I am actually a bit further West of Carmarthen but looking at the 'local' services it didn't seem worth catching them to somewhere like Cardiff or Swansea and the GWR▸ to London looked a better bet. Useful to have that confirmed. I can cope with getting in at 11.30 - would see me at my desk by 12 and in no rush to go anywhere till heading back west a couple of days later.
£23 pounds also seems reasonable if I can get organised enough to buy advance singles well in advance.
That's the "Red Dragon". I took that train (Swansea to Swindon) on Wednesday morning. Plenty of local traffic into Swansea, but I suspect still plant of space too - good flow not flood coming offf when it arrived. Plenty of space on board as far as Swindon too - clue in an announcement at Cardiff that "Super off Peak tickets are not valid on this train". Good opportunity for me to work as I travelled (lots of emailing done). Noticeable crowds joined at Swindon - take a look and see if you can work out how busy that might be
away from the summer period, and give some thought to how it might be on Mondays ... I would suspect that it's busier on Mondays, but less will be joining it at Swindon come the autumn. A bit academic as you should get a good seat joining it at the start or at Swansea.
Weekdays it is 'The Red Dragon', but the weekend services (other than the summer-only 'The Pembroke Coast Express') aren't for some reason. The weekend services to Paddington are also not such an early start; the Carmarthen to Paddington on Saturdays for example is 09:30 vice 07:30 on weekdays.
Will that train become 5 or 9 carriages when the 125 becomes an 80x?
Remember that, when the trains were ordered, the 9-car sets for the Great Western were all to be class 801 units (insufficient diesel power for running in normal service); so the
DfT» at least were thinking 5-car for Carmarthen services (and other off-wire destinations).
The draft weekday diagrams that went with the order show that the eastbound service, as well as being reduced to five coaches throughout, might be retimed to depart Carmarthen at 06:23 instead of 07:30. They also show that the westbound train, 17:40 off Paddington in the draft
IEP▸ timetable, would break one of my rules for treating passengers nicely as it would divide on-route (10-car to Swansea, 5-car onwards). That rule, for those who haven't seen it before, is that a passenger boarding any part of a train should be able to alight at any advertised stop subsequent to the one they boarded at without having to leave the train to change coaches on-route.
Interesting display board at Swansea - "First class accommodation will be at the front of the train". Had to ask if that was going to be at the front on arrival, or the front on departure. Saying it will be at the front at a station in reverses in mid-service needs clarification! For the avoidance of doubt - wanted to know which end so I could wait at the other end.
At Derby in the past week I noticed that the annoucements for some
XC▸ services said that first class would be in the front of the train as it arrives in the station, this will be at the rear of the train when it departs. I guess Swansea might not have this as generally the Great Western services are originating at Swansea (and
ATW▸ services through Swansea don't have first class).
I used to do Bridgend to Paddington weekly and gave up a couple of years ago due to increasing cost, general unpleasantness of other rail users on the services I utilised and poor reliability of both the mainline trains and the Metropolitan Line that I used to get from/to Paddington. Getting to/from Bridgend station from my home was also an expensive taxi ride that I no longer have to pay/endure (I do not like small talk in taxis or the appalling standards of driving!).
Predictably, I now shuttle up and down the M4 by car each week, which is quicker, cheaper, less stressful and (touch wood) less prone to delays if timed right (I typically travel in the late evening).
My office location is on the westernmost boundary of London, close to the M4, so travelling by road is a sensible option for me. I would definitely consider this option if your office location is favourable, at least until the new trains & timetable are well established.
Sorry not to be more positive about rail services on a forum such as this, but this is a truthful representation of my experiences!
Since you're giving unfortunate suggestions of this nature, I'll just point out that when certain members of my family go to watch rugby in Cardiff they drive to Port Talbot Parkway and try to get a GWR service into Cardiff. My father occasionally goes on business trips to London and when he does this he also drives to Port Talbot Parkway to board a GWR train. I'm not sure how much of that is down to the lower frequencies of trains west of Swansea and how much is down to the journey time which between Carmarthen and Port Talbot is sadly much slower than driving. When I've tried to pursuade my mother to use a station further west for the rugby the response is normally that it is hard to get back in the evening; something which the frequency and journey time certainly don't help with.
Port Talbot Parkway has been referred to as an important gateway station for Pembrokeshire by one of the county's
MPs▸ , so it isn't just my parents that use it in preference to Pembrokeshire stations. That is something I want to see change, but what sort of service do we need out in south-west Wales to get pepole to use their local station?
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