Seen Around

Saturday 30th August 2025

Welcome to another potpourri of miscellany not yet blogged about from the past month’s travels ….

Andover’s no longer connected to Newbury

I’d hoped to kick off this month’s round up with a report hot off the computer keyboard from yesterday about the penultimate day for route 7 between Newbury and Andover. Despite all the exciting BSIP developments being introduced all over the country next week, this route is being withdrawn (after today, Saturday) as part of Hampshire County Council’s cut backs with no replacement being provided.

Sadly a 35 minute delay into Newbury courtesy of “a problem with signals” between Paddington and Reading, “a problem with the train at Reading” and “a safety inspection of the track” between Reading and Newbury yesterday meant I arrived in Newbury just in time to see the 13:40 departure to Andover leaving the bus station.

However I can report it looked like there were five passengers on board who I’m sure will miss the route but West Berkshire is encouraging them to try its Community Connect DRT service which gains a new South Newbury zone from Monday to cover part of the former route 7.

LNER – 50 years from now

In last month’s round up I made a fleeting reference to LNER’s exhibition at King’s Cross showing what train travel could be like in 2075 promising to make further reference to it in a future blog. So here are more details of the images and narrative accompanying them.

The future will apparently see trains in 2075 lighter, stronger and more energy efficient. “Quantum modelling and 3D printed metals” will define “a new era of train design , reducing noise and pressure impact while turning heads with their sleek futuristic forms”. It sounds a far cry from the Thameslink Class 700s we’re all used to on the Brighton Main Line and I’m sure those seats pictured above would be much appreciated on LNER’s Azumas but I suspect they may impact the train’s capacity somewhat.

Autonomous travel pods (as shown above) will redefine the journey to and from the station, either single-passenger units or larger shared robo-minibuses meaning “no waiting, no guessing or planning”.

Stations will be much quieter affairs with no loudspeakers but instead we’ll all receive personalised messages on our devices with facial recognition or synced smart devises providing seamless ticketing and removing the need for barriers. There’ll be “glowing arrows to walk you to your platform” from smart glasses.

And finally trains could become “spaces for living, working and relaxing” with interiors catering for every need “with dynamic zones like Nap Pods for solitude, quiet Focus Zones for remote work, and even Workout ZOnes featuring treadmill seats…”

I’ll leave it there. One things for sure, I won’t be around in 2075 to see if these predictions are correct.

However, in other LNER news….

It’s good to see head rests have made a reappearence in First Class and this time with a softer more comfortable material and much stronger Velcro.

And on a recent journey to Wakefield I was impressed to see the bacon rolls being distributed as we passed through Finsbury Park, although the plant based sausage sandwich came a bit later but not much further north than Potters Bar, so very quick and impressive service, especially as this was coach K (not L or M closest to the galley).

And while I passed through King’s Cross I came across Network Rail’s PR team cajoling staff to look happy at holding a banner proclaiming 100 days for a future news release about some milestone or other – I’ve not idea what.

But no doubt all will be revealed on social media very soon.

London Overground’s rebrand progress

I see GTR has caught up with London Overground’s brand names for each line with Thameslink trains now displaying the status of each line separately (above) and at Victoria station details are shown for each line impacted by disruption.

Which puts TfL to shame as the in-train messages on the Underground…

.. still refer to ‘London Overground’…

… rather than using the new names. Hopefully it’ll be sorted by 2075.

Misleading departure boards

I noticed these two departure boards displayed on the southbound platform 1 at Retford station the other day which prominently display destinations of Leeds and Lincoln Central – but you need to be sure you spot they’re actually telling you the departures are from platforms 3 and 4 which entail a walk beyond the displays and down to those two platforms on the tracks running east-west under the north-south East Coast Main Line alignment.

Maybe the platform numbers could usefully be more prominent?

Waterloo water

Last month I featured the complex drinking water dispenser machine at King’s Cross which could unwittingly charge you to fill up your bottle. While passing through Waterloo I was pleased to see a free simple-to-use water dispenser … except it was in the furthest corner of the station on the upper mezzanine level with minimal footfall.

Same old excuse

I was hoping to catch the 14:05 from London Bridge to Hassocks the other day and was surprised to see it was station skipping “due to a shortage of train crew”. How can that be the reason? A driver was obviously driving it to Brighton so why would saving 10 minutes or so by station skipping save resources?

I kept an eye on the train online and when it arrived in Brighton it just sat there as normal until the next departure back to Bedford, so didn’t step up to a Cambridge bound journey which I thought might be the case. I did get a 30 minute delay repay from it, but that’s not the point.

