Recent content by NigelH

On a similar point: if I travel from Reading to Abbey Wood (or vice versa) I could take the Elizabeth Line the whole way, or I could change at Paddington and use GWR for the Reading<->Paddington leg. I know that break of journey isn't allowed on the London Undeground section of a through-London...

Thanks for the various suggestions. I hadn't considered the Feltham route, but seeing that the train journey alone is almost an hour, it's unlikely that it would be faster than simply waiting for the next connection via the other routes. I do find a few other things strange as well as the ones...

I tried looking up the cost of a single journey from Heathrow (Terminal 4) to Reading, travelling in the evening peak and not via Paddington, and I get completely different results from National Rail, BRFares and TfL. National Rail Enquiries gives me the choice of contactless (£34.10), off peak...

Yes, I get that, and I'd have no problem with it restricting departures from anywhere on Southeastern (even though that would not apply to my journey), or similarly on departures from Reading on any train operator. But I still can't understand the point of restricting departures from a specific...

That's true. but the Southeastern service doesn't depart from Reading.

While browsing through the information on BRfares.com for journeys from Reading to Paddington, I spotted the rather strange unpublished restrictions below (amongst others) on off-peak returns: While I suppose it's conceivable that, during engineering work, some operators' trains might be...

Thanks - I thought it ought to be possible (and I know you can do that between the Elizabeth Line and Thameslink), but not being familiar with the layout all I could do was follow the signs. I guess the problem arises because the Elizabeth Line (and Thameslink) are both National Rail and...

Yesterday I was travelling from Reading to Kings Cross, and so bought a return from Reading to London Underground (LU) Zone 1. Normally I would have taken Great Western Railway (GWR) to Paddington and then change to the Circle/Hammersmith & City (H&C) Line, but there was major disruption to...

Thanks for all the replies. It does seem that any train is OK, but you've confirmed my thought that the whole system is a complete mess!

I am planning a journey from Loughborough (LBO) to Reading (RDG) via London and wish to use a "super off peak" ticket. On the outward journey, I plan to stop for a considerable time in London before continuing to Reading (obviously paying separately for any extra underground travel). My problem...

Well, I've certainly learnt a lot from this discussion so thank you to everyone who's contributed. Some specific points: I'm intrigued by MrJeeves's comment about BRfares showing a "Luton to Staff Breakfast" ticket - why is that even a destination? Mind you, at £5 it sounds good value! (The...

Thanks, that's really helpful to know. To answer a point someone made earlier about buying in advance - aside from the fact that it would take over an hour of my time to get to Reading Station, do that and return home, there's the more significant issue that the Reading-Paddington line seems to...

So the ticket office staff are accessing a different booking engine from the online sales platforms? Given how complex it must be, I'm surprised that everything isn't simply using the same one. Likewise, I would have thought that every train operator's online sales platform would be using the...

I want to make an off-peak day trip from Reading to White City Underground. There are a plethora of standard-class fares (55 in total on brfares.com, of which 21 are off-peak day returns if I counted correctly!) and (I believe) at least four viable routes: 1. Via Paddington and the Circle Line...

I stand corrected - makes me wonder why they call it NFM64, though. It seems crazy reverse engineering fares that would have applied in 1996 to stations that didn't exist then just to make route planners work - and then adding loads of easements to allow routes that used to be allowed and block...