You're not the only one that does this - frequently pop in to the Tesco at Hayes on my way home to pick up essentials and save money on my way home to Twyford off-peak. I can get to Hayes from Bond Street for just £2.25 as I have a gold card discount loaded onto my Oyster^▸ (Smartcard system used by passengers on Transport for London services). This makes the saving £3.55 and a meal deal is only £3.40 with a Clubcard!

In the morning I frequently touch in at Twyford by 0634 when catching the 0648 train to London and then walk to my office near Bond Street and pay just £8.80! Contactless has really helped reduce the cost of my commute, but surprisingly I don't see many/any others rushing to touch in before 0635 to save.

Very much looking forward to Regatta this week and of course travelling to the riverbank festivities by train. Glad that there is still flex in the Turbo fleet to run the usual 7 car set on Saturday, with 4 cars doing the honours for the other 4 days (the most that can fit in the bay at Twyford). On Saturday the sevice has to use platform 4 at Twyford (the up relief) and skip Wargrave as the platform isn't long enough. There also appears to be a solitary through service to Paddington at 0100 on Sunday morning taking just 37 minutes:

https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:V80905/2021-08-15/detailed

One of the fastest ever timetabled through trains from the branch I would suggest and perhaps the first since the regular through running ended in late 2017.

Thinking ahead to when we get the 769s - will they be able to operate in multiple? Could an 8 car 769 run on the branch on Regatta Saturday in the future? (8 car 769 is a tad shorter than a 7 car 165/6 by my calculation).

Yes thankfully we don't have to pay for the repairs required to the crossing. All sorts of hi-viz clad experts from various bodies have been crawling over it in the last few months - hopefully it won't be long until the actual work starts. The council must be paying out quite a lot of money for an operative to man the crossing everytime we run at the moment.

So proud of our little line last weekend. We officially opened the Maidenhead canopy at the new Wallingford Station on Friday 25th with 'Railway Royalty' including Sir Peter Hendy, Tim Dunn, Lady McAlpine, Mark Hopwood, Lord Bradshaw and of course many of our amazing volunteers! We've still got lots to do, but there is a great can do attitude around the place at the moment and some great people. Oh and we sold over 6000 tickets in the first week for Polar Express too!

There was a nice bit of coverage on BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) South Today last night. Scroll to 09:41, but be quick as I think it only stay up until 6.30pm this evening www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/m000xjk1

There is also this article https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-oxfordshire-57682265

4612 is with us until the end of the month so do come and have a ride!

I've recently become involved again with the C&WR (I'm the new membership secretary) and, after a number of years treading water, I'm delighted with recent progress and Mark Hopwood becoming President. The canopy has been done beautifully and good progress is being made paving the platform, which will make a huge difference. Plans are at long last being made to build some permanent station buildings and move away from the portacabins. A strip of land was acquired when Lidl was built next door, which will allow the construction of a much needed runround loop in the next year or two.

The 'Coffee Stop' which was at Cholsey Station pre-Covid has moved to Wallingford and is very proving popular opening Tuesday - Saturday for takeaway. We are hoping to make this a more permanent arrangement in the future and provide outdoor seating when resrictions ease.

A grand opening of the canopy is being planned for the summer, hopefully with a suitable GW^» (Great Western - used as an abbreviation for the area / lines under the Great Western franchise, as opposed to FGW which includes "First", the company operating them too. For tickets - about) steam loco. Do pay us a visit if you can or why not join up to stay in touch and benefit from travel concessions? https://www.cholsey-wallingford-railway.com/membership

That first round trip M-F seems very early - does it get much custom?

So what is all of the work going on the the field on the down side of the line between Langley and Iver? I was hoping it was related to this scheme, but if planning hasn't been approved then presumably not. This got the go ahead 5+ years ago - disappointing that planning hasn't even been gained yet for what is more or less a totally underground railway.

I saw this on the other forum as well, but struggling to find more details. Especially interested in the Twyford/Maidenhead/Slough restriction changes and the new super off-peak fares between Taunton and Reading.

Just seen that capping has now been activated (and backdated) for contactless fares out west. A table has been put up on the excellent Oyster^▸ (Smartcard system used by passengers on Transport for London services) Rail website:

https://www.oyster-rail.org.uk/2020/05/capping-to-reading-luton-airport-etc/

They don't seem particularly surprising and don't seem to offer any major savings over paper tickets - unless anyone can see anything I haven't (have to admit I have mainly looked at Twyford as that is where I will be commuting from soon).

The unease on the WSR continues with over 500 signing this open letter:

https://www.change.org/p/west-somerset-railway-plc-plc-open-letter-to-the-west-somerset-railway-plc-wsra-and-wssrt

I've certainly not blocked you Grahame, so I'm unsure why you couldn't see it (in fact I have just followed you).

I passed this on my way to work this morning:

https://twitter.com/downrelief/status/1148495076932411397

One of my most popular ever tweets!

Anyone know which services from Paddington will be an IET^▸ (Intercity Express Train - replacement for HSTs (manufactured by Hitachi in Kobe, Japan)) this Friday 29th December? I have the return portion of a Taunton - Paddington Super Off Peak return which I think is valid via Bristol as well, so might give one a try if the timings work.

Thanks in advance!

Just wondering what is happening with the 6 free weekend tickets a year for season ticket holders? From what I can see on the website it seems like they won't be doing it anymore, but can we use up the ones we have already?

I was supposed to get the 1835 to Taunton. Didn't fancy a cramped and sweaty Waterloo train so hung around for a couple of beers. Eventually got on the wedged 2045 to Bristol which was the first High Speed Train (HST^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units))) out of PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains). I was on the bridge so beat the stampede  a and got a seat - thankfully in a coach with AC^▸ (Alternating Current, or can mean Air Conditioning, depending on context. The second meaning is often used in a railway context and more generally) (several coaches were sweat boxes I hear). We lost loads of time on the way West, but connected with the 2306 to Exeter. Should get to Taunton just after midnight - not looking forward to the ride to Lydeard in the dark. Was hoping to do it in the light and have a pint in the Lethbridge. Ho hum!

Edit: VickiS - Clarifying Acronym