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And generally quicker and cheaper to take the Marches line and change at Crewe.

Thanks for this. That is quite dishonourable, although I can see why it's done. I wasn't physically stopped from boarding the 1648. The gateline member of staff whom I asked simply checked the screen and as it didn't say Reading, said I wasn't allowed to travel. I did consider just ignoring...

Thanks, that's really helpful. My limited experience too is that on-train staff are much better at these kind of things. I didn't get as far as making any enquiries at Paddington about the 1718. As soon as I saw the departure boards display that it wasn't calling at Reading, I had 3 minutes to...

There's probably a more succinct way for me to ask this, so apologies for length. Yesterday I had split tickets for my journey from south Wales to London - open returns from Cardiff to Swindon, from Swindon to Reading and from Reading to Paddington, with reservations on the 1718 return from...

I'm pretty sure pairs of 20s did more than 75mph on the downhill run in to Sheffield on SO Skegness to Sheffield in the 1980s.

Platform 5 at Cardiff Central used to be a west facing bay between what platforms 3 and 4.

This is very quirky and as just stated must be a valleys network thing. Open returns appear to be available to Newport and Cardiff, but not Severn Tunnel Junction, the latter presumably falling foul of the short distance rule.

He's fairly definite that he's done it in the past and the fact that the train manager was surprised it wasn't available seems to suggest something might have changed with this particular one. Good to know what the situation is though. Thanks again.

Thanks both. No doubt he'll look for other options in future. Is this a new thing on this route as I'm pretty sure he's booked flexible non-day returns in the last past?

Yesterday my son tried to buy an open return from Lawrence Hill to Pontypridd both via an app and from the train manager, but both said the ticket was unavailable so he will end up buying two singles. I understand that a day return was available but that wouldn't do him any good He also tried...

I agree with the TPE point in general but seems better this week (I went for that option yesterday). It's perhaps really only something that can be determined on the day as if the TPE is running at least you can get far enough south to increase available options.

An alternative might be to get the TransPennine Express that departs about 40 minutes before the Avanti service. Change anywhere between Carlisle and Preston for the next train to Crewe and then on to whatever train comes first for Birmingham. You might end up on the Edinburgh service anyway...

Thank you, that's really helpful especially the hint about going via Glasgow which could be handy if it all goes pear-shaped. 1668451137 Thank you. Yes it's 2U and via Carlisle only. I'd looked at the routeing guide, but wasn't sure what it was telling me.

Hi experts. Is a Crewe to Edinburgh off-peak return valid via Manchester Piccadilly (Arriva Trains Wales to Manchester, TransPennine Express from Manchester)? The context is that I'll be travelling from south Wales, and want to know what my back up options are in case there's any significant...

There are signs of a similar ilk at both Treforest and Taffs Well stations reminding about stopping at Treforest Estate station.

Ha yes. The area near the old bay platform was a 'train spotters compound' during the early 80s at least, complete with white wooden barriers proclaiming as such. Iirc, there was just one member of staff who was particularly anti-spotter. I seem to recall I was banned for life a time or two...

Are there any afternoon services that are more/less likely to be replaced by a sprinter at the moment? The context for this is that I need to book my mum on to a train, and because of her back problems I want to minimise the chance of it being a sprinter. Services in question are 1131, 1231 and...

Thanks all.

Probably a daft question, but what does this handle do - does it set off an alarm, or an extinguisher, or something else? The image is from a class 40, but similar appears on class 37. Thanks.

As mentioned above a very easy alternative available today is 1600 from Wick, 2045 sleeper from Inverness and then a leisure;y trip across London for either 0903 to Plymouth for a connection to Penzance or 1003 straight through.