Great Western Coffee Shop

Journey	2018 fare	2019 fare
Melksham to Swindon - any time day return	£9.90	£10.20
Melksham to Swindon - off peak day return	£7.40	£7.60
|
Melksham to Bristol Temple Meads any time return	£11.80	£12.10
|
Melksham to London (Paddington) any time return	£171.60	£177.00
Melksham to London (Paddington) off peak return	£72.30	£74.60
Melksham to London (Paddington) super off peak return	£54.30	£56.00

Some other Melksham fares for 2019

£18.60 off peak day return to Weymouth via Yeovil Pen Mill
£13.90 off peak day return to Salisbury
£24.30 off peak day return to Southampton Central

Notes to accompany the above table of fares from Melksham.

Off Peak to Swindon - valid on any train on a Saturday, Sunday or Bank Holiday, and on the 10:02 train and any later on Monday to Friday. No return restrictions.

Off peak to Salisbury, Weymouth, Southampton - valid on any train on Saturday, Sunday or Bank Holiday, and on the 09:15 or later on Monday to Friday. No return restrictions.

Super off peak to and from London valid on any train on Saturday, Sunday and Bank Holiday, any Monday to Friday train into London from 10:02 onwards, and return trains in the middle of the day.

Off peak tickets to and from London are valid on any trains that Super-off peak trains are valid on, and in addition mid afternoon trains and the 19:00 return train from Paddington.

Return fares quoted to Swindon, Bristol, Salisbury, Weymouth and  Southampton are day returns.  London fares quoted are valid for return travel on a later date.If you are making a day return trip to London, you may do better booking a day return to Didcot, and a day return from Didcot to London - but if you do that, you are required to travel on a train that calls at Didcot.

If you are travelling to or from London at a peak time, but your journey in the other direction is not at a peak, you may save money by buying single tickets for each direction.

If you know what time you'll be travelling and can be certain of catching that train, Advance fares for specific trains are often available - especially for trains which would normally be very quiet.

Fares quoted in this thread are adult fares without any railcard or group save discounts.   A wide variety of railcards is available, usually offering 34% discount but in some cases limited to certain times of day, or just off peak.  If you don't have a railcard but are travelling in a group, almost all off peak tickets are available as "Groupsave" - 3 or more people travel with a 34% discount.  Children aged 5 to 15 travel at 50% fare.

Regular (near-daily) travellers on the same route should consider a season ticket.  Passengers travelling extensively on different routes over a period of a few days should look at ranger and rover tickets.

E&OE - typed on the train (standing Swindon to Reading ... dropped back to the Bedwyn turbo to get a seat!) so may have some typos

And train times ...

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/mkmwinter18.jpg)

Note - the first Sunday train has been moved 8 minutes earlier - make sure you turn up at the station in time  ;D ;D

Christmas and New Year - most trains replaced by buses from 23rd December to 3rd January inclusive, and the bus times are different (buses are much slower than trains!).

I think that you may have made an error Grahame.  Is the off peak return to Swindon really more expensive than the anytime return?

I had my wording downside up.

Excuse:  I was doing it standing in a 7 car HST ... (noting that a bad workman) ...   anyway, fixing the text in a moment.