Recent content by Ralph Ayres

Indeed. A somewhat smaller affair (gauge and overall operation) but to me it therefore feels more friendly and intimate. A former standard gauge line so the odd experience of running through a couple of closed stations and under bridges seeming out of scale.

The higher price for a full journey ticket is sometimes because it's valid by more than one (possibly longer but quicker) route to give passengers useful flexibility or for historic reasons and can't be priced at less than any part of any valid route as that would open up loopholes. Splitting...

It's downloaded remotely, not physically on site by CD! The %-age discrepancy came about because RDG initially omitted to warn TfL in advance about the change and then formally instruct them to use the new value. I'd assumed that had eventually happened but possibly not. It can be hard to...

Rather than berating anyone for not being accurate, I'd assume they DID tap twice, attempting to tap out then back in either on the same reader or one nearby. Those readers though wouldn't allow that within a short time which is consistent with what was described and the journey history. Revenue...

One at Hull Paragon too I think. From what I remember they showed the planned platform number which had to be amended for any alterations, either directly on the blind or possibly hiding the incorrect number with some sort of paddle carrying a number, that could be jammed into the side of the...

Correct. Sorry, half asleep.

Deleted to avoid confusion

...and pretty cramped coach K is too. Travelling with my partner yesterday we decided to give the First Class catering a miss and opted for Standard Premium where roomy window tables for 2 were readily available rather than squeeze into paired airline seats where the aisle occupier has virtually...

I can confirm that some parts of TfL are very much in denial about London Overground and the Lizzie being National Rail services, despite being reminded by colleagues in TfL responsible for implementing various relevant rules and policies.

Is the real answer "With hindsight, any part of a train involved in an incident that after that incident is found to be undamaged"? But yes, as noted above such events are so unlikely and each such a one-off that it really isn't worth even thinking about.

Glad I'm not the only panic mode-er! I similarly reserved in First on LNER recently, then checked later exactly where my seat was to find that the carriage I'd been put in appeared not to exist. I'd had nothing from LNER to say there'd been a change but rather than risk being seatless I...

I hadn't come across the Embsay & Bolton Abbey until fairly recently, but it looks worth a visit. I've been put off visiting partly by the limited public transport to get there, though after a bit of research it seems not to be as bad as the railway's own website says, and crucially it is...

The impact is rather more noticeable in First Class. A recent journey from Darlington to Berwick - around 80 minutes - seemed plenty long enough to expect the complimentary meal, one of the main attractions of paying the higher fare and a factor in planning the day with no opportunity for a...

This one has been very badly publicised, though I see there were posters at the station itself for regular users. There's no mention on the TfL Status Update that the whole station is closed with no Lizzie trains stopping, even if you drill down to station level, scroll past all the stations...

It's surprising then that I gather Cubic have recently made a number of staff who were working on the current TfL contract redundant. They'll have had to make contractual redundancy payments to staff who they would have lost at no cost during the transfer, and I would also have expected Cubic...