Neath - Taunton advice

[cymro]

Can anyone advise me as to what went wrong or what I did incorrectly?

Last Saturday I mand the first of several day trips from Neath to Taunton.

I wrote down the details of two trains from nationalrail.co.uk before I left

6:32 Neath arrive Cardiff 7:14
7:24 Cardiff arrive Bristol TM 8:19
8:44 Bristol TM arrive Taunton 9:15

and a later train

7:02 744
7:54 8:53
9:17 9:50

I caught the first train which was delayed by more than ten minutes throwing me onto the timetable for the second. The next train to Bristol TM was actually marked as
Taunton for the destination so I stayed on board but I did not arrive until after 10:30 My return journey was of a similar length. Was I on a slow train?
Was the Nationalrail info incorrect and I didn't need to change at Bristol?

Was there something wrong with the information?

 

[truckman060473]

assuming trains are on time, the rail enquiries site will suggest you get off a train at Bristol TM so as to catch one which isn't going into Weston super mare loop. if all is well this gets you to Taunton quicker. if things are delayed though it's a different story

 

[cymro]

Thanks I'd figured it must be something like that, If I were in charge of the website I would do something to highlight this kind of problem.

Part of the problem is the wretched barriers which act as a disincentive to go out to the Enquiries desk. I was in Germany a while ago. There were no barriers but the trains ran on time!

 

[TheExmoorBeast]

When you use the now god damned awful NRE website's journey planner don't forget to use the advanced options when planning as it includes a "Show overtaken trains" option, so initially it may only give you a single option, but by doing the advanced settings you may find that there are other faster options available.