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In the mid 1980s, I commuted to school from Estoril to Carcavelos on the Cascais line. The rolling stock was superannuated then, so I was staggered that it is still - refurbished certainly internally and doubtless with new traction equipment too etc - running today. They have made certain...

This is a bit rich really. There is an elderly(ish) gentleman with a freedom pass who often spends his afternoons travelling between Waterloo and somewhere that connects at Surbiton, who - quite literally - I do not think has changed or washed his clothes in well over a decade. You can always...

This is now open, as of 4pm yesterday, according to the chap from SWR at the top of the stairs when I ceremonially walked up at 4.29pm. They only have budget for it to be open 4-8pm weekdays, and he remarked that most trains were too short for it to be much use, as passengers won't walk back on...

I don't think Stagecoach are in the UK Rail franchise game any more; whether they would be interested in re-entering is a matter for debate. But the answer, for this completely dissatisfied passenger at least, has to be ABSWR - Anyone But SWR. Not a single one of their significant substantive...

To revert to the original question, I've had a GC for 16 years now, and was about to get Gold For Life in summer 2020 and then everything went wrong. I'll probably stagger over the line next summer and bizarrely then have no incentive to renew ever again and will start flying Virgin. The...

I think they used the rolling stock for testing the point work. When I turned up at Surbiton just after 5am today, a 5x444 - the booked formation for the 4.20 Guildford - turned up at platform 1, the driver changed ends and it departed back down to Woking. Same unit then passed Surbiton again...

Yes, from memory the 455 fasts were 06:01 from Woking to Waterloo, 07:53 from Guildford (via Cobham) and one if not both of the 08:42 and 08:48 (although I've a feeling the rolling stock changed a few times on one of those in recent years - I'm normally in the office well before then so rarely...

Which *should* be a relatively uncommon occurrence, and in any case passengers will arrive in a steady flow, rather than disgorging onto the platform. Whereas the situation TEW sets out happens regularly on the down. If there are delays to either fast or slow services, it is a daily occurrence...

The 10 and 12 car stop markers are at the same place definitely on platforms 1-3 at Surbiton with no differentiation between 450/444 and 455/456; I rarely get a 10 car train going into platform 4 and you pretty much only ever see 12 car trains in platform 4 during disruption, but I believe the...

My whole point is that the beginning of the end for the 744 came years before 9/11, and that it has already been for a long time a niche aircraft with only a handful operators that retain 747s in any great number. On 9/11, of the US airlines I think only pre-merger United and Northwest...

No US airline has been operating the B747 in passenger service since January and it is many years since its use was widespread - it was decades before the B77W came along in 2004 that smaller aircraft with the range of the B744 were available. Airlines were flying Europe to West Coast with the...

I must have been unlucky then, as half an hour later they absolutely weren't telling people that the 19:02, 19:03, and 19:20 weren't stopping at Surbiton, until five minutes before departure after you'd been stood on the thing for five minutes. By which time, the 19:06 Hampton Court had gone...

It would have been the 16:42 WAT-BAS that was a 5 car 444, first stop Surbiton. Horrendous train to catch - as is/was the 16:25 to Alton. Is the 16:42 now a 450? (I assume 8 car at least?)

I must be the only one then who thinks this is a potty idea that has disaster written all over it - rather like Norwegian starting airline operations in Argentina. It's 7000 miles away, they still don't like us very much - there's plenty of graffiti around BsAs about the Malvinas even now - the...

Going way off topic, but that's not factually accurate. It was Cadbury's management - not Kraft's - that took the decision to close the factory in Keynsham. In fact, if you read the various announcements and documents, you'll see that Kraft stated they wanted to keep it open - the Takeover...

There was this case 25 or so years ago where a couple got down and dirty on a bank holiday excursion to the Kent seaside. The travelling public only protested when they lit a fag in the non-smoking section of the train...

Housing estate?! Highgate Lane is one of the more salubrious roads in Farnborough, bordering open fields on one side and taking you right to the Price of Wales pub, which serves a fine selection of real ales. I can't think why anyone wouldn't want to walk down it with luggage to connect to an...

From a SWR commuter's perspective the impact of this industrial action has been barely, if at all, perceptible. In fact, the service from my station is better on strike mornings than it is under the current timetable. SWR/Network Fail are well able to cause us considerably more angst and...

I never understood why this is - one of several mysteries about the current rush hour timetable from Surbiton. I just don't get the point of having three non-stop services within ten minutes just as the rush hour is easing up. The 08:38, 08:42 and 08:48 are invariably each quieter than any...

Booked on the slow, as it wasn't the 18:52 to Guildford (which is the first 455 booked on the fast in the evening) since I went past it on the 18:32 to Basingstoke. Which then went straight past Surbiton, because the 18:23 to Basingstoke seemed to be having problems in P3 there, causing half...