Travelling from Paddington - Wednesday!

[FCNeary]

I've booked tickets for 13:00 train on Wednesday from Paddington - Castle Cary. Has anyone travelled at this time and what are the queues at Paddington / Castle Cary like at this point in the day?

We also have a pal on an earlier train, is there any point getting there a little earlier and joining onto another train? (happy to sit in the corridor of the train, wouldn't want to take someone's seat!)

 

[UpAndDown]

1 hour ago, FCNeary said:

I've booked tickets for 13:00 train on Wednesday from Paddington - Castle Cary. Has anyone travelled at this time and what are the queues at Paddington / Castle Cary like at this point in the day?

We also have a pal on an earlier train, is there any point getting there a little earlier and joining onto another train? (happy to sit in the corridor of the train, wouldn't want to take someone's seat!)

 

I can only comment on last year's experience - there were train strikes so less frequent trains, but essentially no one's tickets were being checked either outbound or return from my experience, as the trains were super busy.

I would say, if you want to travel with your friend, arrive for their train and see how busy it is. If it's rammed your ticket likely won't be checked and you should be all good

[Nduja]

1 hour ago, FCNeary said:

I've booked tickets for 13:00 train on Wednesday from Paddington - Castle Cary. Has anyone travelled at this time and what are the queues at Paddington / Castle Cary like at this point in the day?

We also have a pal on an earlier train, is there any point getting there a little earlier and joining onto another train? (happy to sit in the corridor of the train, wouldn't want to take someone's seat!)

 

From a legal standpoint and being liable to pay an additional fare, it depends on the category of the ticket you have. If you have an advance ticket you're on pretty shaky ground with another train, but if it's Off-Peak you'll be fine, the reservation only is only a seat reservation and you can travel on any train classified as off-peark. 

If it's super busy then they may not do their rounds with the ticket check but it also depends on the barriers too.

In reality, for large events, train companies do tend to prioritise flow and full trains over reservations and advance tickets, the trains back to London after a Liverpool home game for example have every available inch of floorspace filled with passengers, advance and first class restrictions definitely do not apply.

I'd have thought however, that the queues at Castle Cary and at the ticket gates will be worse if you do manage to get on an earlier train.

Edited June 15, 2023 by Nduja

[Johnnyseven]

It's been a good few years since I took the train from Paddington but when I did they didn't care what ticket you were booked on they just put you on the first train to Castle Cary.

There was a big queue at Castle Cary for the shuttle bus, took an hour or so, but then I arrived in the morning - might be less people in the afternoon.