Great Western Coffee Shop

Got two meetings in the SW coming up and an 8 in 15 Freedom of the The SW looks the best bet.  Does anyone know how far in advance of the start date you can buy it please?

You should be able to buy walk-up tickets from a station up to a year in advance of the first day of travel. That does, I believe, cover Rovers and Rangers. Not 100% sure on that mind. Some TOCs info online says 6 months.

Do be aware though that if your plans change and you no longer need the ticket then you will lose ^10 of its value when getting it refunded.

I assume your two meetings are not within a 7 day period? If they are then there is a 3 in 7 FOSW Rover available.

No, sadly, by a day they aren't.   However it means I get the bonus of a B/H weekend to use it for pleasure!

Every cloud......

By all means enquire at your friendly local station (Swindon isn't it?) I'm pretty sure they'll sell you a FOSW in advance. Pick a quiet time to use the booking office and sort out any seat reservations for your planned journeys as well.

Yes it is Swindon....don't start  ;D

Good thought about seat reservations - hadn't remembered that.

Last time I was there and asked about it the clerk couldn't find it on the system.  On reflection I think she was typing South West as one word and it wanted it as two or the other way round.  In the end I had to leave it as I was going to miss a train.

Should be straightforward to find it on the Ticket Issuing System. They should have a section for Rover enquiries then typing 'Freedom....' would surely bring it up.

I'd page Ollie but I know he's on foreign shores at the moment.....

The clerk should be able to find the fare under the rover screen as "FOSW 8 in 15".  There is a code that goes with this (to make things easier), but I don't have access to that information here at work (if someone could bump this thread around 7pm, I'll post it here).

My last batch of rovers were bought from Pembrey Station's "The Ticket Hut" by email and then paid by card over the phone.  They were very helpful and booked all the reservations I had requested.

FOSW 8 in 15 Rover code is, I believe, I621.

Brucey makes a good point about buying tickets such as these from the handful of truly independent retailers.

The Ticket Hut (http://pembreystation.co.uk/default.aspx) (01554 830188) is one.

There are others such as Ffestiniog Travel (http://ffestiniogtravel.com/) (01766 772957), Chester-le-track (http://www.chester-le-track.co.uk/) (0191 387 1387), and Llandrindod Wells Station (http://www.heart-of-wales.co.uk/contact.htm) (nominally independent, but since going bust now employed by Arriva Trains Wales - 01597 822053).

As my first journey is Saturday I couldn't rely on the post so had to go to Swindon Statio but a very helpful clerk spent 10 minutes finding the best reservations for my journeys and I came away with a wad of ticket stock.

I also committed myself to Sunday and bought the ticket for Marlow - so I'm coming.

As an aside Cross Country have released an update to their iPhone App and it now can add a journey to your calendar with departure and arrival times and booked platforms at each end.  You don't have to book a ticket via the app to use the calendar facility.

Booked platforms?  ???

Do you get a reserved bit of square footage for your own personal use?  :P ;) ;D

Ok scheduled platforms.  Pedant  ;D

What can I say? It's there in my avatar text.....  ;D

So is a reference to hot air....... ;D ;D ;D

In the words of that bloke from The Vicar of Dibley: "No no no no no no, yes."

FARTS - Fellow of the Academy of Railway Ticketing Science.  ;D