Best route for London to Oxford

[Ccross]

Evening all. This is probably covered elsewhere but is there any list of the pros and cons of the two different London to Oxford routes ie via Paddington or Marylebone. I find Marylebone a much nicer staton to use than Paddington but the journey time is longer.

I just wonder what’s better in terms of frequency , first and last trains , likelihood of delays , comfort etc etc , as well as ticket price

All observations welcome ! Many thanks

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Price will be a consideration. Whilst Anytime or Off Peak (walk up) tickets are routed "Any Permitted", you might just be able to avail yourself of a much cheaper route "Chiltern Only" Advance ticket from Marylebone or route "GWR only" or "AP Slough" Advance ticket from Paddington.

 

[CyrusWuff]

Both Chiltern and GWR generally run half-hourly throughout the day. The first direct GWR departure on weekdays is 05:05 from Paddington, and the last is at 00:32 (05:20 and 00:11 from Oxford.) Journey time is generally around 52 minutes, with calls at Slough and Reading only, and most trains are IETs.

Over in Chiltern land, the first train is at 06:09 from Marylebone, and the last is at 00:01 (05:35 and 22:42 from Oxford.) Journey time and calling patterns are more variable, ranging from 1 hour 5 minutes on the 09:35 from Marylebone to 1 hour 30 minutes on the 21:06. Rolling stock could be anything from a two-car Class 165 to a Class 68 and six Mark 3s.

GWR sets the walk-up fares (with Chiltern undertaking an ORCATS raid), with both Chiltern and GWR having Advance tickets (£5.40 to £43.00 on Chiltern; £5.40 to £36.50 in Standard, and £19.20 to £63.90 in First Class, on GWR.) and at the time of posting it's still possible to get a £5.40 Advance for tomorrow on the 00:01 (early morning), 06:09, 10:40 and 00:01 (early Wednesday morning) from Marylebone, but the cheapest from Oxford is £6.40 on the 22:15 back to Marylebone. Sadly GWR have no Standard Advances left for tomorrow, and their cheapest First Class Advance is £43.90.

 

[MotCO]

Is the Oxford Tube a possibility? The journey times are longer (around 2.5 hours), but it depends where you are leaving in Oxford, and whether you want somewhere closer to Victoria than Paddington or Marylebone, so the overall journey may not be much longer. A single is £13, and a return is £19 (effective 6 November)

 

[gabrielhj07]

Of the 2 journeys, I much prefer the Chiltern route. Being slightly longer, and a little less obvious than Paddington, the trains I find are usually quieter, although this depends on stock. I think it’s more scenic as well.

 

[mangyiscute]

Personally I'd always go with paddington unless it's a decent saving for Marylebone - it's a quicker journey, I prefer the 80x to 165/168 (I don't think there's any Oxford 68 diagrams) because the trains are much bigger so I'd argue that you've got a better chance of a seat on one of these and if you get a 165 you don't have things like folding down tables at seats or charging plugs. Plus, the ability to get a cross country train from Oxford to reading and change for one of the numerous fast trains from reading to London can almost act as a 3rd train an hour of you don't mind the change (and if the cross country is doubled up there's usually plenty of seats by the time it reaches Oxford)

 

[Falcon1200]

I would normally use Paddington, for the faster journey and more capacious trains; Plus Paddington has better Underground connections than Marylebone, plus now of course the huge benefit of Crossrail.

(I don't think there's any Oxford 68 diagrams)

There did used to be an Up morning loco-hauled Chiltern train, but not any more by the look of things, even though they named 68010 the 'Oxford Flyer'!

 

[APT618S]

The 1818 (M-F) Marylebone to Oxford and 2000 return seems to be a regular class 68 turn.

 

[Watershed]

Evening all. This is probably covered elsewhere but is there any list of the pros and cons of the two different London to Oxford routes ie via Paddington or Marylebone. I find Marylebone a much nicer staton to use than Paddington but the journey time is longer.

I just wonder what’s better in terms of frequency , first and last trains , likelihood of delays , comfort etc etc , as well as ticket price

All observations welcome ! Many thanks

GWR has always been the winner in terms of journey time. Pre-Covid it was more finely balanced, but Chiltern's post-Covid timetable is now really quite poor for end to end traffic.

