Great Western Coffee Shop

Just looking up singles from Taplow to Weymouth Off Peak for 7 July with a Senior Railcarda.

On a couple of services I get  get a very reasonable ^8.70 using GWR to Reading Cross Country to Basingstoke or Winchester and SWT onto Weymouth. But it is an Advance ticket only. Which part of the journey is Advanced?

However, the cheapest Off Peak Single seems to be ^52.90 either via Basingstoke or Westbury.

What on earth is going on are there any splits?

Taplow to Swindon is 16.80;  Swindon to Weymouth is 16.90 via Yeovil; with senior card = 22.30.   For an extra 10p, if you get tired of Weymouth by the end of the day, you could return to somewhere like Melksham ...

There is a also a very reasonable ^4.30 advance (with railcard) from Taplow to Swindon which is valid earlier in the day than the Super Off Peak Single at ^11.10 (^16.80 non discounted)

The Advance fares all show as 'XC plus connections' on NRES.   

You might well expect the XC leg to be from Reading as far as Bournemouth in these circumstances, but there are glitches in the way the journey planners work.   I'd suggest taking a printout of the itinerary given by the booking website to show to the confused guard on the SWT service providing most of the journey...

Paul

The GWR site shows 3 morning journeys available for ^8.70 at 0949, 1018 and 1149. GWR to Reading, XC to Winchester / Bournemouth and SWT to Weymouth.

Thanks folks. Thought it would be the Cross Country bit. Think I might go for 1 of the ^8.70 journeys. Presumably so long as I'm on the right cross country train I can use any GWR to get to Reading and any SWT from change point. if i do teh Basingstoke one it would minimise the time on a Vomiter.

Would I get a seat reservation for Reading Basingstoke?

No reservation on the GWR Taplow to Reading leg.

Seat Reservation on the XC Reading to Winchester/Bournemouth leg.

Counted place reservation on the SWT Winchester/Bournemouth - Weymouth leg.

That means you are free to take any service to Reading, provided you allow the minimum connection time.

On the remaining two legs you must travel as per the booked itinerary.

I am now the proud pocessor of a seat reservation between Reading and Basingstoke!

I also have a Reserved no seat Allocated* from Basingstoke to Weymouth on SWT.

* The pasenger may sit in any vacant seat for the class of travel specified on the ticket.

Which ties in with BNM's comment I must travel on the trains specified for these two legs.

This raises a query it's a 10 minute connection at Basingstoke (ample time) but what happens if the Cross Country is late? Do I get my ticket endorsed and catch the next train to Weymouth? 

To get the ^8.70 fare I had to use the Cross Country Website as Chiltern wouldn't give that fare.

What interests me is how is the money is allocated? As I understand it for Advanced tickets the issuing TOC grabs the lot. Therefore, GWR and SWT are carrying me for free! 

Am I right? If so it's just another of the stupid anolmolies of the current fare's fiasco.

However, I'm not complaining at the cost it's a bargin, I can even afford not to travel if circumstances change.

If XC is late, yes, you travel on the *next* available. Either getvan endorsement of take a phone photo of the online departure board showing it late