You know all of those cancellations we have for 'train faults' or 'crew shortages' etc?
Well today, between Cheltenham and Swindon, so far it hasn't happened, even though there ARE faults on the trains!

I was sat at Gloucester waiting for the 1305 to Cheltenham today (Saturday), while the information system couldn't make it's mind up whether the service was delayed by 8 minutes, 17 minutes or 26 minutes. The train did turn up eventually, at 1317, and long and behold it was a nodding donkey (143) - I think they might be using these on the Cheltenham - Swindon route now.

While I was sat there waiting for this nodding donkey to turn up (143 618) I overheard a conversion between the drivers who were changing shifts at Gloucester... (as close as I can remember):

FGW Staff - "Which train are you running?"
Driver 1 - "I'm only going to Cheltenham and back, the 1305 service from here"
FGW Staff - "Ohh blimey I've heard about that one. It's running on one engine, and it is SLOW."
Driver 1 - "Really?"
FGW Staff - "Yeah, that's why it's being delayed by so much. We had two engines at Swindon but gradually lost the other one along the way, engine coolant or water I think, I think you could fill it up at Cheltenham can't you?"
Driver 1 - "I don't know if I'm qualified, but I don't know if I'm bothered anyway, as I said I'm only going to Cheltenham and back."

So there you go. The story of one half, with enthusiastic and caring FGW staff who want to keep their rolling stock running as long as possible... the opposite more like. It seemed funny sitting in a carriage of a nodding donkey which was completely quiet, as there are normally the most noisiest things on the tracks! It seemed like the longest journey though, the train must not have even hit 45mph I reckon, it took nearly 15 minutes between Gloucester and Cheltenham and had the noisiest brakes I have ever heard, even the yobs sat at Gloucester on platform 4 didn't like that idea. What a shift to do though, between Gloucester and Cheltenham and back.

While going the other way earlier in the morning, a re-livered nodding donkey trundled past, with new yellow paint on the front and back and all I could see of the new blue panels were a pink 'F' logo and not much else, unless I missed something. Could they not be bothered with the dynamic lines?