So, I’ve booked a biking holiday to Spain, with a bit Vuelta viewing thrown in too. I live in Somerset, and will be using trains to get to Gatwick. I didn’t really think about booking my bike on or potential hassles. But now I see it may well be a ballache. So, my main question is: do I need to reserve a space if my bike is in a bike bag? Any other lovely wisdom you’d like to impart on me? Thanks folks!

With an unbagged bike then Bath to Reading yes, theoretically you need to. Reading – Gatwick no. Quite how much youll be able to pull the ‘bike?! No it’s just a big bag’ will depend on the jobsworth on the train. I did it a number of times about 10 years ago and never got challenged, but was always in first class, which may have helped.

Why not just ring to book a bike on the first leg? Be a pain to ruin your holiday at the first possible moment!

If it’s in a bag then it is luggage
Luggage is not allowed in the bike stand carriage
Just squeeze it on and ignore the tuts

We live in Somerset and got the train with bikes from Westbury to Guildford (changed at Woking) without booking .

If it’s in a bag then it is luggage
Luggage is not allowed in the bike stand carriage
Just squeeze it on and ignore the tuts

Think that you might struggle to get it into the luggage space in the carriages – they’re about 1m wide and deep and, whilst they’re the full height of the carriage they have a shelf at about waist height

GWR trains – Bath Spa to Gatwick with bike in a bag – should I worry?

FTFY.

And yes, you should.

On the Bath to Reading train there should be a luggage compartment in the front or rear of the train (where the guard is). You should be able to put your bike luggage in there.
Then when you change to Reading you should be able just to carry it on.
Don’t worry about it, its luggage, not a bike so you should be ok.

I am about to do Cardiff-Paddington with a bike in a box (en route to the Alps). GWR say anything over a metre largest dimension has to travel in the guard’s van and you need to buy a ticket for it which is apparently a fiver. Staff at Cardiff Central seemed unaware of this.

For information…

Eurostar also need it sent separately on the train and charge for that. I am just going to lug it on the RER in Paris to get from Gare du Nord to Gare de Lyon. There appears to be room…

SNCF allow bikes in boxes as part of normal luggage provided no more than 1.20m x 0.9m. My bike will just fit in those dimensions, a modern long bike might not.

Bike bit is at the rear of the train (heading to London) in coach A. Unless (pretty unusually) the train is in reverse formation

Thanks folks. I’ve been commuting Frome to Bath on the train and know only too well how awful it can be.

I’ve decided to travel Frome-Westbury; Westbury-Southampton; Southampton-Gatwick. All except the first little bit will be on the long GWR trains. I’ll collect my tickets later and see about booking the bag as luggage. Thanks again folks, feeling a little less stressed about it 🙂

Eh, that’s not GWR at all, Southampton to Gatwick is Southern (no bike reservation needed, no bikes in peak time), and the leg from Westbury will be one of the small GWR trains (not sure if reservation needed). First bit could be either.

That’s a very circuitous route!

Ah yes – I see you’re right re: Southern. The Southern train will be 8:10, so guess I’ll need some luck and a generous guard. I don’t know why I thought the Westbury-Southampton leg was the long trains. Chose that route because it saves about a hundred quid!

That should be fine, it’s to do with arrival time into London, banned on trains arriving before 9:30 IIRC, so you’ll be fine. There are bike spaces in the middle of each of the 4 coach units – look for the red stripes either side of the door.

The Southampton services can be incredibly busy, and if you’re arriving to catch an 8:10 train you may have a battle on your hands, definitely check in advance.

Take bike cases on this train a few times a year. Its luggage and doesn’t require booking. You can fit it alongside the luggage rack or in-between carriages. Best to sit close to the bag if its a busy train. Most people are find with it, you get the odd belter who may moan but thats there problem.

Don’t take that as given, it really does depend on TOC and service, and even then whether you get a total jobsworth or not.

Thanks again guys. My ticket from Southampton to Gatwick is thankfully useable on any direct service to Gatwick, so if it comes to the worst, I can get a later train and still easily make the flight. 😀

That bit won’t be a problem at all, Southern can be quite officious, but their restrictions are well defined and outside of that it’s absolutely fine.

It’s trains arriving into London between 7 and 10 they’re not allowed, so you’ll just fall outside that, and have no issues.

The bit to Southampton will be the hardest, so just give them a ring as you’ve said. It may just come down to a bit of luck.

Ah ok, so it’s the Westbury – Southampton GWR leg I need to be cautious of. It leaves Westbury at 6:40am, so hopefully ok, but I’ll give them a call anyway. Cheers!

Finally made the call today. The person I spoke to first said I wouldn’t be able to take it – only normal aeroplane sized luggage is accepted. I queried this, and she spoke to a supervisor, and actually, yes, that’s fine, there are no restrictions, on any service. Feels like the blind leading the blind TBH, but I just gotta takes my chances.

Just to update, trip from Cardiff to Landry (one stop from Bourg st Maurice) went OK with bike in a box (see my post above). 7 trains including tubes, so a bit of a faff. No actual room on the TGV for something that size, but nobody seemed to mind too much about it sitting in the corridor in the gap between carriages, though it is in the way a bit on the double-decker ones. Not sure I would do it again, better than EasyJet in some respects, but not others.

For GWR on the 125s, I purchased a £5 ticket and put the box in where the bikes would be (as directed by the guard). Dunno what would have happened if it had been full of bikes, but it wasn’t.

Just saying, fantastic week at Bike Village Mountain Bike Holidays. Highly recommended.

Ok, how am I to find out if it’s a 125 class train? Comments so far suggests it won’t be…?

It won’t be.

Services to/from Paddington will be HSTs, from Frome it’ll be a small DMU, likewise from Westbury, probably a slightly nicer one.

It leaves Westbury at 6:40am, so hopefully ok

You’re not a commuter I see, the 6.39 from my station is utterly rammed when I catch it! 😆

Haha, the Frome to Bath and on to Bristol is pretty empty at 6:45am! Coming home though, been told I can’t get on a few times, standing nearly everytime, no aircon, fight for the doos etc etc 🙄

my experience is even if you book a bike on a train it means nothing. Good luck!

Well that was a rigmarole! Asked 5 people at Bath Spa and none of them know about a £5 charge for large items. But reserved a bike space on the one high speed service, so fingers crossed! Thanks again, all 😀