Dateline : Monday 12th October
For those unfamiliar with the geography, Seaton is far left, Salisbury top right. The fbbs drove their elderly motor car to Axminster for their train to Salisbury.
Surely they should use Axe Valley Travel ...
... with an excellent bus service connecting with every train? Well it doesn't at the moment!
The train service between Exeter and Yeovil has been reduced from hourly to one every two hours. Here is the timetable.
The aged pair were on the 1044 from Axminster.
Not only has the frequency been reduced but the times have changed; actually approx 20 mins have been added to the running time between Exeter and Yeovil.
Why, you may ask?
Here is Notwork Rail.
Why, you may ask?
Apparently the very dry weather means that the clay subsoil is losing its integrity ("drying out", for the technically minded) and the track is "at risk" of sinking.
But hold on there! When was the above report posted.
So the above item was for last year - "remedial work" was completed and the service was back to normal by the first week of November.
Amazingly, exactly one year later, this notice appeared.
So whatever went wrong in 2025 has gone wrong again in 2026 on exactly the same date. What a coincidence! The very helpful ticket clerk at Axminster station told a waiting passenger that no date for a return to normality had been formally announced, BUT ...
... unofficially she had been told that it would be the first week in November.
Sounds VERY familiar!
Does fbb smell one of these?
It seems odd that track was repaired in 2025 only to go bad between the exact same dates in 2026.
They arrived in good time, in order to do battle with the car park ticket machine. Just pulling into the station was the 1014 to Exeter, running about 10 minutes late.
Due to the failure of new technology to allow trains to leapfrog over one another, the trains were not right time at a passing loop on what is a single track railway.
Thus the 1044 train to Salisbury left Axminster nearly 10 min late!
There is an 8 minute connection time at Salisbury!
Arrival at Salisbury was 6 minutes late thanks to a few minutes "recovery time".
The old crocks were on their way to Portsmouth Harbour ...
... arriving 1352 (the train was was 8 mins late) with plenty of time to catch the 1415 ferry ...
... to Ryde Pier Head.
Gateline Gorgeous?
But there have been changes at the Pier Ferry Terminal at Portsmouth Harbour. From platform level (it is all built on stilts built out over the sea) ...
... a ramp descends to the ferry terminal.
At the foot on the ramp these have appeared, shown below before they were fully operational
There are better pictures of this novelty at Ryde Pier Head.
Below is a better view looking towards what was once a caff and us now just a waiting room.
Again, looking back the other way towards the trains and car park,
The wooden bit is a new ticket office.
Now, when fbb travelled via Portsmouth Harbour, two Wightlink staff were stationed at the fully working barriers. This is exactly the same number if staff who used to stand and collect/check tickets in a barrier-bereft world!
Gateline Hate-Line?
Don't you mean Great-Line, fbb?
Until very recently, you entered Portsmouth Harbour station ...
... turned right past the caff ...
... and took a long walk towards the wet stuff. Below we look back towards the caff and entrance.
But look what has arrived!
A set of self-service barriers for those holding train tickets.
So where do ferry customers go? They cannot buy a ticket in the station booking office because South Western Railway does not sell Wightlink tickets.
It was fine when trains and ferries were both run by the Southern Railway ...
... but things became complicated and dis-integrated with privatisation. Sealink ...
... then became Wightlink.
So what do you do at the barriers if you DON'T want a train but DO want a Wightlink ferry. And the ferry ticket office is way beyond the new barriers?
Seemples!
You say to the man at the barriers that you want a Wightlink ticket and he will let you through.
So what do you do at the barriers if you DON'T want a train ticket because you DO want to cheat the railways and travel free and illegally.
Seemples!
You say to the man at the barriers that you want a Wightlink ticket and he will let you through.
So what is the point of having barriers?
Answers in a postcard, please, to the usual address.
A respected web site confirms this stupidity.
The new ticket gateline at Portsmouth Harbour station is even more contentious, with Wightlink (operator of the FastCat foot ferry to the Isle of Wight) crying foul. There has always been free passage for pedestrians through the station building between the City and ferry, a right of way now blocked off by SWR’s new ticket gateline.
Wightlink has been advising its passengers that they don’t need to show a ticket at SWR’s ticket gates … but imagine if you’re new to the area and trying to find your way to the ferry!
Of course, ticketless rail travellers will simply blag their way through the gates on the pretext of being on their way to or from the ferry, which rather defeats the object.
Next Island Break blog : Thurs 15 Oct
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