On Sat, 7 Oct 2006 18:12:43 +0100, Roland Perry wrote:

iirc you can take a train to Waterloo, thence via Waterloo East to
London Bridge, all for the price of a "London Terminals" ticket.

Not true.

Mapped routes between Reading and London are WR, WV, WW and WX - none
of which include the line through Waterloo East. The only London
terminals you can use are Paddington or Waterloo - plus Olympia if you
count that as a terminal.

Oh well, it must have changed then (yet more penny pinching by the
ToCs). It was true when I travelled that way (quite a few years ago, but
post-privatisation).

Makes me wonder what use the "London Terminals" concept is,

It gives you the choice between Paddington and Waterloo.

If the ticket just said Reading to Paddington, that's all you'd get.

and why the
Fares Manual (as posted earlier) only mentions an exception for
Thameslink (in a sense that the number of London Terminals accessible
via Thameslink is specifically reduced).

Because that's the only case where an exception to the Routeing Guide
rules applies.