Thanks for your help everyone.  Unfortunately, I ended up having to buy advance tickets online as they were waaaay cheaper and I'm unable to get to a ticket office before Saturday.  I'll use the vouchers at another time though.

Thanks again

Hello all,

Can I buy a ticket on the train using Rail Travel Vouchers?  On Saturday, I'm traveling from Ashchurch for Tewkesbury to Birmingham New Street and would like to use some vouchers I have.  I've seen that you cannot buy tickets online using vouchers, but I was wondering whether they would be accepted on the train?

Any help would be gratefully received, thanks

Hi guys,

I^m hoping someone could help me with something^

My granddad, who is 93, is currently in hospital after having had an operation to remove his left leg following a blood clot.  He^s a truly inspirational man to me, and is determined not to let this ^set back^ stop him.  He^s determined not to be confined to a wheel chair and wants to gain the strength to use crutches.   He used to live in Lower Earley, just outside Reading, but now lives in Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire.

Here is where I need some help, my granddad used to work on the railways, and ended up as (I think) Senior Signalling Engineer at Reading.  He retired in the early 1980^s.  I may have got his exact job role slightly wrong, but I know he was quite high up^  Anyway, to keep his mind occupied, I want to give him some info on the work currently being done at Reading station.  I travel through the station daily, and have been keeping him up to date in very general terms.  I was wondering whether there  was any more in-depth information I could print out and give to him.  I think he^d be interested in reading about what is going on.  When I^ve spoken to him before about his job and the bottleneck at Reading, he always said that he had a massive folder of documents about such a project, but nothing every got done.  He^s a very quiet chap, and doesn^t like to talk about his achievements or work, but some of the stories he does comes out with are fascinating.    There was a bit of a reunion last year, and a few of his old colleagues all travelled to Tewkesbury to meet up with him again.  He was really moved by that.

So, if anyone can point me towards any kind of documentation or anything that can be printed and I can give to him, I^m sure it would be massively appreciated.  I^m sure it^ll help him over the coming weeks as he continues his rehab (he doesn^t like his physio ^She^s very attractive, but really quite mean^)

Thanks in advance

There also appears to be a few oddities with regards to the platform allocation with some trains too.  For example, I get the train into Reading from Guildford, which arrives at 17.54.  We're always held outside Reading waiting for a Waterloo bound train to leave the station (timetabled at 17.56)  We wait for it to pass and then trundle in to platform 5

It seems odd that you have 3 platforms, yet trains are still being held outside the station. I should also say that there are no other trains in the platform when we arrive, so it can't be because of platform congestion.

Hmm, I have had interesting experiences with split ticketing. 

I live in Swindon and work in Guildford. However, I often travel in to Central London from our office for meetings.  To do this I buy a single ticket into London, a travelcard for tube/ buses etc, and then a ticket back to Reading (where my season ticket picks up again)  Whenever I've bought this type of journey from the ticket desk, I have always been sold a ticket from the edge of Zone 6 to Reading, NEVER once from London Paddington to Reading. This is split ticketing, where the train does not actually stop. Is this right?

Well, that was one of the most frustrating traveling experiences to date.  It started with me missing the bus to the station by a minute.  I ended up calling a taxi as I couldn't wait for the next bus.  Got to Swindon, just as a train  to London (08.11) pulled out.  Nevermind, I thought, I've got plenty of time to spare. Whilst waiting at Swindon, the train on platform 4 had failed, and trains heading west were being diverted across to platform 3.  I guess the failed train was heading to Cardiff, as people were being told to get on and change at Bristol.  Lots of very frustrated passengers.

Anyway, my train (08.28) arrived 5 late, jumped on and settled in.  About 10minutes outside Swindon, we came to a quick and juddering halt.  Uh-ohh, and there we sat...and sat.  According to the conductor, the rear power car had failed, and the driver was having to walk back through the train to try and "fire it up".  Still we sat until it was announced that maintainence engineers were on their way, and we should be off in a moment.  We sat.  By this time, trains behind us were diverted onto the other track and were running through.  Eventually, another HST^▸ (High Speed Train) pulled up alongside us, to let said engineers get off.  Conductor said one was working in the rear power car, t'other was in the front one.  After a further 20 minutes or so (time was just slipping by) we finally set off at a trundle.

We finally arrived at Didcot, just under 2 hours late.  I'd missed my client meeting by this stage and decided to head back home. Crossed over the platform at Didcot to be told that the next train heading west (Cardiff Central) had been cancelled.  I couldn't even tell you what time we got back into Swindon as I was seeing everyting through a red mist.

Anyway, can anyone with inside knowledge shed any light on the reason for the failure and such a long delay?  I assumed it must have been something more serious as I know that HST's can run on one power car.  For us to stop at that rate, and then be stuck for such a long time, it must have been something considerable.  Also, with the other failed train at Swindon this morning, are the HST's struggling for reliability or was this just bad luck?

