13.2 Worries me. And I have to wonder why?

Reading Exeter has two routes, via Honiton or Taunton - there is no 'Any permitted'.

The Man in Seat 61 uses this as an example as an on-train solution - Honiton is cheaper: if routing Taunton - just pay the excess.

If travelling Honiton with a Taunton fare, simply excess the difference - in this case an excess ticket with price £0.00.

The lack of 13.2 makes both ticket invalid. Bad move.

 

This DfT tool... does it capture the basics of connectivity? (Which I'd suggest being able to name two localities and reveal data that shows how well said two places are connected using various travel modes. After which it might be able to bring enhancements into the equation such as 'If we added this, what would be the improvement and how big a population would benefit?')

Mark

 

Thanks, ChrisB.  I have made your suggested adjustments.  CfN. 

 
From GOV.UK - "Discover connectivity in your local area".

 
We normally drive and use the Park and Ride which is free with our bus passes.

 

Email received at 14:35 confirming "the Melksham TVM should now be updated with an amended set of fares on the front screen."  Visited the station at 15:50 just to check before I said "thank you" ... and on the front panel it's unchanged - still selling a £14.40 off peak day return to Trowbridge.

I would have been more inclined to believe the email (and not go and check) if I had been told that it would update overnight ... and still expect it might.

 
That needs splitting off to its own thread I think?

 
It should change (eventually) - at the next fares download. Not sure how often the machine connects to do that. It may be that individual machines can be manually done, but otherwise it happens en-bloc (I believe)

 
 175103 and 175105 dragged from Ely today; the ones I presume should have come last Friday

Ely : 4: 175005/008, 175104/109 (175008 is in two halves)

Wolverton :11 : 175004, 175102/103/105/106/107/108/110/113/115/116

Laira : 11: 175002/007/009, 175114 ex Ely; 175001/003/006/011, 175101/111/112 ex Wolverton

Long Rock : 1 : 175010 ex Ely

as of 27 March 2026

 
Ughhh!  What a horrible experience

Ever since an episode of being stuck on a packed train in a Central Line tunnel, back in August 1995, I have not been able to cope at all well in crowded places, whether on board train, station, airport departure gate or security.  Just awful.  I would rather wait for the next train than become an airless sardine

The Central Line train was stopped for probably no more than 10 minutes, but it seemed like five or six times that.  People were fainting and screaming.  I have never been more glad to get onto an escalator out of a tube station than I was that day at Oxford Circus

 
Conditions right, train manager wrong.

14.3 has not been withdrawn.

 
Lympstone Commando numbers are astonishing - would that be because there tend to be whole troups of commandos or recruits arriving at the same time, or is there traffic well spread across trains.   Also looking at some the other flow metrics - how peaky are they - right down to Dockyard.   With Dockyard, is there still a significantly larger flow to and from the dockyard with certain trains?    Thanks for your help on this

 
From current conditions of travel:


Bolding and capitalisation as per current NRCoT

Announcement by the train manager on the 15:30 ex Paddington on 24th March (2026) which I was travelling on "This train does not call as Didcot and if you are travelling on split tickets changing from one ticket to another there, your tickets will not be valid.   There is revenue protection on this train". 

Has clause 14.3 been withdrawn?    The announcement by the train manager seemed to ignore it. 

If making 2 return trips, both at peak times and using trains that do not call at Didcot, from Melksham to Paddington within a week, the lowest cost way has been a single to Didcot, a weekly season to Cholsey, a return from Cholsey to London an a further single Didcot to Melksham.  My understanding is that's within 14.3, but is contradicted by what the train manager said.

Yes - revenue protection did come through; I was not making use of this clause and did not feel inclined to raise it with them.

 
I understand that the £14 return fare (£18 before 09:00 Monday to Friday) from Melksham to Trowbridge exists because the Melksham is a "Chippenham Group" station and Trowbridge is in the Westbury group. The fare is valid via Bath Spa.

I am told that the fare should be overridden on the front of the TVM by the direct fare but due to a "database error" it's the higher fare - £14 or £18 - rather than the fare of around £6 that is offered on the single press "popular destinations" menu on the front panel; the lower price fare can be found if you know to dig in and look for it.

My GWR contact has apologised for how long he has taken to get back to me on this (I heard on 26th), but only explained (no apology) for the database error.  He tells me the database was corrected on 19th, but as of 25th when I was last at the station, the change has not percolated through.   

I raised this matter with GWR's head of revenue on Tuesday (23rd) at GWR's parliamentary reception, and he assured me that this fare was chosen for the front of the TVM as it's the one that's most sold for the journey. If he's correct in that statement, it illustrates just how many people are being what I regard as overcharged by nearly £10 for a ten minute journey.  K-chink - nice money raiser!   If he's incorrect in his statement, then can I believe anything else he tells me with an assurance.  Just occasionally, "don't know - I'll find out" would be the best answer.

I have gotten back to GWR asking them to changes the offering on the front panel to reflect the fact that most Melksham to Trowbridge passengers take the direct train ...

