Many thanks for all the helpful comments. It seems you have to be "creative" and careful about what you ask for ! I did try "via" to get the route I was after, but sometimes the result was telling me to get off at a "via" station and get the next train on from there - even though the train I had just got off went to the same place. Most odd !
Eventually I learned to get what I was after. Two changes on the outward leg and only one on the return leg. Still a long ride for him though ! Must tell his mum to give him plenty of sarnies for the trip. £64.75 for an OPR, not too bad !

 

Another forum is describing this as an unreliable source. Does anybody have any good information?

 
And today, it's not the IET engines that are the main source of problems.

There seems to have been a major signalling meltdown.

Latest scores:

1P22 1059 Great Malvern to London Paddington : delayed after West Drayton, arrived +34.
1P24 1158 Great Malvern to London Paddington : arrived +23.
1P28 1318 Hereford to London Paddington : cancelled throughout.
1P34 1632 Great Malvern to London Paddington () : started from Worcester Foregate Street, held Norton (17:51 : +54) and Evesham (+73), benefits from a 16-minute stand at Moreton, arrived Reading +56, cancelled thereafter.
1P38 1802 Worcester Foregate Street to London Paddington : cancelled throughout.
2E16 18:51 Evesham to Oxford : started from Moreton-in-Marsh.
1P36 17:26 Worcester Foregate Street to London Paddington (19:53) : held Shrub Hill (17:53 : +22) and Norton (+70), arrived +60.
1P40 19:02 Great Malvern to London Paddington (21:28) : started from Worcester Shrub Hill, operated via Stroud.
1P42 19:45 Great Malvern to London Paddington () : started from Worcester Shrub Hill...

1W01 09:52 London Paddington to Hereford : cancelled throughout.
1W27 13:50 London Paddington to Great Malvern (16:15) : 10-car train, departed +19, arrived Shrub Hill +27, Foregate St +39, cancelled thereafter
1W30 15:23 London Paddington to Foregate St (17:47) : cancelled throughout.
2E14 17:05 Didcot Parkway to Evesham : Charlbury 17:49 (+1), arrived Ascott +55, arrived Moreton-in-Marsh +56 and cancelled thereafter.
1W31 15:52 London Paddington to Great Malvern (18:26) : departed Kingham +8, arrived Moreton +10 (17:28), departed +79 (seventy-nine), benefits from a 13-minute stand at Evesham, arrived Worcester Shrub Hill +76 and cancelled thereafter.
1W33 16:58 London Paddington to Great Malvern (19:25) : departed Charlbury +11, arrived Kingham +47, arrived Worcester Shrub Hill +58 and cancelled thereafter.
1W34 17:57 London Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street (20:11) : operated via Stroud.
1W03 17:34 London Paddington to Hereford : held outside Oxford, arrived Oxford +33, departed +47, held Evesham (+70) and Ledbury (+97 - ninety-seven)...
1W36 18:57 London Paddington to Great Malvern : departed +16, held Evesham (+45), ...

The 17:34 to Hereford, currently 97 late departing Ledbury is being reported on Journeycheck as

 
For anyone who wants to follow the whole debate it is in Hansard for last Tuesday (9th December)

https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/2025-12-09/debates/7039D109-38B4-4AF5-A073-F7DABDF1D30D/NetworkRailTimetableChangesRuralCommunities

 
Moray Council have issued a statement.

Mark

https://newsroom.moray.gov.uk/news/garmouthspey-viaduct-update-15-december-2025

 

That would be 999 then.


Or just a couple of key presses on your smartphone app (which I know you have)

 
Chime Whistle Publishing tweeted earlier and here and here


I can not find any further detail yet, but GWR will have to load them fairly soon. Eyes peeled, folks.

 
The £64.75 fare is from "Liverpool Stations".

In spite of this, the National Rail Journey Planner cannot seem to cope with the return destination in Liverpool being different from the Origin (e.g. Lime Street vs. Central). It merely says:


Note: the £64.75 Saver fare carries the 8A restriction - meaning that it is not restricted by time of use, on any day of the week. However, break of journey is not allowed (until recently was allowed on return journey, but no longer?...)

 

More friendly individual tables can be found indeed via
https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/travel-information/timetables/national-rail-timetables/

P.S.  East Coast main line now Table 20.

 

THANK YOU - downloaded and made available

 

Yes, at the end of the day, Hitachi delivered on a byzantine spec/contract that many felt defied the laws of physics, out of a new plant, in a new country and put up with the changes when Grayling decided that the electrification of Bristol and Oxford would be postponed.

I suspect that some of the issues like the seat padding and the fuel pumps are the result of initial penny-pinching and contracts that make replacement at Hitachi's costs, so the latter is incentivised to follow the letter of the contract rather than customer comfort. Does anyone know if Hitachi are actually making money on the original DfT contract, or the First Group 802 follow-on for that matter?

And as for Bath, yes, I remember well the NIMBY's and the costly measures that had to be deployed at places like Sydney Gardens.

