I also have some macular degeneration in one eye - on pause since the cataract operation, and still road legal. My new licence arrived this afternoon, so the point is now moot here.

 

Still in Wolverton, I think, as of CoP 12 Jamuary.

 
They were quite correct. Last time I travelled the route, all wires were completely missing and only a few supports are left standing.

 
Due to urgent repairs to the railway between Brockenhurst and Lymington Pier trains have to run at reduced speed on all lines.
What's Going On:
Train services running to and from these stations will be delayed by up to 10 minutes or reduced to an hourly service. Disruption is expected until the end of the day on 23/02/26.
What We're Doing About It:
Following urgent repairs to the railway, all lines have now reopened. Initial work has taken place to reopen the line. However, due to the complexity of the issues found, the work is likely to take several weeks to be completed.
As a result trains will be subject to minimal delay while they run at a reduced speed along the line and the service will be reduced to an hourly service in order to minimise disruption.
If you need any help with your journey, please speak to a member of staff or use a station help point.
We are very sorry for any disruption to your journey.

 
Member 'Ollie' on the Coffee Shop forum and I have chuckled in the past over an 'in joke' anecdote, relating to the now Sir Andrew Haines OBE.

It reflects not at all on Sir Andrew, but rather to an, at that time, First Great Western on-board train ticket checker.

Remember that, Ollie? Image not available to guests

 
Nope - GWR error there, combining both Bicester stations

 

Thanks for that - but there's something wrong there to me.  Bicester Village isn't on the Banbury to Marylebone line is it?  Have I misread something?

 
In which case, I'll add GWRs advice -


See the attached linear map

 
Last Tuesday, the screen at Bath Spa station inferring Oxford to Didcot is wired. (It really should be: to Milton Keynes for starters...)

Mark

Image not available to guests

 
CfN (that's me!) thanks several members here for their informative posts above.

I'm inclined to keep those most recent posts here, in this new topic, as this latest railway closure becomes increasingly topical, timewise.

Chris.

 
It's the Botley Road thread - replacement of rail bridge.

It is (still) running for 8 days (1-8 February inclusive - Sunday to Sunday inclusive)

No trains fast or stoppers between Oxford & Didcot. What the Mail  means is that there are also no *fast* trains Oxford <-> Banbury, but the GWR stoppers *are* still running (from Platform 1 & 2).

They are building two bridges over the through lines across Oxford station which will form a one-way system pedestrian walkway from Botley Road to the City Centre. So if you have ever wanted to walk across from one throgh platform to the other, now is your chance!

 

 
Thank you for your update post here, a-driver. Image not available to guests

 

It was covered in the thread on Oxford station work in September - but I imagine the detailed plans for the closure may have changed. The duration even then was variously described as 8 or 9 days, and a small alteration to the set-up/clear-up plans could add another day without changing the main civils work.

And as for stopping services continuing - they could run to Radley. But I can't see any that do - the stoppers are also being provided by buses, some of the GWR ones to Oxford.  There are also XC buses to Oxford and to Banbury.

 
From the BBC:

 
I don't think this has been posted in any Coffee Shop post before (CfN will no doubt confirm or oherwise), but here's a link to something that has come up on my newsfeed -

https://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/25757868.oxford-didcot-parkway-train-line-close-10-days/

I cannot see how this matches the "10 days" headline, and some of the text looks like an exercise in confusing slapdash English - "Direct trains between Didcot Parkway or Oxford and Banbury will also be replaced with buses, but stopping services on the line will continue to operate." anyone?

 
Looe branch now confirmed as being closed until the 23 January.

 
Thanks, I've copied it over....

 

 

On a slightly more serious note, we have a topic on the Coffee Shop forum relating specifically to Sir Andrew Haines OBE at https://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=1215.0

CfN.

 
Obviously, this from YouTube.  Image not available to guests

 
That aside, is there an argument for a permanent direct bus link between Ilfracombe / Braunton / Barnstaple to South Molton / Tiverton / Tiverton Parkway? (The current junction to the A361 doesn't quite support this though).

Awkward that Bideford is where it is, as it could not be served by the same service - not without buses adapted for 'Portion running'.

Mark

 
What would the music be?

 
Quite unbelievable really.

On the BBC or Sky News, via MSN


he CCTV evidence is in the Sky News link above.

I didn't realise that Buckfast was still a drink....

 
Musical Chairs

 
I know someone who had been a lorry driver and retrained as a bus driver.  He took his test in the morning, came back to the depot at lunchtime and was given a double decker on a school route.  He says that the kids saw he was new, went upstairs and started swaying the bus from side to side.

Coming into the next village there was a large pothole that Bill did not see.  He hit it and bus swayed far more than the kids had done.  He never had anymore trouble with the school kids.

 
tl:dr Multiple hours on buses, slow over the ground, but worked well.

Needing to run an errand / collect things / listen to music, the bus won out for a multi-node trip that included Cribbs Causeway from Bath - during which I discovered that the No. 19 no longer runs to Cribbs Causeway - it turns round at Parkway, from which other buses are available.

I was returning via a different route to my arrival and Cribbs Causeway bus station, unless the traveller has a smartphone, is very difficult to read - it's as if there's a condition of its operation that it not be used as the bus interchange that it is. The location of the stops is clearly indicated, but nothing to say what goes from where save for the timetables on the stops, some of which are displayed to the interior of the stop through glass and behind manifestations.

Discovering the T7's departure stop for the city centre involved a complete clockwise tour of the bus station to check each stop. (I then checked the smartphone and Google Maps told me the letter of the stop I needed).

To continue last week's theme, the T7 is a TfW service and was an electric bus, which ran quickly down to the centre and then sat in a queue of 2 or three coaches for the bus station entrance as there was congestion within with about 95% occupancy of the bays, but in any case it made a good connection with an X39 back to Bath, and a great improvement from a few years ago when it didn't call at the bus station but from a stop in the road close to the BRI - and the directions to said stop were a bit vague.

Mark