Mike_Walker

It's no doubt due to the looming election that the government is attempting to force this through by the end of the year. If it can be delayed until after the election then hopefully the issue will go away.

Looked even worse in glorious Tecnicolour!

Not even the paint in many cases.

Yes Mike, all day Saturday formed of 165109, 165125 and 165123. Shown as such on RTT and confirmed by a passing Plymouth driver miffed that there were short forms in the west as a result - it was also Teignmouth air show. Apparently they were running into the up relief platform and working swift turn rounds. Fun down your way today. A DB freight sat down on the down relief in the station. Down GWR stopping and XR services passing through either on the UR or DM without stopping. This didn't go down well with Exeter's most senior driver who was planning to make his first ever visit to Henley on a day off so he and his wife went to Oxford instead!

The Marlow branch obviously superior then (that's why the train destination screens show route 01) ! In addition to Bourne End and Maidenhead, both Cookham and Furze Platt are staffed in the mornings Monday to Saturday (M-F at FP). On train ticket checks/sales happen almost every time I travel but that could be down to Mrs Hopwood Snr being a daily traveller on the branch and if anything is not being done correctly a report goes in to Swindon!

Regarding the question as to how passengers will know when staff are on duty, the GWR website, at least, has always shown the opening hours of ticket offices and the closure document shows the proposed staffing hours which on our local line are the same. Therefore, if this goes ahead I would expect to see this information continued. Just look under "station facilities".

I like to think I might have had a small part to play in moving the numbers back to the cabs. When the first four PCs appeared with the numbers on the sliding doors I pointed out to Mr H that it made it difficult to see the numbers in photos. His reply was that the scheme had been created by designers and was not done with "trainspotters" in mind. A bit rich coming from him I thought and said so. Shortly after, further repaints started appearing with the cabside numbers. One of the issues with the cast alloy monograms was that they needed a lot of TLC at terminals to keep them presentable. 🙂

Mike, I think you are being a little unfair. Most GWR station staff I've encountered are helpful but at times they have as much difficulty in finding out what's going on as the rest of us. The problem usually lies with NR who are reluctant to share information.

Brilliant! I suggest you use that as a submission to the consultation and send it to your MP. Sadly the whole thing is a box-ticking exercise and it will go ahead no matter how big the public outcry is. So much for democracy.

Here's 15107 in ex-works black with early crest and number plates. But of course that was the unique Brush/Petter one built in 1949.

Even if it was half the nation's population I shudder to think how the town would have coped, never mind the railway. Last week's event had 7-car Turbos operating on the branch with short-forms down west as a result. Them west country types weren't impressed.

Having known him well for more than 30 years those are not words I would use to describe him, he's certainly not arrogant or a git. However, like many of his generation, he fails to appreciate that not everyone lives their lives completely on line or wants to. Also, he's implementing DfT instructions as he's contractually required to even though he's one of the few in the industry that can argue with the DfT. This is entirely DfT driven but by making the TOCs make the public announcements they hope it will deflect public anger from the government.

Well that says it all! So what happens after the "short term"? Answer: We no longer want your custom...

I am totally opposed to this proposal and Mark Hopwood and I have had some pretty heated "discussions" over it. It might be DafT driven, but if Mark is anything to go by, the TOCs are enthusiastically embracing it. Mark seems to think we should conduct all our business in every field on our smartphones and those that don't are crusty old dinosaurs. In addition to the usual debate about how passengers get tickets in future, I question where the actual savings will be made. In the case of my local station, Bourne End, the proposal is to close the ticket office but still retain the staff to work on the platform to assist passengers. But, that staff member will still need a place to take personal breaks which will, presumably, be in the existing office. It will still need lighting and heating so little cost saving will be made just a loss in revenue. This will be made worse because many who currently buy their tickets from the affable Tony will find it difficult to use the TVM and take a risk and travel without a ticket especially as on-train ticket sales/inspection seems to be a rare event these days. Tony tells me that on average he assists around half a dozen passengers who have attempted to make on line bookings and have either been unsuccessful or something has gone wrong which would have resulted in them being penalised if they'd travelled. The TOCs claim that putting staff onto the platform will allow them to give a better service but at Bourne End for example, Tony is always willing to come outside and assist if required, particularly for a disabled passenger. I also wonder how long Tony and others like him will continue in this new role before getting fed up and resigning. At that point I can't see them being replaced and the stations will become unstaffed. And this doesn't affect just small stations; I see that even the ticket office at Reading is to close - one of the largest and busiest stations in the country!