Enfield Chase’s foliage display

There’s obviously a member of the team at Enfield Chase station with green fingers, it’s just a shame their beautiful displays are kept behind a barrier at the extreme end of the northbound platform so passengers can’t really enjoy the results of their labours.

Loading more on to bus drivers

I can understand why this loading bay is needed in Station Road, Reading but its positioning between two bus stops, and particularly right up against the bus stop for route X40…

… causes problems for drivers whenever a lorry is parked up, as it’s not possible for an X40 to park close to its departure stop…

… without its back end sticking out and delaying the many buses that pass along this road.

See above the station wall

For many months as I’ve passed through Burgess Hill on a train I’ve spotted the roofs of buses parked up alongside the southern end of the northbound platform.

It turns out to be the new base for Southern Transit – the small Sussex company specialising in school work, private hires and rail replacement with assorted smart looking buses.

No DRT riding in Rutland

Rutland Council introduced the last stage of its widespread conversion of bus routes to DRT operation from 4th August and just in case readers have been wondering why I haven’t featured a ride – it’s not for the want of trying, but as you can see from the above, the system won’t let me travel as “we couldn’t find a journey” for a straightforward Stanford to Oakham request. I gave up.

Hydrogen in Surrey

It’s good to see Metrobus has been able to get more of its hydrogen powered buses on to its routes in Surrey. I recently had a ride on the 460 in Epsom and was pleased to see a nice welcome as I boarded.

A visit to Pangbourne

As recently mentioned in a blog I took a ride on Reading Buses azure branded route 43 out to Pangbourne and Upper Basildon. It was a case of good and bad as a travel experience. As always I was impressed with Reading’s attention to detail including timetable leaflets for the route being available on board…

… bespoke cove panels showing the route…

… and where to catch the bus in key locations along the way.

The driver was also very friendly and helpful to the regular passengers using the route but outside his, and the company’s control ,was the impact of three way temporary traffic lights right in the middle of Pangbourne.

They weren’t even for roadworks but had been installed while a team unloaded and erected scaffolding at a property right on the junction. But, to make things worse the lights weren’t working properly and our Reading bound journey (already 10 minutes late from the outward delay) sat at the lights for…

… nine minutes because the phasing missed us out. The traffic management company had its own white lorry parked up on the junction with someone sitting in the cab the whole time (you can see him on the right of the bus) – a shame he wasn’t monitoring the lights like I was.

The only saving grace is these days it’s easy to check on whether a bus is running late through various websites and apps.

Meanwhile a visit to Pangbourne station didn’t disappoint and it certainly lived up to expectations created by a commentator on last month’s round-up blog when I raved about Goring and Streatley.

The ticket office and waiting area on the London bound platform…

… and the facilities on the Didcot bound platform were immaculately clean with preparations already for winter weather too.

But, best of all is the subway which has been designed and painted by a local artist…

… and looks absolutely splendid…

… brightening up what would otherwise be a dull and dark area to pass through.

I understand this is a local initiative and during my visit I was lucky to meet the member of staff who oversees the station and keeps it so beautiful and I am so sorry I’ve forgotten your name to say very well done for your great work.

TransPeak floors it

Good for High Peak for taking this novel approach to promoting its popular TransPeak bus route which I spotted in Derby bus station last week.

All new for Wellglade

Also spotted were these two new additions to the trentbarton and Kinchbus fleets within the Wellglade Group. I didn’t get a chance to try the Red Arrow this time but the Skylink bus was excellent offering great comfort.

uno what? It’s a non TfL timetable.

When writing up last week’s blog about uno’s bus changes I forgot to include the above photograph showing that company’s initiative in placing its own timetable in TfL’s bus stop frames – albeit this one at Cockfosters will no longer be needed following route 610 being cut back. You can understand why they’d do their own thing as TfL seem to have given up on displaying its own timetables.

For example, here we are outside Oakwood station at the bus stop for route 377…

… which is displaying a timetable for route 121 which stops at the other stop further back…

… and where there is a timetable for that route along with an invitation to take part in a consultation about some bus routes in Wood Green which closed on 10th December 2023.

Pity the graffiti didn’t cover that up.

Arriva’s heritage

There aren’t many now, but I did spot this original Arriva livery still in service in Derby bus station recently.

A case for Elizabeth

When boarding an eastbound Elizabeth line train at Paddington it’s always easy to spot if the train has come from Reading or Heathrow…

… which also demonstrates the benefit of longitudinal seating.

And finally for this month, perhaps not unexpectedly just to let readers know I received no response from my emails to the DVSA and Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority about the missing journey on route 15. That’s how interested these authorities are in passenger experiences; they’re not even bothered to reply and thrir contempt for the passenger is displayed for all to see.

More miscellany next month.

Roger French

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