Thanks for the input. My reading of the 22.50 PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains)-WOF was that past Oxford it was essentially an empty stock move to get the set to where it needed to be for the next day. Interesting, on a Saturday night - when the need for it is more logical -  it didn't run.

Shame if they don't bring it back - for a short space of time it was nice not to have to drive to Banbury or LMS^▸ (London Midland Scottish - 1923 to 1948) to pick up the Chiltern line.

I see from a link of the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) website here:

 https://www.gwr.com/travel-information/train-times

that several trains are cancelled or terminated early from now "until further notice", including the 11.50 PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains) to WOP that was handy if you wanted to go to a show in London. Anyone got any idea if this is likely to be permanent?

I'm in London twice next week and live 5 minutes from Honeybourne, but, reading this thread, will clearly have to drive to Warwick Parkway - no one in their right mind would dream of planning to use a Cotswold line service at the moment. Chiltern must be enjoying their increased revenues!

I was on this train yesterday - and it was rammed from Reading to about Charlbury. I was interested to see that the 5 passengers alighting at Ascott convened on the platform for what appeared to be an impromtu meeting - presumably about the state of the "service".

I'm on the 14.21 from Pad and it is a very comfortable 180 today. At least two in service as we passed an up service at Charlbury at around 15.45.

When they work they're very good.

Thanks for the clarification II. It was indeed a turbo and was rammed full by Charlbury and got worse from Oxford onwards. This was a service that definitely should have had an extra 3 cars added at Oxford. Disappointing that  FGW^▸ (First Great Western) seem to have made no effort on the Cotswold line to cater for the additional traffic during the Olympics.

Anyone know if the 9.54 Great Malvern to PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains) is an Adelante yet? Based on previous posts it doesn't look like it.  Taking the family to the Olympics and would prefer a 180 to a 166.

Thanks for the clarification Industry Insider. I had read the piece in Rail, so was somewhat surprised by the comments from the train crew. Good to hear the first one is in service and performing well.

I was also told that the weekday 21.48 last train from PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains) - currently an HST^▸ (High Speed Train) - would be replaced by an Adelante. Any truth in this rumour?

Just heard from the train crew on the return to Honeybourne yesterday that the new date for the introduction of Adelantes into passenger service is now put back to the 9th of July. Apparently they are continuing to suffer from engine failures in their test runs. Perhaps Industry Insider would be in a position to confirm this?

It never even occurred to me that I could call FGW^▸ (First Great Western) to get a taxi to come and pick me up. It's not the first time I've ended up at HYB to find the train is heavily delayed and my fallback is to drive to Banbury which takes about 40 minutes.

Which does illustrate the key point; I don't even need to know the train times from Banbury, because they are at least every 20 minutes and the Chiltern service is pretty reliable. If there had been a reliable hourly service on the Cotswold line I would have just gone back home and come back for the next one.

Interestingly since Chiltern introduced its Mainline service, I know of a number of people who live in the Vale who now drive to Warwick Parkway, simply because of service frequency and reliability. Hopefully the lobbying being done by the local MPs^▸ (Member of Parliament) for an hourly service will find its way into the new franchise.

Thanks Industry Insider - that explains it. The train left Foregate on time but was 10 minutes late leaving Shrub Hill. They must have looked at it there and decided to run on the two engines and miss out Honeybourne. If I hadn't wasted 5 minutes at Honeybourne checking the live running I would have just made it at Moreton. I'll know next time!

I was heading down to London on Saturday and checked the Live Running before I left home for Honeybourne to see that the train had been started from Foregate St and had left on time. I arrived at Honeybourne 10 minutes later to find that the train was running 10 minutes late but the Honeybourne stop was cancelled.  I debated waiting to see if it would stop, but they decided I could just make Moreton in Marsh. Unfortunately I arrived on the platform at Moreton just in time to see the train heading out with no further trains for 2 hours.

Does anyone on the Forum (Industry Insider?) have any idea why they would eliminate a stop at such short notice when the train was only 10 mins late and nothing for two hours? Signalling problems perhaps?

In the end, headed off to Banbury and took Chiltern instead.

Ran past the level crossing on Sunday. The damage to Ali Fould's shop was not as severe as the report implied - only one Window boarded up and everything else looked intact.

Went running along Clayfield Road in Bretforton this afternoon. Crossing is still closed and there was a crew working on new foundations for lineside equipment. This must have been in the plan, as the signs say the road is closed until 19th September. I was impressed with how the second track had gone in by the old keeper's cottage, as in one of Will's earlier photographs it looked a pretty tight fit.

I'd like to see a return from Paddington around the 11pm mark.  9.48 is too early for a night out in London. I normally travel from Honeybourne, but if returning late from London I drive to Banbury. Last train from Marylebone is around 11.50, but I would drive to Moreton and go from there if there were a later train.