Anyone caught the newbury to paddington train with a bike?

Got a sponsored bike ride next week and i’m booked on a rush hour train from Newbury to London. Never having taken this train before, let alone with a bike, I’m wondering which bike I should take. I can either take my old road bike (nice but not that nice) or my brand new pride and joy road bike (very nice indeed)…..

So – anyone know what’s the set up? I had to book my bike so I presume there is some kind of guards van?

– What is the set up with the guards vans – is it likely to result in my nice carbon bike having a load of stuff tossed on top of it?
– How secure are they?
– I could take a sacrificial towel to save the bike and bin it when we get there, but wonder if that’s mental!
– How do I actually get my bike on it? Do I have to look for the guard or something?

I get the Paddington – Cheltenham Spa train daily (Stroud – Gloucester), they’ll be an announcement which will tell you which platform zone to wait at to load your bike onto the carriage which has a cubicle set aside with two bike hooks in it to hang the bike by it’s wheel.

You may well load your pride and joy onto the hook and someone less caring may to throw their BSO alongside yours without a thought of damage.

I’d take the best bike and hope for an unreserved seat real close to the bike store and check on it at each stop.

I find the station and train staff very helpful and accommodating.

Cool thanks. So they hang from the wheels vertically?

Yes, if you use the specific bicycle storage cubicle. Some people just leave them propped up in the area outside the cubicle, I’m not sure how well this is tolerated by the ticket inspector but they seem to get away with it some of the time.

I suspect as your going into Paddington they might be more stringent.

Make sure you have your proof of bicycle reservation.

Have a chat with the platform staff when you get to the station and they’ll see you right.

Your reservation should have the coach letter on it, so you just need to spot which end has the bike symbol next to the door (they do at least have that now!)

The bike cubicle things are horrid. If you’ve got deep section wheels, you may struggle to get them in the wheel holder. If you’re in the outside one, it’s fairly safe, but if you’re on the one near the corridor and someone needs to get a bike into the other one, it’s going to get moved/bashed.

On the other hand, it’s in the carriage, not the guard’s van so you can at least supervise it.

So is the bike cubicle and guards van the same? The bike cubicle doesn’t sound great – the bikes got zipp 303s so deepish

GWR have a leaflet wit detailed inf, which states:

“When making a reservation, please be aware we can only guarantee your bike will fit if it has a tyre width of 7cm or less and a rim diameter of 50cm or less”

https://www.gwr.com/travelling-with-us/on-our-trains/bringing-your-bike

got zipp 303s so deepish

I don’t usually take my bike with me on the train, but did the other week, it was tricky getting my wheel in the hook and my tyre / rim depth is 72mm, a couple if cable ties or a small Voile strap would help.

“When making a reservation, please be aware we can only guarantee your bike will fit if it has a tyre width of 7cm or less and a rim diameter of 50cm or less”

Huh. A standard 700cc wheel is 62cm across….

Nah…it’s too fast and always drops me…