The car park season ticket was also heat sensitive - it went completely black!!!!

I once met a guy who had decided to preserve his car park season ticket by laminating it.

The new CIS^▸ (Customer Information System) at Oxford introduced zoning of announcements (platform 1, Platform 2, concourse), so there was a deliberate decision made to have a male voice on the up and a female voice on the down. It also allowed the concourse to be taken out of most announcements, so its now a much quieter place. The only regular announcements on the concourse are the mandatory security announcements every 30 minutes. Most of the staff are now familiar with the system and select the areas they want a manual announcement to be heard in.

Measurements were being taken this week to adjust the timing of announcements for arriving trains.

Although to be fair, the late night terminators at Oxford use the up platform so that they have a simple shunt movement into Rewley Road sidings. It just happens to be convenient for passengers, station staff and drivers!

No idea why it should be platform 13 at Paddington though.

Then he is unable to buy a ticket at his station and may board without a ticket - which is what I thought I had said!

Oxford has a male voice on the up side and a female voice on the down side and, with simultaneous announcements, it is simple and effective.

The rule is simple: you must buy a ticket at your starting station if you are able to do so, from a ticket office if it is open, or a TVM^▸ (Ticket Vending Machine) if it is working. If neither is the case (or if there are signs saying "Pay on the Train") then you are OK to board without a ticket.

The rule dates from a very early railway statute, I believe, and is used as the basis for penalty fare regulations.

The timing of announcements at Oxford is being recalibrated. Hopefully the "this is Oxford" announcement will be better timed after this has been done although, as WillC has pointed out, there are problems with trains approaching at different speeds.

Although it has little value for passengers arriving on trains with sliding doors, it does the job for people on HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) who maybe standing by a door with an open droplight window, waiting to alight from the train.

Trains are regularly turned on the triangle at Reading, for the reasons already highlighted. It can only be done, of course, provided the driver and train manager both sign the route for the Reading West curve.

"The one that IS never used (but should be) is the one about refusing travel if drunk"

Not 100% true, in my experience. I have known station staff refuse travel to some who have been clearly unfit through drink, sometimes with the advice to drink coffee, sober up, and come back later. Of course, it's only the obviously incapable (or aggressive) who are easily identifiable. 

For the three weeks that the entire line is closed, buses will run between Oxford and Worcester. There will be several buses for each departure from Oxford, with different calling patterns, so that some will be fast, for example, to Moreton. A similar pattern will operate in the opposite direction.

There will also be morning and evening peak buses between Evesham and Cheltenham, to connect with the diverted Hereford - Padd services.

For the three weeks that the line is closed between Moreton and Evesham, the intention is to run a near normal service between Moreton and Oxford/Padd, and a shuttle service between Evesham and Worcester, with connecting buses between Moreton and Evesham. Some buses will be extended through to Worcester, because the shuttle timings don't fit.

I also understand that the planned replacement of the last two evening weekday services by buses from September has been postponed until January.

If you go to:

http://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/en/pj/pyot

you can make your own timetable. Seems to work OK.

Is this the future?

and after the six week summer blockade! (Car park needed for replacement coach transport). Additional car parking is being sought.

I understand that a three car platform is to be built at Ascott as part of the redoubling. What a waste of money. Why not close it and spend the money elsewhere?

I understand that the original decision was made at one level, and when it became known at a more senior level, it was quickly quashed.