I too had the pleasure of meeting David on a number of occasions. The Marlow & District Railway Society used to have an annual charabanc trip to a heritage railway and one year we selected the East Somerset. It was normal practice to get a speaker to come a few months before to do a “warm up” and, naturally, we decided to invite David, never expecting him to come to a small group like ours. The secretary reported back in a grave tone: “David can’t come in March… but, he can come in April.” The treasurer (me) choked on his beer and enquired how much? “Nothing, provided he can bring his sales stand.” Come the day, David and his helpers with two loaded Transit vans draw up and set up their stall. We got concerned, our members can be notoriously tight-fisted but fortunately wives and partners came along and they were willing to spend more freely with the result that almost all the stock was sold. David said he never expected it, the stock was actually intended for a large show he was doing at Croydon the following evening and as a result they would have to return to Cranmore to restock. After that, David was always willing to do anything for the society and returned a couple more times plus hosting our ESR visit personally. I too have a print of “Nine Elms” which I took along to get David to sign it personally. “Oh, a limited edition”. He turned it over, looked at the back and said: “That’s odd, there’s no number – where did you get it?” I explained that an old school friend who worked for Harrisons, the high security printers in High Wycombe, had given it to me as a thank you for my labour in helping him restore a RT bus. Harrisons did the printing but this was a reject and he’d had gone to a lot of trouble getting permission to take it away. David said he couldn’t see what the alleged fault was but accepted my story and not only did he sign it but he wrote on the back that he was satisfied with its provenance. As one that got away, it’s probably worth more than the “ordinary” limited edition prints.

I remember David Shepherd saying his art teacher at school told him he couldn't paint and would never make it as an artist!

I couldn't agree more!

Operators often remove stops from late running services in an effort to ensure the stock is in place for an on time departure of the next service. Yes, it's inconvenient but it helps prevent wider disruption. @Michael Hodgson comment that if it doesn't run there will be no reports is, l hope, with tongue in cheek. There are several reasons why trains are not reported, particularly when in traditionally signalled areas where manual input to the system is required or, as here, where the train is off expected route.

N/R on RTT stands for "No Report".

The thing that I particularly like with Steve's @railtec-models plates is that they replicate the painted cast iron plates far more realistically than etched ones. Remember, only the more important GWR engines had brass number plates, most were cast iron. One could argue, etched for locos with brass plates and Steve's for the others.

There isn't a direct service from the station but Arriva service 32 will take you there. It picks up in the High Street which is down the hill from the station and turn right. It runs to Booker where it makes a loop using the Asda store as a nominal terminal but Booker Turnpike Corner is the nearest point, about a 1/4 mile walk. After alighting, take the westwards part of Cressex Road from the roundabout and you will see the road into the school on the left after the Community Centre. Good news is that coming back it stops in Cressex Road just before the roundabout so slightly less far to walk! It runs every 20 minutes on Saturday but on Sunday you will need to walk to the Bus Station (quite a hike!) and get the 32A from there.

