Great Western Coffee Shop

I'm interested to note that the North East Rover is not valid on open access operators Hull Trains or Grand Central but (I think) the All Line Rover is.  I'm also aware that the routes selected for the Great Western Way Discoverer Rover tickets have been selected to avoid having to split the income yet another way with Cross Country (just GWR and SWR trains) but I'm not sure whether you're allowed to catch a Transport for London train on the Paddington to Reading line.

What are the guidelines for deciding what's included, or is it a case of reading the fine print on each and every ticket, then checking it with the official source too?  I'm not the only one confused ...

You need to read the ticket conditions. OPen Access operators are not contracted to any rover (except the all-line one). I believe TOCs are able to choose whether to accept as there is nothing in the franchises (except the All-Line), as I understand - so I'm guessing the operator who offers the rover in question will offer it up to other TOCS (if they want to)

This is your answer - read the small print :)

For example, the rules governing all line rail rovers are here: https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/pr569241c35ce74100fb0de1b9798124.aspx

THe Great West Way discover rover rules are here: https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/211279.aspx

Barry Doe does a comprehensive guide on Railrovers each year in Rail magazine.  This year's is in the current edition which is on sale until tomorrow (next edition out on Wednesday)

So ... I think the answer is that the All Line Rover is a product where every TOC is included unless they get an exemption (opt out) but all the other rovers these days are product the TOCs and open access operators opt in; no tow are going to be quite the same and it comes down to reading the small print at the National Rail site.   Which is the place they're listed in alphabetic order ...

The link (thank you Robin) to the Great West Way Discoverer was actually to the East ticket ... complete set of links and description at
https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/211279.aspx Great West Way Discoverer East
https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/211294.aspx Great West Way Discoverer West
https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/211268.aspx Great West Way Discoverer Global

Other sources / leaflets still not 100% accurate to these conditions, but actually I was looking more to understand the North East ticket.   Looks like I'll be travelling up on Hull Trains to Retford - best advanced fare - then carrying dropping back to someone else's train (LNER) to be able to carry on with the rover - that's unless I head for Gainsorough Central, walk to Lea Road and get the train from there to Doncaster!

The Freedom of the North East page on National Rail Enquiries ( https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/pr41c8ce0a04000400a1e4a874e98bb8.aspx ) shows that it is valid on rains operated by LNER, Northern, Trans Pennine and Cross Country. That is going to cover by far the vast majority of services - the only TOC I can think of off the top of my head that runs trains in the area and isn't mentioned is Grand Central - there may of course be others.

I suppose it's best to think of these rovers in much the same way as one would a bus equivalent. For example, First Bus may offer a "tourer" ticket of some kind essentially saying "pay us this amount of money and you can ride around on our services to your heart's content." However, to have that ticket also available on Faresaver or Stagecoach services would require an agreement between the companies to allow it and, also behind the scenes of course, an agreement between them over how to split the proceeds.