Thank you, everybody, for your replies.

I am most intrigued by the idea that the fare on the fast train is
identical to that on the slow train, i.e. that I need only buy a
return from West Drayton (the westmost station the Freedom Pass
allows) to Reading, and that this covers the fast train, even though
the latter does not stop at West Drayton.

Does this always apply? Should, therefore, my fare to Edinburgh be
slightly cheaper because my Freedom Pass covers the stretch from
King's Cross to Finsbury Park, even though the train does not stop at
Finsbury Park?

Looking at the fares on http://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk, the journey
planner allows one to add one's Senior Railcard, but not (even for the
Reading journey) one's Freedom Pass. Indeed, it states that the
number of passes added for the fare calculation must not exceed the
number of passengers -- in this case, one. This would seem to
preclude the simultaneous use of a Freedom Pass and a Senior Railcard,
which does not sound logical.

By the way, the slow train to and from Reading was by no means as bad
as painted by some of the replies, and gets there in about an hour.
Sometimes speed is important; sometimes not.





On Sat, 06 Dec 2008 01:32:39 +0000, pedan3 wrote:

Took the slow train from Paddington to Reading and back today (thus
saving money by using Freedom Pass to maximum extent).

On the way back, the train information display in the main hall at
Reading showed the train terminating at Ealing Broadway, as did the
dot matrix indicators on the platforms.

On a different display screen, which I almost missed, was the
information that all such trains are shown as terminating at Ealing
Broadway, but "of course" (in the words of the second display panel)
they run to Paddington.

Couldn't they have said that in the first place? If I hadn't seen the
second display panel, I'd have got out at Ealing and taken the tube.
Is there a reason for any of this?

Just curious.