From Wikipedia:
In 2019, Wealden District Council stated: "due to constant vandalism and anti-social behaviour, the tunnel is to remain closed indefinitely with no plans to look into it".
So it seems occasional openings such as this will be all that happens, which is a pity. I wonder why this particular location suffers more than similar tunnels elsewhere such as in the Bristol/Bath area.

Chesham - Alex Horne, though "lesser-travelled-to" is being stretched a bit I feel.  Anyone fancy a trawl through the station usage figures to work out the real least-used? I'd go for some of the current/former ferry ports being likely candidates.

Maybe I'm slimmer than some but I've never understood the widespread dislike of 2+3 seating on less-prestige routes.  Still room to spread out if lightly loaded but more chance of a seat at all when the train is busy.  Okay, perhaps many trains should be longer so the problem doesn't arise, but that's a different topic!

Fortunately there are enough people who do think it's worth paying to travel behind steam or there'd be no steam to photograph!  Ideally the trip should be enhanced by a welcoming boarding experience (a chance for a leisurely inspection of the haulage, including in this case during the mid-point attachment perhaps?) as well as that onboard experience and being made to feel appreciated for keeping the show on the (iron) road.

Resurfacing or a storage compound for other works reducing the number of spaces?  Last time I was there Tiverton Parkway had several large car parks and it's hard to imagine them all full, though Google maps shows one as "Permanently Closed" which may explain things.

I'm intrigued by the 3rd photo, which reminds me slightly of the intimidating anti-terrorist barriers we sadly see a lot of nowadays, here apparently intended to stop a large warship ramming the lock in the distance.  I'm guessing they are just some old and hard-to-remove bridge supports, though if the bridge was as substantial as the supports look then why is it no longer needed?

I suspect that other than very small outlets they would probably throw in the towel and shut up shop anyway.  Their stock control systems and tills would rely on that same power supply, few staff members would be able to add up prices in their head or even on paper, and they probably wouldn't have the capacity to store/bank large volumes of cash.  Then there's the lights and heating/cooling not working and so on.

I don't think there has been a widespread change since the concept of permitted routes was brought in as part of rail privatisation, though there has been some tightening up such as various journeys now being only "VIA YORK" as part of the LNER^» (London North Eastern Railway - about) single tickets-only change which previously had much greater flexibility.  Easements do change, but generally on a temporary basis to take account of engineering work. 
It is I would say increasingly hard to spot useful alternatives to the obvious route, thanks to the National Rail Journey Planner being dumbed down to look pretty on a phone.  Even if you know an alternative route exists, it can be quite a battle to fool the algorithms to show the journey by using via points as just a few minutes extra on the journey time can render alternatives invisible.  In fairness most people would just be confused or irritated by being shown times they don't need, but perhaps a "show me everything however ludicrous" option should be offered.  Otherwise it can be a case of wading through the whole Routing Guide documentation, now held at https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/travel-information/routeing-guide/.

I do wonder if the four individuals might just have continued driving without a licence (or, presumably, insurance) anyway given that they had already each been warned that they were not safe to drive but chose to do so.  We already hear of people driving who have actually been disqualified but were still not deterred.

Given the station's remote location and rough surrounding terrain I would question the likelihood of any visiting passenger finding tactile paving useful, which perhaps points to a lack of pragmatism in Network Rail's approach to the whole thing.  It may of course be a legal requirement during any platform upgrade if the legislation isn't flexible, despite the money almost certainly being better spent on a safety improvement elsewhere.

It's a pity there isn't a better way to deal with it that covers things from a legal viewpoint allowing statements given to be used as evidence and so on but doesn't appear to point a finger of suspicion - the memory of which will linger online and possibly more widely long afterwards - at someone who is probably traumatised by the event.  I'm put in mind of a friend whose wife went missing suffering depression and was found dead, who was immediately arrested on suspicion of her murder but later exonerated.

Can anyone provide a link please as various searches have failed to find it.  I assume this is someone from GTS Rail Operations Ltd, the consortium who take over the contract for running the line in May this year?

Possibly not much point running an excess of trains to/from Heathrow today, as it might just encourage intending passengers to turn up and wait in vain.  Still staff needing to get there though some may have been told not to bother coming in, and it's also quite a useful coach travel hub for non-air travel, assuming the bus/coach station has enough power to operate (ditto of course the various rail stations).

City Thameslink and Farringdon aren't the same.  London Terminals from the south does extend as far north as City Thameslink.  From the north you need a "London Thameslink" ticket to reach either of them if travelling on Thameslink, or generally a ticket to "Zone U1" on other routes though tickets showing the specific station name may occasionally pop up.  It's all logical (but admittedly not simple) if you know the background and history of the various lines, and is explained at https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/travel-information/travelling-in-london/ though even the compiler of that page seems to accept that it's not straightforward given the inclusion of a "The below diagrams may help with understanding" apology.

...All admittedly some way off the topic of rail fares in North Devon!

I see the article quotes the somewhat clumsy description of "Non-subsurface stations" so on that basis a book exchange would still be allowed at Rayners Lane for example.  Books are actually pretty hard to set light to, particularly when packed close together, so low risk at an above-ground station.  Try it some time with an unloved book! They would eventually burn if the station building went up in flames but would be a trivial part of the overall blaze rather than the cause.  One reason piles of Metro newspapers (clearly visible in one of the photos) are allowed. 

The book exchanges are not on the train where there might be rather more concern, so the (almost certainly dodgy) e-bike is very different in that respect, though modified/non-compliant ones ought to be dealt with on a wider level than just by LU as they're a safety hazard wherever they are.