On Dec 9, 3:23*am, pedan3 wrote:
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.

This isn't quite right, as a freedom pass doesn't count as a "season
ticket" for the rules on combining tickets. The relevant wording is:

[you can combine tickets on non-stop trains when:]

(c) one of the tickets is a Season Ticket (which for this purpose does
not include Season Tickets or travel passes issued on behalf of a
passenger transport executive or local authority)

It's also possible in London to buy fares from zone boundaries, which
don't require the train to stop irrespective of the type of zonal
ticket you hold - but you need to do so explicitly, buying a return
from Boundary Zone 6 to Reading, not a return from West Drayton. These
are only sold in ticket offices and on trains, not online.

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?

In theory, yes. In practice, the fare for London to Edinburgh type
journeys is usually the same as Finsbury Park to Haymarket type
journeys.

Looking at the fares onhttp://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.

Indeed - the online planners don't understand ticket combinations or
boundary tickets.

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.

More chance of a seat on-peak, too.

--
John Band
john at johnband dot org
www.johnband.org