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What I'd suggest doing is going to a booking office (you could do it in the connection time at Exeter), and asking for that to be excessed to route +Any Permitted. That'll cost you an extra £5.50, but will allow you to take the direct train from Exeter to Birmingham.
I can't see anything that would allow avoiding Gloucester. This means that you'd have to change at Bristol for a GWR service to Gloucester, and change there for a Birmingham train - it's usually a 10-20 minute connection at Bristol and a 10 minute or so connection at Gloucester.
I've had that a lot of times for that - I use a paper 16-25, my partner uses a digital 26-30, we've made a few journeys this month where I get the full third off, and he should have a reduction to the £12 minimum, but the booking office has applied 16-25s to both of us.
My partner keeps getting scam emails where the scammer's tried to split it into the name and got it hideously wrong. To give an illustration of what I mean using a fictional name, suppose you've got a Steven E Smith, with the email StevenESmith@hotmail.co.uk, and referred to as Steve Nesmith.
So it looks like they're running another trial for dogs on the Metrolink https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/news/greater-manchester-news/pet-dogs-allowed-on-metrolink-24554189
I'm certainly not going complain about it, since, as my profile picture might imply, I do a lot of travelling...
You're definitely remembering wrong - right up to COVID, IU'd get regular distressed phonecalls from my partner saying that he'd wound up in Kilwinning instead of at Milliken Park
I think you've re-read it wrong - he's saying that the B&H is more prone to expansion problems than the GWML. In other words the GWML is less prone to expansion problems than the B&H.
Just a minor point in your post - are you looking at going the right way round on the Overground? - platform 1 at Clapham Junction is usually for services via Willesden to Stratford, you'd have to change at Highbury & Islington going that way. The direct services from Clapham Junction to...
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