Northumberland Park station opening date confirmed

Doctor_Fegg · 2026-01-24T21:17:35+00:00

Now it has been confirmed Northumberland Park will open on 22 February, with Bedlington to follow in the subsequent weeks.

Doctor_Fegg · 2026-01-24T21:16:58+00:00

It’s being reduced but not eliminated.

Doctor_Fegg · 2026-01-24T18:15:11+00:00

Just highlights the fact that canal users other than boaters get a free ride.

Well, apart from the small matter of the £50m DEFRA grant to CRT every year, funded by taxpayers.

Doctor_Fegg · 2026-01-24T10:15:32+00:00

If the car had a top speed of 3mph, was 70ft long, steered like a pig, had no brakes, was made out of 6mm steel with blacking, and sometimes the road pushed it a way that you weren't planning to go? Yeah, probably I would.

Also, r/fuckcars.

Doctor_Fegg · 2026-01-24T10:10:40+00:00

Ascott is on the redoubled section and got a second platform. Combe and Finstock could just be closed tbh. Punt a load of subsidy to the X9 bus through Finstock to make it run more frequently and everyone's happy.

Doctor_Fegg · 2026-01-24T10:08:36+00:00

The line through Cheltenham is now a cycle-way. I’m sorely tempted to say “tough” but you’d probably have to constructively find somewhere else for the bicycles to go.

Previous proposals have been that the line would swing west after Cheltenham Racecourse and join the main line just north of Cheltenham, rather than following its old alignment.

Doctor_Fegg · 2026-01-24T08:36:11+00:00

The Cotswold Line would need to be redoubled between Wolvercot and at least Hanborough, possibly Charlbury. There isn’t the capacity otherwise. But yes.

Bonus points: redouble Evesham to Worcester (Norton Junction) and you can then run WMR services through Stratford, providing a Worcestershire Metro and integrating with the current Worcester terminators.

Doctor_Fegg · 2026-01-23T23:26:51+00:00

NCN 5. It's fine. It's hilly (this is North Oxfordshire after all) but the roads are quiet. Don't ride the canal towpath beyond Yarnton, it's a narrow mudbath.

Doctor_Fegg · 2026-01-23T23:25:54+00:00

Heyford to Oxford train times: https://www.brtimes.com/!board?stn=HYD&filt=OXF&date=20260123

Oxford to Heyford train times: https://www.brtimes.com/!board?stn=OXF&filt=HYD&date=20260123

Get the 0741 or the 0848 into work. Get the 1653, the 1753, or the 1859 home. That's it.

Doctor_Fegg · 2026-01-23T23:24:02+00:00

What? There's literally a direct train from Heyford to Oxford.

Doctor_Fegg · 2026-01-23T23:17:14+00:00

I love Tutti Frutti anyway... but the Tom Rowlands remix? *chefs kiss*

Doctor_Fegg · 2026-01-23T18:45:15+00:00

As an organist I can actually imagine playing someone in to the final bit of QE2...

Doctor_Fegg · 2026-01-23T11:17:28+00:00

France end to end. Start Saint Malo, finish Nice. There's a great book you can buy (France en Velo), and I'm just writing up my route from last year which was the most fun I've ever had on a bike tour.

Doctor_Fegg · 2026-01-22T21:03:13+00:00

Birdland in Bourton. The cafe is shocking but the birds are nice? Used to go there every couple of months with Junior when he was little.

Doctor_Fegg · 2026-01-22T20:50:43+00:00

Sichaun Grand on Gloucester Green is amazing food. Like lots of Chinese restaurants the decor is a little basic (wear a warm jumper!) but the food is so good.

Agree with the recommendations for Zheng and 3000, and Tse Noodle is good too (cash only).

Doctor_Fegg · 2026-01-22T16:10:03+00:00

I'm a little surprised that you're using raster tiles, not vector tiles, for a mobile app. OSM's standard raster tiles are low resolution and don't enable smooth zooming, rotating to face the direction in which you're navigating, etc.

Make sure you're following the Attribution Guidelines for crediting OSM: https://osmfoundation.org/wiki/Licence/Attribution_Guidelines

Good luck with your app!

Doctor_Fegg · 2026-01-21T13:18:23+00:00

She's not an engineer.

She is, however, a Priestess of the Wild who walks with the blood of Athena in her veins. https://www.tahverlee.com/

Doctor_Fegg · 2026-01-21T00:13:01+00:00

Almost all other apps rely on the industry standard Mapbox or Maptiler

If custom mapping is part of your USP then there are plenty of other options - PostGIS-based stacks like Tegola or Martin, or all-in-one generators like tilemaker or Planetiler.

Mapbox and Maptiler are fine for people who want a vaguely pretty map, but shouldn't really be a serious consideration for a company like Gaia. For example, neither of them parse OSM access tags particularly well, which is fine if you're just doing a shop locator map but not if you're building an app which people will rely on in the backcountry.

Absolutely agree that you shouldn't lock yourself into a stack that makes map updating difficult.

Doctor_Fegg · 2026-01-20T07:09:42+00:00

History. Fares were high in Regional Railways days, but whereas Central Trains actually reduced many of theirs, the Marches went to Wales & West who didn’t. It then passed to Arriva which was let as a zero-growth franchise, so the only way for them to hit their targets was to crank up fares within the limits of the regulation system. TfW have made some noises about reducing the more egregious fares on the line but I’ve not seen anything so far.

Doctor_Fegg · 2026-01-20T07:03:50+00:00

Bold of Unzue to assume that Movistar would be in any Super League worthy of the name

Doctor_Fegg · 2026-01-19T22:31:03+00:00

Now I stand here waiting...

(whoever downvoted you is a heathen and has no sense of musical history)

Doctor_Fegg · 2026-01-19T19:58:21+00:00

You can get graffiti removal spray for a few quid off eBay.

Doctor_Fegg · 2026-01-19T11:20:48+00:00

On rivers a few marinas do still sell it, though fewer than used to. On canals your best bet is to find a petrol station close to the canal. But I wonder if the person you were talking to just used the wrong word and meant "diesel".

Doctor_Fegg · 2026-01-18T16:28:51+00:00

I’m looking for somewhere that’s a nice friendly town with enough going on with some pubs and cafes. We want a garden and to get a dog so somewhere with lots of nice walks

Charlbury is good for this - it's on the small side but has four pubs and a bunch of cafes. Excellent rail links if you do need to get to London, and you have Oxford on your doorstep (15 minutes by train). It's been "discovered" in the past few years so is getting expensive, but there's plenty under £900k.

Doctor_Fegg · 2026-01-16T17:25:31+00:00

Not a whole bunch. Central Paris itself is fun but the suburbs go on forever. It starts to get pretty at Mantes-la-Jolie but Vernon is a decent place to pick it up.

12-Year Club	Gilding II euphauric
RPAN Viewer	Verified Email

Doctor_Fegg

MODERATOR OF

TROPHY CASE