to split at Cheltenham. One section went to Birmingham and then Manc or Leeds and the other became the train to London.

[TheOstrich]

The trouble with Gloucester is the configuration of the railway lines. Trains from Paddington via Swindon and Kemble have to either branch left into Gloucester station, or carry on to Cheltenham. If they go into Gloucester first, they would have to reverse (driver change ends) to get to Cheltenham, and that means delays. And for some reason, I don't know quite why, Cheltenham has always been the more favoured destination from Paddington (despite the fact Cheltenham station is some way out of town and Gloucester's is virtually in the city centre). It's been mooted at various times that they could build an out-of-town Gloucester "Parkway" station on the north-south main line, which would also field the London services, but nothing's ever come of it.

[Workingman]

I do not get why London - Penzance trains need to go anywhere near C&G when going straight down via Bristol is more direct.

[Kaz]

Just asked Mick about it Ossie and apparently you're correct, Gloucester has a very unusual config!

Re the Cheltenham thing you mentioned, C does seem to get favoured over G often, annoying when G is the county town, after all C station is very inconveniently situated, as you said, whereas Gloucester station is right in the centre

[TheOstrich]

I do not get why London - Penzance trains need to go anywhere near C&G when going straight down via Bristol is more direct.

I think that might have been just "a slip of the pen". Trains from Paddington run to Swindon, then Kemble and up to Cheltenham, and do call into Gloucester and reverse out again, apparently, but it's a 2-hour frequency on average. Cross Country trains from the south west to the north via Birmingham tend to call at just Cheltenham only, bypassing Gloucester, but there is a South Wales > Nottingham semi-fast Cross Country service which does call at both Gloucester ('cos it's coming up through Lydney) and Cheltenham, and that's sort of hourly. Penzance > London Paddington services usually go from Taunton via Castle Cary and Westbury, then on to Reading.

Back in the really old days, Victorian mind you, you could travel from London to Gloucester and directly on to Cheltenham without reversing! You could use what was called the Tuffley link - this diverged from the main line south of Gloucester, curved round into a separate Gloucester station (not the existing one) in the town centre and then ran on to join the Cheltenham line. Long since gone and built over now, though you can still see traces on the alignment through Gloucester's southern suburbs on Google Maps.

And talking of Victorian railways, allow me, as a total anorak, a completely off-topic final rant - the BBC's interpretation of Joseph Conrad's "The Secret Agent". The book is set in 1886 (published by Conrad 1907). So, for the Waterloo > Southampton Boat Train, we use London and North Eastern Railway Class D49 62712 "Morayshire", (built 1928) complete with 1940's style British Railways roundels and livery. Ye Gods! I think the "Victorian Waterloo station" was also hosting a 1950's standard tank, but I couldn't quite get the number, LOL!! Morayshire is preserved on the Bo'ness and Kinneil Railway, and the Russian Embassy, according to iMDB, was actually Glasgow City Chambers, so I guess the production was filmed north of the border. But I do wish they'd try and be more historically accurate when filming ......

[Workingman]

Ossie, I do not know the current situation, but in the early 70s I used to go home from St Athan via Cardiff. The Leeds or Manc trains alternated on departure. They were London trains but split at C or G, can't remember which. The London train went its way and the Leeds or Manc coaches got a new unit to take them on via Brum.

One weekend I got on the wrong train. ManU had been playing in the cup somewhere, Swansea or Cardiff, and I happened to get on the Manc train, but in the London coaches. When the split came I was on the Manc coaches wearing a Leeds Utd scarf. I was never so relieved to see New Street where I could jump on a Leeds train via Derby and Sheffield.

[cromwell]

Tonight the people running HS2 are holding a meeting in the village community centre. They may be on the wrong end of a few strong words. One of the versions of HS2 has a massive viaduct carrying the main line crossing the Doncaster Road at one end of the village whilst having a massive sidings / goods yard at the other end of the village - near where the new housing estates are being built.

A lot of people are very, very unhappy about this. MrsC wants to go but I've said I'm not bailing her out if she loses it!

ps - It's been on the local news that they had to call the police out to the meeting the HS2 people held last night in South Yorkshire!

[cromwell]

OMG! I used to work with the guy in this clip. I had no idea he lived up Towers Lane. HS2 is going to go right through his garden!

http://www.itv.com/news/calendar/update ... te-change/

The local meeting got a bit rowdy in the evening, with one old bloke standing on a table, cursing and swearing at the HS2 PR people. I've never known so many people upset. We not only get the HS2 line, we get a rolling stock depot that is one mile long, three stories high and which will be open 24/7, and be incredibly noisy to boot.

I might have to become the Swampy of WF4!

[Workingman]

Is it only me?

The HS2 wonk came across as 'come to the meeting and we will tell you what is to happen' rather than 'come to the meeting and we will listen to what you have to say'.

If it was the first, and I sure it was, then it is propaganda and not a meeting. A total waste of time.

Had there been some joined-up thinking years ago the sidings at Normanton would not have been dug up - an ideal parking space for HS2 rolling stock. Even now, to put tracks back would be more cost effective and less disruptive to the environment than a whole new siding at Crofton. And when I say 'environment' I mean peoples' live, businesses and the countryside.