Great Western Coffee Shop

Hello Everyone!

I'm new to the forum and haven't really experienced the delights of FGW...yet ;-) Coming down from Doncaster to go to Oxford, via London, and will be travelling on FGW from Paddington. Do you know what type of trains operate on the fast services to Oxford...or does it vary depending on the time of day you go? Also are there any time restrictions with using CDR tickets in the evening peak from Oxford to Paddington (using Groupsave)? I know that you can travel from Paddington to Oxford on the 9:21am service I think, but I don't know if there are any evening restrictions. I'll be travelling on Friday. Might be worth reserving seats? haha

Any help or advice you can give would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!

Andrew

0921 should be HST. I wouldn't worry about reserving seats. I recomend even if you have tickets, get there at least 10mins early to grab your prefered seat, but you got like 400to choose from!

Welcome to the forum, Andrew.

Andrew,

There are no restrictions on ticket types in the afternoon and evening peak from Oxford into London, they only apply travelling from Paddington at that time of day. As Jim says, no need to reserve seats.

The departures from Paddington to Oxford at 21 and 51 minutes past the hour should now all be HSTs, but there's still a slim chance of an Adelante standing in if a 125 has failed during the morning peak and an Oxford set gets switched to cover a long-distance working.

Thanks very much! Like you say, if they are all HSTs then there should be loads of seats to choose from.

Just on a different note, since I'm going from London to Oxford for the outward journey, would I still be able to use a 'travelcard add on' ticket? Perhaps these are only valid if you are travelling into London and staying there for most of the day? I only ask because I'll be using the tube at the start and end of the journey so having a travelcard integrated into the ticket would be useful, and only costs a bit more.

Thanks again!

You cannot use ODTs in the "wrong" direction.

I advise you purchase a travelcard from your starting station, and where it is convenient before departing London to Oxford, purchase a Boundary Zone 6 to Oxford ticket. As long as you are returning within a day this ticket is fine - the travelcard will cover you from zones 1 to 6, and then the NR ticket will take you from the edge of zone 6 into Oxford. You can get a non-stop train between London and Oxford (if there is one...  ;D).

Remember that off peak on the Tube starts at 0930 - and that if you were purchasing an Oxford - London ticket, you'd be paying way over the odds as it is - you'd have to buy a peak ticket. Not cheap.

I haven't got my NFM to hand but I think CDRs on that route start at 0930 so you would have to get the 0951.