 
Or this more user-friendly version? They do seem to move it every couple of years, and will no doubt do so again as GBR develops.  I just hope they don't renumber them again; I'm still getting used to the latest tweaks as I knew a lot off by heart previously.  How can the ECML not be Table 26?  Seperate (sic!) pdf for each table, but they can all be downloaded at once then unzipped. 

 
Sarah Gibson MP, Chippenham Constituency is in Lacock Village, United Kingdom. Video in Parliament

Spoken in the debate:

Words on Facebook:

The last bus from Chippenham bus station leaves for Lacock at 17:30 (railway station at 17:36).  To catch it, you need to be on the 16:56 train from Swindon (17:08 at Chippenham). In theory the 17:22 train from Swindon might work - but 3 minutes at Chippenham is cutting it fine.



The cancellation rate for the next train that some of the Wiltshire College students use - the 18:00 - is 10%.  Industry stats (from 2024) show us that train when it runs carries an average of 55 people - the busiest of the day.   Yes, it does go through Lacock.  Minor problem that the station there closed in 1966 so the train doesn't actually stop ...

 
Try this. The complete timetable is the second line down
https://timetables.fabdigital.uk/nrt/dec2025/

 

In the nick of time then! 

 

Your wish is about to be granted.....my understanding is that this starts on January 5th.

https://x.com/chimewhistle/status/2000278585152577675?s=43&t=xkfWmHOnbkxHSxxmzGCejw

 
First return trip to Hereford cancelled this morning.

 

Because the planners are programmed to provide the quickest journeys via valid routings....If you want the 'shortest'/fewest changes/different parameters, you need to specify - using the 'via' tool

 
  Anybody know why GWR have chosen not to operate the sleeper 21st /22nd /23rd December this year ?

 

Here's one that couldn't be found elsewhere ...

 
Perhaps saying "outdated" rather than "incorrect" would have been a bit clearer.
It does, in it's present form, read in a rather eyebrow raising way.

 

I have to have some sympathy for Hitachi, though.  There's far, far more diesel running than was planned / expected - these trains should be running under electric OHLE power to Bath, Bristol, Oxford, Port Talbot and Swansea.

 
Searched for a guide from TfW as to how buses in Wales work and landed on the following page.

"New and incorrect timetables"

The title made my head spin a little, is it just me?

Mark

https://www.traveline.cymru/disruptions/2197/

 

Looks as if TfW's fares cap is currently at £4 (with exceptions, one of which is for the 'T1C' service...).

Mark

https://traws.cymru/en/changes-fares-selected-services

 
This reminds me of living south of Aberystwyth, a field on a river bend that never flooded so was ploughed and a winter crop planted as the farmer didn't expect  what happened next - heavy rain saw the river take a short cut across the bend and took both crop and a lot of topsoil downstream and out of the estuary. This caused the finger to be pointed at forestry practices upstream by Pontrhydygroes - but then again, this did involve the river that was prone to surprises, e.g. it's the one that killed the railway south from Aberystwyth, so who knows.

(Unsupported assertion: the first diesel loco ever to arrive at Aberystwyth came via Lampeter etc...)

Mark

 
It is a pity that modern evolution can make technology winderful but often so sensitive. Trains are now especially so with all the electrics slung underneath.

Being old enough, I can recall my only return trip along the S&D branch to Highbridge in the middle of a cloudburst, c1964. Train (Ivatt 2-6-2?) plus basic coaches left Evercreech on time and then swam through 3ft+ deep water in the vicinity of Pylle with not a care. I observed very wet conditions along the Somerset Levels. On arrival at Highbridge it was still raining but we ventured to the main road/High Steet (A38 then). We found it so unexciting with nowhere to hide. So we simply had to return to the station and occupy the waiting room for around 2 hours to await the return trip. Travellers tales.   

 
I understand the old station footbridge at Chippenham is too low, and being listed or heritage status probably can't be taken away.  But these days there are special lifting and jacking techniques so can probably be lifted and riser spacers added.  Then just add a couple of extra steps at the bottom of each staircase.

As far as I am aware there is no remaining obstructions between Bathampton Junction and the K&A aqueduct either.  Clearly doing this would help BEMUs as they could change mode away from the junction where they need to accelerate.   I write this as I have just discovered East Midland new 810s cannot work to Corby on electric because they pass an engine warm up beacon as wires don't extend far enough.

But with 5 trains an hour (sometimes 6 if including freight) Bath really ought to be a section that gets urgent electrification.  Especially as Hitachi seems unable to keep all IET engines operational.  Although I do not know why so many fuel pumps seem to be low quality and failing.

I have heard Hitachi are self certifying defects, and GWR has option to audit the defect list, but I wonder if they actually do it (as in send legal and audit staff armed with spirit levels to check seat sag, microbe swabs to check cleanliness of edge of windows, gas analysers to check exhausts and toilet smells etc.  Hitachi are paid a lot, and don't really seem to fully deliver diesel mode and passenger comfort on IETs.