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61  All across the Great Western territory / Fare's Fair / Re: Cheap advances to anywhere? on: June 08, 2016, 20:00:31
Virgin Trains occassionally have first class fares between London and Glasgow for £55, if you can find them.  The weekday service is generally very good (check the timetable first though, to see what will be on offer), with friendly catering staff.  Get a single seat and you'll find the five hour journey passes quickly and comfortably.

On an evening journey (arriving in London around 10pm), I seem to recall consuming a hot main meal, cheese and port, about 5 bottles of beer, 2x vodka and cokes, pack of sandwiches, crisps, cold dessert, several pieces of fruit and walking away with half a bottle of wine "to take home as it would otherwise be thrown away".  All included in the fare (I paid less than £40 with a railcard).  Crew change at Preston, so you get all the catering offered again after this station.

Glasgow via London would obviously need an overnight stay.
62  All across the Great Western territory / Fare's Fair / Re: SailRail to Ireland with an overnight break of journey on: June 08, 2016, 19:33:48
In the Sail/Rail leaflet on Advances

Quote
You may not start, break, resume or end your journey at any intermediate station except to change from/to connecting trains shown on ticket or itinerary
An overnight stop where a journey cannot be completed in one day is not considered a break of journey:
Quote from: NRCOC (National Rail Conditions of Carriage) (National Rail Conditions of Carriage)
For the purposes of this Condition and Condition 11, you will be treated
as breaking your journey if you leave a Train Company’s or Rail Service Company’s stations after you start your journey other than to:
(i) join a train at another station, or
(ii) stay in overnight accommodation when you cannot reasonably complete your journey within one day, or
(iii) follow any instructions given by a member of a Train Company’s or Rail Service
Company’s staff.
63  All across the Great Western territory / The Wider Picture in the United Kingdom / Re: All Line Rover: must-see destinations? on: June 07, 2016, 20:46:00
I have (almost) decided there is too much to fit into 7 days.  Therefore I am considering either 2x 7 days or 1x 14 day rover.

14 days is much more cost effective, but it means two weeks away from home in one block (Cambridge isn't exactly the most easily accessible place to use as a base when exploring the UK (United Kingdom)).  It's a shame they don't offer 'x in x days' products, like the regional rovers, to allow for short breaks (to explore or rest) during a longer trip.

From a tracking perspective I don't know how x in x days would work - but then (for one thing) I don't know the limitations or capabilities of the gatelines.
The local products (e.g. Freedom of Severn and Solent, or Freedom of South West) have a separate coupon with boxes printed.  These boxes are to be completed with the day and month before starting travel that day.  They seem to work reasonably well, although some staff are not aware of the requirement for the boxes coupon!

Here's an example:


(As an aside, that use ticket above from five years ago shows how ludicrous the fares system is.  A FOSS (Freedom of Severn & Solent Rover) rover was considerably cheaper than 4x open returns from Cosham to Bristol.)
64  All across the Great Western territory / The Wider Picture in the United Kingdom / Re: All Line Rover: must-see destinations? on: June 07, 2016, 20:42:20
I have (almost) decided there is too much to fit into 7 days.  Therefore I am considering either 2x 7 days or 1x 14 day rover.

14 days is much more cost effective, but it means two weeks away from home in one block (Cambridge isn't exactly the most easily accessible place to use as a base when exploring the UK (United Kingdom)).  It's a shame they don't offer 'x in x days' products, like the regional rovers, to allow for short breaks (to explore or rest) during a longer trip.
65  All across the Great Western territory / The Wider Picture in the United Kingdom / Re: All Line Rover: must-see destinations? on: June 07, 2016, 20:34:29
Ahhh...the forth rail bridge gets my vote...I can still remember the sound of trains going over it. Although in this modern age it may be more dramatic standing underneath it rather than in the double glazed comfort of the train itself
Indeed, standing underneath it is a great experience.  I have never been over the bridge on a train, but think that'll be a priority when I rejig the plan.
66  All across the Great Western territory / Fare's Fair / Re: Jargon on tickets? on: June 06, 2016, 20:21:44
not sure if this is really the right place, but in any case the tickets don't actually make this clear...
If I buy a ticket that involves a tube journey across london, EG Salisbury to Norwich, I can use a variety of routes on the tube from waterloo to Liverpool st, and a number of stations are allowed to be used, for instance both Waterloo and Embankment.
However, it appears that if I want to walk from waterloo to Temple, and then get the Circle line to Waterloo, this is not permitted ( and I risk having my ticket eaten by the machine), because Temple is not on the list of permitted stations.
Which seems a bit silly, not least because getting onto any tube at Waterloo between 8 and 9 takes longer than the walk to Temple or Embankment.

or have I got this wrong ?
You are correct.  You must start your cross-London journey at a permitted station, but you are free to end the journey at any station en-route to your cross-London destination.  The journey cannot be resumed, nor can it be started at an intermediate station.  LUL (London Underground Ltd) and DLR (Docklands Light Railway) still operate a system of reasonable routes, rather than having a define list.

In your example, you could enter at Blackfriars or Cannon Street, as these are permitted stations for cross-London journeys (see http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/ticket_types/46587.aspx).
67  All across the Great Western territory / The Wider Picture in the United Kingdom / Re: All Line Rover: must-see destinations? on: June 05, 2016, 15:19:33
The Mallaig ferry and Severn Tunnel closure have caused a slight rift in the plans.

