London Terminals to Exeter St Davids

[Aictos]

I know there's a few routes that are available to use such as:

1. London Waterloo to Exeter St Davids via Salisbury

2. London Paddington to Exeter St Davids via Taunton

However as a example, would someone be able to use GWR from London Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads/Parkway then use XC onto Exeter St Davids as connections are available at both Bristol stations or are London Terminals to Exeter St Davids routed only valid via Salisbury or Taunton?

This would be a off peak ticket on a weekday now as far as I'm concerned it should be valid via Bristol but I might be wrong?

I am aware that you can get SWR only tickets, not sure if you can get GWR only tickets?

 

[swt_passenger]

Yes, Paddington to Exeter via Bristol Parkway using GWR and XC is definitely permitted as is shown at certain times of the day in online journey planners, such as National Rail’s. For example that route comes up for a couple of offpeak journeys on Monday, leaving PAD at 1315 and 1515, using default settings ie no need to ask for via points.

 

[OwlMan]

Bristol to Exeter passes through Taunton so via Taunton tickets are valid

 

[ForTheLoveOf]

I know there's a few routes that are available to use such as:

1. London Waterloo to Exeter St Davids via Salisbury

2. London Paddington to Exeter St Davids via Taunton

However as a example, would someone be able to use GWR from London Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads/Parkway then use XC onto Exeter St Davids as connections are available at both Bristol stations or are London Terminals to Exeter St Davids routed only valid via Salisbury or Taunton?

Yes, that's a valid route. When travelling on a flexible ticket you can, subject to route or operator restrictions shown on the ticket, travel via any permitted route. As the forum's fares and ticketing guide explains in more detail, one of the three ways in which a route can be validated as a permitted route is if it can be traced on appropriate map(s). Travel from London to Exeter is permissible on map GW (amongst others), which shows routes both via Bristol and avoiding Bristol that then also pass through Taunton, as per the route restriction on your ticket. Thus any trains on that route are permissible.

If you end up deciding that you'd prefer to go via Honiton, which is the other available route of ticket for London to Exeter walk-up tickets, you would only pay the appropriate excess for this - which would be half the difference for a return ticket (assuming a one-way excess), or the full difference for a single ticket. If the 'difference' is negative you don't get anything back, but equally it would be surprising if any guard etc. went to the hassle of issuing a zero fare excess when it is, in any case, valid without the excess as per the Routeing Guide!

I am aware that you can get SWR only tickets, not sure if you can get GWR only tickets?

Are you referring to Advances here? Walk-up fares in this part of the country are generally geographically restricted rather than operator restricted. Often one will imply the other, but there isn't a strict limit - e.g. a ticket routed via Honiton can still be used on GWR services from Paddington to Reading, providing you then travel via Honiton (or pay the appropriate excess to travel via Taunton).

In general, Advance tickets will be restricted to one or more particular operators, e.g. "Great Westn only" or "SW Railway only", although otherwise rare route, but not operator, restricted tickets such as "AP Slough" are also available in GWR-land.