Thank you, richwarwicker and chuffed, and now bobm, whose frustration with the system seems to echo mine.  It does appear that the person with local knowledge is the best one to approach.  I shall recontact Stagecoach and ask pointedly if there is a mistake in their timetable.  It will be interesting to see if I get a straight answer.

Thank you ChrisB and bignosemac for directing me to Traveline South West.  I do use it and it has the All Stops feature that I want.  I also look at Google Maps.  The link to the no 12 bus timetable, which bnm provided, looked promising but it's for the outbound (Brixham) journey.  The stops I want are opposite (inbound to Newton Abbot) and they are IMHO^▸ (in my humble opinion) missing, as regards the 12 bus.  One, if not two, of them were missing last summer.  Do the employees of Stagecoach know but not bother? 

Has anyone else had my experience of phoning their local bus company to ask for timetable information and being told that a full timetable ie one that lists all the stops and timings is not produced?  The collective mantra is, "It would be impossible/too long/too expensive to list all the stops". 

To put this into context, I tried yesterday to query with Stagecoach South West whether their flagship 12 bus route was missing two stops online, called "Near Grand Hotel", which serves Torquay Railway Station, and "Torre Abbey Meadows".  I was told quite emphatically that no full timetable was published, meaning that the stops could not be queried.

I did pursue it again today and was told that few people ask for the full timetable.  I think that will be quite true, if they have to go through so many hoops!

Many thanks for everyone's contribution.  You all seem to have a tale to tell.

Are the toilets on platform 1 at Paddington eventually closing, because the new ones have opened on platform 12?  Or is it just the waiting room for passenger assistance, which is moving there in September?

Apologies for raising this basic topic but it's a long way to walk to platform 12, if you are a west country passenger.

Thank you, bobm and bnm, for your replies clarifying the situation.  I have now booked our tickets and priority seating by telephone but catching the 10.53 train caused raised eyebrows at FGW^▸ (First Great Western) Assisted Travel.  Our seats are reserved on the 10.53 service but the tickets are issued for the 10.16 train - in order to generate the ^11.90 fare, presumably.  There was no problem with the connecting trains on the return journey a few days later.

Let's travel hopefully - and it's only to Exmouth!

I want to travel from Taunton to Exmouth on a weekday, for which the standard, off-peak, open return fare is ^11.90, with a Senior Railcard.  There is a train departing Taunton at 10.53 (the 09.06 Paddington to Plymouth service) BUT the National Rail website does not quote a fare for this particular service.  Would the ^11.90 fare be valid? 



 

Thank you, BNM.  As you saw, I'd completely misunderstood the rules on Advance Purchase tickets.

I normally request Priority Seating for my husband and myself, as his travelling companion, and find that we can get on and off the train without further assistance.  However, I believe Salisbury has a very steep gradient to and from the subway, and no lifts, so we shall have to make use of the free assistance, as you suggest.   

I do find the ongoing discussions on GW^▸ (Great Western) Coffee Shop fascinating, even when they go above my head.

Thank you Grahame and Bignosemac.  This is the first time I've posted a reply so hopefully I'm doing it right.
 
BNM's suggestion of requesting Travel Assistance sounds sensible and Grahame's advice, that we will be allowed to board another train, reassuring.

However, a third possibility has occurred to me, which is to extend the time allowed to change trains at Westbury.  This is a timetable option on National Rail's Journey Planner but not, I think, on First Great Western's.  It would enable us to catch an earlier train from Salisbury, the 11.14 rather than the 11.40, and give 36 minutes, rather than eight, to make our connection.  We could manage without Travel Assistance in those circumstances.

For the outward journey from Taunton to Salisbury, changing at Westbury, we plan to buy advance purchase tickets for the weekday service, the 10.28 from Taunton, reaching Salisbury at 12.32 ie arriving into Westbury at 11.03 but departing at 12.01.  If our journey was without incident, could we use those tickets to catch the 11.11 service from Westbury? ie the principle of catching an earlier, connecting train, which I think Bignosemac has referred to as Question 25 of Advance Fares FAQs^▸ (Frequently Asked Questions).


   

What is the position when you buy an advance purchase ticket, have to change trains and find that the connection time is too short and you miss your train?

I was thinking in particular of the journey from Salisbury to Taunton, changing at Westbury.  From Monday to Friday, the cheapest fare is the advance purchase, departing Salisbury at 11.40 and arriving Taunton at 12.58, with eight minutes to change trains.  (The official minimum connection time is five.)  To my mind, an elderly person, who walks slowly and has to use the lifts in order to change platform, could easily miss his connection.  Is that just his bad luck and poor judgement in buying a restricted ticket and will he have to pay for a new ticket from Westbury to Taunton to complete his journey?

Can I add my question to the topic of a breaking journey on the return portion of a ticket?  Is it permissible to break for more than one night ie have a "little holiday"?

The journey in question will be Taunton to Ashford International travelling out on Saturday or Sunday, when the Super Off Peak Return fare is ^54.45 with a Railcard.  Routing is via St Pancras International on Southeastern, and FGW^▸ (First Great Western)/London Underground.

My first posting so hopefully on the right board.

Would anyone like to hazard a guess as to whether the direct service from Taunton to Bath Spa will be running by Wednesday 26 March? I had planned to catch a London-bound train, the 09.05 from Taunton, arriving Bath at 10.11, but that is cancelled presently.

Is my best bet to go from Taunton to Bath via Westbury, catching the 09.21 from Taunton (train bound for Paddington), connecting with the 10.10 departure from Westbury (Portsmouth Harbour to Cardiff Central). Both trains have individual reservable seats, which is the attraction, as my husband is not very mobile.

I couldn't work out if the alternative CrossCountry services, Taunton-Bath via Bristol Temple Meads, would require us to catch the replacement bus service from Taunton to Bristol stations.