I'll need to sit down and work out a new schedule.  I am considering flying to Edinburgh/Glasgow one evening, then working my way up to the Highlands, then back down south and into Wales.
68  All across the Great Western territory / Fare's Fair / Re: Avantix replacement - coming soon to a train near you on: June 05, 2016, 14:39:44
when printed from an app?
Yes.  The barriers do not check a database for the existence of a magnetic stripe ticket, so why the need to check for a barcoded ticket?  The information held will be exactly the same, but encrypted in the barcode.
When the barcode is produced, it gets encrypted using a "private key" known only by the TOC (Train Operating Company).  When scanning the barcode at the barrier, the system will try the "public key" from all TOCs to see which one sucessfully decrypts the barcode.

Unless you know the "private key", you cannot produce a barcode that will sucessully be decrypted.  Knowledge of the "public key" will not enable you to produce a decrytable barcode.
69  All across the Great Western territory / Fare's Fair / Re: Avantix replacement - coming soon to a train near you on: June 05, 2016, 14:34:28
when printed from an app?
Yes.  The barriers do not check a database for the existence of a magnetic stripe ticket, so why the need to check for a barcoded ticket?  The information held will be exactly the same, but encrypted in the barcode.
70  All across the Great Western territory / Fare's Fair / Re: Avantix replacement - coming soon to a train near you on: June 05, 2016, 14:08:58
The production of barcodes needs generating/recording at the central server, otherwise they wouldn't be recognised by gatelines on arrival.
As I understand it, they are not checked against a central database (imagine how slow this would be at the gateline).  The barcodes are "digitally signed" when printed, then decoded by the barrier.  All the information needed is held in the barcode.
71  All across the Great Western territory / Fare's Fair / Re: Avantix replacement - coming soon to a train near you on: June 05, 2016, 13:44:00
hmmm. so no offline sales then? There are still a multitude of dead areas for mobile reception.
I can't see anything to suggest that.  Contactless can work both online and offline (mostly offline in the UK (United Kingdom)).

Ryanair now use an Android based solution for recording on-board sales.  These work offline.  The units communicate with each other using wi-fi, with the transactions returned into their online system when on the ground.
72  All across the Great Western territory / Fare's Fair / Avantix replacement - coming soon to a train near you on: June 05, 2016, 10:53:26
I don't have any online sources of information, but this was gleaned talking to a Greater Anglia staff member.

Avantix (Ticket Issuing System used on board trains) (the bulky mobile ticket issuing machines used on trains) will soon be replaced with a new Fujitsu designed smartphone system.  This is will be Greater Anglia, Arriva Trains Wales and GWR (Great Western Railway) initially.

The new system will print tickets onto thermal receipt-style stock, with a barcode to open the barriers.  It will also accept contactless payments, in addition to the existing methods.

Should mean a much lighter device for staff to carry, less chance of running out of ticket stock and faster ticket sales for passengers.  Also will end the ticket swallowing by barriers (for these types of tickets and any others with a barcode), which is a major annoyance to anyone claiming expenses.

Being trialled on a branch line in South Wales before the rollout begins.
73  All across the Great Western territory / The Wider Picture in the United Kingdom / Re: All Line Rover: must-see destinations? on: June 04, 2016, 13:37:05
The Fort William to Kyle of Lochalsh section keeps proving troublesome each time I try to rearrange the schedule.  I did look at car hire rental as an alternative to the limited bus service, but one way rentals are hideously expensive.  I'll have to think about this some more.

Would you consider taking the train all the way to Mallaig?   See attachment for Mallaig to Kyle of Lochalsh journey example
That looks like a good alternative, I'll do a bit more research into it.
74  All across the Great Western territory / The Wider Picture in the United Kingdom / Re: All Line Rover: must-see destinations? on: June 04, 2016, 13:07:32
Looking at my calendar, it seems that late September will be the earilest I can devote a whole week.

This is the plan for the first four days.  I have worked this out using a random week in July, as the timetable for September was not available when I started planning.  I plan on splitting this into two parts, returning home on the Friday morning (to reduce the amount of luggage carried and raiding my freezer for some home cooked food) then possibly getting the Penzance sleeper that evening.  But the plan for the latter part may change somewhat.



A few thoughts that come to mind.  Evening travel may mean no view, so I'll have to check daylight hours and where I am travelling at those times.  B&B options are also limited in some places (I'm thinking Fort William), although there shouldn't be a huge demand at that time of year.

The Fort William to Kyle of Lochalsh section keeps proving troublesome each time I try to rearrange the schedule.  I did look at car hire rental as an alternative to the limited bus service, but one way rentals are hideously expensive.  I'll have to think about this some more.

I have a business trip to Aberystwyth in a fortnight, so hoping to see a few local places whilst travelling there, so may change the ALR plan depending on what I see this month.
75  All across the Great Western territory / Fare's Fair / Re: SailRail to Ireland with an overnight break of journey on: May 24, 2016, 20:39:28
I have looked into making a similar journey, with an overnight break en-route.  The only option I came up with would be an ordinary single/return to somewhere nearish like Shrewsbury, then a SailRail for the following day.  This all worked out quite pricey, so unfortunately I ended up flying (~^20 each way plus ^15 for a return train ticket to the airport).
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