Ohhh one other thing, I have a season ticket from Swindon-Guildford, but for the purpose of this meeting, I'd bought an extension from Reading - Watford Jnct (for t'was where the meeting was).  Am I able to claim compensation for the Reading-Watford ticket, or as I expect, is this not covered as the delay was experienced on the bit covered by my season ticket?

In all events, I had best have a vat of wine before Mrs comes home or else Valentines dinner will consist of 'sort it yourself pie'

I was at Ashchurch for Tewkesbury station on Saturday with my dad and my young boy, and the state of the station was an absolute disgrace.  The bins looked as if they hadn't been emptied in weeks, with rubbish piled but also strewn everywhere.  Also, one of the information points had been smashed (the way the screen had shattered, it actually looked as if it had been shot at by a gun) It was such a shame to see, coupled with a two-hourly service to Gloucester it shows that the station is held in very poor regard.  Conversely, I was plesantly surprised to see that there were probably a good 10-15 people joining the train heading towards Cheltenham/ Gloucester.

Speaking to my dad, he was saying that the 'Ashchurch for Tewkesbury' name comes from when the station was a changing point for people to then connect into Tewkesbury Town.

My Season Ticket: Swindon- Guildford is up from ^5812 to ^6160 (5.98% increase)

Hi all,  there appears to have been a change to the timetable for my service in the morning, and its having an impact on me making my connection at Reading.  I was hoping someone could tell me whether this is a permanent change, or something to do with the on-going engineering works at Reading.  Let me set the scene (and apologies if this is very long-winded)

I collect the 06.58 service from Swindon ^ Paddington, and change at Reading to continue to Guildford (07.34 from Reading)  Previously, we were timetabled to arrive at Reading at 07.28 on Platform 8.  It was then, often a bit of a dash up the stairs, to 4a for the Guildford train.  I appreciate that this is not really an official possible connection at Reading (less than 6 minutes) but it was generally doable.  However, this service now seems to have changed.  We are now timetabled to arrive at 07.31 at Reading on Plat 5, which when you consider the usual delays in and around Reading makes the connection impossible. What makes it frustrating is that we typically go through Tilehurst at about 07.23, and then sit and wait for Plat 5 to become available.  Additionally, we now have to wait for a Newbury train terminating at Reading to cross all the way over to Plat 8, which further adds to the halt outside the station.  This morning as an example, we made it through Tilehurst and stopped outside Reading at 07.25.  We didn^t actually make it to the platform until 07.35 (10 minutes between Tilehurst and Reading!)

So, is this going to be a permanent fixture, or something temporary?  The consequence of it being permanent is that I either have to leave Swindon 20 minutes early and make the 07.34 Reading ^ Guildford service, or wait around Reading station for 30mins until 08.04.  Neither is an attractive proposition at this moment.

Sorry if this sounds a bit of a moan^

I got caught out good and proper yesterday. I was travelling back from Crawley (15:59) and our train to London stopped at Three Bridges due to the person hit at South Croydon.  Nothing moving at all, anywhere.  We were held there for quite some time (they were announcing that buses were being drafted in to take people to London) I finally decided to get off and get a taxi from Three Bridges to Gatwick Airport, and pick up the service to Reading.  I managed to get the 17:03 from Gatwick and all seemed to be going OK (just 6mins late at Guildford)  However, we left Blackwater and about 50yrds down the line we were stopped at a signal.  Waited about 10mins when guard said that there were signal problems between Blackwater and Wokingham, a train in front is proceeding down the line and checking that it is OK for us to proceed (whether that is the truth or not I don't know)  We finally started moving again and crept along at a very slow pace. Finally got to Reading at about 19.00 (I'd given up caring by that stage)  No idea what time I got home to Swindon, but the beer upon walking through the door barely touched the sides.

I was once held up on an HST^▸ (High Speed Train) approaching Reading by a pigeon that had flown through an open window, as the train was moving, and was in the vestibule between First Class carriages.  We'd come to a halt anyway (we were approaching Reading after all...) and they'd obviously decided to get rid of the fare-dodger before pulling into the station. TM^‡(resolve) announced the reason for the extended pause with a tone to his voice that was somewhere between sheer annoyance and mild humour.

Yesterday evening, during the delays to services arriving at Reading Station, the arrival screens were especially confusing.  They were actually showing two trains as 'Arrived' at the same time! The Hereford train, which was on platform 4 with doors still open but about to leave, and the Swansea train which was still outside the station, both displayed 'Arrived'.  You can imagine the confusion with passengers who were already heavily delayed scrambling on and off trains.  Very poor if you ask me.

Some passengers were even saying that stating that the train had 'arrived' long before it actually did was a way to mask some of the punctuality performance. It raised a wry smile from me.

I've deleted the 'offending' post to prevent any further issue.  I'm not sure why it was necessary, but don't want to cause any trouble

**Post deleted**

Could it be due to there being less windows in the buffet car, therefore producing a 'smoother' coach and less wind resistence? **non-techy answer**