NB This is THIS Saturday but SWR tend to stick to the same replacement services and cancellations on the same days so likely to be the same on 10th November. Esher is on the thick line out of London to the South West. Anything into Clapham Junction should be fine, it's amusing how frequent reduced services still are in the London area.

https://www.southwesternrailway.com/pla ... 27-october

SJG99 wrote:NB This is THIS Saturday but SWR tend to stick to the same replacement services and cancellations on the same days so likely to be the same on 10th November. Esher is on the thick line out of London to the South West. Anything into Clapham Junction should be fine, it's amusing how frequent reduced services still are in the London area.

https://www.southwesternrailway.com/pla ... 27-october

Yeah - Travelling up from Weybridge in the AM - still 4 trains an hour to London Waterloo. Unless there's signal failures which are quite frequent . As u say 10th will be doable for anyone travelling by train.

rgds Dave

Good Morning...

Browsing the internet and considering our options for attending the FA Cup game at Met Police I came across this interesting article which gives a good insight to their club. Especially the fact they have only 70-80 regular supporters!

https://sports.vice.com/amp/en_uk/artic ... tball-club

Hope that link works!

Phil in Npton

phil_in_npton wrote:Good Morning...

Browsing the internet and considering our options for attending the FA Cup game at Met Police I came across this interesting article which gives a good insight to their club. Especially the fact they have only 70-80 regular supporters!

https://sports.vice.com/amp/en_uk/artic ... tball-club

Hope that link works!

Phil in Npton

Thanks for that Phil. Interesting. Seeing as they seem to like “ dumphball “ according to that article, let’s hope we have some central defenders fit!

General question about rail travel: If you book online and you're restricted to only using a particular operator, on a specific time train, it's usually fairly cheap.....but what happens if your first train gets in too late for the connecting train? Are you expected to buy another ticket, even though it was not your fault you arrived too late for the connection?
I usually avoid catching trains with short 'change' windows, for this very reason. Does anyone know what the actual course of action is if you get in too late for your connection? Or is that the deal with having it cheap?

I work on the basis that if I buy a through ticket that involves two rail providers, then the second journey is guaranteed. Exeter to Carlisle will involve Crosscountry and Virgin Trains. However if I booked separate tickets to get a better price, like you I would leave a longer changeover time for the connection. Then, if the first train runs to time, try to blag a seat on the second train, earlier than your booked train. They are very flexible in the case of bad weather, but strike action maybe not. For my journey to Met Police, I'll start an hour earlier just in case.

excessbee wrote:I work on the basis that if I buy a through ticket that involves two rail providers, then the second journey is guaranteed. Exeter to Carlisle will involve Crosscountry and Virgin Trains. However if I booked separate tickets to get a better price, like you I would leave a longer changeover time for the connection. Then, if the first train runs to time, try to blag a seat on the second train, earlier than your booked train. They are very flexible in the case of bad weather, but strike action maybe not. For my journey to Met Police, I'll start an hour earlier just in case.

what do you mean by "the second journey is guaranteed"?... Are you saying from an operator's point of view, the have an obligation to get you to the destination you paid for, AT NO EXTRA COST?...

Yes, because the ticket says Exeter to Carlisle, that's the contract. If it were bought as two separate tickets (Exeter/Birmingham and Birmingham/Carlisle) then it's your obligation to be there in time to make the second ticket valid.

Apparently Thames Ditton is a 5 minute walk and Esher 10 minutes. I'll be coming in the opposite direction, Woking to Esher.
Match tickets will be the next conundrum. As they aparrently get gates of about 150, with a ground capacity of 3000, it would be a surprise if we are limited to the 450 entitlement.

Good Afternoon

Realistically, how many Newport fans will attend this?
I like the FACup and like to go to somewhere different, and it looks like the whole of the Northampton branch of five supporters are going to attend.
I suppose it’s a bit of a “novelty” day out.
But hopefully the players don’t see it as that!
I did tell Mrs in Npton that it’s going to be likely all standing and that could put a few off.
Advantage for us also it’s a comfortable drive of about hour and a bit.

So, how many County fans do you think?

Phil in Npton

Random fact - Keanu Marsh Brown's brother played for them in the 2015-16 season.

Two going down from Rugby and looking forward to it! UTC

Latest news from South Western Trains website:

Saturday 10th November: RMT industrial action planned for this date has been cancelled!

Well that's certainly good news. Next we need some info on ticket allocation and collection. Perhaps it will just be pay on the day. I can't see any need to enforce the 15% of capacity rule.

I see they're looking to cash in on the huge draw they've had;

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-46041901