Great Western Coffee Shop

I am going to Stoke at the end of the month to do the Caldon Canal.

I have the choice of via Euston or Reading.

Going via Reading seems to involve a change at New Street but coming back there is a late afternoon train from Stoke direct to Reading.

Would anyone recommend a Vomiter from Stoke to Reading. Last time I did it was 86 to Brum/Coventry (can't remeber which) and Duff from there Mk 2 coaches.

I'm thinking of risking a pendo as it's only a ^1 more but does involve treck from Eusotn to Padd.

Only been on a pendo once, but from memory the internal set up is fairly similar to a Voyager. It may actually be slightly more claustrophobic, as I think the windows are smaller.

The big advantage though is that you don't have the engine noise from the sack of spanners underneath!

Euston to Paddington isn't too bad a trek though :)

I'd probably go on the West coast, it's faster and you have the ability to purchase a decent selection of food on board from the shop (remember those?)

Not to mention more seats available than a Voyager.

Eather way you get the rattle of plastic at speed due to poor construction! But I would say pendo even with London crossing will be faster and like already stated more food options

Living in Coventry for half the year, I would STRONGLY reccomend the Pendo! The XC voyager to Reading is ALWAYS full and lets face it we all hate them!  ;D

Pendos are similar to voyagers but their plus points is that they havnt been ruined by XC and there is plenty of room if you know where to go!

I'm not going to get into the Pros and Cons of each unit but there is an hourly direct train from RDG to SOT, usually eleven minutes past the hour.
Do double check if you're travelling at the weekend though as I know at the end of the month due to engineering work on the Westbury line curve the through Bournemouth to Manchester trains will call at Reading West instead of Reading.

What time of the day are you travelling?  I'd probably aviod the Vomitor if it is likley to be busy.  The Pendos and voyagers are both badly designed trains but the Voyagers are much worse and give the impression of being so badly designed that someone must have done it deliberately. 

Thanks, I think you have almost unanimously voted for the pendo.

So am going up 09:36 Taplow Euston 11:00 SOT 12:24 Wednesday and back 17:12 SOT following Monday. Advanced single tickets still avialable but 2 singles not much difference to off peak return.

however in fairness not that it matters from a passengers point of view but i think the exterior view of the class 220 in xc livery is more pleasing that the pendo in virgin ...me and my bad taste lol

Just had a thought...I can't remember the diagrams but there is a Virgin mark 3/DVT set that still operates on WC. It's refurbished internally and painted in the Virgin "Warbonnet" livery externally - known to the cranks as the "Pretendolino" which I love!

Bet people who get on board that train must think WOW what a great new train this is, so much more space and comfort compared to Virgin's airliners on rails.

Euston to Paddington shouldn't be too bad - just take the Circle Line tube to Euston Square and it's a short walk from there - go for that option!

Thanks for all your help.

Tickets now purchased, through Chiltern so they get 9%, going along to Taplow to pick them up today. Do FGW also get (% for using their facilities to pick up tickets.

Doing the Euston option with reserved seats on chosen trains, although with Off Peak tickets I presumme I can travel on other trains on other days that are covered by the Off Peak rules?

One point occurs to me the Euston option is a ^1 dearer than Reading does that mean I can travel back via Reading if the need arises. e.g wires down on WCML. The National Rail web site gave a via Reading train as a return option with an out via Euston at the higher price. 

Probably - assuming your ticket doesn't have a route marked on it that would preclude you returning via Birmingham. If it's any permitted (and looks like it probably is is NRES offered you out via London/back via Reading on the same ticket) then you should be fine.

I'm not too sure where your journey is starting from but in general from the Reading area there are two permitted routes and no 'any permitted route' ticket available.
The routes available are: London or Oxford.
Now whilst there may be only a small amount of a difference between the fares, that difference is not the excess that you are supposed to pay, though many guards will simply charge you the difference.
The excess is calculated from where the route you are taking deviates from the route shown on your ticket. This is due to the allocation of revenue from the ticket. A ticket routed London would share the majority of the fare between FGW and VT, with a few scraps left over for other operators. A ticket routed Oxford would give the majority to XC, a bit to FGW for local connections and the remainder shared out.
However, in this case, a London routed ticket is valid for travel via High Wycombe, and so on your return journey is valid as far as Banbury. Now, you may get charged the odd one pound by someone who doesn't know any better but you should by the letter of the law buy a change of route excess from Banbury to Reading (ie the price of a single ticket between those stations). Be aware that you may get a bulldog of a guard who will try to tell you that the ticket isn't valid past Coventry and will try to charge you from there, if you get that tell them to check their routing guide!

Modified to amend distance to difference!

Well just returned.

Outward just caught 11:00 off Euston from 09:36 Taplow  due to Signal failure at Hayes causing every thing to run Relief line Dolphin to Southall.

In coach A two seats to myself I didn't use reserved seat as it was one of a pair and other was occupied so didin't see the point.

Good run non stop SOT ride good and tilt operative but not intrusive except at Wolverton when I was in the shop getting a snack attendant was caught unware loading bag.

Return on 13:50 SOT to Euston very crowded wish I'd waited for 14:11.

Got an ailse seat (marked reserved) in B but no one arrived.

Coach very full lots of luggage in racks and on floor. Felt a bit claustrophobic but not excessively. Guy in front speak whole time on phone jabbering loudly in ?. Other passengers did draw train managers attention but he was stuck because it wasn't the quiet coach. Suggestted they write in. Maybe they need two quiet coaches per train!

In 2 minutes early.

Round to Padd just caught 15:48 Great Malvern got seat (reserved Padd Oxford) but no one turned up changed Slough to Taplow 16:25 so SOT to Taplow in 2:35.

The only thing that possibly spoils it is the treck along Euston Raod it's a pity Euston doesn't have a Circle line station.

And a pity it isn't included in Cross-rail especially as it is the likely terminus of HS2.

Ah but you change from HS2 to Crossrail in the sticks at OOC.

But it's an interesting point, although I thought one of the justifications for Crossrail was to relieve the Central line thus it basically parallels the Central Line across from Whitechapel to Paddington.

It will be nice not having to rely on the god awful circle line when travelling out of Paddington!

You are right.  It is one of the justifications.  The problem I have with crossrail is that it doesn't seem to be sure what its purpose is (or in order to get support it is trying to please everyone).  Is it essentailly a new tubeline or is it supposed to be more like Thameslink and provide improved regional services?  If the latter then an all stations stopper is unlikely to improve many journeys and if the former then a few more central london connections would have improved the city centre connectivity.