Recent content by Gagravarr

From today's Oxfordshire Connect newsletter, some bad news

In light of the Birmingham PlusBus recent 75% price hike, I was wondering if of the railcard I have or might get next would qualify for the discount. The Birmingham PlusBus page - https://www.plusbus.info/birmingham - lists the normal (£9.00) and railcard discounted (£5.95) prices but not the...

On Saturday, I took a Scotrail train from Elgin towards Inverness, one of the ones that shuttle Inverness <-> Elgin. On the platform, the train manager whilst changing ends made a loud "make sure you all have your tickets" announcement. Then made several PA announcements about the £10 minimum...

Last week, I added a Birmingham PlusBus to my journey for £5.20. As of today, it seems to have jumped a whopping 75% to £9! https://www.plusbus.info/birmingham Looking back at some older tickets, this time last year was £4.80, in July 2024 it was £4.00, and the same for 2023. Those all feel...

The date is announced, Tuesday 7th April! https://www.wmca.org.uk/news/west-midlands-rail-revolution-continues-as-mayor-announces-opening-dates-for-five-new-stations/

The walkways were in place and in use at 8.15 this morning. (Bit of a rushed shot as I was dashing for the Bicester train...)

It appears that tickets from Oxford to Birmingham are not valid via Stratford-upon-Avon, and nor are ones from the normal Oxford-Birmingham split points like Banbury or Leamington Spa I could buy and Oxford to Stratford-upon-Avon return (don't appear to be any splits possible there), and a...

I was going for the 0704, based on having access to the Business Premier queue which has a 15 minute cut-off rather than the normal 30 minute one. Though I guess the minimum connection times don't allow for that exception.... There were still people for the 0731 departure arriving as I got to...

I've got a Euro High Saver Return (CIV) from Oxford to London International (CIV), then taking (hopefully...) the Eurostar on. GWR cancelled the first train of the morning (05:20) just before it was due to leave. Next train gets into London nearly an hour later. I'll miss my Eurostar, though...

I noticed a lone class 57 trundling through Oxford yesterday, which seems to have been on its way to Milton Keynes from Reading - https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:R62309/2025-04-03/detailed . It popped back again later too -...

Just spied a 196 in Oxford by the Rewley Road swing bridge (just to the north of the station), so they've made it a little further today!

The Colas class 43 set is out for another play today, just saw it heading north out of Oxford - https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:R54108/2025-02-06/detailed

News on the railway blockade are included in today's Oxfordshire Connect newsletter

Yesterday evening I was travelling from London Paddington back to Oxford. Took the 23:32, intending to change at Didcot. Train was crush loaded and late, so missed the connection. At Didcot, the staff said they'd been denied permission to arrange taxis, and we had to wait for the rail...

Got one of these just now, realtime trains says 221116. One big snag - no wifi. Is that normal for these transferred units? Otherwise it's very nice, feels brighter, seats and carpet in much better condition etc. Just a pain that there's no wifi and mobile reception remains terrible due to the...