Let's say you want to catch a train from this village station in the toe end of Northamptonshire. What should you know?
The first is that the automatic ticket machine doesn't always work - the touch-screen can be touchy - but there's a cheat. If you regularly buy a ticket for the same journey, start by putting your credit card in the slot. The machine will remember the last ticket you bought and offer you the same again. In fact I'm sure you can coax it to sell you such a ticket without you needing the touch the screen at all.
Next is that the platforms are numbered the wrong way round. The first platform you come to is platform 2. From here bundles of commuters head south to Oxford or London. Over the bridge is platform 1, which takes you north to Banbury. There is no way of reaching platform 1 without taking the footbridge from platform 2. Irrational.
The third thing you may find useful is the timings to reach the mis-named platform 1 northbound. If you're on platform 2, the first platform, and you look to see if the northbound train is coming, you have to start crossing the bridge as soon as you see it appear round the bend. You don't need to run, but you can't afford to dwardle. If you're still waiting for your ticket to appear from the machine when the train pops its nose into view, then you probably do need to run, although fortunately I do not speak from experience.
Finally you have to know that we love our quirky little station. It's the first station north of Aynho junction, where the Paddington and Marylebone lines join, and so we get most of the train traffic from London to Birmingham, although not much of it stops. You can see the river Cherwell from the station (which makes us less than 100 metres from Oxfordshire), and can make out the canal including Kings Sutton lock, and even the tops of the lorries on the M40. This makes the train line just one of four route-ways running north to south within a mile or so to the west of the village.
Oh, and if you want to get to the canal from the station, visit Banbury. Or Heyford. Describing access to it from King Sutton would take a blog of its own.
