Over the last couple of days I've been pottering around the house and generally enjoying being on leave and having nothing to do. Because I had a fairly substantial trip planned for the coming weekend I was content not to do too much else. Then, sometime yesterday, things started to conspire against my trip! With a prediction of bad weather, the transport networks were expected to fall to pieces and in true British fashion, we were all supposed to stop doing anything non-essential and just panic-buy bread and milk from our local supermarkets. I was led to expect to wake this morning to a generous carpet of snow and ice, capable of stopping trains and causing chaos. It didn't sound good at all.

In the event, I woke today to a cold and damp morning with no sign of the promised weather. In fact the trail of salt left to melt a path to the station proved more treacherous than the predicted conditions! However, not missing a chance to use a good excuse First Great Western had already cancelled the 06:19 to Bristol. With the earliest departure replaced in part by a bus which had already left to meet the train at Weston, I was stuck hoping that Virgin would honour my ticket on a later train. Then, rather oddly the service appeared to be reinstated on FGW's website, but not on National Rail Enquiries. Decided to set out and chance the 06:19 anyway. The passenger information system at the station was reporting the train running, but bizarrely missing out Bristol Temple Meads and Bedminster on route to Filton. I suspect someone pressed the wrong buttons, because eventually the train terminated at Bristol and didn't go forward to Filton at all. Anyway, the good news was that despite a guard who was rather slow to operate the doors, the rather reluctant sounding 153305 struggled into a slightly white underfoot Temple Meads only a few minutes late.

A fairly swift change onto the 07:29 which was to take me all the way to Glasgow. Found my seat and was almost immediately served fresh coffee. Happily settled in for the longest journey of the year so far. Surprised as we were leaving Bristol by the site of 33025 in the loco spur, apparently on snow-related duties! The journey northwards was fairly uneventful as far as the Midlands, but it was fairly clear from the drivers footprints when he left the cab to telephone at a faulty signal near Barnt Green that the snow was deeper here, and was likely to stick around for some time. With the signal fault and general weather-related slowness, we arrived around 20 down at New Street, where astonishingly another Class 33 (this time 029) was awaiting action!

Not having to worry about a connection, I was happy to let things rumble on at their own pace, and the train became a little busier as we headed north - mostly with people advised to join this as following trains were either late or cancelled. We sat at Crewe for a fair while, as Network Rail tried to decide whether to send us via Manchester to avoid a failed freight at Winsford. Eventually the train limped into a loop and we passed slowly by, now around an hour late. Once North of Weaver Junction the snow had all but disappeared, and we made fair progress northwards. As we crossed the border at Gretna, a slight glow in the sky indicated there was some sunshine up there somewhere, and by the time we were crossing the Clyde we were blessed with bright winter sunshine in the already way too hot carriage!

Having decided to make the most of my time up here, I speedily checked into my hotel for the weekend which was located a couple of doors from the Union Street entrance of Central Station, and was back and rebooked in time for the 14:45 to Largs. The plan was to spend today and tomorrow covering as many as possible of the branches we wouldn't touch on the McBuffer Puffer tour on Saturday. Set out on familiar track via Paisley as far as Kilwhinning, where we headed for the coast via Ardrossan South Beach. Made a mental note I needed to do the branch to the harbour at some point. More pleasant sunshine as we passed the coal loading point at Hunterston and finally arrived in Largs just in time for school finishing. Tried and failed to get an unobscured picture of the unit on the blocks, but found no convenient spot to do so which I could get to quickly, grabbing a fairly poor effort through the catenary.

With a train almost full with a rather uncomfortable mix of pensioners and school pupils, we set off back towards Glasgow. Most of the passengers disembarked at either Ardrossan or Saltcoats and again I had a quiet and speedy run back to Central. With the first branchline of the week ticked off and the evening peak about to start, decided to grab something to eat then wander out to The 13th Note to celebrate. Whilst strolling along Argyle Street towards Trongate the 'click' into the Glasgow mindset occurred and I felt just as comfortable as ever in my adopted home-away-from-home City. Really glad to be here given a shaky start to today!

Planning a lazy weekend before next week's Scottish excursion, I stumbled out of bed much later than planned. Started to pick through some email, and noted entirely by chance that there were a couple of message mistakenly flagged as spam which were about last night's 1C99 down Night Riviera. It turned out that 57604 had failed at Dolphin Junction, a 60 had been sent from Acton to push it back to Paddington, and 57602 was heading our way with the 06:15 1C02 additional service to get the stock back into Cornwall.

