Recent content by Bob Ames

Yes, The Station Cafe is pretty good (and less than 100 m away :) ) but in defense of the platform outlets, there is nothing else open if you are starting early (e.g. 1K14, 1S34 etc.). I would imagine that the staff appreciate them (I often see dispatchers buying coffee from them).

Heh. At Wigan, on the other hand: "The next train does not stop here, please sta" [unable to hear rest of announcement due to freight set crashing through the station at 75 mph]. Totally agreed. What's needed is an upbeat/cheerful and less snooty voice.

I think TPE do just fine at 100 mph. What they need is more seats and more luggage space, which they won't get with tilting plastic tubes. :D

I think it would be better to join the other convoy rather than overtake it. Better yet, change the law to allow them to run in the fast lane at 80 mph, thus keeping them out of the path of other traffic (but a limit of 80 mph might annoy BMW drivers :lol: ).

Nah, they will always have big heads. :wink:

The Superfast X - now there's a ship with a history! Didn't know it was now working this route, cheers for the info!

Heh, but I wouldn't exactly call Northern's refurbed 144s 'rubbish' (they are pretty decent units and I would say 144004 is the best DMU I have had this side of a 175 - certainly way better than Northern's 158s which are well overdue for a refurb).

Ghastly. It is ridiculous that you had to wait 8 hours in Dublin and then another 4 hours at Holyhead! They ought to put displaced passengers on other ferries, even if means using other ferry companies or a car-only ferry (e.g. Epsilon). Swift did the same to me last year, although it meant...

Speaking of double dogboxes, can you claim haulage for both units or just the unit you rode in?

So how much would be fair to you? £30K? £40K? Where do you draw the line? This might just be the incentive they need to get a job (or move the f**k out of London! :lol: )

Ghastly - so glad I no longer own a car! VT appear to have gone poster-mad recently. My favourite new poster is in the bike space on Voyagers - they essentially say 'if you don't have a reservation, see the TM.' Yeah, as if the c***munching one-stop wonders are gonna rat themselves out...

Many happy returns! (and some happy singles, too! :lol:)

Groups of passengers that, after asking me the location of the station exit, then proceed to follow me all over the freakin' station! Passengers that ask me a series of questions and then ask, "What's a Pendolino?" (er, it's that big red and grey thing behind you)

Funnily enough, my last SailRail Advance had code '6I' which states, "Reservations are compulsory on the ship leg." Sounds to me as if 6I should be the Standby and 6J for the Advance. Perhaps the ticket issuer has mixed-up the codes?

Yes, under current rules, it could not be banned; you would have to change the NRCoC to something like the conditions that Iarnród Éireann have: "11. Re-booking at intermediate stations 11.1 Except where specially authorised, passengers are not permitted to re-book at an intermediate...