The service gap between 2134 and 2334 has put me off using the train for longer trips when I'm unsure when I'll be returning to Reading. I can live with a one hour gap, but not two.

This also creates a gap in the morning peak timetable into Reading, which isn't much of an issue for me but must impact others.

The Tiger site appears to have stopped working over the weekend.

I must pop down and take a look as the crossing is a short cycle from my front door. The notice also mentions upgrading the path on the Shepherds Meadow side of the crossing - I hope they've done a good job as the old path was not really suitable for cycling and was also prone to flooding.

Well, they did say there would be a "a few ripples." None of the new URLs are working, but the old ones are still good.

I stupidly updated my bookmark for Blackwater departures and have managed to grab the old link by visiting here, for which many thanks!

Slightly late to this subject, it's noticeable a fair number of messages in this thread seem to take WFH^▸ (Working From Home) for granted. Presumably these contributors have home offices or similar that were set up pre-COVID?

It would be interesting to learn the proportion of 20 to 30-somethings who have the privacy and space to WFH.

Pre-COVID, large numbers of young people were commuting to Reading from my local station, Blackwater. Given the goatee beard quotient and the abundance of trendy satchells/rucksacks, I'd hazard a guess many were heading for the big tech employers in the Thames Valley Business Park. I happen to know, via a friend who works in the local estate agent, that rentals in Blackwater have been at a premium for years due to this influx of young commuters. I wonder how many are in house shares that make WFH far more challenging?

Something not mentioned in the article is a planned footbridge between the platforms will make travel between Reading and Aldershot more attractive, with far more robust connections at Ash and a typical journey time of 50m.

The current arrangements are far from ideal, with passengers either risking a walk over the level crossing at Ash in the very short gaps between the NDL services and the Farnham - Guildfords (any minor delay can easily result in a 30 or 60 minute wait) or using the walking interchange between Ash Vale and North Camp.

Of course Reading - Aldershot passengers can also travel via Ascot (typical journey time 1h12m), but they may lose the will to live en route!

Network Rail have posted a photo here.  Significant work is going on.

https://www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk/resources/wanborough-2

Last night's storm has resulted in another landslip in the Wanborough area, closing the line between Ash and Guildford. An hourly shuttle is running between Reading and Ash and NRE^‡(resolve) reports a similar schedule on the 28th.

Fingers are crossed it won't be a long job to fix the problem.

Aha! I was on the 20:30 arrival on Saturday evening and, suffice to say, we all got rather wet exiting the station, traversing the edge of a substantial lake.

When I travelled again yesterday, the entrance to Platform 2 was still surrounded by a lot of mud, however the footpath was clear.

Further to 5. above. It is cheaper to purchase split season tickets (trains do not have to stop at the splitting point for this type of split):-

7 day ticket prices applicable from the fares change:-
£  26.80 Pewsey - Bedwyn
£138.30 Bedwyn - London Terminals
£165.10 Total

A couple of years ago I made a day trip from Blackwater to Totnes (when there was an early morning direct service via Westbury and a corresponding early evening return service that both stopped at the splitting points listed below).

Tickets purchased:-
Blackwater - Newbury: Anytime Day Return
Newbury - Pewsey: Anytime Day Return
Pewsey - Westbury: Anytime Day Return
Westbury - Taunton: Off Peak Return
Taunton - Totnes: Off Peak Day Return

I could have shaved off a few more pennies by also splitting at Wokingham.

Using today's prices, splitting tickets costs £18.00 + £9.80 + £9.70 + £21.50 + £17.40, totalling to £76.40.

Through ticket prices:-
Anytime Return - £252
or an Anytime Day Single - £126 plus a Super Off Peak Single - £47.30, totalling to £173.30.

In others words, splitting saved £175.60 (69%) compared with the Anytime Return, or a still substantial £96.90 (56%) when compared with the two Singles.

Hmm, that'll hurt the ROSCO^» (Rolling Stock Owning Company - about)'s profit margin. That GWR have applied pressure, and the ROSCO has buckled, says plenty.

Smells of last chance saloon to me. I await developments with interest.

An insider posting on the RailUK forum says the 769s are now planned to run on diesel throughout, as Network Rail have objected to the additional loading on the 3rd rail infrastructure between Redhill and Gatwick.

Also, the 769s cannot transfer to electric operation "on the go", which means that GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) had already discounted the use of the 3rd rail between Ash and Guildford.

[sarcasm]I am so looking forward to the introduction of this stock.[/sarcasm]

Sorry, I don't visit this forum very often and have just seen your post.

A routeing that doesn't involve walking or buying two tickets is available, but you may lose the will to live en route due to the lengthy journey time caused by poor connections. Here's an itinerary for Monday morning:-

11:13 d: Wokingham
11:37 a: Ash
-------
12:03 d. Ash
12:10 a: Aldershot
-------
12:34 d: Aldershot
12:46 a: Brookwood

Unfortunately it is very difficult to "force" NRE^‡(resolve) to display this route.

The OP^▸ (Original Poster / topic starter) asked other forum members to share their experiences.

My local station, Blackwater, is in a Penalty Fares area and is served by two TVMs^▸ (Ticket Vending Machine). Although only served by GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway), many tickets from Blackwater are priced by SWR^» (South Western Railway - about), probably because it used to be a member of the now-defunct Farnborough Stations Group.

Now here's the thing, SWT^▸ (South West Trains) (as was) decided to bump their off peak revenue for journeys heading away from London by introducing time-restricted Super Off Peak tickets. These were priced the same as the old Off Peak tickets, while the new Off Peak tickets "benefited" from a c.20% price increase.

The slight problem is, the TVMs at Blackwater never display these country-bound Super Off Peak tickets and I've been caught out at least twice, to GWR and SWR's benefit. Also the TVMs will not offer point to point fares from Blackwater to many stations in Greater London at all, necessitating a purchase on the train (which the guards are happy to do).