Daniel Puddicombe

I have to pinch myself that this is happening on a main line.

What a machine.

And this is why I’m in Switzerland. Spending the day with Xrotd 9213, RhB’s 115-year steam-powered snowplough along the wonderful Bernina Line…

bsky.app/profile/dani...

Turns out I needn’t have worried - a simple cross-platform interchange. I love a joined-up railway system…

I am in SWITZERLAND and the first two trains I travelled on were delayed.

I am not making this up but all of the trains I’ve taken in the UK (and Austria and Italy) since I arrived back from Asia have been on time.

Standard-gauge SBB CFF FFS Re 460 on the left, metre-gauge RhB Allegra unit on the right. Onwards to the Alps…

Precision German Engineering RICHARD WILCOCK finds out how a German-built train could help solve a very British problem

What can the advancement of the Mireo Plus B in Germany tell us about the future of electrification and BEMUs in the UK?

A little while ago, I went to find out.
www.railmagazine.com/features-lan...

Off to Switzerland tomorrow (you'll see why on Friday) and SBB's journey planner is insistent on suggesting +2 connection. Place your bets now if I'll make it or if I'll end up being marooned in the Alps for an hour...

If memory serves (@mikewooldridge.bsky.social / @davwheat.dev will be better placed to answer) there is a bug with the 'error occurred' message and the workaround is to keep on refreshing the page until it shows results. I spent a long time bothering folks when I was trying to plan the trip!

You can’t buy a return ticket - you have to buy two singles. That’ll be why the error is occurring.

I would ignore the restriction codes in this instance purely because SailRail tickets are incredibly flexible and offer very few - if any - route restrictions.

Correct - you can only book through to Dublin / Belfast / Rosslare, sadly.

As per my piece, you can buy tickets via www.realtimetickets.co.uk (put in Dublin Port Stena)

Good point re: rovers. As you say, some are really well promoted, others... less so.

It didn't make it into the piece but for several weeks after the December timetable change it was impossible to book Belfast > anywhere tickets due what I now know is ScotRail forgetting to input the data into the systems. Funnily enough it was sorted a few hours after I grumbled to the press office

I travelled from Britain to Dublin for £60 thanks to this little-known ticket hack The elusive ‘SailRail’ ticket means a minibreak in the Irish capital could be far more affordable – and less stressful – than you thought

For ages, I wondered why SailRail isn't more popular beyond a tiny number of users. After using a ticket to get from Devon to Dublin for £60, I'm even more confused why TOCs / ferry firms aren't shouting about it from the rooftops...

www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/advic...

@seatsixtyone.bsky.social

I took a ride on Japan's £16 'blanket train' — it was like a kids' birthday part Forget the bullet train, this is the rail journey you need to take.

First is my trip on the Kotatsu Train in Japan: I don't think I've ever been as comfortable onboard a train yet confused at the same time.

Never been threatened by demons, watched a man shave kelp or play rock, paper, scissors on a train. All while watch the Pacific...

metro.co.uk/2026/02/18/t...

A couple of fun stories have gone online in recent days so I figured I'd plug them here...

Nice to see the police is busy in Milan, er, posing with random people by a Maserati.

Had a lot of fun at the ice hockey yesterday though. Germany outperformed France easily.

Not sure I can get onboard with plonking huge structures in front of the best views of the main tourist attractions.

You even order via a ticket machine…

Of course I went to a suburb in Tokyo for a curry purely because it was delivered by model railway.

Tokyo’s metro is so easy to navigate thanks to easy signage. I’m at Kudanshita, the seventh station on the Tozai Line. Such a simple system to understand.

To nick a line from Honda’s The Cog advert: isn’t it nice when things just… work?

Heading south to Tokyo on a Shinkansen after a very fun - and bizarre - day in Iwate Prefecture aboard the quirkiest train I’ve ever been on…

I did indeed mean jet lag, but I was happy to read about your trip back! Thanks, I’m having a blast. Don’t really want to leave Japan…

Hope the jet isn’t too bad…

I always find it fun coming to a different country and not having a clue about other traffic on the network. A nice surprise to see this JR freight service at Morioka - no idea where it was going from or to.

Went from Morioka to Miyako earlier. The Yamada Line (which runs through the Kitakami mountains) is far removed from the high speed network: infrequent service, jointed track, a noisy DMU and frequent stops to let deer get out of the way of the train. I loved it.

@mountains-magazine.com

Heading north aboard Hayabusa 21 after a morning spent walking around Tokyo’s Imperial Gardens…