And we know what's coming...


further info:

"05:47 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street due 08:15 was terminated at Oxford."

and naturally:


though it's not clear why it's not going to be started from Oxford (not that that would be of any benefit to Cotswold Line passengers)

and a minor irritation - the 0710 MIM:PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains) came off the Cotswold Line on time and was promptly put onto the relief track and held for 15 minutes whilst a number of services were put ahead of it (one was clearly a late running Cross Country train).

A new month and a very familiar "favourite" makes its first appearance of the month:


but don't worry


and ditto the return 17:38 MIM:PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains)

and the return:


As far as running along the north Cotswold Line is concerned, the 08:25 is certainly one of the less reliable services.

with the return run starting from Oxford.

And, I presume, unrelated:


Given the decision to terminate was taken before the train had started its journey, I wonder what sort of fault it might have been.

And an inconvenience:

The usual:


And the usual late call too - regular passengers on this service wanting go beyond Oxford must have a sense of foreboding as it pulls into Oxford...

Return working similarly affected.

And to top it on this sweltering afternoon, the following service - the 16:22 Paddington to Great Malvern - lost over 20 minutes between Didcot North and Oxford, and has just gone through Wolvercote Junction 26 minutes late.

and the return

Donation made - GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) are working with Action for Children "to support the mental health of the UK^▸ (United Kingdom)’s most disadvantaged children" so that seemed the appropriate charity to receive my compensation money.

https://www.gwr.com/about-us/supporting-our-community/charity-support

https://www.actionforchildren.org.uk/

Yesterday saw the first running of the 0710 Moreton-in-Marsh to Paddington as a nine coach IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train). Today:

And lo...

A little postscript to this.

My main gripes were that there seems to be no way of finding out about planned stock substitutions (which are not, apparently, short-formations even if the published timetable says the service will be an IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train)/HST^▸ (High Speed Train) whereas it will actually be a Turbo), and that GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) offers and allocates seat reservations on these services even though they won't be honoured.

As a point of principle, since both my morning and evening trains were affected by such stock changes, I decided to make seat reservations and subsequently put in a claim for compensation for the days when seats weren't available. I was pleasantly surprised that this claim was accepted without quibble and, on Saturday, I received a very generous cheque.

Given I did this to make a point and that I choose to stand anyway, I will be giving this money to charity.

I think that's pretty much a cancellation as far as Cotswold Line users are concerned:

and the return

And yet again:


This is the 25th time this year this service hasn't got beyond Oxford. I'm fortunate in that my employer let me alter my working hours so I could avoid this train but for many that's not an option.

I was wondering about that but didn't think we'd see one on the Cotswold Line for a while yet. Quite encouraging.