Richard Griffin

The photographer is standing between the two central sidings between the departure and arrival platforms at Bath Green Park looking towards the buffer stops, with the vaulted roof in the background. In September 1960 Loco 53804 stands at the departure platform with a rake of maroon coaches, with other coaches standing in the sidings. A semaphore signal and loading gauge are evident on the left.

#OnThisDay 60 years ago British Rail closed the Somerset & Dorset Railway, more than 100 miles long connecting Bath, Burnham-on-Sea and Bridgwater with Bournemouth. In September 1960 a service waits to depart Bath Green Park: John Wiltshire (Peter Brabham) buff.ly/xZoVlPw

:-) I know, jus' sayin' :)

HS1 is very, very good.

Ahh, haven't been to Marseilles-St-Charles since 1994. But here's (a very small scan of) my photo of an original TGV there, which I must have taken in 1992.

Great stuff Joe, and many happy returns to it/you!

rate this landing. Amazing response from the last one, thank you.  YouTube video by Miscellaneous and Pliers

youtube.com/shorts/ztGJA...

Okay, this is quite outstanding from Bedford Council.

Roger Griffin at my wedding in 2007.

5 years ago today.
www.squarewheels.org.uk/rfg/

My feet are always too hot (especially in uniform shoes/boots) so it's usually trail shoes or similar sandal-esque things for me.

There again, whenever I wear contact lenses instead of glasses, I am *so wary* about all manner of objects that I might accidentally poke my (unprotected) eyes with.

Why am I not surprised.
They out-competed the X90 until they killed it.
Now they can relax and save money.

(I used to drive the X90 two decades ago and am still irritated by their dirty tricks.)

I have (at last) scanned (in 32 tiles) an old OS Landranger map for @maps.sabre-roads.org.uk (against the day when it is out of ©opyright).

Now I'd like to stitch the scans together. But the recommended application, Hugin, seems not to be available on a Mac any more.

Any ideas, SABRE or others?

I love this tool: antirender.com

Sometimes AI can come useful

Illustration of rebranding using images of products with an arrow pointing from the original name to the new one Marathon became Snickers. Jif became Cif. The Conservatives are becoming Reform UK.

ok today in Marketing class we're going to learn about re-branding

On my Mac I often use Cmd-R to reload browser page.

Oops! If current app is Finder instead of browser, though, this will "Rotate Right" if the current item is an image file. Not very helpful!

I just made it harmless:

Settings > Keyboard > Shortcuts... > + Finder app, map "Quick Look" to Cmd-R

We've spent ten years being proved right about all the things the loudest, biggest voices in the UK media insisted, often obnoxiously, we were wrong about. The real kicker is that there's no consolation whatsoever in being correct. Brexit, Putin, Johnson, Truss, Trump, Twitter, Netanyahu etc etc...

Thanks for another tip for this type of device. :)

Train on viaduct at sunset

Ribblehead viaduct at sunset featuring Avanti…

It’s very very very cold here! But worth braving the cold for a photo I think

(But they £paid out to retrofit it with “Watford Junction” destinations, for an extension which wasn’t yet built and has since been scrapped…)

Early this morning I drove the Met Line’s one-day-per-year “Chesham via Watford” service.

Think I managed (via careful use of the PA) to persuade all RKY/CHM pax to board my train which displayed Watford.

A pity LU wouldn’t retrofit “via Watford” destinations to the S stock, which I suggested.

Another map site that we've become aware of, and really like is bustimes.org. It's literally a live map of all buses in Ireland and Great Britain, their location, their route, timetable, and how close they are to being on time. Have a look, and see if you agree!

buff.ly/GwWlf8W

Happy New Year! And a new year means that another year's mapping drops out of copyright, with OS, OSI and OSNI maps with a copyright date of 1975 now being available to us. As usual, the first is a new OS Route Planning Map for you all to enjoy. buff.ly/SeTLZJl

His attention to absolute accuracy of position and framing is admirable!

A bollard on a pavement in the City of London, with a triangular card notice slotted over it. Black, with an embarrassed Santa stood beside a tall brick wall, his free hand against the wall, and his head turned to face the viewer. The implication is that Santa is having a pee against the wall. Wording in bold white capitals at the bottom says: £150 FINE. NAUGHTY LIST. [City of London insignia]

Good plan.
I hope some enforcement is carried out too.
The alley beside Aldgate station (close to where I saw this during 10-minute turnaround + stepping-back this morning) resembles an open sewer.

Some of the words that have made me smile this year.

Which words have given you happiness this year? I’d love to hear them.

(And if you fancy some distraction over the holidays, do give my word game Two Words a try.

twowords2.page.link/play)

[Fare table] Standard Class fares: seat in trailer coach (Buffet/C/D) = £65 bay of 4 seats in trailer coach (Buffet/C/D) = £240 seat in motor coach (E) = £72 First Class fares: seat in trailer coach (B) = £92 seat in motor coach (A) = £99 All the above fares are reduced by £15 per seat for bookings joining at Bromley South or London Waterloo.

👀 New railtour alert!

📅 Saturday 17 January 2026: HDL ‘Remembering Rosemary’ railtour to Windsor via London Waterloo

All the details, and our online booking-form, are on our website:

www.hastingsdiesels.co.uk/windsor

an overview picture of Luke Tubemapps 12 month calendar

Just a quick plug for @tubemapper.bsky.social new 2026 Calendar, which I have a copy of and is as excellent as always! Grab your copy from the link here if you want it on your wall for the new year!

tubemapper.com/buy-tube-map...

Screenshot from FlightRadar24, showing the green aircraft-track of an aircraft that is on its second successive go-around from Heathrow 09-L

Two go-arounds for this Eurowings A319 from Hamburg just now, I heard it and wondered why it was painting a line that it was already following!

Just having a tidy up of some old #EcoSchools stuff and came across this little gem from over 10 years ago. Not sure where it originated but the message is more relevant than ever. 🌳🌍👍
#EnvironmentalEducation #trees #nature #conservation #wildlife #ClimateChange

The increasingly unsustainable cost of UK public transport Change in financial cost of travel in the UK from May 2011 to April 2021, by type and compared to the cost of living Bus/coach fares: +75.3% Rail fares: +37.3% Cost of living (Retail Price Index): +28.0% Motoring: +9.1% Graph shows clearly that bus and rail fares increased more than cost of living, motoring less Motoring costs include fuel, tax & insurance, purchase and maintenance. Source: RAC Foundation Analysis of ONS data Statista

It'd be cool if the "increasing the cost of motoring hurts poor people" people cared anything like as much about cost to people who rely on public transport - who are disproportionately likely to be poor and disabled, and who consistently face far greater increases in cost.

Also, what about when you're the driver of said train? Do you knowingly depart 57 mins late which looks like 3 mins early, or do you intentionally wait so as to be the full hour late?

(For the Chesham service, definitely the latter.)