So just in case any of you were spending sleepless nights worrying about the cliffhanger finale episode, here it is..
-GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) Customer Service continually refused to help in a delightfully 'passive-aggressive' manner reminisce of living in a house-share, even refusing to provide a Deadlock letter in order for me to take to the rail ombudsmen
-Took the sage advice on here about emailing Mark Hopwood (MD) direct.
- Had a reply within a day,offering me the refund for that leg of the journey and an apology for how badly & incorrectly CS had dealt with it all.
- Bless his cotton socks ('gold plated'? Tickets ARE quite pricey..), he had the refund processed the same day, and was polite and fair to deal with, so he's totally won me over.
- Moral of the story? CS not so great with 'grey' cases and like to shoehorn them into black/white..Also get a bit pissy if you don't give up and leave them alone.But Mark is sensible and helpful.And this board is INVALUABLE for getting advice on what to do.. thanks to you all, and see you for Season 2!

..and they lived happily ever after.

I spent 104 mins staring at an empty field..(not even any livestock to improve the view..)..but the whole time I was assuming that given the length of the delay, I'd be refunded..(the interesting fact being that there were actually a team of Network Rail engineers working on the track next to us the whole delay..which is why I surmised that they may have accidentally left something on the track..because there weren't any trees for MILES,so a tree branch would be unlikely..)
How will I know when I have the 'deadlock' reply? Will it just be a blatant refusal to refund or look into the claim any further? Will it come with flashing red lights and a klaxon?
I'm just sticking with the 'unless you can PROVE what the obstruction was (and that it was something of your control, like a very small lost cow), then a refund should be forthcoming for that leg of the journey'.
(doesn't help that each email response takes over a week each time..)

Once again, massive thanks to you all for giving me alternatives other than 'cry until you get your own way'*
It's dragged on so long now that it's not even about the money anymore, and more about the principle.
(but given that I paid £98 to stare at an empty field for an hour, it's also about the money..)

*also known as 'how I got my first BMX age 6'..

Latest uodate! GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) Customer service can't tell me what the obstruction was..apparently the report just says 'obstruction'...so this could either be 'a tree branch' (so not their fault at all), or a hammer with 'Property of Network Rail' (not their fault,but definitely someone's fault) How to proceed from here?A fair rail company would refund me given that they can't prove what it was either way,but Customer service seem to be enjoying my emails a bit too much to lose me..

Thanks for having me! This forum is such a great place to access the 'We-Hate-GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)' Hive Mind and get informed advice.. Whilst I doubt I'll get them to refund my ticket, I'll take great delight in keeping them busy with my endless pestering.Just hate the fact that short of a VERY long and sweaty run, they hold the monopoly on that particular route..so it's not like I can defect to another service provider in protest.Grr.

Good plan..anything not big enough to see and brake to avoid, shouldn't cause your train to fall to pieces. We wouldn't be having this argument if it had been a cow.. (they're just VERY good at avoiding paying out..I just have to amp up my 'Annoying' levels clearly.

Ha! KNEW there'd be some sort of magic phrase to get them to take me seriously..And way better than my Plan B, which was 'cry until they relent'.

Ugh..I figured as much.. I *have* asked them what the obstruction was (you like to think they would've found and moved it to avoid further problems), but they'll probably say 'an innocent tree branch' to avoid any paperwork..(despite it being in the middle of bloody open empty fields..) Guess it could've been worse,I could've missed a flight as a result and had to shell out a fortune for a later one..I imagine the Ombudsman will take the same opinion? Thanks everyone for your advice though!

You all seem pretty clued up about the minefield that is 'GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) Compensation', so hoping someone can offer some advice on if my claim is worth pursuing?
I got the 8:30am train from Paddington to Bath on the 18/12..just outside of Chippenham, the train made an ominous sound as it drove over something,abruptly stopped, and stayed like that for the next 90 mins whilst they tried to fix the problem...
We were told the train hit an obstruction on the line that damaged the airlock..(fortunately we weren't sucked out into the void of space, just something boring to do with the brakes...), and had to wait for the onboard engineer to try fix, then for a mobile repair unit to come out to repair when unsuccessful.
The ticket cost £98.
I missed an important work pitch as a result.
I wanted a refund at the very least.
HOWEVER, GWR are saying that as it was an obstruction on the line, it is out of their control. Fair enough, although this was in the middle of open fields, so unless the local cows lobbed a shopping trolley on the line, it was either a chunk of a previous train, or something left from Network Rail work on the line.My argument was that whilst THAT wasn't their fault, getting the train repaired & mobile in a timely fashion was..plus I have no doubt that all subsequent delayed/cancelled trains were eligible for compensation, so why not mine?The cafe ran out of food and drink as people stocked up for the unknown delay, and the toilets all suffered as a result.Not the best journey..(although the view was at least kinda pretty, to be fair.) Do I have ANY rights? I know GWR don't have 'Delay/Repay', but being stuck for 115min seems pretty unreasonable. I'd be happy with a goodwill gesture at least, but just getting the standard dismissive reply.. Help?