January being the month in which fares are increased an elderly friend of mine who used to work on the railway as a booking clerk thought people might be interested in the following fares from Sevenoaks in 1962: –
| Single | Return | |
| London Bridge | 2nd: 5/3d (26p) 1st: 7/11d (39½p) |
2nd: 7/8d (38½p) 1st: 11/6d (57½p) |
| Charing Cross | 2nd: 7/8d (38½p) 1st: 11/6d (57½p) |
2nd: 8/6d (42½p) 1st: 12/9d (63½p) |
Incidentally the Secretary of State for Transport, Chris Grayling, was born on 1 April 1962. So the fare from Sevenoaks to London Bridge has risen by 4,861% since he was born!
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Our Bat & Ball correspondent, Keith Alderman, has now retired. However, when Thameslink allow him, he’s making good use of his Senior Railcard!
Delay Repay Claims: total 1 January 2019 to 31 January 2019 inclusive = £15.60 (Southeastern £15.60, Thameslink £0)
This month’s delays: total 95 minutes, Southeastern 85, Thameslink 10
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During one recent journey I spotted these seats at Waterloo (Main) station. They incorporate charging points for phones and other devices. This is a very welcome innovation – especially if there are delays. Hopefully they’ll be introduced on key Southeastern stations as well?
Our Bat & Ball correspondent, Keith Alderman, has now retired. However, when Thameslink allow him, he’s making good use of his Senior Railcard!
Delay Repay Claims; total 1 January 2018 to 31 December 2018 inclusive = £113.09
(Southeastern £45.40, Thameslink £28.50, South West Railway £12.40, Southern £1.10, Virgin £25.69)
This month’s delays: total 112 minutes, Southeastern 109, Thameslink 3
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An update on National Rail Enquiries issue that I mentioned last month concerning the off-peak fare of £24.55 being valid on the 09.21 departure from Bat & Ball to Harwich International arriving at 12.17. National Rail Customer Services have confirmed that there was inconsistency of the information displayed when I was searching for the trains departing and arriving for the times I wanted to travel; and they are working to get this issue rectified on their website. They kindly gave me Rail Vouchers to the value of £10, as a gesture of goodwill and for the inaccurate information I received.
That’s a good response from National Rail; it would be good to see similar responses from other train company customer service departments!
When I collected some Advance Purchase tickets at Bat & Ball recently a rail replacement bus service stopped outside the station. The display screen on the front of the bus showed a graphic of a steam locomotive and the following text; “Rail replacement bus, I am a train, choo choo”!
On the same day I noticed that the information screen at the entrance to Bat & Ball station was displaying the rail replacement bus departure times and where to board them. It also advised that the buses were on time. Are the buses current locations tracked using GPS?