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Okehampton College has stopped accepting Year 12 (Sixth Form in old money) students from this Sept. They don't have any choice but to go to Exeter or Tavistock. This is despite the huge increase in house building in Okehampton.

If all else fails, Alsa run Vitoria to San Sebastian in 1h 15m with a reasonable number of daily journeys starting from 10.50 Euros! The motorway is a lot more direct than the railway. Looking at the train times the RRBs seem to run from Tolosa in the evening which is a lot nearer to San Sebastian.

No flights Exeter to London; Plymouth Airport is long closed. Newquay has lost its PSO Gatwick service.

Yes, reopened by 'double agent' Ron Cotton - BR manager ostensibly tasked with closure of the line!

The original setts and tracks at the very northern end of Great Clowes Street in Salford are still in place - the street became a dead end and the route abandoned after a landslip in 1927.

GNER also ran a bus from Bradford to connect at Wakefield for a time which unsurprisingly failed to attract custom. Another crackpot idea was to de-electrify north of Newcastle to Edinburgh.

Yep - what is the splodge below the cab all about? Is the green brighter than the traditional shade, or is it just the photo?

There have been several narrow squeaks over the years where closure notices have been posted, only to be reprieved at the minute. St. Ives and Looe in Cornwall came within five weeks of closure in 1965; the former is now incredibly busy in summer of course. Oldham to Rochdale (now part of...

Also used on the substitute Crewe - Cardiff service from 1970 when the NW / SW trains were diverted via Birmingham. The first time I travelled the route in 1974 the buffets were still in operation. I also remember them on the Crewe - Lincoln service - they would take an absolute age to climb the...

It is a bit of a damming admission don't you think, that you, an experienced railwayman, required a map for the first visit after the rebuild? Might it suggest that there is an issue for the general publc as well? The wayfinding is extremely poor - you shouldn't have to bring a map to find your...

Ireland introduced four and six wheeled heating vans for passenger trains, with the advent of dieselisation in the '50s. The detached 5ft 3in Waterford and Tramore line still had some six-wheeled passenger stock right up to dieselisstion in 1955. The Co. Donegal Rly normally used railcars...

Okehampton had a pretty thin bus service to Exeter prior to the reopening of the railway - broadly two-hourly with longer gaps. It had been progressively downgraded over the years - originally the Bude to Exeter service ran 'fast' via the A30 dual-carriageway from Okehampton, but this was slowed...

The ex-GWR 'razor edge' railcars were one of the exceptions, appearing in crimson and cream after nationalisation, but finally ending their days in standard DMU green.

There is also a Paris (Austerlitz) to Cerbère 'Intercité de Nuit' service running on Friday nights only, calling at Narbonne if that is of any use.

FIP Coupons are not valid on the TGV Paris - Barcelona service for international journeys , but you are permitted to travel on it within France as far as Perpignan with a SNCF Coupon. Another option for Paris - Madrid, of course, is via Hendaye / Irun.

Newquay with its summer Paddington services? In the past it would have been places like Torquay and Paignton but probably not true today.

There is 'La Cité de la Mer' near to the ferry, the former transatlantic ocean terminal housing a maritime museum if that is your thing.

Almost Lowryesque. Looks like a stylised 'Janet and John' station (childrens' 50s / 60s reading book) - older posters will be familiar! Bang up to-date too, with concrete roof spans and some form of EE diesel traction! SR green signage for the 'Buffet & Bar'.

Thanks. I have a railway holiday in Spain most years and there is always some new track to do - a fascinating system.

It mentions that 'freight traffic will be restored on the Burgos - Gijón line' - presumably this means that the 'third-side' broad-gauge curve will also be reopened. I managed to do this section on the late, lamented 'Camino de Santiago' - what a train that was! How has the Vigo - Barcelona...