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It's increasingly happening that some bus and coach operators are getting booked to do rail or tram replacement for engineering work planned months in advance. Then throwing it back with a few hours notice when they've received a booking for something that requires that vehicle/driver and makes...

That was probably the same one I saw/heard at a stand for a while just short of Eccles signal box shortly before. The first sign I knew that anything out of the ordinary was going on.

Having PTS and carrying a PTS card are two different things, with many TOCs phasing out physical cards although PTS competency is recorded on the employment records and can be verified by anyone who needs to. In the bus industry, it has now become a thing for people to wear home made/collected...

Yes, left Piccadilly around 2248 as 0Z99.

Correct. When the journey is replaced by a bus, it isn't scheduled to call at WBQ either. Although in reality the driver probably would if someone wanted to alight, since they have to drive past anyway.

Had a situation last weekend where the times of the rail replacement buses didn't match the advertised times for the entire day, since the journey times had been calculated differently. After the first departure, the relevant TOC control was notified and the times were adjusted. That meant...

There are weekend Huddersfield-Stalybridge closures planned for April and weekday Brighouse -Huddersfield closures in May.

The 1pm HUD-MAN service is running. Just seems to be missing from the journey planners.

Yesterday a school trip passed through the public area where I was working with all the kids and teachers wearing yellow hi-vis vests. Presumably there is some educational risk assessment that now demands it. Or maybe it's an easy way for the teachers to count all the hi-vis vests within sight...

The majority of passengers use Trainline and believe that is the definitive source of all information. If it told them the next train was going the moon, any rail staff wouldn't be believed if they said anything to the contrary.

Possibly because Glasgow/Edinburgh - Preston is run by Scotland based crew who are still stuck north of the divide, while Preston - the South has a different crew who don't sign Carlisle - Preston? Lots of Rangers fans from Thursday night's Old Trafford game still trying to get out of...

TPE are running trains diverting Manchester Piccadilly to Sheffield via Huddersfield and Wakefield every two hours with a Piccadilly to Sheffield direct replacement bus on the hours in between.

It's been known about since at least the 18th December. Just because the local paper has only just published the story, doesn't mean it wasn't planned long before.

Someone told me the other day when they get asked why there aren't enough train crew to run the trains, their answer is "They all left because they didn't like getting shouted at by passengers". That usually shuts them up. Think I'll try that response in future!

Right next to the knighthood nomination button!

I tend to think along the lines of, if someone doesn't think they should pay for a ticket for a replacement bus then that is their prerogative. However if the bus doesn't turn up or doesn't have enough spare seats to accommodate them, then they aren't the railway's customer. So however much they...

Fasteroute is good if you only want to know the departures from one station since it shows everything for the next two hours in a neat and easy to follow format. However doesn't allow you to look further ahead and doesn't help when looking for journeys that involve a change of trains along the...

Yesterday I came across a couple in Manchester who told me I should be running replacement buses to Ashton because the trains were cancelled all day so they would have to get a train to Stalybridge then a taxi to Ashton. When I suggested it would be cheaper for them to get the tram to Ashton...

There are others who have tried the same approach, almost as if they are trying to imitate each other. One "Group" with a five vehicle licence springs to mind.

They aren't paid to entertain people 24/7 though, in fact actors were very much part of the 'gig economy' long before the term had ever been invented. I had a spell working at Media City in Salford and would often recognise familiar faces from the tv when they were sitting on a bench having a...