Haverfordwest to Southampton return advice

[Anonymous10]

Hi everyone, I'll shortly be travelling Haverfordwest to Southampton Central my plan is outlined below but I'm wondering if I'm better paying the extra to take gwr to reading and xc to Southampton.

Leave Haverfordwest 1315 arriving in Southampton c1900 on 21st April

Leave Southampton 25th c 1400 arrive back in Haverfordwest 2000.

I have a 16-25 railcard and would like a comfortable seat and possibly table space as may be doing work towards a course or reading.

Any help is greatly appreciated

 

[mangyiscute]

First of all, just to note I think you forgot to say what day you're returning on.
Looking on https://trainsplit.com (I guessed returning on the 24th April) it suggests you can travel via Salisbury for about £40-50 or via Reading for £70-80. Obviously, the via Reading route is, as you suggest, intercity stock so nicer to do work, especially since the turbos that operate the Southampton to Cardiff service don't have tables on the back of seats or between the 4/6 seating areas. However, since you would be boarding that service either at (Cardiff) or near (southampton, as it starts in Portsmouth) its starting point, I would expect you to be able to get a seat quite easily. On the route through Reading, I would also expect you to be able to get a seat and on both the XC between Reading and Southampton and the GWR between Reading and Swansea it has tables at every seat - its just up to you whether thats worth the extra money

 

[Anonymous10]

First of all, just to note I think you forgot to say what day you're returning on.
Looking on https://trainsplit.com (I guessed returning on the 24th April) it suggests you can travel via Salisbury for about £40-50 or via Reading for £70-80. Obviously, the via Reading route is, as you suggest, intercity stock so nicer to do work, especially since the turbos that operate the Southampton to Cardiff service don't have tables on the back of seats or between the 4/6 seating areas. However, since you would be boarding that service either at (Cardiff) or near (southampton, as it starts in Portsmouth) its starting point, I would expect you to be able to get a seat quite easily. On the route through Reading, I would also expect you to be able to get a seat and on both the XC between Reading and Southampton and the GWR between Reading and Swansea it has tables at every seat - its just up to you whether thats worth the extra money

Yes post is now edited

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 16 Apr 2023 ==

First of all, just to note I think you forgot to say what day you're returning on.
Looking on https://trainsplit.com (I guessed returning on the 24th April) it suggests you can travel via Salisbury for about £40-50 or via Reading for £70-80. Obviously, the via Reading route is, as you suggest, intercity stock so nicer to do work, especially since the turbos that operate the Southampton to Cardiff service don't have tables on the back of seats or between the 4/6 seating areas. However, since you would be boarding that service either at (Cardiff) or near (southampton, as it starts in Portsmouth) its starting point, I would expect you to be able to get a seat quite easily. On the route through Reading, I would also expect you to be able to get a seat and on both the XC between Reading and Southampton and the GWR between Reading and Swansea it has tables at every seat - its just up to you whether thats worth the extra money

Ok thanks my experience of turbos out of Cardiff at about 5 is that its crush loaded and no spare tables even if there 15 mins before the train I'm currently awaiting info off gwr if I can change onto the gwr at Swansea on an off peak

 

[mangyiscute]

Ok thanks my experience of turbos out of Cardiff at about 5 is that its crush loaded and no spare tables even if there 15 mins before the train I'm currently awaiting info off gwr if I can change onto the gwr at Swansea on an off peak

Ah fair, I haven't really used those trains so your experience means a lot more.
If you hold an off peak return, there is no issue with changing onto the GWR at Swansea, although it looks like the 13:15 from Haverfordwest should connect onto the 15:54 at Cardiff to Reading which starts in Cardiff
If you don't wish to be tied to specific trains, you can save £10 by buying a Haverfordwest to Swindon return, and a Swindon to Southampton return, rather than just the one ticket. However, you must take a train that stops at Swindon, which basically means you have to travel via Reading

If you put in your journey details to https://trainsplit.com it will show you any options using split tickets which can potentially save you a decent amount of money as long as you ensure you are on a train that calls at the stations you split at (although trainsplit will do this anyway if you follow their provided itinerary), and if you are certain of what time trains you want to take, you can use advance tickets too which can also save money but mean you have to travel on a specific train.

