With our new larger station! It's a good time to support the station user group 'Melksham Rail Users Group'. Come along to the Town Hall at Melksham on Wednesday 4th July at 19:30. Your input will be welcomed!

I assumed that feature hadn't been implemented yet, from your comment that's not the case. Was manual card reservations in both directions (maybe it was the same unit, I don't know -9:11  SWI^» (Swindon - next trains) to PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains) & 16:30  PAD to Taunton.)

To add to the above comments, I travelled from Swindon to London, and back today. It happened to be the first time I've been on the new supa-dupa electric (hybrid?) trains. All very excellent, but I can't understand why a fixed formation train needs to be in two halves. Apart from the comment re double staffing (I suspect that means it usually won't be fully staffed with a conductor in both sections), there is a serious issue for passengers when the trains are heavily loaded. Boarding at Paddington on the 16:30 to Taunton (I was changing at Swindon to the TransWilts) seemed to start quite close to the departure time. Crowds gathered at the gate awaiting for permission to board, and when it did, everyone rushed together to get seats. I suspect that most went into the first section of 5 coaches, and as they couldn't pass through to the other 5 coaches, were standing when probably there were seats in the front section. Well-done to the conductor who made annoucements to move to the other section. Given the cost of the new trains, to introduce operational difficulties that weren't there before seems surprising.
As an aside, I was also impressed by teh conductor removing unused seat reservation tickets when the train started, to open up the seats to passengers who didn't have reservations, that conductor definitely gets a tick in the box, praise where it's due.

Many thanks for all the comments. I was only trying to describe a potential problem for someone who isn't a frequent user, and who might be put off rail travel as a result.
I'm sure the conductor would have let me travel, all of them on the line are knowledgeable,  helpful and cooperative.
And yes, as I was breaking my journey at Swindon, I could have obtained the SWI^» (Swindon - next trains)-PAD^» (Paddington (London) - next trains) ticket there, albeit with a long walk to the station entrance.

Reading the comments in this thread, there are some issues/potential isssues, but overall I think we should be congratulating GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) for the vastly improved rolling stock this year, than the one car we've had to ensure in the rush hours previously. Coupled with the planned platform extension at Melksham, the trains and service are a major improvement to the transport infrastructure at Melksham, and more generally on the TransWilts corridor.

Today I went to Melksham to collect a prepaid to London for tomorrow (Wednesday),  just under £50s worth of tickets, split at Swindon. This staion has only 1 machine and it was out of service with no advice as what to do. If I had left it till travelling on Wednesday and the machine was still out of service, technically I would have had to buy another ticket to Swindon as the conductor can't issue prepaid tickets, and this would be the first opportunity I had  to get the ticket set.

I had deliberately collected the ticket today to allow time to sort any problems out (this has happened before), and as someone witha bit of knowledge of the system, drove to Chippenham this evening and got the tickets there.  All's well that ends well.

However not everyone would be aware that although you can specify a station to collect a prepaid, you can actually collect it at any most other station TVMs^▸ (Ticket Vending Machine), and not everyone would have the time/facility to go to Chippenham as I did.

Easy to identify a problem, not sure what solution is possible. A second TVM at Melksham might alleviate the problem (not necessarily solve it if the fault was  common) but certainly would not be cost effective. Any ideas?

For what its worth, I've checked the wording on the website. It states 'Season tickets offering unlimited journeys between specified points (and intermediate stations) are available for periods ranging from 7 days to 1 year.' It does not state or imply any number of days from 8 to 356.
However I agree it couold be misleading, so I'll modify. Thanks for pointing it out.

The railrover site (http://www.railrover.org/) is very helpful, but there is at least one discrepancy. The Cardiff and Valleys rover no longer includes bus travel (based on advice by the Cardiff ticket office last year), yet the rover site implies that it is valid for buses (as it was a few years ago).

All comments re air/train travel valid and useful. However apart from the intermediate distance routes (e.g. to Scotland from down South) air travel tends to be for longer (and hence more planned journeys) whereas trains typically are used for shorter journeys, and hence the specific journey / flexible ticket issue  is different in the two cases. Most of my flying was long distance and, as another commentor said, you can usually change the flight without issue. Not sure how easy it is to change with most EasyJet/similar cheaper flights, although when I've been in that situation, I have always been able to get an earlier flight if needed.

The All Line Rover is an excellent way to spend a fortnight's holiday, but I would also recommend the shorter or single day rovers. One that I have used several times giving a wide choice of scenic and interesting locations is the 'valleys rover' in South Wales (Arriva Trains Wales) accessed of course from England by GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway)! At one time this also covered local buses but does not appear to do so now, but a day rover on the buses is inexpensive (and of course us England oldies can't use our bus passes in Wales).

Firstly thanks to all the 'welcomes'.

The comments  and responses (whether they agree or disagree with me) are thought provoking. My point overall is that it rail travel must be SIMPLE but flexible.

Perhaps not specifically related to privatisation, but for example, if I go to London I don't want my visit to be delayed or shortened due to a advance specific train ticket, so I invariably buy an off-peak ticket which allows travel on any off-peak train. advance tickets make life NOT simple, and discourage the less rail orientated traveller. Similarly tickets that restrict users to trains of specific companies make life DIFFICULT.

I would emphasise my first point. I have never heard of anyone saying 'I'm travelling by Great Western', only I'm travelling 'by train'.

Thanks to all responses, it was an Amex card so that clearly was the problem but had nothing to do with funds as the ticket was  prebooked. In my case I can only say the train staff & gate/ticket office staff at Bath were happy to assist.

One response indicated that you can collect prebooked tickets using a different card to that used when booking. How?

On Monday I prebooked (and prepaid) Bradford-on-Avon to Bath, in my case only £3.90, and specified collection at Melksham, in case I was tight for time at BOA. When I tried to collect ticket at MKM^» (Melksham (Station code) - next trains), the TVM^▸ (Ticket Vending Machine) wouldn't allow use of my card as identification. OK, so I thought I'd get a ticket at BOA before travelling, same again. Here other users were having the same problem of nonacceptance of cards (I have had this at BOA before).
The train and Bath Spa team were very helpful and I got my tickets eventually. well done.

In this case the sum involved was small, and I could claim reimbursement by phone when I got back, but what if the ticket had been one to London at full fare (over £100) and the traveller was less familiar with railway operations.

It is essential that the TVM  failures are reported internally to the support team and the situation remedied quickly.

As an ordinary travelling member of the public, it is clear to me that passengers usually want to travel by a train, not travel by a specific Rail Operating Company. As many, if not most, lines have multiple operators with revenue sharing, the user just wants to get the next train. Tickets which limit the user to a specific ROC^▸ (Rail Operating Centre - a centralised location for railway signalling and train control operations for a specific route or region) just confuse and frustrate passengers.

One usual motivation for privatization is saving of costs (usually manpower), I'm not sure this has been achieved in the rail industry, nor has privatization made any difference to safety, which is largely centrally dictated anyway.

I can't see what has been achieved except some share holders getting some of the profits that should be fed back to improve the services, which in spite of current problems at Southern and a perception (but possibly not a fact) of regular late running, are much in demand.
I don' care whether its privately or publically run, but it should be as a single entity, not discrete groups fighting over market share.