Slipped out of work this morning to watch the first visit of a 'Western' to Weston in something like twenty-eight years! Quite a crowd in evidence on arrival. Wandered over to Platform 1 and waited for a terminating unit to arrive. D1015 arrived just a few minutes later, after what had been a troubled journey from Gloucester.

More trouble here too - with a planned 1109 start slipping to 11:39 due to a recurring TPWS fault which dogged the train for the rest of its journey.

Back to the station a little before 2200 to see the return trip. Things ran a lot more smoothly this time. Absolutely thunderous start from Weston - which even managed to drown out the Police helicopter which was hovering ominously over my house!

I've moved a few things around on the site, which will hopefully make things easier to find. Firstly, I've condensed the galleries into categories roughly based on people and places - which should make things easier for adding more in future. The railway galleries are also a little easier to get to - but are still in a different format to the rest of the site for now.

I've also added a page for the Wessex Class 158/9 Fleet, and tidied up the side bar a little.

Stayed reasonably local again this weekend. Since huge crowds were expected for the Tsunami Relief Concert at the Millenium Stadium, decided to see what Arriva Trains Wales would provide in the way of additional capacity.

Arrived at Newport at around 0930 to find quite a crowd of 60s and 66s on Godfrey Road. Cold but dry start to the day, with five passing freights in the first couple of hours, and a steady stream of the usual units and HSTs.

Things started to get very busy around lunchtime, soon after a couple more members of the infamous 'Gang of Four' arrived on the scene! I'd figured that the concert should be starting at around 1500, and around midday, crowd control and revenue protection swung into action. Huge queues to get into Newport station - and severely overcrowded Cardiff bound services. To compound things, a unit failed between Newport and Cardiff - which eventually returned to Newport and was abandoned on a very damp up through line. To make things even stranger, the staff decided to override the automatic announcements because of the overcrowding, and a guy with a voice like he'd inhaled helium began barking instructions for the next train to Cardiff!

Things stayed busy, with packed platforms and very wet people queuing right up to around 1445, when it became very quiet indeed. Things remained busy on the freight front, and lots of action was to be seen on Godfrey Road. Industrial action on Central Trains services meant some further weirdness - with a somewhat unpredictable pattern of services and some unusual units visiting. Also noted most of the Wessex 3 car Class 158/9s visiting during the day - including 965, 966 and 967 which were all new to me. By popular request, I've added a list of which units make up the 3 car sets here on the site.


Had a very damp walk around to see what was at the back of Godfrey Road - predictably, the locomotives at the front moved minutes after we returned, dripping to the platform! Having seen 158961 head down to Cardiff earlier, decided to wait and catch it on the return to Bristol. Arrived home cold, wet and tired, but as usual an entertaining time at Newport.

A week of plodding forwards and moving backwards. Finally conviced people at work I needed to just get on with things - and things promptly stopped happening completely. By the end of the week, the air of disinterested composure I try to convey clearly wasn't working at all anymore.

Anyone who works in School Admissions will understand the level of panic I'm facing just now. Awaiting a much delayed patch from our IT suppliers, trying to second guess what it will do, and trying to plan some kind of contingency if it doesn't do what it should. In the midst of this, some people seem to be engaged in an inter-LEA points scoring match which I'm dangerously close to the centre of.

The most frustrating thing is, I know I can do this job well. I've got excellent collaborative relationships with the onsite IT team, I've just about got a handle on how things work. What I haven't got is ultimate control over what happens when... and that, I'm sorry to say is what some people seem to want.

This rant is pointless, and probably misdirected. It comes at the end of a week where almost everything has gone wrong or underwhelmed me in some way. I've tried half-heartedly to plan for my leave at the end of the month, and even that has been unrewarding and dull because of the pervading sense of people mistrusting me and expecting me to fail.

Need to turn things around somehow.