Made some swift enquiries and let a few people know what was afoot before wandering down to the station at a leisurely pace. Whilst waiting, I was kept entertained by 66551 storming through light engine heading for Fairwater Yard. About 34 minutes late as advised, the sound of a horn at the foot crossing signalled 57602's approach.

Made some calls to those further down the line and headed into town to get a haircut. A fine way to start the day, and a rare sight to see sleepers moving around in daylight!

Exactly a month after the biggest shake up in railway timetables in the South West for many years, it's interesting to look back at what's been a fairly turbulent time. What's also clear is that despite First Great Western's disdain for it's customers views, they were uncannily accurate in their early judgements that it just wasn't going to work. Anyone who has ever complained to FGW will know how the process works - you make a reasoned and polite representation based on the aspects of the service you found deficient. In replying, a customer service advisor will scan your complaint for keywords and will cut and paste a stock paragraph - however irrelevant it might be to the context of your reply. Eventually, if you challenge these responses you'll be told politely but firmly that you are a persistent complainant and that it's better for them to get on with 'transforming travel' than to answer your queries. Well, I think there are probably an awful lot of persistent complainants out there today!

Even before the timetable started, people using Severn Tunnel Junction had some minor success in getting peak services reinstated. The timetable (which if you believe FGW was the work of the DfT and if you believe anyone else was the work of the devil) had crumbled by midday on 11th December, and the warm media glow of 'listening to customers' following the Severn Tunnel Junction reinstatements was soon replaced by stony silence from FGW. A couple of days into the farce, during which there were never less than twenty cancellations on the website at any given time, we received the infamous letter from Customer Services Director, Glenda Lamont. This is best summed up as "It's really not very good is it? But it's someone else's fault". No-one cared whether DfT or FGW was responsible for serviceable units being stored whilst the fleet limped on with a half-built maintenance facility unable to cope with repairs. In fact, we all assumed that the day-to-day tribulations of running a Train Operating Company meant that you developed contingencies for such events. What we really wanted was to get home on time.

My own experiences weren't too horrendous - my ten minute commute was frustratingly cancelled or delayed on a fair number of occasions, but I didn't suffer a great deal of hardship. But seeing people disentangling themselves from the mass of bodies getting out of short-formed trains, and hearing about the Verbal Warnings delivered to commuters for repeated lateness at work was heartbreaking for someone who actively tries to persuade people to use the railway. Still there was no response from FGW. And ultimately, perhaps it would have been better if they'd stayed quiet because the solution which was finally delivered this week left a very nasty taste. Someone somewhere described the substitution of buses for trains on the Cornish Branch Lines this week as "finally succeeding where Beeching failed". The idea was to redistribute the capacity from Cornwall around the Bristol area to strengthen trains and relieve congestion. A Cornish friend of mine, well aware of my 'persistent complainant' status with FGW simply emailed the words 'Cheers Mate, Thanks for the buses'. There was much concern that we were seeing FGW's true colours now, and they weren't the benevolent pink and blue of their barbie livery after all!

So we enter a second month of chaos, delay and overcrowding. My journey is still nothing compared to those Bristol-Bath commuters, rammed in so tight that if one of them passes out they don't hit the floor, or of the locals in Cornwall, with no service at all. At best it's erratic here - unreliable and prone to sudden, unexplained delay - much of which is the knock on effect of what's happening elsewhere. From a commuter's point of view its an imposition and an inconvenience. From an enthusiasts stance, its heartbreaking to see a railway so full of potential being run into the ground like this.

There are a number of meetings being arrange, MPs being lobbied and such - so many in fact I can't keep up and wouldn't presume to list them here. If you live in the South West, these campaigns deserve your support. You'll probably find more detail at the Save the Train Forum.

I was determined to get out today. Now that Highbridge is free of engineering works, it seems like the rest of the world has succumbed and it was impossible to find tickets anywhere really interesting. For some reason, on miserable January days I find a whizz up the West Coast comforting, but with Gloucester-Birmingham a bus full of doubtlessly fractious Virgin passengers, I decided to take advantage of some cheap tickets from One and to head eastwards to cover a couple of bits of track I'd missed. Decided to kick off with our new first train of the day, the 0554 to Bristol. It's not much use unless you're heading for London, as it doesn't seem to connect with anything else you couldn't comfortably get off the 0633 on a Saturday, but nevertheless it was good to get an early start despite the miserable weather and my persistent sniffling. Thankfully, there were only three other passengers to annoy with this!

