Many of FGW^▸ (First Great Western)'s smaller lines have a circular line-art logo - the Avocet^▸ (Branch line from Exeter to Exmouth) Line, the Maritime Line, the Oxford Canal Line, the Tamar Valley Line, and so on.

I'm involved in a project on the Cotswold Line and we'd like to use the logo, which in this case features hills (probably the Malverns!) and a dry-stone wall.

Does anyone here know who at FGW would be the best person to contact to get permission?

Strongbow is cider, but not real cider. For those of you of a beer-drinking persuasion, it's the Watneys Red Barrel of the cider world.

Oversimplifying greatly, there's four types of cider:

• Industrial cider - Strongbow, Dry Blackthorn, Magners, Bulmers, Kopperberg etc.
• Fizzy cider from real cider apples - principally Westons Stowford Press, Thatchers Gold, Addlestones
• Real cider made by major manufacturers - Westons Old Rosie, Thatchers Traditional, Gwynt y Ddraig etc.
• Craft cider - a vast array of farm and artisan products
  

The first category is pretty much unpalatable. From then on, it gets better. Personally I'm a great fan of Old Rosie (and the new Rosie's Pig sounds ideal).

If I want a drinkable cider on an FGW^▸ (First Great Western) journey, I've learned to either bring some from home, or (if I'm starting at Paddington) buy an M&S own-brand cider at Paddington, which is re-badged Westons at a fair price. I would love it if FGW were to sell a decent cider on board. They sell decent beer - why not "the wine of the West"?

No sarcasm was intended. I am baffled as to why you've taken such a combative tone.

I thought the fastest train was the 17.22 from Paddington which takes 53 minutes. 1W07, for those who (unlike me) understand these things! (Previous post on Cotswold Line timings.)

Press release from FGW^▸ (First Great Western): http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/About-Us/Media-centre/First-Great-Western-has-altered-the-time-of-two-key-services-in-the-North-Cotswolds

In Thames Trains days, rail returns from Oxford to London were valid on the overnight X90 coaches. Supposedly this continued some time into the FGWL era - I presume it's no longer the case but haven't been able to find any documentation anywhere!

I think, to be honest, all of this is going to be blown out of the water with an elephant gun in the next year or two.

As of this week, rail fares are open data. The timetable has been for a few months. It is now possible - not easy, granted, but possible - for someone to write a web-based ticketing engine that finds you the absolute cheapest fare using split tickets, local Rovers, stopping short/starting late, and so on. Set up an affiliate deal with one of the retailers (or even an independent sales agent, such as the guy at Ledbury) and you'd have quite a lucrative business.

The days of "premium pricing through obscurity" are numbered. Open data is going to make sane, transparent pricing inevitable.

(Well, I think so anyway. )

The inbound journey for the evening Halts train (i.e. Great Malvern-Didcot) suffered a train failure yesterday and was cancelled, so the Halts was a two-coach Turbo again. I was hoping to pick up the 16.32 from Charlbury to Oxford, but with the Adelante cancelled, and the 17.10 HST^▸ (High Speed Train) running 35 minutes late, it wasn't the most successful of evenings out...

Agreed. As a regular bike traveller I avoid the up halts train - between Oxford and Charlbury it's quite likely to be full.

A couple of years ago I was on a Voyager which, in true CrossCountry fashion, was (a) rammed (b) late (c) devoid of any visible staff.

The seat next to me was occupied by a voluble Irishman, who proclaimed to half the carriage that the French and the Germans wouldn't stand for this s--t, and that our railways were the worst in Europe.

I gently pointed out to him who owned CrossCountry. He immediately avowed that he was going to write to Angela Merkel and tell her about the shocking state of her trains. He was sure she'd be horrified if she heard.

I don't know if he ever carried out the threat, but if so, I think that really does count as "taking it to the top".

Good point. I should have remembered that - a Chiltern guard once let me in via the back cab after a 2hr delay on a CrossCountry service from Edinburgh to New Street almost caused me to miss the last train back to Oxfordshire of the day. Sprinted to Moor Street with negative seconds to spare...

Incidentally, David Mitchell's gone up in the world since narrating that FGW^▸ (First Great Western) training video, hasn't he? 

I know it shouldn't happen, but I have on very rare occasions been on a 3-car Turbo that's stopped at Finstock and Combe. Don't tell HSE^▸ (Health and Safety Executive).

More pragmatically, AIUI^▸ (as I understand it) it's accepted practice that when 15xs stop at stations with very short platforms, passengers are asked to use (under supervision) the door in the rear cab. (Info from a uk.railway posting by a Central Trains conductor back in 2003.) Given the tiny number of passengers at the Oxfordshire halts, would it be possible to do that on a 3-car 16x, or are the rules different from 15xs?

I caught a 180 into Oxford the other day. Standing at the Oxford end of Charlbury platform 2, ready to load my bike, I was intrigued to find myself next to an FGW^▸ (First Great Western) travelling fitter who was about to board at the same place - and it was difficult not to overhear his mobile conversation! But he actually seemed pretty upbeat about the 180s, and FGW's ability to keep them under control; each one, he said, had its own idiosyncracies but they were learning them and slowly fixing the persistent issues. I made some friendly throwaway comment as we were boarding and he replied that they were going well. Only a minor anecdote, but bodes well, I thought.

Saturday services aren't meant to be Adelantes anyway, so an information failure rather than a Turbitution. It's possible that another 2 coaches were to be added at Oxford and the information system was being a little premature about the train length - I've seen that happen before.

Oh, the good old Rutland Times. I think the last time I read it (as a former resident of Rutland) was when one of its columnists was equating the hunting ban to Nazism.

Rutland is actually a lovely place, but you wouldn't know it from its newspapers!