Seen Around

Thursday 31st July 2025

Welcome to Part Two of this month’s miscellany round up, with Part One being an all London version having appeared on Tuesday. And we begin with some rather misleading announcements from Train Companies…

Urgent repairs or not?

Something very odd happened on the Brighton Main Line earlier this month. A major information campaign was launched to advise passengers urgent repairs to the tracks would close all four lines between East Croydon and Gatwick Airport on Sunday 13th July with no trains running between these two important stations.

Coverage extended far and wide with reports in mainstream media as well as all over social media.

The alternative arrangements included advice to travel via replacement bus between Gatwick Airport and East Grinstead and catch a Southern train from there into London and reverse in the other direction. Trains did run between Gatwick Airport and London Victoria but I assume were being diverted via Horsham, Dorking and Epsom.

A map was provided in an attempt to explain all this to bemused and confused passengers. I’m not sure it succeeded, especially putting Tonbridge and East Grinstead at the top of it with London to the west.

Despite all this information being available online all day on the Sunday and traders in Brighton suffering from a lack of trade as visitors to the city gave it a wide berth on what was a glorious sunny day, the works didn’t take place and a near to normal Sunday service ran on the lines through Redhill with no replacement buses or diversions via East Grinstead needed. But you’d only know that if you turned up and travelled. Online information advised against travelling.

The same thing happened the following Sunday, and I assume Network Rail worked out they could carry out the urgent works without closing all four lines.

But it would have been helpful to let passengers know.

When a ‘good service’ is anything but

And on the same theme, I got caught up in a series of delays disrupting the East Coast Main Line on my return from Peterborough the other Friday having visited Delaine, on a busy very hot and sunny afternoon when LNER, Great Northern/Thameslink and Open Access operators were all suffering major delays for various reasons but in particular, a broken down Thameslink train on the fast line at Hadley Wood.

Yet all this was completely ignored by LNER’s social media team…

… and its website was proclaiming a “good service” throughout the disruption.

Finally arriving into King’s Cross station over an hour late passengers were met with organised chaos as other passengers waiting for trains at the end of platforms 0-4 had been herded into an area by half the ticket gates while the other half were left open to try to clear those arriving on grossly delayed trains.

It wasn’t a pretty sight and certainly not reflective of “a good service”.

Wintry weather in July

Contrast that experience with my return journey from Newcastle on Wednesday last week, having visited Northstar’s new routes, when the East Coast Main Line was once again in disarray, this time due to a suspected broken rail and an urgent “safety inspection of the track” between York and Doncaster. It was another case of organised chaos in York where I was changing trains and conflicting information for passengers with some staff advising to go via Leeds and others saying to be patient and catch the next train for King’s Cross.

But, most confusing of all was LNER’s website which decided to list 39 cases of disruption across the whole rail network but the catch being they were from earlier this year including a warning of “Wintry weather may affect your journey”…

… which was advising “snow and wintry weather across Britain” had thankfully now ended. I should hope so on 23rd July. Nice to see LNER’s social media team on the ball.

Delay Repay update

Both the Peterborough and Newcastle delays led me to apply to LNER for Delay Repay – receiving a refund on my single fare which normally I would prefer to have in the form of Rail Travel Vouchers but as previously reported, LNER now only offer a refund via a bank account, PayPal or a charitable donation, having unilaterally abandoned vouchers. But one good thing is the company now makes it very clear as you enter information into its online Delay Repay process what the delay was and the assumed journey you made compared to how you were hoping to travel. It even amends the original journey by a real time variation of just a minute…

In the above case it assumed I went from Chester-le-Street back up to Newcastle and then back south whereas in fact I went south to York and changed there. The delay was the same so I didn’t make a fuss over trying to change the parameters, as I’ve learnt not to complicate such applications. I wish other long distance train operators, notably Avanti West Coast, would adopt the same process as it would avoid all the hassle over receiving unsuccessful applications with the company sometimes wrongly making assumptions of how you should have travelled when the journey involves multiple changes.

Incidentally I’m pleased to report Avanti West Coast finally agreed I did get delayed on my return from Coventry in June (which I mentioned last month) and refunded that fare (in vouchers) and another recent delay (another hour and more) on my journey to Ravenglass was approved within 72 hours so things are looking up and my voucher collection is almost at the 7-Day All Line First Class Rail Rover benchmark again.

You won’t … BUT, if you do….

You can’t have it both ways, Trainline. If I won’t find cheaper same-day tickets anywhere else why even mention you will refund the difference if I do, because you just told me I won’t?

Will First Great Western branding outlast Great British Railways too?

