Great Western Coffee Shop

Villagers are being urged to hop on a train to do their Christmas shopping and boost the chances of their station getting a regular Saturday service in future.

At the request of the Cotswold Line Promotion Group, trains will make special stops at Ascott-under-Wychwood station on Saturdays in December, giving residents the chance of a day out by Rail in Oxford or London, or a visit to Worcester^s Victorian Christmas Fair.

The West Oxfordshire station, along with the halts at Combe and Finstock, lost its Saturday service in December 2006, leaving it with just one train into Oxford and one back from Monday to Friday.

The station was given a second platform earlier this year as part of Network Rail^s ^67m project to reinstate double track on 20 miles of the Oxford-Worcester route. The CLPG wants to see Saturday calls at the station reinstated and hopes a good response by villagers to December^s special stops will encourage train operator First Great Western to consider operating regular services.

CLPG chairman John Ellis said: ^We welcome the agreement of First Great Western to stop some trains at Ascott-under-Wychwood on Saturdays in the weeks before Christmas.

^We have long considered that the potential of the station is not being realised by the present minimal service provision.

^We hope that the community of Ascott and its surrounding area will support this initiative and enable us to continue to press for more regular stops, initially on Saturdays, but eventually throughout the week.^

The CLPG hopes the trains may also attract visitors to the Wychwoods area, including walkers seeking a car-free day out in the Cotswolds.

John Ratchford, a spokesman for FGW, said: ^At this stage the service is limited to Saturdays in December, however we will be reviewing the success of this service and consider future options.^

FGW will add the following extra stops at Ascott on Saturdays December 3, 10, 17 and 24: The 7.10am from Hereford to London will call at 9.04am. The train is due to arrive in Oxford at 9.25am and London Paddington at 10.29am.

The 11.21am from Paddington to Worcester and Great Malvern, which leaves Oxford at 12.23pm, will call at Ascott at 12.47pm and the 3.21pm from Paddington to Great Malvern (4.23pm from Oxford) will stop at Ascott at 4.45pm.

In addition, on December 3 only, the 5.49pm from Great Malvern (6.02pm from Worcester) will call at Ascott at 6.59pm to bring home afternoon visitors to the Worcester Christmas Fair.

Paging Btline...we need an apoplectic response to the plan to insert yet more calls on Cotswold line services ;)

Ineterestingly, when I click on the Oxford Mail link it takes me to the website of the Oxford Times. Just goes to show, you can never believe anything you read in the press!

Pulling back on topic, I'm delighted to see FGW inserting extra stops where there's some traffic on offer.  I can think of a place much nearer to my home where extra trains stopping would be very welcome too - and it has several tens of thousands in its catchment.