I need to take the train from London on Saturday morning, April 9, and arrive in Stratford-Upon-Avon by 11:30 am. Have to pick up the rental car before the agency closes at noon!

My web search confuses me. One site says I leave from Paddington and another says that it should be the Marylebone Station, serviced by the Chiltern Railway Service. Their timetable is so huge and confusing that I can't tell if it's the right one or not.

Can anyone help? Thanks, kk

You would need to catch the 9:16 from Marylebone, changing at Banbury, and busing from Banbury to Stratford. Bus is operated by Chiltern trains.

Unfortunately, they're working on the track that weekend, which is why you have to take a bus for part of the journey - or go a long way round (and more expensive route) via Birmingham. The best source of schedule information is www.nationalrail.co.uk.

YOu can catch a train from London at 7.47 which, with 2 changes will get you to Stratford at 11.10. You leave from Marylebone and go to Banbury for your first change, then get the Bus to Warwick and another Bus to Stratford.

OR you can come via Brum; there are trains out of Birmingham (remember you have to change stations) every hour at 27 minutes past and they take just under an hour to get to Stratford. There's one at 8.33 that gets in at half past 10. That train leaves from Euston

STRATFORD-UPON-AVON STATION 11:10

What's happened to the direct trains we've always taken from Paddington to Stratford? Have those disappeared due to the construction?

Good grief! No wonder I was confused, and I am still sort of confused. But, shifting through the different suggestions, it sounds simplest to do the following, and see if you agree:

from Ron: You would need to catch the 9:16 from Marylebone, changing at Banbury, and busing from Banbury to Stratford. Bus is operated by Chiltern trains.

That is only one change and it suits me, as long as I am guaranteed to be at Stratford train station before Hertz closes?

Also, can anyone answer Patrick's question--no direct trains from Paddington anymore? And thanks very much anyone...we leave in 44 hours, wheeeeeeeeeee!

There are no guarantees when the on-time performance of the train companies in the UK is under 80%. It would be useful to have a mobile phone to call the Hertz office if things are running late.

It would appear that the trains from Paddington now terminate at Banbury, where you would then catch the Chiltern trains service to Stratford.

OK - kk you can't possibly be guaranteed you'll get there in time - especially on a weekend. Then your problem becomes -- you can't pick up the car until Monday because I suspect that rental location does not open on Sundays.

You "probably" will make it - but if you don't you are entirely up a creek.

This may seem like a big complication - but if it were me I would try to arrange to pick up my car either in London or in Oxford. Oxford is a shorter train ride and there is no bus connection involved . . . . .

Janis has the best idea so far. With engineering works on the tracks, your journey is looking a nightmare, and may also be subject to delays, which you can't afford.

If this were me, I'd pick up the hire car from Heathrow airport, where there is a very easy route from the airport via the M25 to the M40 motorway direct to Stratford, or pick up the car in Oxford.

Oh wow is all I can say. I'm certainly glad that I posted this question.

Originally we were planning to pick up the car at Heathrow and drive up, but someone who'd lived in Warwick said NAH, just take the train up and relax. Well! All this train stuff does not sound relaxing at all. I tried to talk about this with my husband last night, but he was busy finishing our taxes so he couldn't handle these train issues on top of THAT...but at least the taxes will go off today.

Anyway, I think I like the Oxford train station idea....we've already been there and have taken that train before....so, for now, that looks like the winner. Thanks to all who commented...and this will save me a call to the Chiltern RR folks this morning!

OK, one other quick Q:

Does the train from London to Oxford leave from Victoria? I took that journey in 1999 and can't quite recall.
Thanks!

Paddington . . . .

kk, I think that you are going to find that, on a Saturday morning, most if not all trains from Paddington are going to require a change of trains in Reading. Not a difficult change to make, but not as simple a journey as you might like...

But then again, depending where you are starting from in London, you may want to look at bus service, Oxford Tube is one company, which is more frequent than train service.

If you do have to change at Reading it is no big deal. But ron is right, the Oxford Tube (stupid name IMHO) is almost as quick as the train and less expensive.

WELL, given all these complications, what about just returning to our original idea (after Janis said don't start at Gatwick, on another thread) that we rent at Heathrow and drive all the way up?

If the whole point was to be leisurely, then having a deadline of being at Oxford or Stratford by noon to get the car is not leisurely...and I now recall that the car hire in Oxford is not even at the train station!

If it were me, given it is a Saturday morning, my first choice would be to rent in London, probably someplace around Marble Arch, assuming the A40 is the best way out of London. Second would be to rent at Heathrow.

Given London traffic, why would you choose Marble Arch over Heathrow, Ron? I may be missing something.
Thanks, kk

First of all, Heathrow is not as easy as it sounds. All car rental lots are off-site, so you have to get to LHR via tube or Heathrow Express, walk to one of the terminals, call for or wait for the shuttle bus from your rental company, etc.

Second, traffic will not be that bad on Saturday morning (if this Saturday is London Marathon day, forget this advice!!) and Marble Arch is on the western edge of central London.

Can I recommend
http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/planmy...quirements.asp

for excellent U.K. train journey planning? Punctuality is now much better than the 80% quoted.
I don't recall Victoria ever having a service to Stratford on Avon.

John, London.

John, it depends on how one defines "much". According to the latest report from the rail regulator, dated March 17, 2005,
"Quarterly performance figures from the SRA show that 80.3% of trains ran on time in Quarter 3 (October to December 2004), an increase of 3.9 percentage points, from 76.4% in the same period in 2003."

Chiltern, however, was much above average, at 91.3% on-time rate.