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I commute from Banbury to Birmingham three times a week on a Chiltern only ADR. Since the new year, the level of onboard ticket checks has increased markedly (no issue with this at all). I used to buy e-tickets, but more recently I’ve been using a Chiltern Smartcard. These were checked as...

We went to the Black Country Living Museum today, for a birthday treat, and we had a ride on this beauty…. (photo is of Midland Red double-decker BMMO 6342HA) I fondly remember these from my youth, and was so pleased it was the traction for today. I also remember single decker Midland Red...

Hi all. The company that I work for is increasing the number of days we must go into the office, so that now a Chiltern Flexi-Season Ticket will cost in. I've ordered and received my Chiltern Smartcard. I'm confused how it all works, and the Chiltern FAQs are a tad vague. Tomorrow I'm off to...

Hi all. I just found these jigsaw puzzles…. https://jamesgreenart.co.uk/collections/jigsaw-puzzles I thought they looked interesting - certainly good to see some puzzles with diesels.

I went to buy my car parking ticket at the railway station this morning. It's a SIP car park, and not the official railway car park. It's one of those car parks where you have to enter your car registration. I'm not sure if it's normal, but the machine allows you to enter 8 digits. So being...

There was a thread last year (now closed) about the lack of ticket barriers at Birmingham Moor Street (https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/gate-lines-at-marylebone-and-moor-street.248346/post-6212664). There looks like some activity at the gate line at Moor Street. An area of the concourse...

Hi all, I travel twice a week for work from Banbury to Birmingham Snow Hill. I catch the 07.09 Chiltern service in the morning, and the 16.45 Chiltern return in the evening from Birmingham Moor Street. This is on a Chiltern only Anytime Day Return. Now, I'm approaching my 60th birthday, and...

Hi peeps. Me & Mrs BanburyBlue went to our local Miller & Carter for our anniversary last week. Now tell me, does anyone get the ‘quarter of iceberg lettuce’ thing? It seems a strange thing to give you a lump of lettuce with a random sauce on it, before your main course. However, I was...

Hi all. I bought an online return ticket from Banbury to Birmingham Snow Hill on Thursday evening for travel on Friday. Unfortunately I couldn’t travel, so requested a refund. I was quite surprised, checking my account tonight (Saturday), that the refund is back in my account already. I...

Hi all Calling electrical peeps out there. We have a light fitting in our dining room (that Mrs BanburyBlue absolutely loves). Suddenly last evening it stopped working. I had a play this morning, and basically, the issue is with the light fitting. I’m guessing the issue is with the...

Over the last couple of years, I’ve been commuting a couple of times a week from Banbury to Birmingham. Normally in the mornings there was a 50/50 chance of the barriers being in use, but in the evenings it was rare. However, since new year, every evening the barriers have been in use, with a...

Hi, has anyone got any experiences of Flixbus? to be frank I’d never heard of Flixbus until 2 days ago. But I saw an advert for them on Facebook the other day and I thought their routes looked interesting. Something to think about. Then, bizarrely, there was an article on BBC South Today...

Hi all Just being curious, anyone know what the engineering work that has shut the line between Leamington and Oxford/Bicester this week? I'm assuming it must be Aynho Junction or north, but seems a long stretch to shut, unless it was Banbury station itself? If it was either south of Banbury...

Hi, I've been reading some threads on here about ticket validity - mostly along the lines of, I'm travelling from A to B, can I go via C. There are always lots of helpful replies about which routes are covered by 'any permitted route', and lots of references to the Routeing Guide. The...

Hi all, Here at Banbury we have 4 platforms. XC and through trains use platforms 2 and 3, whereas the GW Oxford/Didcot terminators and the Chiltern Marylebone terminators use platforms 1 or 4. Sometimes the Chiltern services terminate on platform 1, and sometimes on platform 4, and the same...

I used to have a TomTom Go 720. I bought a traffic dongle where one end plugged into the SatNav and the other end, that was an aerial, was stuck to the inside of the windscreen. I think it was supposed to work by scanning local radio stations for local traffic news. Frankly it was pretty hit...

Hi all. Mrs BanburyBlue and me are watching the 2001 film Enigma, with Dougray Scott and Kate Winslett. At one point in the film there is a railway scene with a train going from Bletchley to Manchester. During the journey, the communication cord is pulled and the train stops. when they jump...

When I first started taking an interest in railways, late 70's, trains from Leamington Spa, Stratford upon Avon etc, terminated at Birmingham Moor Street as at that time the Snow Hill tunnel was closed. I always assumed that likewise, trains from Kidderminster, Worcester etc, terminated at...

Tonight in the Liverpool vs Leicester City game, both the Liverpool goals were own goals by the same unfortunate player, Wout Faes. Now, if he had scored a 3rd own goal, would it have been classed as a hatrick, and would he have been presented with the match ball? tongue in cheek post - I’m...

I regularly catch the 16.49 from Birmingham Snow Hill to Banbury, 1st stop Moor Street then fast to Solihull. The train before mine is a WMT trains service, all stops to Dorridge. Now, this Dorridge train is regularly late, more often late than not. However late it is, they always let it go...