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Taking Two Trains in Place of One

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TheJRB

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I know this is a bit of a general question and one that's no doubt pretty obvious, but something that I've never really thought about before.

Would it be possible on an off-peak return ticket from Ashford to Tonbridge to take the first outbound train from Tonbridge on the return leg on a Medway Valley Line service, but change at Paddock Wood to pick up another train to Ashford?

It's a bit of a silly question as you would normally just wait for the Ashford train at Tonbridge, but there are no doubt times where there's a long wait for a train to your destination but one sooner going in reasonably the right direction.
 
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yorkie

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Is Paddock Wood on a permitted route ? If so, yes. I can check in an hour but someone will likely beat me to it.

The routeing guide is on the ATOC website.
 

Paul Kelly

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Yes there's absolutely no issue there. Just to be precise, the ticket is an off-peak day return, but these always allow break of journey in both directions, so you could leave the station at Paddock Wood if you want and come back in a few hours or later in the day and resume your jouney if you wanted. And if you don't leave station premises at Paddock Wood, it doesn't even count as break of journey, so there is no problem with stopping off there on any ticket.
 

TheJRB

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Yes there's absolutely no issue there. Just to be precise, the ticket is an off-peak day return, but these always allow break of journey in both directions, so you could leave the station at Paddock Wood if you want and come back in a few hours or later in the day and resume your jouney if you wanted. And if you don't leave station premises at Paddock Wood, it doesn't even count as break of journey, so there is no problem with stopping off there on any ticket.

That's good. I just never really thought about whether or not it would be permitted, but it makes sense. Thanks to everyone who's replied too. :D
 

scotsman

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Yes.

Since Paddock Wood is the first stop after Tonbridge, you'd only be breaking your journey - the only issue would be if Paddock Wood is on another route which, contrary to what map KL of the routing guide suggests, it isn't.

Some tickets don't permit BoJ on the outer leg, but you can get around that. "Using station facilities" is not considered a BoJ - so if you're hanging around for the next train, there's no problem. If you want to walk around the town, you could go through the barriers (if there are any) to "use the toilet/cafe/get a timetable etc." - it would be impossible to prove you weren't using the facilities.

EDIT: Beaten to it somewhat!
 
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