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Just noticed that off peak from Penzance now starts at 8:30am - very useful for me leaving St Ives at 8:15-22.
I used to split tickets at Redruth until that was disallowed then at Truro.
I've yet to test this but I've printed out the FGW journey planner page which clearly shows the timings.

I've had 'debates' about 'peak' before when starting from St Ives at pre peak on the main line - I'm catching an off peak main line train from a 'ranger' line which has no peak rate - the TVM says it hasn't - some conductors will issue an off peak ticket some won't. 

The first off peak train from St Ives is 0922, it is irrelevent whether the main line train is peak/off-peak.
OP tickets not valid on 0815 from St Ives as it connects with the 0828 Edinburgh service.

Presumably though if connecting out of a "peak" St Ives train into an "off-peak" mainline train, it would be legitimate to purchase a peak ticket for the first leg of the journey followed by an off-peak ticket for the remainder.

The 0828 ex PNZ is OP @ SER 0836 - never used to be but according to FGW it is now.

 

The TVM says there is no peak on the St Ives train.

Reminds me of the 90's when I was shown an internal memo instructing 'no CDR's to be issued on St Ives branch' - this is what got me on the buses for years.

That was to save money - now I don't care as I have a bus pass.
 

Regarding the mainline trains in the west of Cornwall, an off peak ticket i.e. SVS or SVR is valid on the 08.28 xc service from Penzance but an off peak day ticket, CDS/CDR, is not.

This results in a minor anomoly at Truro. The 08.28 xc departs Truro at 09.04 so CDRs aren't valid but as it's after 09.00 you can get a Ride Cornwall which at ^10 is cheaper than SDR to Plymouth (^13.50)

OP (day tickets) have different start times for different places, CDR's from Penzance are code LB (valid after 0830) wheras from St Ives is a B5 (I think???) 0915, from Falmouth is 0845 and so on.

Old origional is quite right about the ride Cornwall, you can also use a ride Cornwall between 0900 and 1000 to beat the ^12 minimum fare on Y-P railcards as there is no minimum fare for rangers/rovers.

Whilst not able to comment on the fine detail, all I can say it's yet another illustration of the mess the whole fare structure has become.

Does anyone now know what the "correct fare" is to travel between any two stations?

 ??? I have looked up local fares from various west Cornwall stations to Truro and Plymouth with following times for off peak day returns. Restriction codes in brackets
Penzance 0840 (LB)
St Erth 0845 (L9)
St Ives 0845 (L9)
Hayle/Redruth 0855 (WC)
Not sure where the info. about the XC service has come from - the Saver ticket comes up as after 0833 (WG) is there now a recent local easement been put in ? (I cross checked the above on East Coast web site and it will not permit off peak tickets for use until 0844 from Penzance)
Hope this helps.

Local OP returns (savers) are valid after 0833, there are some easements but not for Penzance.

I've just bought an off peak ticket from Westbury to Reading for tomorrow, departing at 07:51 and arriving at 08:50.

Not complaining, obviously, but it does beg the question when exactly "peak" time is considered to be in Wiltshire if that's classified as "off peak"

I would expect arrivals into London before 9 AM at least to be peak.

Avantix says Westbury-Reading off-peak return is valid from 0753 - which I would guess is designed to cover the first London arrival after 9am(ish). Bear in mind that with Super Off-Peak returns now available, a lot of the off-peaks are now valid fairly early.

Thanks, chaps. I ended up travelling twice this week on the same service and whilst in both cases the TMs have seemed perfectly happy when checking the Off Peak tickets on board, the tickets have been spat back out at me at the Reading gateline, suggesting I "seek assistance" (which I did, and got nodded through)

I had a similar experience with my Potters Bar to Plymouth off-peak return when going through the barriers at Potters Bar at 07.40 last Friday (heading for the 09.06 from Paddington).  The gates refused entry and advised me to seek assistance but the gateline staff paid little attention to the ticket when I showed it to them and waved me through.  I had no problem with the gates on the Underground at either Kings Cross or Paddington.

A useful tip in getting a good seat was to check the usual platform on the Traveline North East Journey Planner on my PDA well before departure.  This showed platform 8 which is ungated and I was able to get on at a seat with a table and a good window view before the train had been announced on the PA system or displayed on the indicators.  This was in Coach E which was entirely unreserved.  Coming back on the 16.00 from Plymouth (14.00 ex-Penzance), all of Standard Class seemed to be reserved and my colleague and I ended up sitting with our coats on for some time hoping that the person who had reserved the seats we were sitting in did not turn up (which they didn't).