The Railway Touring Club

Bristol Temple Meads on the cover there?

1 point to you!

It’s got some amazing photos in it that book

31st of July - details here;

https://www.lfgss.com/events/4878/

Yep - looking amazingly quiet.

Late 90’s/early 00’s photos?

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The cars look around that age - the folks sitting on the bench on the right are waiting for the bus to the airport.
Always seems to be horrifically busy these days - in Glozzer they still frequently have to clear herds of goats off the line and if the coal delivery's late - the trains go nowhere.

Having lived in Bath for two years, I always found Gloucester to be the perfect antidote and Bristol to be the most interesting.

Temple meads is one of the great stations. I’m a sucker for a curved platform and train shed combo though

Agreed - do love railway stations.

Gloucester

Oh lord. Mostly unused, hundreds of gulls with all the charm of block of crumbling concrete (which it is). Awful station. Just awful.

Complex track layout there though, the station shouldn’t actually be where it is.

I think someone had a good crack at burning it down as well a while ago aswell

They have £4m to sort it out

They might need a tad more

It cost £897m to fix Reading.

For £4m all they can do is burn the town down and skip the stop.

To be fair

Reading was a complete remodelling plus new bridges/embankments/lines etc. It’s probably more comparable to the London Bridge remodelling under Thameslink.

£4m won’t get you a lot, but it might make it a bit of a better experience for the passengers, at least the ones who are leaving....

A couple of weeks after the updated Reading Station was completed I passed through on a Temple Meads train, bound for Paddington. Sat behind me was a young boy maybe 8 years old and his mother. He was bursting with excitement the entire journey and called out to his mum every 10 a 15 minutes ‘are we nearly in London!?!’ It was dead sweet. Upon rolling into to Reading station his tone changed.

To that of horror.

‘Mummy?’

‘Mummy!?’

‘Mummy, why are we at Tesco!!?!’ he exclaimed on the edge of tears, having his dreams of a trip to London shattered by the misbelief he’d been tricked into a trip to Tesco.

Even an 8 year old understands Reading station does not look good. It’s a disaster.

Amazing

&

Accurate

this morning I asked Google Maps for a bike route [London to Luton] and it gave me a route up the Lea Valley canal path, a nice quiet route Hoddesdon to Hertford and then two trans-Hertfordshire former branch lines that I didn’t know existed: The Cole Green Way (Hertford to Welwyn) and The Ayot Greenway (Welwyn to Wheathampstead) connect to the Harpenden to Luton (and Dunstable) greenway.
#Makeuthink

I did that on Saturday morning, on my way to Leighton Buzzard. Great fun until Luton

That was always Luton : /
Cycling into town from the old Vauxhall/Brache sports ground, up Park Street into George Street, is never not shocking.

COYH

Luton has its (enourmous) issues, but don’t we all.

I think we will see a positive change in town in the next three-four years, which however small, will help.

Nice branchline finds though

the new looking bike route on the express bus ride was good - I didn't find it on the way out so I went on the main roads & overpass, but did on the way back.

I went right past the adult pleasure shop (didn't stop) today and Friday though. looks good.

rate my routes - google suggested and I followed. first one is on my way back, second one is out

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Way back + pleaseure shop surely!

I assume that route takes you past the back of Kenilworth Road?

There used to be a sex shop on a bit of dual carrigeway in Bedfordshire somewhere, maybe Biggleswade? it was in a converted petrol station. Always made me laugh, the site make perfect and yet terrible business sense, all at the same time.

isn’t Luton’s ‘adult pleasure shop’ the railway station? Frequent/fast trains out of Bedfordshire &c (okay okaaaay...)

LoL

Certainly was for away fans last season!

https://www.facebook.com/pg/adultstoreluton/about

Just in case you wanted to pay a visit. Stuart Street

LoL Thank god I'm not on Facebook

he new looking bike route on the express bus ride was good

Is it paved all the way to Dunstable yet?