Great Western Coffee Shop

A prize for optimism to whoever put that on the website. At the time Lee posted it here, I was standing on platform 2 at Oxford waiting for the 20.21 to Malvern, which was somewhere at the back of a queue of trains all the way back to Didcot and probably beyond.

Commuters at Appleford are celebrating after a number of daytime services to Oxford and London were reinstated this week.

The station had fallen victim to cuts in May and was left without a train from 11am to 5pm after First Great Western deemed the station was not being used enough. But following a campaign from villagers, the operator has reintroduced stops on three daytime services between Paddington and Oxford and a stop by a train from Moreton-in-Marsh to Paddington.

Mark Hopwood, First Great Western managing director, said he had been convinced by the level of local demand for the extra trains. ^This is just one example of how we do everything we can to deliver the best possible service to all our customers,^ he said. ^We value our customers^ thoughts and would like to thank all those people who took the time to talk to us.^

Angela Greenwell, 61, of Chambrai Close, Appleford, said: ^It^s very important the service has been reinstated because it gives locals more choice. ^When it was cut, you would have to start your journey home almost as soon as you arrived, or face waiting for hours.^

Angela Jones, of Main Road, Appleford, said: ^This is a huge relief because we really depended on it, as it was the only available means of public transport in the village. Older people would use it to go to the doctor or solicitor, and younger people would go to school or work.^

Chris Hancock, 60, from Church Street, Appleford, said: ^I think it^s important that all aspects of the service are provided. We^ve noticed that as a result of this reinstatement, however, other evening services have been changed and we^re calling for those to come back.^

The following stops, removed as part of timetable changes in May, will be added to the timetable on Mondays through to Saturdays:

 11.27 Paddington to Oxford will call at Appleford at 1pm.

 13.27 Paddington to Oxford will call at Appleford at 15.00.

 12.07 Oxford to Paddington will call at Appleford at 12.17 (12.18 on Saturday).

 09.29 Moreton-in-Marsh to Paddington will call at Appleford at 10.17 (10.18 on Saturday)

 From Mondays to Fridays, the current 19.31 and 20.30 stops at Appleford on the Oxford to Paddington service will be replaced by stops at 20.13 and 20.59.

Local MP Ed Vaizey said: ^It^s a great triumph. We^ve managed to change the mind of the operator and I think the station could have been closed if the service was not reinstated. Now we need as many people to use it as possible, so it^s not axed again.^

From the Oxford Times (http://www.oxfordtimes.co.uk/news/4793999.Villagers_get_their_trains_back/):
The following stops, removed as part of timetable changes in May, will be added to the timetable on Mondays through to Saturdays:

 11.27 Paddington to Oxford will call at Appleford at 1pm.

 13.27 Paddington to Oxford will call at Appleford at 15.00.

 12.07 Oxford to Paddington will call at Appleford at 12.17 (12.18 on Saturday).

 09.29 Moreton-in-Marsh to Paddington will call at Appleford at 10.17 (10.18 on Saturday)

As Ed Vazey says - "it's a use or lose it" service....let's hope the good citizens of Appleford really do realise it this time and do start to use igt, or it'll get downgraded again....

From the Oxford Times (http://www.oxfordtimes.co.uk/news/4793999.Villagers_get_their_trains_back/):

As Ed Vazey says - "it's a use or lose it" service....let's hope the good citizens of Appleford really do realise it this time and do start to use igt, or it'll get downgraded again....

Rail passengers facing Sunday disruption

Train services will not stop at Appleford every day from December as part of the programme of electrification.

First Great Western said it was the result of reduced services required to allow Network Rail to access the relief lines. Over the summer, Network Rail started the process of electrifying the Great Western Main Line, which is expected to be completed by 2016. It means having to erect gantries along the line between London Paddington and South Wales to hold cables.

First Great Western spokesman James Davies said reduced services elsewhere because of this process would mean trains between Oxford and London will be longer, so cannot stop at Appleford on Sundays. He said: ^We cannot stop six car trains at Appleford unless we lock the rear three carriages out of use from Didcot. This reduces the number of seats available for customers, as well as disrupting the journey for those sitting in the rear three units. Having looked at data for usage from Appleford, and found an average of less than one person on many trains, and none at all on others on a Sunday, we have decided not to lock the rear three carriages out of use, but to change the timetable for Appleford.^

Richard Webber, county councillor for Sutton Courtenay and Marcham, said: ^It is most unfortunate this is happening. It is going to cause an enormous amount of disruption and I don^t think the public has really had enough say.^

Depends what's in the PSR. They can't just remive anything on that...

Depends what's in the PSR. They can't just remive anything on that...

Our winter storms appear to have a silver lining for some communities.  Appleford, a sleepy village on the Great Western Oxford-Didcot line today (8/1/14) was served by 72 stopping services on the flood shuttle between the two towns.  I doubt that Appleford, that normally receives an offering of only ten stopping trains each way per day, has ever seen this level of service. Even in its earlier days, the GWR delegated its ticket sales on this quiet station to the local Post Office!