Great Western Railway 1W04 Train from London Paddington to Oxford
Similar to my LNER Azuma 1E17 with industrial action (ie. strike) by RMT trade union members going on, my Advance Single ticket for strike day became a fully-flexible ticket to my original destination within 48 hours of my original journey date. Which means that I can choose to hop on to any train 48 hours before and 48 hours after my booked Advance Single ticket.
For this short-distance journey from London Paddington to Oxford, this meant that I could simply appear at Paddington to get the next train to Oxford within my 192-hour validity period and treat my booked Advance Single ticket like an Anytime Single. Excellent.
Paddington (Bishop’s Road) Tube Station
I alighted from the Circle Line at Paddington (Bishop’s Road) Tube Station on the Circle and Hammersmith & City Lines so I could have lift access with my bags for an easier transfer. No lift access is available if I had alighted at Paddington (Praed Street) Tube Station on the Bakerloo, Circle and District Lines.
London Paddington Railway Station
Joining the rest of the crowd to see when and where my train was departing from.
The next train to Oxford was a peak service, but it didn’t matter with my strike-affected ticket as I can take any train I want to my original destination within 48 hours of my original journey date.
Great Western Railway 1W04
My peak IET service to Oxford. This train is a long-distance service to Hereford, and will run non-stop to Oxford.
Many unreserved seats were available. Excellent.
The legroom available on board the GWR IET in Standard Class. If it looks similar to the Azuma, that’s because it’s almost the same thing.
A tray table is provided for airline-style seats.
Announcements were made by the conductor reminding passengers that this is a Peak service and only Advance or Anytime tickets are accepted, without information of affected strike day tickets. Nevertheless, I’m confident enough of the rules, and took my seat in this premium non-stop Peak service.
True enough, when the conductor came by and checked my Advance Single ticket for strike day, it was passed without questions asked.
My Great Western Railway 1W04 train departed from London Paddington on time at 6.58pm.
Heading parallel with the London Underground Circle and Hammersmith & City Lines.
Passing by Royal Oak Tube Station.
Passing by many Crossrail Elizabeth Line trains.
Passing through Reading at speed.
Passing by Reading Traction Maintenance Depot (TMD).
Continuing fast on the quadruple-track sector.
Crossing over to the bypass track north of Didcot Parkway.
Some catenary masts can be seen on the Cherwell Valley Line between Didcot Parkway and Oxford, but the electrification project had been indefinitely deferred since 2016 due to imminent resignalling and remodelling of the existing track layout. Nevertheless, the bi-mode IET train continues on the non-electrified line with ease.
Despite seats being not reserved, this Peak train still ran quite full, especially to Oxford. Perhaps the train’s length played a part, as it was only a 5-car train.
Oxford Railway Station
My Great Western Railway 1W04 train arrived at Oxford at 7.43pm – 1 minute delayed.
This Great Western Railway 1W04 train will continue on to Hanborough, Charlbury, Kingham, Moreton-in-Marsh, Honeybourne, Evesham, Pershore, Worcestershire Parkway, Worcester Shrub Hill, Worcester Foregate Street, Malvern Link, Great Malvern, Colwall, Ledbury, and Hereford where it terminates.
Crossing over to the main side to exit from Oxford Railway Station.
The façade of Oxford Railway Station with a bit of the setting sun.
Conclusion
My strike day Advance Single ticket turned out to be a fully-flexible ticket which allowed me to simply appear at London Paddington and hop on to the next available train to Oxford, without the need to think of further timing and validity details. Despite the 1-minute delay on arrival, this made it a super fast non-stop journey from London Paddington to Oxford taking just 45 minutes.