I also need to panic-buy 5L of fuel for the lawnmower. What I bought last year is almost gone. The next one will be battery unless I buy a new house with substantially more lawn. Gas for heating isn't an issue at the moment. We're snookered if the electricity goes in the middle of winter - probably go stay with our daughter and her log burner. That or spend the day in bed with Mrs K. It was fun during the last power cuts.

 
And this afternoon, the halts train and its return working have been cancelled.

 
A ~20 minute programme on the line, from ITV.

Mark

https://www.itv.com/watch/news/catch-up-on-border-life/8b00hx2

 
Thanks Mark - so it's the delay in getting to the final destination that counts? Makes sense of course; I'll give it a go.

 
£38.50?

Mark

 
Today my wife had an Advance Single ticket from Swansea to Melksham, with a change at Swindon - £38.50. The Swansea-Swindon train was delayed by about 20 mins, so she missed the 5 min connection.

As the 2nd leg was a TransWilts to Melksham, the next train would have been nearly 2 hours later (assuming it wasn't cancelled ). So she caught the next mainline train to Chippenham and I drove over to pick her up from there.

So what is she entitled to claim for - the ~20 min delay in arriving at Swindon, or what would have been a 2 hour delay had she waited for the next Melksham train?

EDIT: I'd put ~15 min in the last line, corrected to ~20

 
There's a lift also from platform 1 up to the overbridge at the open end of the station too, rather than the schlep around past platform 12....

 
If you book a through ticket to St Pancras, it's only £4 extra above the ticket for Paddington from Melksham (open return, departing after 10am, with Senior railcard, done through GWR). If you come in on platforms 7 or 8, there's ramp access to "first floor" level which gets you to gate-line access to the Hammersmith & City/Circle line, after which there are lifts to the platforms.

If you arrive at any other platform it's a longer schlep around the concourse, but you get to lifts to said "first floor level" on the concourse side of the platform 13-4 gate-line, thereafter to Hammersmith & City as above.

At St Pancras, if I recall correctly, two lifts give you step-free access from tube platform to International Departures, with helpful signs directing you to the correct lifts (I think E & F) to do so.

At Paddington, whichever route you take/have to take if you do not arrive on platforms 7 or 8, I'd guess it's quite a bit further than getting to the bus stop on Praed Street, but at St Pancras it must be much easier than getting off a bus in Euston Road.

Was this mentioned in the consultation, or TfL's response to it? More to the point, have any forum members seen this route recommended or  explained on any journeys they have taken via Paddington to St Pancras International? I only found out about the availability of "Euro High Saver returns" (Open returns valid for two months from nominated date for outward journey) from helpful Goring station staff, and worked the route out myself based on experience finding the new Hammersmith & City gate-lines after they were installed back in my working days when I had to travel up to London for meetings at venues best approached via that line.

Although I've done this route (using the tube) when travelling with my wife, who has some mobility problems not requiring any aids, I am not in a position to comment on how much worse overall it is than using a 205 bus. The fact it has not been mentioned so far in this thread implies that TfL did not mention it, nor investigate its suitability as a recommended alternative, which (if true) I find unimpressive for an integrated transport authority.

Of course, none of the above helps those seeking access between other London termini without the facilities at Paddington and St Pancras. TfL's emphasis on how much they sent communications to those resident along the route indicates an assumption that their buses are only used by locals, and that it did not occur to them that this service was also an important part of the cross-London connections for rail travellers on the national rail system. (On a route linking a number of termini stations, who'd have guessed? . Perhaps us poor yokels outside the M25 don't count.   

 
Yes....and you can board any number of buses within an hour for one bus fare too.

 

I don't think the Chief Secretary's job demands an understanding of where the money is being spent - she just has to stop it wherever possible.

 
Good news for Scunthorpe too

 

The new Diane Abbott?

 
Well, they could put a bridge across the lower Dart. Not sure how they'd fit the approaches in though. They'd have to bulldoze much of Kingswear and Dartmouth.

 

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.