When the software meets the hardware
 

On Mon, Jan 28, 2019 at 12:11:49PM +0000, Mrs. Invalid-Address wrote:

There are few services in this country long enough to justify train toilets
IMO. Sure, some run long distance but most are not the sort of services people
stay on end to end, WCML and ECML excepted.

I hope for your sake you never have to travel between London and
Hastings with a small child, or while elderly, or while pregnant, or
while drunk. You get plenty of day-trippers doing that as well as
commuters. That's 1h45-ish. London to Bristol is about the same.

--
David Cantrell | Cake Smuggler Extraordinaire

There is no one true indentation style,
But if there were K&R would be Its Prophets.
Peace be upon Their Holy Beards.

When the software meets the hardware
 

On Tue, 29 Jan 2019 10:45:59 +0000
David Cantrell wrote:
On Mon, Jan 28, 2019 at 12:11:49PM +0000, Mrs. Invalid-Address wrote:

There are few services in this country long enough to justify train toilets
IMO. Sure, some run long distance but most are not the sort of services
people
stay on end to end, WCML and ECML excepted.

I hope for your sake you never have to travel between London and
Hastings with a small child, or while elderly, or while pregnant, or
while drunk. You get plenty of day-trippers doing that as well as

I have no sympathy for drunks and they wouldn't use the toilet anyway.

commuters. That's 1h45-ish. London to Bristol is about the same.

If someone can't hold it for that length of time then they need to see a
doctor.

When the software meets the hardware
 

wrote:
On Mon, 28 Jan 2019 18:56:13 -0000 (UTC)
Anna Noyd-Dryver wrote:
wrote:
On Sun, 27 Jan 2019 13:55:38 -0000 (UTC)
Anna Noyd-Dryver wrote:
wrote:
A portable vacuum unit to empty them. How else?


The walkways along the stabling sidings aren’t sufficient for a mobile
vacuum unit (does such a thing even exist?) let alone a wheeled tank

Have you never seen the lorry that empties a septic tank?


Will it fit along the platform, down a flight of stairs, across the 2 feet
wide boarded walkway, and along the ballast down the 4 foot gap between
trains?

They could try using a long hose. Honestly, if the railways can't think of
a way to empty a septic tank then they're really up **** creak. Pun intended.


It’s a problem which literally doesn’t need to be solved.

In any case I wouldn’t fancy dragging a 250m long 15cm diameter collection
of hoses around on ballast, particularly if the largest of them’s full of
****.

The fixed equipment at depots have a larger-than-portakabin-sized building
which handles the effluent, and a proper feed into the sewage system.
Neither available at the stabling sidings mentioned.

Then they should be.


Why? These are sidings around the back of the station, or 1/4 mile away,
which stable a handful of trains for a few hours overnight, between last
service in the evening and first service in the morning. The trains are
designed to be able to stable overnight without visiting a depot.

Edinburgh to Penzance. It forms an early PM peak commuter train from
Bristol.

I doubt many people went end to end.


I never said they did. I guess a fair number of people make 4-5 hour
journeys though.

Maybe once in a blue moon.


When I board at Exeter to travel back to Bristol I notice a lot of
reservations for Leeds, Sheffield, York etc, so clearly not as few people
as you think make long distance train journeys.

I’ve just interrogated the reservations list for the Padd-Penzance train I
worked part way this morning, and although there are actually no
reservations for the full Padd-Pz journey, there are quite a few
Pad/Reading-Plymouth, a number of Bristol-Truro, and some Bristol-St Erth.


Anna Noyd-Dryver

When the software meets the hardware
 

On 29/01/2019 11:09, Anna Noyd-Dryver wrote:

I’ve just interrogated the reservations list for the Padd-Penzance train I
worked part way this morning, and although there are actually no
reservations for the full Padd-Pz journey, there are quite a few
Pad/Reading-Plymouth, a number of Bristol-Truro, and some Bristol-St Erth.

Isn't this data skewed by the fact that people getting on at the origin
probably don't bother getting reservations?

--
Basil Jet - Current favourite song...
What by Bruce
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtJEAud9vao

When the software meets the hardware
 

On 29/01/2019 11:19, Basil Jet wrote:
On 29/01/2019 11:09, Anna Noyd-Dryver wrote:

I’ve just interrogated the reservations list for the Padd-Penzance
train I
worked part way this morning, and although there are actually no
reservations for the full Padd-Pz journey, there are quite a few
Pad/Reading-Plymouth, a number of Bristol-Truro, and some Bristol-St
Erth.

Isn't this data skewed by the fact that people getting on at the origin
probably don't bother getting reservations?

Many (advance purchase) tickets force a reservation on you. I wouldn't
mind, but whilst there's a penalty (whether actual, or just the risk of
being forced to move when any other seat option has gone) for sitting in
a reserved seat, there's no penalty for not taking up a reservation.

