Maidenhead to Cheltenham - 29/4

[whole diary]

[johoare]

Hello,

I've been doing a bit of investigating to get train tickets for next Sunday from Maidenhead to Cheltenham and back.. I am getting an option for changing at Swindon and getting the 10.47 from there to Cheltenham Spa.. But it says Seat reservations aren't required (so therefore I can't reserve seats whether I wanted to or not).. this makes me think it's not an HST^▸ (High Speed Train).. Does anyone know as an hour is quite a long time to be standing up otherwise should there be no seats? Thanks..

[bobm]

No it isnt an HST^▸ (High Speed Train) but a local service starting at Swindon.  I caught it three Sundays back and getting a seat wasn't a problem. 

You could do an unsual split and get the 09:38 departure from Reading (^9 advance from Maidenhead) and then get a ^3 advance from Swindon to Cheltenham on the 10:47.  Doing it that way means you will arrive at Swindon at 10:10 - 15 mins before the train which forms the service to Cheltenham at Platform 2 arrives - meaning you can be first in the queue for the pick of the seats.   

If you get a through advance ticket it is ^13 and will force you to use the 10:10 from Reading which arrives at Swindon at 10:33 and will cost you ^13 - a ^1 more than the split.

[johoare]

Thanks for that info. One issue I have tho is, that since there is only a half hourly service from Maidenhead on a Sunday I'd have a long wait at Reading too as the 9.28 from Maidenhead won't connect with the 9.38 from Reading and the one before is obviously half hour before :-)... I'll have three children (well technically only one in terms of Child tickets  ) in tow so don't want a lot of waiting around really..

[bobm]

Problem is the 09:27 is the connection for the 10:10 to Swindon - so you still end up with a 25 min wait - only later.

[johoare]

Yeah.. I reckon I could get there and back a lot quicker without the long waits at each station where I change.. At least on the way back I can get direct from Cheltenham to Reading.. And although I have a (nearly) half hour wait for the next train to Maidenhead from there I just know that that time will be happily filled with a trip to Burger King...

[bobm]

I just know that that time will be happily filled with a trip to Burger King...

Don't forget your Bite card!

[johoare]

Tickets are booked.. I'm actually now going via Bristol Parkway then Cross Country to Cheltenham.. My only concern now is I'm being given a 7 minute changeover at Reading onto the Bristol Parkway train.. Now I know it's possible but I'm quite concerned about it as if I miss the train I'm a bit stuck as my ticket is only valid on the booked trains..

So what do people think? Err on the side of caution, go half hour earlier and have a long wait for my connection, or risk the 7 minutes which I know is possible if my train to Reading is on time and there are no slow people in front of me?

[bobm]

Not that you should rely on it because things change but because of engineering work a lot of Thames Valley stopping services are due to terminate on platform 9 on Sunday and westbound high speed services use platform 8 - so you won't have to battle up the stairs.

[eightf48544]

With possible engineering work on Sunday I'd tend to err on the side of caution whilst in theory if there is any 2 track working that day the Parkway should be behind the stopper it could just easily get in front if the stopper is delayed at all.

I'd put up with the wait because Murphy's law states quite categorically that if you catch the earlier train it will be ontime and that you will also watch the next stopper arrive before you leave Reading.

[johoare]

Thanks for the advice.. I just need to work out how brave I am and am happy to risk it being adjacent platforms but also that the Bristol train has gone before I get there..

Mind you.. it appears to be an advertised connection so I do I wonder what would happen if I went for it and then missed my train to Bristol....

[johoare]

Well I Survived it all.. I won't be doing it again in a hurry though

I wasn't brave so got the 9.28 from Maidenhead.. We got delayed before Tywford and also before Reading so I was very glad I didn't wait for the later train from Maidenhead...The 10.17 from Reading was on time(ish).. We had a bit of a wait at Bristol Parkway made even longer as our train from there to Cheltenham Spa was a bit late but no problem really considering the weather..I'm sure people on here aren't surprised that I'm not impressed with XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) (who I travelled with from Bristol Parkway to Cheltenham Spa)... There were people in our reserverd seats, but because they're not obvious reservations as FGWs^▸ (First Great Western) are.. and because there was an elderly gentleman in one who I wouldn't move.. We ended up standing up...:-(...Oh and the area in the vestibule by the toilets smells even worse than I thought it would.. I won't travel XC again...

Return journey.. Waiting at Cheltenham Spa it said on the info boards that there were no Seat reservations on this journey (we had reservations).. Then the train disappeared from the board for a few minutes.. Not good.. I'm used to it but really it shouldn't happen.. Suffice to say there was a train and there were seat reservations... However it was delayed by fifteen minutes so no burger king time at Reading..

And can I just say.. I could have travelled there and back by just buying one single ticket to Reading from Maidenhead.. Sadly no other ticket checks..