Japanese train co apologies for train that departed 20s early:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-42009839

I was at Paddington on Tuesday evening waiting for the last Cotswold line train of the evening, or rather waiting for the platform announcement to be made, the information points had no information about this at all, the info tv screens were advertising various sunday closures in the bristol and cardiff areas, but not a single screen with the reading closure information, There may have been posters elsewhere but I didn't see any by the ticket office or the two information points (which were unattended)

Cancellations due to slippery rail head conditions during the day and into the evening peak as well, 1646 OXF^» (Oxford - next trains) to CBY cancelled.

Sorry to correct, it was one of the Mars spacecraft that missed due to mismatch of units. The Hubble Space Telescope suffered spherical aberration due to mis-measurement of a calibration rod used in testing the optical figure of the surface of the primary mirror. The mis-measurement was nothing to do with the units in use but rather due to a defect on the end of the rod. The telescope could focus fine, it was just that there was a different focus for the various parts of the mirror surface!

Except that some trains on the Cotswold line are being cancelled or starting at Oxford. This usually happens as soon as there is some disruption and they want to get the trains running back in some sort of regular schedule.

I have been a regular on the Cotswold line since 2001 and it was the dark days of 2006/7 that got me involved here when the performance figures both monthly and MAA^▸ (Moving Annual Average) dipped to around 64%. I used to have the figures gleaned from posters at oxford as FGW^▸ (First Great Western) as it was then, frequently didn't update their website every month. I had many email exchanges with Alison Forster at the time and also David Cameron who was then just our local MP^▸ (Member of Parliament) who arranged for FGW executives to attend a town meeting in Charlbury.

In those days some peak morning trains (e.g. 0730ish train from CBY) didn't run for a whole week!

And this morning at Worcester, trains cancelled along the Cotswold line due to signal failures.

Special trains organised by Dior taking people to Blenheim Palace for a function. A LARGE fleet of black limos in Charlbury to take visitors to the Palace causing mayhem in Charlbury on the narrow roads and one way streets.

Just to be awkward.....almost all my day to day journeys are singles, I car share with family going into oxford, but get the train home 3-4 times a week as the car is going back earlier than I finish.

Most of the returns I buy are the occasional return into London.

The new GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) website needs a lot of the links checking as well, the customer panel minutes have gone, but if you click on the link for list of members you get to the minutes of the last meeting!

When the power sockets in the trains don't work 80% of the time!

Is it just my poor choice of seat, but working power sockets on the HST^▸ (High Speed Train) and class 180 seem to be like hens teeth. I have found working sockets with a rate of about 1 in 5 attempts. Both the poorly sited ones in the airline seats on the HST and also the wall mounted ones on the Adelante.

On tuesday there was so much disruption that nothing was running through Charlbury before 0830 and much delayed afterwards (over running engineering works).

Does the Swindon service have 2+ hour gaps in service both ways during the day, what is the last train from Paddington to Swindon in the evening? Is is not just distance that should be compared.

It is not as though FGW^▸ (First Great Western) doesn't have previous form for changing the validity rather than the fares. There used to be a rule stating that Off Peak tickets could be used on the 0842 service from Charlbury towards London, this was withdrawn forcing a 30% (from memory) fare rise overnight for many Charlbury-Oxford commuters.

No that was a separate incident at Yarnton Sandy Lane where the level crossing failed with the barriers down and the lights flashing.