Here are some images from the centenary event on 15 July 1973 from the Marlow & District Railway Society's collection. 1450 at Bourne End. The milk tank provided a water supply for the locomotives. 1450 rounding the sharp curve into Bourne End from Marlow. Between Marina Level Crossing and Marlow Viaduct. Crossing Marlow Viaduct which is actually in Bourne End. Approaching Spade Oak Level Crossing. Passing the former gravel pits near Marlow which once had their own 2' gauge railway. 6998 Burton Agnes Hall starts out of Bourne End with the Maidenhead train formed of 5 borrowed Mk1s... ... and tailed by 6106. 6106 leaving the cutting from Cookham and about to descend across Cock Marsh towards Bourne End. 6998 at the Rowbarrow footbridge between Bourne End and Cookham. 6998 cresting the climb out of Bourne End and about to descend towards Cookham, it's 1 in 83 both sides. 6998 approaching Cookham. And arriving at Maidenhead.

Whilst I don't have a requirement for a crane, is this view of the 6 ton crane at Marlow (installed circa 1940) of any use?

Sadly no, in fact we were lucky to get even this probably only because of Mark Hopwood's particular affection for the branch. The 1973 event was indeed memorable - if only for the constant rain almost all day, not a good idea in retrospect to hold it on St Swithen's Day. I'll dig out some of the photos in the MDRS collection of the event and post them later. It was actually 1450 not 1420 that came to the rescue. The original plan was to use Didcot's 1466 plus their trailers but a few days before the event BR inspected 1466 and failed it for some reason - I can't remember what exactly. Today that would result in "That's it, mate, event cancelled" but BR were more flexible. They called the DVR and arranged to borrow 1450 (at their expense) for the weekend. It steamed up to Didcot on its own (no pilot diesel) on the Saturday/Sunday night and joined 6106, 6998 and the two trailers to continue to Maidenhead for the start of the action. At the end, the convoy returned to Didcot and 1450 headed west. At Bristol it met up with Flying Scotsman which was running from Derby to Paignton following its post-USA adventure and the pair ran overnight to Newton Abbot where they parted company. You simply can't imagine this being done today but it was in simpler times. Somewhere I have a copy of the BR special instructions for the day - a single typed sheet. The use of 1450 was particularly fortuitous as it had been a regular 'Donkey locomotive in the 1950s whereas 1466 spent all its working life in Devon. Whilst there was no booklet this time, the current edition of the MDRS magazine, the Marlow Donkey, has been devoted to the branch. Donkey 180 June 2023.pdf

The profitability of the TOCs pre-pandemic was not the great cash cow that many seem to believe. Take a look at the annual reports of the various owning groups and you will see how meagre they were which is why so many decided not to bid for franchises in future leaving the door open for European operators to enter the market but they too are dropping out, Abellio for one whilst DB is still trying to find a buyer for Arriva. Some groups were better than others. First generally took a positive approach but as group they've been struggling for several years with weak performance in the markets and rumours of takeovers. My point about driver recruitment at GWR and TPE is that both (and Avanti another First company) were actively progressing driver recruitment to the levels required going forward and allowing for wastage, retirement, etc. GWR were lucky in that they had largely completed their programme before the pandemic struck whilst TPE and Avanti were caught up in it. Training and recruitment had to stop and now the railways are run under direct contract to the DfT it is that body that calls the shots. In the case of both TPE and Avanti the DfT (at the instruction of the Treasury) dictated that training and recruitment should stop. In the case of TPE it was the same MD, Matt Golton, who was in charge who was also standing in for Mark Hopwood at GWR when their big recruitment/training drive was in full swing and had it been left to him TPE recruitment and training would have resumed as soon as pandemic conditions permitted. As a self confessed "leftie" I was surprised Elton didn't take the opportunity to lift the lid on how this government micro-manages today's rail industry. All of which is why no government, of any party, will fully renationalise the railways; UK plc simply can't afford it. GB Railways is merely a rebranding of what's going on now. We've never had a fully privatised railway since 1948 (some would argue 1923) but whereas BR was largely left to its own devices, today's railway is micromanaged to the n'th degree. Until that changes the downward spiral will continue but the civil servants have got their hands on the trainset and won't let go. If you thought the transport minister's comment on the C4 programme last night about the DfT not "being the Department for Trains" was bad you should have heard what I was told about a comment from the most senior civil servant at the DfT recently by a senior manager today.