 
The "Beeching Report" is mirrored at https://www.passenger.chat/mirror/BRB_Beech001a.pdf and that document is "whitelisted" so it is publicly available from our site. The associated maps are at https://www.passenger.chat/mirror/BRB_Beech001b.pdf

For signed in members, we also hold archive copies of some other contemporary documents such as
https://www.firstgreatwestern.info/mirror/NUR_UpToYou1963.pdf - NUR Its Up to YOU! Save your Railways - 1963
https://www.firstgreatwestern.info/mirror/NUR_Misshaping1963.pdf - NUR The Mis-Shaping of British Railways - Part 1: Retort -1963
https://www.firstgreatwestern.info/mirror/Hans_Beeching02051963.pdf - Review of Dr Beeching's Report The Reshaping of British Railways - 1965
https://www.firstgreatwestern.info/mirror/Obs_Beech001.pdf - The Observer on Beeching - "The Transport Conflict" - 10 Jan 1965
I'm not sure on the copyright on this even 60 years late, hence I have not made them generally available.  We do welcome new members to the Coffee Shop, and once you have signed up for free and been approved, you'll be able to read them

 
Missed them in Bath (but then not sure if I would recognise them or they would recognise Lisa and me).

We went in by bus ... and noted with some pleasure that in some parts of the city there seem to be more buses than cars around - has to be a good thing to help reduce congestion, though the bus station was crowded to the extent that we had to push our way through to get to the waiting area near the bay that the 271/2/3 leave from.

 

The copy I see / and have just downloaded from https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/NRCOT/ is also missing 13.2

The refund of unused tickets issue from 1st April has been heavily flagged - not that the news will have reached everyone who may have made use of the facility in the past. However, I have not been able to find a new NRCoT document, nor seen any re-assurance that there won't be other changes quietly slipped in - such as this omission of 13.2.   

It strikes me that it's normal for changes and official documents such as agenda items for meetings to be published at least a week ahead, and I find it extraordinary that I can't read what conditions will be applied to rail tickets I purchase from next Wednesday!

 
Thanks, Ralph Ayres and Mark A.

The wording in the original quote:

had me a bit worried, but the "Anytime" stipulation appears only in the conditions for changing Anytime tickets (yes - the wording is subtly different for different types of ticket).

Now, in trying to answer your the original question about changes that were formerly possible on-train, I discovered a problem with the latest NRCoT.  . To ensure it remains visible, I have put my find in a separate thread:
https://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=31796.0

 
My wife and daughter (neither of whom are particularly experienced in 'the ways of the railways') chose to travel by train for this leisure day out today.

I offered them my advice about 'through trains' and 'off-peak ticket prices' - for which they were grateful.

They apparently had a grand day out, having shopped around Bath and enjoyed lunch, then returned home happy.

Off-peak ticket price was £10.60 each.  I regard that as a bargain, compared with the costs of running a car and parking anywhere in Bath for such an occasional excursion.

CfN.

 
I was looking for clauses on excess fares in the current (2025) National Rail Conditions of Travel (NRCoT). I noticed that, compared with the 2024 version, a couple of significant clauses were missing from my PDF download. They are part of The Routes You May Use and are:


In the 2025 version, 13.1.2 is followed by two information boxes, then 13.3.


Firstly, would someone like to confirm that the omission is general, and not restricted to my copy of NRCoT?

 


  . ... Freight came thru at time passenger train was due ... passenger train 10 minutes behind.

 
They were possibly the illegal immigrant stowaways.

 
https://www.channel4.com/programmes/guy-martins-house-without-bills (I think)

 
Sorry 15-20 got off a freight train?

 

The title was ... a credit to the longevity of the forum - outlives the power station ...

 

I can recognize a 'hint' from a squirrel, particularly when it is then 'liked' by broadgage, so I have made the appropriate updates.

CfN. 

 
Alterations to services between Newbury and Reading

Due to a fault with the signalling system between Newbury and Reading the line towards Reading is disrupted.

Train services running through these stations may be delayed or diverted between Westbury and Reading.

Disruption is expected until 18:15 26/03.

 

And if you try to book by train for a summer weekend instead, effectively get no availability (yet) of fares, unlike the airlines that are happy to allow people to book summer break.

GWR is happy to let book tickets upto 24 weeks ahead on selected routes according to its website (not that I have ever managed to find a list of routes they have selected, so no idea which routes), but won't let anyone book weekends beyond 5th July (which is why I picked the comparison in opening post).

Are GWR seriously scared there might be engineering works on the major holiday routes to South West at height of summer, stopping these advances being released through to end of August. We all know the works are never done peak season, so why is GWR holding back whilst airlines have opened summer bookings ?

 

Very excited to be at Minehead over the coming weekend for the 50th Anniversary of the re-opening to Blue Anchor.  I've even got a ticket on the 1015 from Minehead commemorative train.  It occurs to me now, although I thought nothing of it at the time, that I wasn't on that first train to Blue anchor and back.  I was too busy at Minehead

I remember getting a huge lump in my throat as I gave the right away to the guard and he waved the green flag.  And then the train was gone.  We were underway.  Trains to Taunton were coming back before the end of the year.  Quite overwhelming.  I may have filled-up a little

https://www.west-somerset-railway.co.uk/events/view/50th-anniversary-weekend