Great Western Coffee Shop

[15th October, 08:00, near Basingstoke]

I'm on the 07:35 from Andover into Waterloo. Although it's a rush hour train, I have a seat ... and at a table too so that I'm able to have my laptop open and do a little typing.  The seat is soft and comfortable, and in spite of the foggy, foggy morning the train is on time.  When I get to London, I'll be near enough to my final destination to walk rather than use the tube or a bus. And my fare is only 42.90 pounds return.

I checked when I woke this morning to see about the alternative route from Melksham / Chippenham to London, and saw straight away that an least some trains were missing out the Bath and Chippenham stops. I could have spent over 100.00 pounds, taken my chances, and ended up in Paddington with that horrid onward journey Eastwards into the heart of London where Brunel's railway expires on the outskirts.

Andrew Haines, a former Managing Director of South West Trains is now in charge at First Great Western. My morning comparison shows just how much work he has to do. I understand he's planning to be at the FGW helm for less that a year; I wish him all the best in turning the services around, and look forward to being wooed back onto the more logical western route from my home town for my London journeys.

If SWTs Bristol-Waterloo service was more frequent and took a bit less time Id use it, cheaper and some would say since the refurb of HSTs a bit more comfortable.

You were very wise in your choice of route this morning Graham following what appears to be chaos due to overrunning engineering works. Can't blame FGW on this occasion. I can Imagine Mr Haines or his managers giving Network Rail one heck of a rocket this morning.

I go SWT every time, well, weekdays anyway! Even if a change is needed at Salisbury, it's still excelent value compared to FGW!

Not for the delays, no, I can't blame FGW.   But my ticket was only half the fare, I got comfortable seats with tables, and ended up at Waterloo (so could walk onwards).  The natural [Melksham] alternative - with good inbound timing - was just TOO dangerous in case I missed the only homebound service, or (as turned out to be the case) could have left me hanging around for hours or doing a bus transfer.

Drive to Chippenham?   Worst of several worlds even on a good train day. Awkward to get into town to park.  Then pay to park. Then pay more for the journey.  And today's trip had to be peak, had to be moveable around, and had to be personally financed.

Now about Devizes Parkway ;-) ...