A largely uneventful journey to Paddington via the Berks & Hants, and it seemed that First Great Western had started the day off in a better position, with few cancellations on the boards. Underground to Kings Cross and time for a coffee before boarding the fast train to Cambridge. Having been this way a couple of times in the past year or so, I had a pleasantly sleepy run once past Bounds Green, broken only briefly to speak on the phone to my little nephew who was intrigued to hear I'd been going through tunnels! Grabbed a bite to eat at Cambridge and arrived on platform 6 in time to see Anglia liveried 153335 arriving and disgorging far more passengers that it could reasonably hold. Looked at the queue for the train, and realised we'd be fairly busy too. The line between Cambridge and Ipswich via Newmarket receives an hourly service - but I'd imagine it could support more frequent trains based on this kind of business on a wet, January Saturday. I only required the line between Coldham Lane and Chippenham Junctions so the plan was to disembark at Bury St Edmunds and have a brief wander before heading back on the 11:55.

Again, a fairly uneventful trip through uninspiring scenery. Lots of evidence of the equestrian industry around Newmarket, but little else to relieve the empty and flat country around here. Remembered Bury St Edmunds station from 47813's naming in October 2005. Wandered out to the station front, but I was put off strolling into town by the rain. Moped about miserably, my dismay being complete when 66541 appeared in the distance on a well-loaded Freightliner working and I realised I'd forgotten to pack my camera. Consoled myself by remembering that the light wasn't really suitable for photography. Bang on time, a more encouraging looking 156407 appeared and the journey back to Cambridge was warm and quiet.

Next plan was to head for Cheshunt on a Liverpool Street stopper, then change for the loop via Seven Sisters. Boarded the First Class end of the unit to find two disgruntled looking Revenue Protection Inspectors lurking. They weren't pleased to see me, and were even less happy to see I had a valid First Class ticket I think! Moving on they managed to detain a pair of hoodies without tickets in the vestibule and showed rare delicacy in closing the doors to the First Class section to give them some privacy while they shouted the odds at the miscreants. I thought nothing more of this until a little before Cheshunt when I headed for the doors. The strange grinding noise the sliding doors had made was the sound of them coming off their runners. The doors were wedged with a five inch gap. Anyone who knows me in person will realise that a five inch gap is simply not sufficient for my extensive frame. After some attempted vandalism I gave up and asked for help from a couple sitting in the next First Class bay. The gentleman was in fact a fitter for One, and between us we managed to effect a temporary repair via some vigorous shoulder barging. He said if we'd not been able to do it, he'd have passed me the carriage key at Cheshunt and we'd have escaped via the cab! Rather shaken by the idea of being trapped in a dilapidated 317, I made my way to the bay platform for the next Seven Sisters bound unit. The fitter tracked me down just before I left to tell me he'd had a moan to Liverpool Street about the state of the doors. We passed the time discussing the merits of First Class offerings on the various operators, and I left promising to try the ex-Anglia Intercity services as he thought these were really top notch.

I actually enjoyed the journey to Liverpool Street, despite being warned it was a trip through the badlands. The landscape was fairly urban, and the stations a little run down it's fair to say. But the train was comfortable and busy, and there were a few interesting characters on board. Finally passed through the curiously named Turkey Street and arrived at Liverpool Street on time. A quick look at what was in the station before embarking on a slow and frustrating tube trip back to Paddington. It seemed First Great Western's day had reverted to type, with a bunch of cancellations and inexplicable lateness in evidence when I arrived. My own train, the 1615 Paignton left dead on time, but was dogged by slow running from the start. From Reading to the Westbury area we crawled at what seemed a walking pace, and ended up almost 30 late at one point heading for Bath. The guard was unable to explain this at all. In fact, all the staff seemed rather gloomy and subdued. I suppose they've suffered the wrath of far too many angry punters these past weeks. With my planned Weston connection out of the window, got off at Bristol and bumped into an acquaintance. Took the equally slow 1907 back to Highbridge, arriving 32 late after departing Bristol 7 late! A strange day...