The majority of their Oxford trains now run to slower class 165 timings (even though a reasonable percentage of services are formed of class 168s). Most also stop at 5-7 of the intermediate stations between Bicester Village and Marylebone - particularly at weekends. It's a far cry from the regular non-stop Bicester Village service that Oxford used to enjoy!

GWR also have earlier first and later last trains, again without the time penalty of stopping at every shack as happens over at Chiltern at those times.

If you're lucky enough to get a 168 (or Mk3 set), then I suppose that's probably more comfortable than the seats in an 80x.

Slightly bizarrely, Chiltern don't actually offer any of their own walk-up fares from Oxford - they only offer them from Oxford Parkway, Islip and Bicester Village. However, they do offer Advances, and that's probably the only reason why you would choose to use them over GWR, as GWR's services are often very popular and so the availability of GWR Advances can be quite limited (equally, on quiet trains, GWR often have really cheap Advances).

Whilst Marylebone is perhaps a little nicer than Paddington, being tucked away from the main roads, I wouldn't choose a longer journey time just because of that. Paddington also has much better connections to the Tube and Elizabeth Line.

 

[bakerstreet]

Slightly bizarrely, Chiltern don't actually offer any of their own walk-up fares from Oxford - they only offer them from Oxford Parkway, Islip and Bicester Village. However, they do offer Advances, and that's probably the only reason why you would choose to use them over GWR, as GWR's services are often very popular and so the availability of GWR Advances can be quite limited (equally, on quiet trains, GWR often have really cheap Advances).

And disappointingly the London to Oxford Parkway via High Wycombe fares are not much cheaper than Any Permitted. In the case of the CDR it’s a difference of 10p on a £30 ticket.

 

[Watershed]

And disappointingly the London to Oxford Parkway via High Wycombe fares are not much cheaper than Any Permitted. In the case of the CDR it’s a difference of 10p on a £30 ticket.

That's entirely to be expected, with the advent of journey planners and apps that encourage people to go for the cheapest fare, even if it only offers a nominal saving over a much more flexible fare.

There was a thread a couple of years ago which discussed this phenomenon, which @Starmill rather amusingly labelled the 'ten pence price war'.

At least the fares are geographically routed rather than TOC restricted, so the penalty for getting on the 'wrong' train is simply the payment of a miniscule excess rather than a new Anytime Single, Penalty Fare or prosecution.

 

[12LDA28C]

The 1818 (M-F) Marylebone to Oxford and 2000 return seems to be a regular class 68 turn.

Indeed, it is diagrammed as such but this will be a 3-car 165 from the December timetable change

 

[gabrielhj07]

Indeed, it is diagrammed as such but this will be a 3-car 165 from the December timetable change

More 68s for Birmingham/Kidderminster?

 

[12LDA28C]

More 68s for Birmingham/Kidderminster?

See this thread for details of diagram changes:

Chiltern Class 68 diagrams

Hi all, I note the previous thread on this topic is closed to new replies. I can’t seem to see any notes in the Chiltern Timetable to note which services are run by the Mainline-branded Class 68s. I’m usually relatively flexible when I can travel from Marylebone to Birmingham and would...

www.railforums.co.uk

 

[Watershed]

More 68s for Birmingham/Kidderminster?

Fewer 68s overall. Part of DfT imposed cost-cutting, no doubt.

 

[gabrielhj07]

Fewer 68s overall. Part of DfT imposed cost-cutting, no doubt.

Shame that. Obviously no one at the DfT has had the pleasure of a crush loaded 165 before.

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

When the Chiltern Railways service was first introduced it was predominantly run with 168s, with one daily 68 service and 165/172s only used very occasionally - I don't think they were booked.

Now, 165s actually seem to be the mainstay of the service, with the 168 diagrams to Oxford pretty much halved. The 68 will be withdrawn from the route in December.

I personally think an 800 is much nicer than all of the above anyway, but certainly nicer than the 165 you'd be very likely to get these days. Fainsa seat haters and "door prejudice" activists may argue that a Clubman would be a nicer option.