Great Western Coffee Shop

As many of you will know, following the slight disaster with the Wednesday night up Sleeper Service (found elsewhere on this site) I bought a 3 day Thames Rover and thought I^d summarise up to day two.
Thursday 28th October
I left Paddington on 1C07 Wednesday morning (London to Paignton service) down to Reading.  I disembarked and went to Platform 7 whereupon I took the 10.40am to Banbury.   I was immediately entertained in D carriage by two males: one about 25 and the other about 55 with the latter complaining about the former listening to music.  The former remarked that since it wasn^t the quiet carriage then he was entitled to listen to his music but the latter was having none of it and the temperature and language became quite heated.
I decided to be a good citizen and made my way to the rear of the train to inform that train manager about the dispute that had ensued so she was prepared when she walked through.
I arrived at Banbury and took the opportunity to have a look round; that took 5 minutes!  I watched a freight train diverted off the main line to the Up Goods line to then await a Chiltern down service and our ^vomiter^ which I took back to Oxford.
I had 5 minutes to cross platforms at Oxford, but fortunately the Cotswold line train was delayed by 10 minutes which afforded me the opportunity to grab a coffee and a Danish before taking the HST down to Morton in the Marsh.  Now originally, I was going to stay on it all the way to Great Malvern (buying a CDR extension) but decided not, and instead disembarked at Moreton-in-Marsh.  I had forgotten that the Cotswold line doesn^t have a regularly-timed service pattern and I got back to the station to find I still had 90 minutes to wait for a return service to Oxford.  This meant an urgent return to the town to choose a coffee shop!
My return HST arrived and we jollied back to Oxford ^ having to wait at the last signal on the Cotswold Line for a late-running XC train and then we made slow progress into Oxford behind him.
I stopped briefly in the recently refurbished Oxford station and was very pleasantly pleased with how it had changed  since I was there back in the early 90s at university. (Opps sorry for the name drop!)  I returned to Reading, again on a vomiter (since the 6 car turbo due after it was stopping at Radley and Didcot Parkway.
I then caught a SWT trains service to Wokingham (just because it was another operator on whose trains I was allowed to travel) before awaiting the North Downs Line service back to Farnborough North.
All in all, an excellent day.
With my railcard, my Rover was ^26.40
I calculate today^s fares would have totalled: ^32.90
Current Savings: ^6.50

Friday 29th October
Now I know it was wrong, but I had decided, even though my 3 day Rover was bought with my Network Card and therefore not valid until after 10am, I would chance my luck and take the 09.57 from Blackwater this morning.
So I turn up at the unmanned station...and never before have I seen them there... R.P.I.s   Two of them on the Up platform.  So I had consoled myself that it was likely I needed to buy a CDS Blackwater to Wokingham.  However, I showed my Rover and they both said, ^Fine, thank you.^ And so it was I went on my journey and had no further problems!!
I arrived at Reading and caught a fast up service to Slough (please pronounce Sluff and not Slouw as it is far more befitting of the place) and I crossed over to Pl 1 to get a Windsor and Eton Central Train.  I decided that as it was drizzling outside I^d stay on and do the return.
On arrival back at Slough, I crossed to the DR and caught a stopper down to Maidenhead.  Again I crossed via the footbridge and did trip to Bourne End and Marlow.  I was staggered that on the leg between Bourne End and Marlow you almost go through people^s back gardens.  It was absolutely beautiful!
I returned to Maidenhead and caught the stopper to Twyford, again crossing to the bay platform to get the Henley service.  Another beautiful trip and I decided to spend 90 or so minutes in Henley.  Again, I didn^t realise that Henley doesn^t have a regular train timetable ^ a good level of service yes, but all at slightly different, irregular times.  Our driver for the return  leg was unusually a female driver and did as good a job as any man. 
I crossed to get the next stopper back to Reading (the 14h33 was up as severely delayed) and the train which came arrived at 15h03.  Therefore I am not certain whether I caught the delayed 14h33 or the 15h03??
I pootled around Reading station for a while before taking the train to Redhill.  It was a nice, slow all stations stopper.  I particularly love the views from Shalford Junction to Reigate.  I remained in Redhill for a few hours, visiting several hostilities before getting a very fast 21h15 fast service back to Blackwater!
Another super day!
With my railcard, my Rover was ^26.40
I calculate today^s fares would have totalled: ^29.30
Current Savings: ^35.80

Tomorrow I have a meeting in the afternoon, and there are numerous engineering works on North Downs Line and Didcot to Oxford, but I may still go to Pad ^ because I can for nothing!!

