RM67

I may be mistaken.

I have been on a train journey 3 times in 10 years and so am no expert.

Is the quiet coach simply a no phone area or does it refer to those extremely annoying IPods that seem to have one volume setting - full?

No phone calls were made but it was like having tinnitus for 2 hours.

annhig. Yes, I do, thank you.

We also think that some of the new rules here are absolutely ridiculous - and happy to notice most are ignored

I admit, I do get defensive when my chosen home is criticized. I react the same way when people here are negative about England. I overreacted with flanneruk because of his offensive answer to a previous question I had.

I must admit I've never noticed the rules being enforced as such in the quiet carriage, other than silent glares from other passengers at transgressors.

The last time I travelled in a quiet coach, there were several people working on their laptops. There was a family with a child playing a loud computer game. One of the passengers complained and the family was told to move.
The mother was indignant, but it wasn't very sensible to take children into a quiet coach.

The seat reservations are just requests at time of booking, you aren't guaranteed to get what you ask for and you don't find out until you get your ticket. After all, if a whole train-full of people ask for window seats, you know a lot of them are going to have to be disappointed. But it's a fair chance and the sooner you book the more likely it is that your chosen option will still be available.

Quiet coaches - they vary on how well they are implemented. I love them as even the worst ones are better than normal carriages. People turn a blind eye (or glare) at people briefly making calls etc but any time there's been someone being really noisy another passenger has told them to stop and they do. Or a train guard has told them off. There's no need to sit and suffer - just remind the person it's a quiet coach and they need to move elsewhere to take that call/listen to their music etc.

The seat reservations are just requests at time of booking, you aren't guaranteed to get what you ask for and you don't find out until you get your ticket. After all, if a whole train-full of people ask for window seats, you know a lot of them are going to have to be disappointed. But it's a fair chance and the sooner you book the more likely it is that your chosen option will still be available.

Quiet coaches - they vary on how well they are implemented. I love them as even the worst ones are better than normal carriages. People turn a blind eye (or glare) at people briefly making calls etc but any time there's been someone being really noisy another passenger has told them to stop and they do. Or a train guard has told them off. There's no need to sit and suffer - just remind the person it's a quiet coach and they need to move elsewhere to take that call/listen to their music etc.

RM67 Well, I did state "Senior Confusion" in my question heading - and you are absolutely correct. If we were more flexible in our choice of day and time to travel from Penzance to Paddington, we could find a fare for as little as 15 pounds. But, unfortunately, we're not able to be that flexible during our limited stay in England. When searching online, I was just concentrating on the only day we have, and to travel by day so that we could enjoy looking at the passing Countryside.

I think we must wait 8 - 12 weeks prior to our travel day before we can book, and pay for, our seats. So hopefully, we will manage to get the seats of our choice. I even found, and printed out, a seating plan of the train.

Thank you all for your input and patience.

I think we must wait 8 - 12 weeks prior to our travel day before we can book, and pay for, our seats. So hopefully, we will manage to get the seats of our choice. I even found, and printed out, a seating plan of the train. >>

best of luck!

annhig - ooops, is that wishing me good luck in buying a ticket or securing our choice of seats? I'm thinking I may have a bit of luck because we are getting on at the terminal and on a Sunday morning. Ah well.

if you reserve a seat on a train then you are entitled to use it, if other people are sitting in it then ask them to move, i travel by train weekly (leicester-cambridge) and only on a couple of occasions have i had problems with people not wanting to move, occasionally i admit if the seat has been rear facing and there is a forward facing seat available i'll leave them to it, but my first 2 years of weekly travel were with my small daughter and i booked seats for a reason!

annhig - ooops, is that wishing me good luck in buying a ticket or securing our choice of seats?>>

Both!

Trains ....i am planning on pre-ordering a BritRail pass (not available to U.K. residents)..pick the area: London area, all of England, Add Wales or Scotland and even Ireland.......then pic how many days unlimited travel you want to do on 1. fixed number of days in a row or 2. Flexible days .......it sounds good to me. I found the link on the VisitBritain site and also BritRail

<B>Donna_LaRue:</B> for most visitors (not all, but definitely most) a BritRail Pass is NOT cost effective. The people it does <i>sometimes</i> benefit are those who do a lot of train journeys and can't/don't want to nail down specific times/itineraries. Otherwise BRPasses can be very expensive.

Have you looked at the advance purchase fares for the journeys you are planning?