 

[Anonymous10]

Ah fair, I haven't really used those trains so your experience means a lot more.
If you hold an off peak return, there is no issue with changing onto the GWR at Swansea, although it looks like the 13:15 from Haverfordwest should connect onto the 15:54 at Cardiff to Reading which starts in Cardiff
If you don't wish to be tied to specific trains, you can save £10 by buying a Haverfordwest to Swindon return, and a Swindon to Southampton return, rather than just the one ticket. However, you must take a train that stops at Swindon, which basically means you have to travel via Reading

If you put in your journey details to https://trainsplit.com it will show you any options using split tickets which can potentially save you a decent amount of money as long as you ensure you are on a train that calls at the stations you split at (although trainsplit will do this anyway if you follow their provided itinerary), and if you are certain of what time trains you want to take, you can use advance tickets too which can also save money but mean you have to travel on a specific train.

Ok thanks, I've also had experience of over 9 minutes delay on this route to Cardiff if on super off peak can I just use the next train to London / Portsmouth to make my destination

 

[Snow1964]

Ok thanks my experience of turbos out of Cardiff at about 5 is that its crush loaded and no spare tables even if there 15 mins before the train I'm currently awaiting info off gwr if I can change onto the gwr at Swansea on an off peak

When I last used turbo about that time at Cardiff (about 2 months ago), was easy to sit down when train came in (about 10 minutes before departure ), but filled rapidly just before departure with about 40% the carriage then getting off at Newport. So looks like they do one stop whatever comes first.

Got a bit busier at Filton, then has quite a churn through to Bradford-on-Avon or Trowbridge area, but no problem if already sitting down.

If you are lucky might be a 166 with a declassified first class area at one end (although they are rather tatty nowadays).

 

[mangyiscute]

Ok thanks, I've also had experience of over 9 minutes delay on this route to Cardiff if on super off peak can I just use the next train to London / Portsmouth to make my destination

If your previous train is delayed, you can catch the next train on the same route no matter what type of ticket you have (even including advance). In this case, whether you could also go via Portsmouth would depend on what ticket(s) you had bought

 

[Anonymous10]

If your previous train is delayed, you can catch the next train on the same route no matter what type of ticket you have (even including advance). In this case, whether you could also go via Portsmouth would depend on what ticket(s) you had bought

Ok thanks that's all very useful information

 

[mangyiscute]

Ok thanks that's all very useful information

It is worth noting with an advance ticket it can be advisable to speak to a member of staff on the delayed train or at the station who can provide you with a permit to board a train that isn't the one specified on your ticket, but you don't have to, it can just potentially save you having to argue with staff

 

[Anonymous10]

It is worth noting with an advance ticket it can be advisable to speak to a member of staff on the delayed train or at the station who can provide you with a permit to board a train that isn't the one specified on your ticket, but you don't have to, it can just potentially save you having to argue with staff

Ok thanks will definitely keep that in mind

 

[paul1609]

It may be worth considering a Severn and Solent 3 in 7 Rover which is £47.80 with railcard and covers the route between Cardiff and Southampton via Bath or Swindon but not Reading. (I imagine that the XC service between Reading and Southampton may well be problematic atm anyway because of the closure north of Didcot Parkway) That would give you an extra day to visit say Portsmouth or Bournemouth whilst in Southampton or would allow you to take a circuitous route in either direction if that's your thing. Obviously you'd need separate advance or off peak return between Haverford and Cardiff.

 

[Anonymous10]

It may be worth considering a Severn and Solent 3 in 7 Rover which is £47.80 with railcard and covers the route between Cardiff and Southampton via Bath or Swindon but not Reading. (I imagine that the XC service between Reading and Southampton may well be problematic atm anyway because of the closure north of Didcot Parkway) That would give you an extra day to visit say Portsmouth or Bournemouth whilst in Southampton or would allow you to take a circuitous route in either direction if that's your thing. Obviously you'd need separate advance or off peak return between Haverford and Cardiff.

Thanks I've looked at realtime trains and appears to be running as usual between Didcot and Bournemouth. I enjoy seeing new parts of the UK while I travel by train and reading in comfort I'm thinking xc may be the better option for that

 

[yorkie]

If you choose to take a route that offers actual reservations (not just 'counted place' Advances), you could refer to a PDF seat map of the relevant service and obtain a seat reservation at a table seat.

The forum's site will offer this; add the ticket to your basket and you can change seat at the basket stage.

Providing you are following a valid itinerary, you are allowed to catch the next service* in the event of delays (* adhering to any applicable operator and/or route restriction as appropriate, unless advised otherwise); this is regardless of ticket(s) held. While anyone can produce an itinerary themselves, and do their own custom 'splitting', using an accreddited split ticketing site (such as provided by the forum) provides indisputable evidence of the itinerary being valid at the time of purchase.