It's even worse when you buy an open return and they suggest a (free)
reservation when there's only a small chance you'll take that actual train.

I remember once getting a train from Euston where I walked the length of
the train to my assigned seat in coach A to be confronted by a sea of
reservations and a similar number of empty seats. The carriage remained
almost completely empty as far as my destination of Stone (from memory).

When the software meets the hardware
 

On Tue, 29 Jan 2019 11:09:32 -0000 (UTC)
Anna Noyd-Dryver wrote:
wrote:
On Mon, 28 Jan 2019 18:56:13 -0000 (UTC)
Anna Noyd-Dryver wrote:
wrote:
On Sun, 27 Jan 2019 13:55:38 -0000 (UTC)
Anna Noyd-Dryver wrote:
wrote:
A portable vacuum unit to empty them. How else?


The walkways along the stabling sidings aren’t sufficient for a mobile
vacuum unit (does such a thing even exist?) let alone a wheeled tank

Have you never seen the lorry that empties a septic tank?


Will it fit along the platform, down a flight of stairs, across the 2 feet
wide boarded walkway, and along the ballast down the 4 foot gap between
trains?

They could try using a long hose. Honestly, if the railways can't think of
a way to empty a septic tank then they're really up **** creak. Pun intended.



It’s a problem which literally doesn’t need to be solved.

Tanks full, toilets out of service, train not allowed to run, passengers
left ****ed off on platforms. Thats why it needs to be solved.

Maybe once in a blue moon.


When I board at Exeter to travel back to Bristol I notice a lot of
reservations for Leeds, Sheffield, York etc, so clearly not as few people
as you think make long distance train journeys.

Doesn't mean they were boarding at bristol, just that the seats will be used
at some point.

I’ve just interrogated the reservations list for the Padd-Penzance train I
worked part way this morning, and although there are actually no
reservations for the full Padd-Pz journey, there are quite a few
Pad/Reading-Plymouth, a number of Bristol-Truro, and some Bristol-St Erth.

None of those are particularly long journeys.

When the software meets the hardware
 

wrote:
On Mon, 28 Jan 2019 18:08:00 +0000
Arthur Figgis wrote:
On 28/01/2019 12:10, wrote:
On 28 Jan 2019 10:19:40 +0000 (GMT)
Jonathan Amery wrote:

You must go to some fairly boring places for holiday.

Nothing boring about Europe.

Frankfurt is a thing in Europe.

(thinking of the /M version... I've only ever passed through /O, which
for all I know might be like Barcelona on a bank holiday Friday when
someone is offering free beer)

I've been to the business Frankfurt once. It was enough for one lifetime tbh.
Clean, efficient, friendly (for germany) but totally and utterly boring as hell.



You didn’t go to the Feldbahnmuseum, then?

https://flic.kr/p/5zgANt

--
Jeremy Double

When the software meets the hardware
 

In article ,
wrote:
If someone can't hold it for that length of time then they need to see a
doctor.

You'll understand when you're older.




--
Regards,
John Levine, , Primary Perpetrator of "The Internet for Dummies",
Please consider the environment before reading this e-mail. https://jl.ly

When the software meets the hardware
 

Basil Jet wrote:
On 29/01/2019 11:09, Anna Noyd-Dryver wrote:

I’ve just interrogated the reservations list for the Padd-Penzance train I
worked part way this morning, and although there are actually no
reservations for the full Padd-Pz journey, there are quite a few
Pad/Reading-Plymouth, a number of Bristol-Truro, and some Bristol-St Erth.

Isn't this data skewed by the fact that people getting on at the origin
probably don't bother getting reservations?


After posting that I found I was only looking at half of the reservations!
Once I was looking at them all I found lots of shorter reserved legs
earlier in the journey, eg Paddington-Swindon, Reading-Bath etc.

Relevant to a recent Roland thread, I found a number of seats reserved for
three different legs but none for more than three. Presumably this reflects
the current need for compatibility with paper labels.


Anna Noyd-Dryver

When the software meets the hardware
 

On 29 Jan 2019 12:20:49 GMT
Jeremy Double wrote:
wrote:
On Mon, 28 Jan 2019 18:08:00 +0000
Arthur Figgis wrote:
On 28/01/2019 12:10, wrote:
On 28 Jan 2019 10:19:40 +0000 (GMT)
Jonathan Amery wrote:

You must go to some fairly boring places for holiday.

Nothing boring about Europe.

Frankfurt is a thing in Europe.

(thinking of the /M version... I've only ever passed through /O, which
for all I know might be like Barcelona on a bank holiday Friday when
someone is offering free beer)

I've been to the business Frankfurt once. It was enough for one lifetime tbh.

Clean, efficient, friendly (for germany) but totally and utterly boring as
hell.



You didn’t go to the Feldbahnmuseum, then?

https://flic.kr/p/5zgANt

No, but looks like an interesting place. However we were only in the city for
a day just passing through.