Great Western Coffee Shop

I discovered about an hour ago, from the desk at Temple Meads, that advance booking is also required for the Cardiff-Portsmouth trains, although in the words of the staff member who served me "They're a bit more flexible on those trains". Just as well I did ask as I'd been assuming that if I didn't get the 0700 Paddington train (to Bath) I could always get the 0722. But no. (So I booked on to the 0722 for the sake of being a bit longer over breakfast.  ;)) I was also told, contrary to what has been mentioned before, that it's not possible to book a bike space on multiple trains "just in case".

GWR bike policy is that "reservations can be made on some services between Cardiff Central and Portsmouth Harbour; and between Bristol Temple Meads and Penzance", but not that they must be made. It sounds like the staff member was misinformed.

(You're right, though, it isn't just HSTs: the 180s, as used on the Cotswold Line and elsewhere, also require reservations now.)

I wondered if it might be something like that. We'll see tomorrow what a reservation on a non-compulsory service means in practice. I know those services are often very popular with cyclists, so I'm not necessarily expecting a space...

Four bikes in the nominally three-bike space in the corridor. Three of us were going to the same event! I note the same space in SW Trains is only laid out for two bikes. In practice, four bikes without luggage still leave space for vast majority of people to get by, but I'm not convinced a wheelchair would get past even two. Presumably it's been calculated to leave sufficient space but that assumes all handlebars etc will be within the storage space (and that no one's left suitcases there) not projecting into corridor width.