Increasing restrictions on conveying cycles on trains

[brianleach]

I think you may be making life harder for yourself then it needs to be. I've always booked tickets and bike spaces in one operation on the First Great Western website. I don't think I've bought tickets from the rebranded site (gwr.com) but I'm assuming that the basic system is still the same . I would very much doubt that the fares on trainline are cheaper than booking direct.

You are probably right, its just that the trainline is easy to book online. However if you have to then ring to book the bike it rather negates the easy booking. I now have 25 pieces of card/tickets for the Orkney journey excluding the ferry!!

[PH]

You can also book a bike reservation at the smae time as a ticket on the Virgin East Coast website - not just for Virgin trains. At least as simple to use as the Trainline.
https://www.virgintrainseastcoast.com/

[Richard Fairhurst]

Generally thetrainline is more expensive - they charge a booking fee (£1 debit card, £4.50 credit card), whereas train companies themselves don't.

[Bmblbzzz]

We seem to have two threads on this topic running in parallel:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=104630&p=997398#p997398
Maybe mods can merge them?

[andymiller]

We seem to have two threads on this topic running in parallel:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=104630&p=997398#p997398
Maybe mods can merge them?

The other thread seems to be mainly about commuting with a bike in Scotland.This one? Folding bikes, bike reservations, eurostar - so probably a complicated enough discussion already. I'm not sure merging the threads would help. Probably kill off both discussions.

[jgurney]

I intended to take the bike from Winchester to Castle Cary and then cycle to Glastonbury. On enquiring I found there was no space on my intended train and the price of the ticket on which the space was available was twice the original one.

Changing at Reading? I've done Reading - Castle Cary to ride to Glastonbury several times, and never found them full, but I can see it could happen as there are relatively few trains stopping at Castle Cary. There are alternatives:

1) Go to Basingstoke, change for a through train to Castle Cary via Yeovil Junction (that section requires booking). These only run twice per day at present, and are slower so they will not show up on a planner website set to the default 'fastest route' setting.

2) Go to Basingstoke, change for Yeovil Junction (that section also requires booking) then ride 2 miles from Yeovil Junction to Thornford Bridge station for a train to Castle Cary. This will not show up on rail planner websites because of the ride between stations, but it is possible to get a through ticket. Thornford Bridge is a request station, so if going that way do wave at the driver or the train may pass through without stopping.

P.S. if you like real ales or ciders, you may have already found the Travellers Rest at Stone, a very good stop on the Castle Cary - Glastonbury cycling route.

[brianleach]

In the event I was unwell and unable to go anyway but thanks for all the suggestions. I shall certainly consider them next time.

[Richard Fairhurst]

2) Go to Basingstoke, change for Yeovil Junction (that section also requires booking) then ride 2 miles from Yeovil Junction to Thornford Bridge station for a train to Castle Cary. This will not show up on rail planner websites because of the ride between stations, but it is possible to get a through ticket. Thornford Bridge is a request station, so if going that way do wave at the driver or the train may pass through without stopping.

It's interesting how a bike opens up new train journey possibilities like that. When I lived part-time in Burton-on-Trent, on the occasions I needed to travel to the north-west by train, I got into the habit of cycling five miles to the little station at Tutbury & Hatton and catching a train from there, rather than going direct from Burton. The price saving was immense - a day return to Ellesmere Port could be had for £18, whereas travelling from Burton would have cost £60.

[andymiller]

P.S. if you like real ales or ciders, you may have already found the Travellers Rest at Stone, a very good stop on the Castle Cary - Glastonbury cycling route.

This one? (I'm assuming).

Travellers Rest Stone Ln, East Pennard, Shepton Mallet BA4 6RY, travellersrest.org.uk, 01749 860069 (Google Maps)

It looks like a good tip.

[jgurney]

This one? (I'm assuming).

That's the one. Well placed on the back-lane route from Castle Cary that comes out at the foot of Glastonbury Tor.

[jgurney]

I travelled by train from Cornwall to Passau last summer to ride the Danube trail, returning from Vienna via Munich, Amsterdam, Hook of Holland, Harwich, London to Truro. From this December the Amsterdam / Munich City Night Line is being withdrawn so this will not be possible in future .

Petition against the closure of City Night Line at viewtopic.php?f=16&t=105529

[Richard Fairhurst]

As a footnote to the earlier discussion, I've been in contact with GWR about the rules for folding bikes on long-distance trains from May. Their leaflet/website say a maximum wheel size of 18in, which rules out almost anything but a Brompton, and is contrary to pretty much any other train company. I've now had confirmation that this will be revised to 20in.

In practice I don't envisage there being a problem on non-rush hour trains even with larger-wheeled folders (such as Airnimals), especially if bagged. But it's good to know that most folders are officially ok.

[SA_SA_SA]

I thought in the past only compact/Brompton small-suitcase-sized folders fitted the 90x70x30cm luggage restriction* and any others were allowed only due to a guard/conductor 'turning a (friendly) blind eye'.

* from the (old?) national conditions of carriage
https://www.cyclescheme.co.uk/community/how-to/bike-rail-commuting
see Bikes as baggage section. Is this obsolete now and train company dependant?

[Kernowboy]

Thanks Richard for the clarification on the permitted wheel size when the new policy is introduced in a few weeks. In your communications with GWR it would be good to find out how many cycles the new HST rolling stock will carry? Currently it's six, however in line with other operators I would guess that cycle spaces may be sacrificed for more seats. A member of GWR staff I spoke to recently suggested that there will be hanging spaces in the carriages as opposed to the current goods compartment. On a plus note he also mentioned that you will be able to book a bike space from your smart phone on the day of travel instead of the 24 hours notice currently required, but have not seen any of this confirmed.

[Richard Fairhurst]

Yes, that's the intention, and stated publicly in the GWR bike policy: "With the introduction of Super Express Trains in 2017, it is intended to make the cycle policy system 'live', allowing customers to book bikes onto trains at very short notice."

I believe it'll be 10 hanging spaces on the 9-car trains, 4 hanging spaces on the 5-car trains, and they look like this: http://hitachirail-eu.mynewsdesk.com/im ... ace-323845