Westbury to Reading

[James Wake]

Hello everyone,

After doing the Imberbus service this year, on Sunday 27th August I'm travelling from Westbury to Reading on the 1251 London Paddington service (0830 from Penzance, 1A81). I have a reserved seat but it's not a good one so was going to aim for the unreserved coach as I have done before. Is this train particularly busy?

 

[cactustwirly]

Hello everyone,

After doing the Imberbus service this year, on Sunday 27th August I'm travelling from Westbury to Reading on the 1251 London Paddington service (0830 from Penzance, 1A81). I have a reserved seat but it's not a good one so was going to aim for the unreserved coach as I have done before. Is this train particularly busy?

Very likely to be busy, I would advise going to a ticket office and try to change your seat.

 

[James Wake]

I might just see how busy the unreserved coach is, then maybe just fork out for Weekend First, or might just call a loss and come back via Salisbury, although connections to Clapham Junction are poor.

 

[James Wake]

Problem is, due to my autism I need to be as close to the front of the train as possible, hence why I said about the unreserved coach, I'll go into First Class and just pay the £20 upgrade if necessary. I have seat C39, which is way too far back. Booking on Southern website, I couldn't select a seat.

 

[Kite159]

Problem is, due to my autism I need to be as close to the front of the train as possible, hence why I said about the unreserved coach, I'll go into First Class and just pay the £20 upgrade if necessary. I have seat C39, which is way too far back. Booking on Southern website, I couldn't select a seat.

Bear in mind at the moment there is a few GWR HST sets running around in reverse formation at the moment (First Class at the Country End) so you might get lucky with a reverse formation set.

One thing which may work in your favour is that it is a bank holiday weekend so the first train on the Sunday might be quieter than usual (with the trains back from Penzance on the Monday being busy)

 

[James Wake]

Bear in mind at the moment there is a few GWR HST sets running around in reverse formation at the moment (First Class at the Country End) so you might get lucky with a reverse formation set.

One thing which may work in your favour is that it is a bank holiday weekend so the first train on the Sunday might be quieter than usual (with the trains back from Penzance on the Monday being busy)

I might go and collect it from Three Bridges later and see if seat A73, 75 or 76 is free, in case a reverse formation set turns up. When I booked the ticket, it said that it was the last advance left in that tier, so not sure what that might indicate about how busy it will be. I think you might have a good point Kite about the BH Weekend.

 

[James Wake]

I actually got a reverse formation set from Bridgend to London Paddington last March, boards were wrong actually, and seat A73, as well as most seats in that coach were unreserved, so that was great.

 

[cactustwirly]

Problem is, due to my autism I need to be as close to the front of the train as possible, hence why I said about the unreserved coach, I'll go into First Class and just pay the £20 upgrade if necessary. I have seat C39, which is way too far back. Booking on Southern website, I couldn't select a seat.

The unreserved coach(es) are E & F towards the middle/rear of the train.

BTW you can't select a seat on GWR trains anyway, however if you are heading westbound, then if you select the quiet coach you'll be put in coach A which is at the very front.

There's normally a few unreserved seats in coach A anyway...

 

[James Wake]

The unreserved coach(es) are E & F towards the middle/rear of the train.

BTW you can't select a seat on GWR trains anyway, however if you are heading westbound, then if you select the quiet coach you'll be put in coach A which is at the very front.

There's normally a few unreserved seats in coach A anyway...

I have got a specific seat from GWR in the past, when I went to Swindon last August I reserved seat A73 both ways although on the way back the train was the correct way round so I headed to the unreserved coach. I think I did it through telesales, anyway I'll see what happens on the day.