Recent content by Hartington

I live in Castle Cary. Have done for nearly 20 years. It was sleepy and relatively uninhabitated. Compared to many places it still is but things are changing. When I first moved here the car park was maybe 70 places. It's now over 300 and it's not just a car park, there are multiple 20 minute...

"The Creanery" has opened. A word of explanation - just behind the station building there used to be a milk factory. In recent (ish) years it's been a wine merchant amongst other things. A little outside Castle Cary, on the road to Bruton, is the estate attached to Hadspen House. It has been...

Do you have a source for that? They have only just completed the refurbishment of the existing footbridge amd they haven't raised it to allow future electrification (unlikely but that seems to be the norm). Every accessible footbridge I've seen built new in recent years has allowed for...

The new (east) car park has opened. 193 new spaces (but when I used it last thursday there were a few roped off in one corner). The old car park is still open and both are heavily used. In the GWR news announcing the opening there is a paragraph: "““We’re not stopping there. We are...

All of the systems have their quirks, many of which are a result of the way the railway runs itself. For instance, I live near Castle Cary. Just occasionally a train that is scheduled to go straight down the Frome avoiding/main line actually goes into Frome. It is now "off route" and most...

I don't see it as either/or. It's a choice made to meet a number of needs. Last year we went to Pisa, Florence and Siena. Train Castle Cary/Reading/Gatwick then fly to Pisa. Train to Florence. Another train to Siena. The journey home was fun. Local taxi to Siena station, train to...

It's a school holiday so some "commuters" will be off work, not travelling on "commuter" services. On the other hand those same "commuters" may be going to see family or friends using longer distance services or heading in the opposite direction to their normal commute at an off peak time. I...

At Castle Cary the car park capacity is about 70. Nominally there are 2 disabled and 2 20 minute spaces in a block. I say "nominally" because there are currently temporary toilets plonked on the 2 20 minute and one of the disabled bays. It's been that way for at least 6 months and I see...

On the South Shore running from Chicago to Michigan City and South Bend there'r a request stop at Beverley Shores. There's a button you press that sets off a strobe which flashes for 10 minutes then switches off automatically...

A bit difficult to lose but..... My father was a concert pianist and owned a Steinway 6ft Grand Piano. Maintenance was done by a Steinway employee "on the side". What is known as "the action" is a single assembly that has all the keys, mechanism and hammers. You undo two screws, slide the...

A few years ago I was waiting for a flight in a US airport. A plane pulled up in front of where I was sitting and I took some photos. A little while later a gentleman in pilot uniform came up and I asked why I was photographing "his" plane. "I like planes" was my reply which he accepted...

The comments about Heathrow make me wonder about something that isn't GWR specific. When I fly back to Heathrow (or even Gatwick) the ability to predict whether we'll be on time, how long UK immigration will take and when my baggage may appear rather puts me off buying an advance ticket. What...

Living near Castle Cary I've occasionally wondered why there isn't a down service towards Taunton before 1030. "Occasionally" probably explains why - the market is small but it removes employment and education options. It also makes hospital appointments difficult - essentially you can't...

I was under the impression that a regular, hourly, Weymouth service was/is impractical because of the lack of a passing place between Pen Mill and Maiden Newton?

I fear that there is an element of racial dislike hidden in some people. "Jap Crap" appears too often in comments about Hitachi built trains. I incline to the view that anything wrong with the 80n should be laid at the door of our dearly beloved Dft