A touch of First Great Western’s branding lives on with the platform signs at Goring & Streatley…

… and outside the station entrance. Where there’s a rather nice touch of a seat in the memory of Dorothy Ward with her name in an old style lozenge logo.

Meanwhile in the ticket office…

… how lovely to see bus timetables prominently posted right alongside the window. I hope Thames Travel, the new operator on the Wallingford route, taking over from Going Forward, keeps that tradition going.

Choose your ramp

Reading station sees a variety of trains with different accessibility needs but it was good to see all the various ramps nicely labelled for which train and train company they’re meant for.

It was also nice to see some blue seats rather than the all too familiar boring grey which appears everywhere else on station platforms.

Warrington’s TfL tie up

I wonder if TfL’s brand police are aware its world famous roundel logo has been hijacked by this unusual looking entrance door in Sankey Street, Warrington. It’s in between Dragos Tattoo Parlour and Mr Blue Vape Tobacco Drinks emporium but it’s unclear what lies behind the door.

And in Chester-le-Street

Less prominent was this roundel spotted on a door on Chester-le-Street’s platform 1 the other day…

… and where in the adjacent waiting room there’s a splendid mural adorning the walls…

… to brighten up your wait.

A Bland approach

After my recent visit to Delaine in Bourne I also dropped in to have a brief chat with Adam Barrett, owner of another enterprising independent operator in the area, located in nearby Essendine, just over the border in Rutland, called Bland’s. Adam acquired the business from the Bland family in 2019 and has invested significantly to upgrade the fleet and infrastructure. Among its portfolio of routes, Bland’s operates the trunk R1 between Melton Mowbray and Corby – one of the few routes which is escaping Rutland Council’s obsession with DRT and used to be numbered RF1. It’s impressive to see what Adam is achieving and I wish him every success.

Also spotted in the yard was this rather fine vehicle from the Barton fleet, once synonymous with this part of the country.

Ratio of toilets to taps and hand dryers

Regular readers will know of my intrigue with the odd ratio of toilet cubicles and urinals with wash basins and hand dryers in men’s toilets with an extreme example found last week in the cramped facilities on York’s platform 3 (above). The tally is nine urinals, three cubicles but just two wash basins (in an awkward spot to access) and two hand dryers (almost blocking the entrance/exit). Meanwhile down in Ramsgate (below) there were eight urinals, four cubicles and 3 washbasins but just one hand dryer – and one of those ineffective ones at that.

Meanwhile in other station toilet news I see the helpful indicator signs installed at many London main line termini telling you how many cubicles are vacant, such as here at King’s Cross…

… are already useless with four cubicles supposedly free but each of the four were actually closed off as unusable negating the whole point of the flashy electronic sign.

Don’t be conned by the ‘free’ water

Over at the supposed “free” water bottle filling station at King’s Cross (and also being installed elsewhere) I watched passengers trying to work out the complicated routine of how to actually access the “free vend” water…

…rather than the expensive options of twice filtered water, UV sterlised water, carbonated water and goodness knows what else. But you can “refill from your phone”. What??!!!

Why not just have a tap as most airports do?

New slimline TVMs for KGX

And one more thing while at King’s Cross yesterday, I noticed there will soon be an unveiling of new slim line TVMs from Great Northern near platforms 9 and 11. Presumably they’ll replace the larger former First Capital Connect branded machines.

And one final thing about King’s Cross seen yesterday was an exhibition display of what train travel will look like in 2075. LNER’s PR people were in hyper excitable mode yesterday to no doubt give the exhibition a boost on social media while I passed through. There’s not enough time to tell you about it now, but I’ll return to what the images show in an upcoming blog. If you’re passing through, it’s worth a look, for the fun of it.

Grand entrance halls

Margate (above) and its near neighbour, Ramsgate (below), are blessed with both having rather grand entrance halls to welcome passengers as I was reminded on a visit last week…

… although on a busy summer’s day be prepared to queue through rather functional crash barriers outside Margate…

… but at least you can marvel at the grandness of the building while waiting…

… if not the rather small unimposing sign telling you where you are.

Meanwhile Ramsgate has a much bolder name check.

Celebrating Margate’s heritage

Did you spot the Hornby display in the far left hand corner of Margate’s entrance hall?
It’s to mark the long association of the model train manufacturer with the town where its factory was located from 1954 to 2015

The World’s First Garden City

Meanwhile over in Letchworth it was interesting to see the town’s claim to fame of being the World’s First Garden City being celebrated with a rather dull display of foliage.

