Evening all,

Rambling and slightly self-indulgent post, sorry. Feel free to ignore!

I would really rather like to make a 150-mile journey across the country
on Christmas Eve, from Wivenhoe (near Colchester, out in Essex) to
Swindon. Oh, the joys of the fissioned nuclear family.

If i ask the NR journey planner about this, it says (and this is the last
train, which is not quite what i'd actually be aiming for, but for the
sake of argument):

Leg 1 of 4
Depart: 18:16 Wivenhoe (WIV)
Arrive: 18:37 Colchester (COL)
Travel By: Train
Duration: 0:21

Leg 2 of 4
Depart: 18:40 Colchester (COL)
Arrive: 20:20 London Liverpool Street (LST)
Travel By: Rail replacement bus
Duration: 1:40

Leg 3 of 4
Depart: 20:20 London Liverpool Street (LST)
Arrive: 21:15 London Paddington (PAD)
Travel By: Underground #
Duration: 0:55

Leg 4 of 4
Depart: 21:30 London Paddington (PAD)
Arrive: 22:31 Swindon (Wilts) (SWI)
Duration: 1:01

Total Journey Duration: 4:15

In other words, bustitution all the way from Colchester to Liverpool
Street, taking 1:40 (if you believe that) for what would usually be just
under an hour.

But when i look at the One website (One being the company who run the
Great Eastern trains - still a stupid name) to find out why there's
bustitution, it tells me this:

http://www.onerailway.com/latest_inf...ster_to_london

And also this:

http://www.onerailway.com/content/do...-31+Dec+07.pdf

Both of which indicate that it's down to works at various points along the
line from Shenfield to Liverpool Street, and that trains will be running
as far as the charming town of Ingatestone, with a bus from there to
Newbury Park (!), from where you can get the tube. So no bus ride from
Colchester to London.

I should point out that the NR planner gives the same route if i leave at
lunchtime, so this is not some late-on-christmas-eve thing.

What am i missing? Is the Journey Planner wrong, am i getting my dates and
times mixed up, is the Journey Planner presenting the three-mode leg from
Colchester to Liverpool Street as a bus for simplicity?

Does anyone know for sure what's happening in terms of trains and buses?

If you look at One's special timetable:

http://www.onerailway.com/content/do...St-Clacton.pdf

On page 10, there's a service like this (fingers crossed that this lines
up):

train bus tube
Colchester 1853
Witham 1904
Chelmsford 1913
Ingatestone 1923 1930
Newbury Park 2010 2024
Liverpool St 2048

Which is actually slower than the alleged bus, but does at least exist.
That's the one that i'd get if i got the 1816 from Wivenhoe that the
journey planner suggested. A bit later, there's one that does this:

Wivenhoe 1907
Colchester 1917
Marks Tey 1923
Witham 1931
Hatfield Pvl 1935
Chelmsford 1941
Ingatestone 1950 2000
Newbury Park 2040 2054
Liverpool St 2118

Which, although it wouldn't let me get to Paddington in time, is direct,
and an hour and a minute from Colchester to Liverpool Street.

I'm going to send an email to One, but in the meantime, any ideas
gratefully received!

Bonus question: to get from Newbury Park to Swindon, should i do:

- Central Line to Liverpool Street, H&C/Circle to Paddington, train to Swindon
- Central Line to Oxford Circus, Bakerloo to Paddington, train to Swindon
- Central Line to Lancaster Gate, walk to Paddington, train to Swindon
- Central Line to Ealing Broadway, train(s) to Swindon

?

tom

--
The best way I know of to win an argument is to start by being in the
right. -- Lord Hailsham