Great Western Coffee Shop

Some people are saying that this year's 'Atlantic Coastline Express' from
London Paddington to Newquay will call only at: Par, Plymouth, Newton Abbot,
Exeter St. Davids and London Paddington. Is this true?

Would be sensible, however the 1657 from Plymouth is usually well loaded, are the planning on an extra service?

I would at least expect a stop at Reading.

I would have thought a stop at Taunton would also be worthwhile... As generally any Pax requiring onward stations to BRI (Weston-Super-Mare) for example don't always have connections available at Exeter St Davids... as the high majority terminate at Taunton!

*edit for clarification*

The majority of services that call at stations between Taunton and Bristol, work down from BRI (Having come from various locations) and Terminate at Taunton, then provide a return working back to and onward from Bristol Temple Meads. Meaning anyone requires those stations would have to change at Exeter St Davids AND Taunton...!

Yes, it seems odd to include Newton Abbot and not Taunton or Reading for this service.

Anyone got lasy summers timetable. Where did it stop? Is the ACE every Paddington - Newquay and Newquay - Paddington  service, or just the Saturday ones?

The ACE is one of the saturday ones, and used to stop Nqy, Par, Ply, Exd, Rdg and Pad, I hope they haven't added more stops like Tau and Nta!

Thats what I thought, so not much change from lasy year. Just whether Reading is in or out. My guess is that there are no changes.

I think it would stop at Liskeard, Taunton and Reading.

 I thought Truro would be a good stop as it serves a main city, but I am surprised to hear that it has a non-stop run from Exeter to Reading. Surely people from the Kennet valley( Newbury, Kintbury etc.)would use the service.

They might, but it may also be that the service runs virtually full from Reading on the westbound journey anyway. Remember that it's meant to be an express service, not a plodding local train stopping at every one-horse town en route from which it would be "nice" for people to have a through train to Newquay.

Regarding a Truro stop, you should probably check a map  ;) NQY - PAD doesn't pass through there.

1A81 on a daily basis runs non-stop Exeter-Reading and is usually full from Exeter.

So no stop Camborne Wednesdays then? Arf arf!  ;D

nope, Par, Ply, Exd, Rdg Pad a PROPER express! I think there were two like that last year? I know two of the down workings were fast like that, technicly the downs ran Pad-Par-Nqy as the were pick up only at Rdg, Exd and Ply!

If the function of these services is to cater for the Newquay tourist trade: Par (connection for mid/west Cornwall, Exeter (connection with LSWR routes and Devon),Taunton (connect for Bristol & beyond), Reading (connect for home counties west), Pad seems sufficient.

They also cater for the quite extensive Ply-Nqy daytripper flows on summer saturdays! I'll bet the most popular origin station for newquay journeys is Plymouth, and most popular destination from Newquay is probably Plymouth

The Cornish Riviera at one time used to stop PLY - EXD - PAD.  The Golden Hind also used to be PLY - NTA - EXD - TAU - PAD.  A stop at Reading though is needed these days though for connections to Heathrow and Gatwick.

Fair enough, Vacman, if the traffic flows indicate that daytrippers to/from Plymouth are that numerous.

I have to admitt in August when travelling down to Newquay from Plymouth (On a Thursday I think) a large number of people got off at Par to connect on a train to Penzance. The train left Plymouth at 12:29 I think. However when I went to Newquay on the Dmu early morning service (Which origniated from Bristol Temple Meads) The train was empty all the way down to Par, and then the train filled up from Par. I don't think the train should stop at Saltash, St Germans, Bodmin Parkway and Lostwithiel.