WiFi is just one click away – in your dreams

Why do train companies insist on taking unnecessary personal details before allowing you to connect to their on board WiFi? Avanti West Coast’s provider called Purple is one of the annoying ones who even ask for a postcode and your mobile phone number. All so you can use a crap quality WiFi. No thanks. Other train companies let you register once and then it hopefully recognises your email address once you enter it correctly.

Of course! The Scilly Isles are in Surrey

So, I was on White Bus’s route 458 heading towards Staines-upon-Thames when much to my surprise up pops the next bus stop being the Scilly Isles. It’s in Hinchley Wood between Thames Ditton and Esher, and not to be confused with the Isles of Scilly. That would just be silly.

Ensign still doing the open-top business

Meanwhile over in Southend-on-Sea it was good to see Ensign still running its popular open top bus routes along the seafront which this year has seen both routes merge into one with route 99 now running from Shoeburyness East Beach to Leigh-on-Sea with, as you can see, a pause by Southend pier.

Sadly you wouldn’t be able to find out about it at the city’s Travel Centre, as that closed some years ago.

Still, at least there’s something to tell you where you can find a taxi.

c2c to GBR

With c2c joining SWR in nationalised ownership this month there’ll soon be a myriad of liveries ready to be subsumed into the new Great British Railways including the two versions of its own rather understated livery as spotted above.

Swindon leads the way

Blog reader Julian tipped me off about the excellent timetable book recently published in Swindon.

It ticks all the boxes for what an excellent timetable booklet should be including an index to places served with bus route numbers and helpful clear maps in colour. It’s a fully comprehensive booklets covering all operators and all colour coded for easy reference.

More of this please – elsewhere. It’s not revolutionary and it makes all the difference.

Welcome Portrait for Southern

A £100 million upgrade has seen Southern’s Class 377/387s fleet nicely refurbished including much welcome usb/plug sockets and electronic poster displays which usually feature promotional adverts to do with Southern but I noticed one the other day just displaying a “Welcome Portrait”. It made me feel welcome.

Record breaking delays

The date of Saturday 13th July 2002 is etched on my mind. Norman Cook (aka Fat Boy Slim) performed his Big Beach Boutique II concert on Brighton seafront. It was free to attend and over 250,000 people descended, overwhelming the city’s facilities and bringing solid gridlock to the city’s road network. Many buses didn’t move for hours. I was reminded of this on Thursday 3rd July when an oil spillage and accident closed the Dartford Crossing Queen Elizabeth II Bridge leading to gridlock on roads all around Lakeside and on the A13. Clips on social media show shoppers trapped in their cars for 10 hours or more and Ensignbus posted the following on its X account.

And finally this month a few updates from recent blogs.

Cumbria Classic’s sad demise

A sad follow up to my recent post about Cumbria Classic Coaches’ quirky bus route 572 was news just that same day of uploading the blog, the company will be ceasing all its routes from the end of September. So, if you want a ride into history, hurry up, as there are only eight Wednesdays left – and only two when the vintage vehicle will take that lovely scenic route – 6th August and 3rd September.

First and Last Mile’s sad demise

On a similar theme comes sad news of the demise of First and Last Mile (FLM) from the end of next month when the services it operates in the Eynsham area (411/418) will be taken over by Pulhams Coaches and West Oxfordshire Community Transport (WOCT). I featured FLM in a blog back in 2022 explaining how a group of passionate volunteers got together in 2021 and set up the new not-for-profit bus company to run a couple of routes taking fare paying scholars from surrounding villages to Bartholomew School in Eynsham as well as off-peak shopping journeys. A post on FLM’s website explains from September more students will be travelling than FLM can cope with and Pulhams has stepped in to run the route as a commercial venture with the county council consequently seeking tenders for the shopping journeys and FLM losing out to West Oxfordshire Community Transport which submitted a lower bid.

Very well done to David Miles and Andy Swarbrick for taking the initiative to set up FLM back in 2021 and build the service up from nothing to what it is today. It’s an exemplar of community action and both men need to be hugely applauded and recognised for their dedicated service.

£360 per passenger and can’t be bothered to reply

Another follow up to a recent blog is to let readers know despite sending a follow up email to A2B enquiring about the whereabouts of the missing journey on the £360 per subsidised passenger Wednesday only route 15 to Royston on 16th July (see above acknowledgment) no reply or explanation has been received. I’ve also phoned the company five times but each time the “team are all busy” and the line goes to answerphone. In such circumstances the obvious thing to do was to make contact to Peterborough and Cambridgeshire Combined Authority to let them know…

… and also the DVSA – which involves quite a lengthy form to complete, but I persevered…

Hopefully I’ll be in a position to update readers on responses received next month.

Roger French

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