After a steady trickle of council funding announcements along the route, Oxford City Council are playing hard-ball and are the first authority to decline to give funding for the new link towards the ^50m contributions expected from council's along the route.  I hope (and expect) their position to change - even if it means contributing less than the ^4.7m they've been asked to.

http://www.oxfordmail.co.uk/news/10799402._/

Yes, I guess you could cut a little bit off of the access walk either side of the bridge if new ramps were installed.  Doubt that'd be good enough for Ian Salisbury though.

To provide a 180 for the 15:51 PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains)-WOS^» (Worcester Shrub Hill - next trains) service due to the unavailability of a HST^▸ (High Speed Train) set due to maintenance.  That disappointing decision has been discussed elsewhere, though it was the most sensible 180 diagram to pinch from.

There already is an access ramp which leads to the a different entrance to the allotments.  The problem is that it is a detour from where the allotment owners park (near to the crossing) and will add 200-500 metres to the walk required from the car to the allotment, depending on which plot they've got.  Boo-hoo. 

Yes, I've noticed that before.  Obviously not updated from when it was a Class 180 operated service.  Even then first class was never technically at the centre.   

It is, and will be more so when the linespeed of the current 'down Jericho' is increased dramatically, bi-directionally signalled and the 'down passenger loop' is extended with high speed as well.  Local residents who have to put up with train horns blaring most of the day at the crossing warning boards will also benefit greatly when it's closed.  Particularly frustrating for Network Rail, given there's a perfectly good footbridge route a few yards away (which would be even better with small improvements) which is a slightly longer way round but avoids crossing the tracks entirely.

I wonder how Ian Salisbury (an Evergreen 3 objector too) would find the company at lunch of bereaved parents who've had their loved ones killed at similar crossings over the years?  And I wonder how he'd feel if the crossing stayed open and there was a fatal accident sometime in the future? 

Tackley, just down the line, had the option of removing the crossing by the station many years ago when Virgin's 'Operation Princess' improvements were being installed, but objected to an underpass as it meant those people on horseback would have to dismount.  A few years later an elderly woman was killed.  I wonder if anyone who was involved in preventing that from happening has any regrets?

Possible with the signalling, but the platform isn't long enough.  The station rebuild will hopefully make such farcical delays a thing of the past!

Though to truly compare you need to work out what fraction of the total trains will be running as 5-car sets as some with be doubled up to 10-car sets of course.  Nobody knows the answer to that yet.  Some trains will be ideally suited to 5-car operation as well and may reduce the number of totally empty carriages that run on some late night services that are currently full length HST^▸ (High Speed Train)'s, but I also share your concerns that others may indeed be swamped - some very careful diagramming will be required.

Whatever the final figures it won't be a 'very small fraction' of trains that are longer than 5-cars as you suggest.

I also notice that since the site redesign, all the timelapse videos for the two sets of station cameras, '01' from the north side and '02' from the south side, have handily been condensed into two minute long videos and are now downloadable.  Very useful for someone like me who wanted to keep a record of the rebuild (and have taken many photographs of it), but want a short file to show the work at every stage.  Hopefully the depot cameras '03', and '04' will reappear in the same format sometime?

I don't think it's restricted to First buses.  I've often given up trying to find bus fares online.  A recent journey from Richmond to Darlington, operated by Arriva, led me to turn up with a pocket full of change as I could find no information online - for what turned out to be a very reasonable fare and a very reasonable service!

No photo evidence, but Anne Diamond, Debbie Magee, Martin Keown and Jeremy Clarkson are regular travellers on the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) network.  Though not on the same train as that would be quite a combination! 

Work to construct the Newton Aycliffe facility is about to commence:

http://www.railwaygazette.com/news/single-view/view/hitachi-starts-work-on-uk-plant.html

Nice timetable.  Now if only there was a later evening service, say a 21:18 Westbury to Swindon and return at 22:11 Swindon to Westbury, then that would really be an excellent timetable.  I've picked those timings as that's what was running up until the service was curtailed in the mid 2000s, albeit with a much patchier daytime service. 

As it is it finishes a little earlier in the evening than ideal, though of course as massive improvement on the current timetable.  But if you're coming from further afield, London for example, 19:00 is still pretty early to have to leave in order to make the last train - though much better than the current 17:45!  I'm sure Graham and the team will not be resting on their laurels in that regard. 

It mystifies me why anyone would want to go anywhere near Bicester Village on Boxing Day, but I'm sure there will be plenty of people that will! 

I expect the service to be a big success, and hopefully sooner rather than later the tipping point will be reached where a much more comprehensive and nationwide (to key destinations) service operates on Boxing Day.

Yes, I popped over to take a picture the day before yesterday and there was practically nothing left to photograph!