It's an easy target to make a comment about teachers and their holidays. Why aren't you at home marking homework?

That said, thank-you for your report card (!) from your days out in the Thames Valley. Just the sort of thing I had planned to do (not bunking off, honest, Sir) on my carefully planned FGW railabout. All that work in the planning and then life got in the way. Ho hum.

Take that trip to PAD, Sir, and enjoy. Just remember that it's slow trains only out of PAD between 1600-1900!

 ;D

Thanks Bignosemac!

BTW I note the 17h06 Westbury (presumably HST, first stop Twyford) is NOT listed as one of the precluded services out of Paddington.

Of course, today being Saturday, it's no holes barred anyway :D

The great deffender of all things railways back in the 60's John Betjeman and form student at Oxford had a few words to say about Slough http://www-cdr.stanford.edu/intuition/Slough.html (http://www-cdr.stanford.edu/intuition/Slough.html)
A quaint little branch which operates token block between Maidenhead and Bourne End and OES (one engine in steam) for the Marlow section, Marlow is a nice little town not much in the way of major shops but is somewhere for lunch.  Glad you enjoyed your trip on the "Donkey"

Saturday 30th October 2010
Day 2 1/2 of my minirailabout!

Took the 0902 BAW to RDG this morning.  No sign of any RPIs nor commuters!

Then I took 0937 Up Plymouth to PAD where I hot-fotted it round to the depths of Platform 14 - I felt like I was walking all the way back to Royal Oak!  I took the 1015 departure to Greenford.  A very pleasant journey once you leave Ealing Broadway!  Apart of the fairly large expanses of green, I was most surprised at the gradient rise between South Greenford and Greenford.  On the down journey, there was a market researcher doing a questionnaire for FGW about the route.  How funny, then, then the unit on the line today appeared to be a recently refurbished 165 - with a laminate floor and very clean upholstery! We departed Greenford on time but when we descended to South Greenford we stopped...and stopped....and stopped!  After 10 minutes, without a guard (DOO) I went to speak to the driver to find out what was going on...he saw me and quite simply lifted up the window in such a way as to tell me to "wee off!"  I ended up telephone FGW customer services from inside the train, who in turn contacted control, to discover it was a signalling failure.  After what must have been 20 minutes, we eventually pulled away (those with access to TRUST will give me precise timings  ;)  )I then went back to the main concourse and people-watched before taking the 1215 Cheltenham to RDG and the 1304 to BAW, when my minitour ended.

I also picked up a feedback form:  1) I think there should be a protocol that if it is DOO and there is a delay in station where announcements are permitted, then the driver should at least apologise for the delay and where possible give details of what the delays are attributed to; and 2) I took umbridge at a member of gate line staff who's only interaction with me was..."Can't you get it out?" (referring to my rover card!) when I knew for the last 3 days it didn't operate the barriers.  So I interjected back saying "How rude!"  And then, stupidly, I let myself get embroiled in a bit of a slanging match about me knowing that the rover ticket didn't work in the gates and it being his job to let me through the barriers... it ended with him saying how was he supposed to know rover tickets didn't work at the barriers, with me responding with  because knowledge about tickets and barriers is an integral part of your job description!   However bitter I felt inside, I should not have stopped to his level with a discourteous level of discourse!

And so to conclude: the 3 day Thames Rover provides excellent value for money and excellent opportunities for seeing branch lines and travelling on fast services between PAD and BAN; PAD and BDW; RDG and RDH .