Taking cycle on the train - boarding at intermediate stations

[whole diary]

[grahame]

Really good to be reminded of the questions that concern people who are not regular train users.  Shared here as it may be useful to other guests.

Good evening. Just a few questions in regards to bikes on trains. I'm wanting to travel with my bike from Melksham to London via Swindon. I can't get this information from GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway). I know I have to reserve. I travel off peak. On the fast service I have to travel from Swindon and I'm told there's a bike compartment on the train. Unfortunately the train doesn't spend long on the platform so hopefully I can find the section quickly. I don't know if bikes can be secured within the compartment. And can bikes be placed in the gangways on the local service? Or does this train also have a separate section?

The journey from Melksham to London is made on a local/regional train without reservations to Swindon, where passenger change onto a long distance express with reservations and allocated seating and cycle spaces

Hi, thanks for contacting us. We've received your message and appreciate your getting in touch.

The train departure board at both Melksham and Swindon show which carriages stop in which zones on the platform, so you can be in place before the train arrives; they also show which carriages have the bicycle spaces though if you have a reservation from Swindon that will also include the carriage letter.

On the local train, there's a luggage / cycle are within the main passenger compartment with a fork (not sure if that's the right term) into which you can wedge the front wheel.

On the main line train, there's a separate compartment for cycles. It's quite small and off to one side of the corridor between carriages, and has hangers onto which you hood the front wheel.

[Chris from Nailsea]

On my next rail journey from Nailsea & Backwell to Melksham, I'm rather tempted to take my mountain bike too.

Previously, I took a surf board with me (that's a whole different story ... ) but it all went very well then.

CfN. 

[CyclingSid]

I regret to say that TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company) specialise in making it difficult for bike users.

You can reserve a space but it does not mean you will get a space, luggage is as much a problem as bikes.

I am sure someone on the forum should be able to say which carriage the bike sections are on the IETs^▸ (Intercity Express Train - replacement for HSTs (manufactured by Hitachi in Kobe, Japan)), five or nine car configurations. If you get what I think of as the surburban electrics (somebody correct me please) there are no bike facilities. The local services are pot luck some have bike spaces some don't, those that do have a variety of options.

Can you secure your bike? The answer is not to the train.

When you get to London this might be useful https://content.tfl.gov.uk/cycles-on-public-transport-map.pdf

[Red Squirrel]

On my next rail journey from Nailsea & Backwell to Melksham, I'm rather tempted to take my mountain bike too.

Previously, I took a surf board with me (that's a whole different story ... ) but it all went very well then.

CfN. 

Surfing the weir at Melksham Skatepark?

[Chris from Nailsea]

Erm ... no. 

It wasn't actually a surf board: it was a very large folding table, which we used for a Coffee Shop forum display event at Reading station, on the transfer deck.  For valid logistical reasons at the time, I took it home with me to Nailsea afterwards - but then, with the onset of 'lockdown', I wasn't able to return it to its rightful home in Melksham immediately.

Subsequently, I did take it by train from Nailsea to Melksham, agreeing with grahame that it would be a good experiment on the feasibility of travelling by rail with a surf board.  Not on a branch line in north Cornwall, obviously: that would have been silly! 

As it was, I had no problems at all.  I merely propped it up in the vacant cycle racks, on both trains on my journey, and sat down in the carriage to relax: there's no way anyone is going to 'run off' with that - it's bluddy heavy! 

I said 'hello' to it again a couple of months ago, on another visit to Melksham.