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Home > Travel > Holiday Essentials > Train > First Great Western

User Reviews

for First Great Western

Rating Summary based on 28 reviews

  • 5 Stars
    		6
  • 4 Stars
    		9
  • 3 Stars
    		8
  • 2 Stars
    		3
  • 1 Star
    		2

Detailed rating

  • Frequency of trains
  • On-board facilities
  • Speed of trains
  • Ticketing System
  • Value for Money
  		• 3.7
  		• 3.3
  		• 3.8
  		• 3.5
  		• 3.1
Previous page Next page Page 1 of 3 | 1 to 10 out of 28 Review(s)
  • 55 of 55 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of Kasaf

    Kasaf

    5 Stars First Great Western wins the race! Review with images 30/11/2010
    User recommends the product

    Advantages Advantages Great on-board facilities, very comfortable, friendly staff

    Disadvantages Disadvantages Occasional Delays

    Abstract First Great Western (FGW) is a train company that operates throughout the UK. They provide train services that call at over 270 statios aswell as managing 210 stations with the main ones being London Paddington, home to the famous Paddington Bear, and Reading (The two stations I pass to go home). For the purpose of this review, I will mainly be focusing on the train service provided rather than how well they manage their stations. Ticket Availability There are four ways of purchasing tickets for any FGW train service: At a ticket office, self-service machine, online and directly from ... more
  • 25 of 25 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of smcclt3006

    Level 2 smcclt3006

    Member since 28/12/2006

    Reviews written: 25

    4 Stars Worst Great Western? I don't think so. 12/08/2007
    User recommends the product

    Advantages Advantages Clean trains and facilities, helpful staff

    Disadvantages Disadvantages The seats are so comfortable you are in danger of sleeping past your stop.

    HOW EASY IS IT TO BUY A TICKET? Generally I don't think there is a problem with buying tickets. There are 3 main ways to buy a ticket. The first is in person at any uk train station where there is a ticket office. The second way to buy a ticket is on the internet. Either on the FGW site or any other site such as National Rail or The Trainline. The last way is to buy directly from the conductor on the service that you are travelling on at the time. There are many problems with buying tickets over the internet. They include the tickets not reaching you in time. For example, the tickets have been ... more
  • 18 of 18 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of evesham1988la

    evesham1988la

    5 Stars FGW is First 23/08/2005
    User recommends the product

    Advantages Advantages Fast & Efficient, Plenty of Seats, Buffet's Good, Children's Activities

    Disadvantages Disadvantages Maybe a tad expensive - though deals can be found (but not on my route!)

    First Great Western (FGW) run services to South Wales (Cardiff, Swansea, Carnaefon), the West Country and right down to Penzance - all of which run through Reading and terminate at London Paddington. They also run a service though the pictuesque Cotswolds through Oxford and then on to Worcester and Hereford. This is my local line - so my experiences relate to my travels through the Cotswolds. I must stress that this op is not about First Great Western Link (note the difference) who run those terrible turbos on the commuter lines around Reading and even somehow reach up my line.... So here is ... more
  • 103 of 103 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of denella

    Level 8 denella

    Member since 28/08/2006

    Reviews written: 359

    3 Stars Going West 06/06/2009
    User recommends the product

    Advantages Advantages Punctual and clean.

    Disadvantages Disadvantages No trolley service; difficult to buy tickets in advance.

    Most of my experiences of travelling by train in the past have been with South West Trains or Southern, neither of which has impressed me with punctuality. More recently, I have travelled several times with First Great Western from Portsmouth to Bristol; punctuality has been a strong point, but there is room for improvement in other ways. I found it easy to look up times of trains and prices of tickets on the website, and it soon became obvious that buying two single tickets in advance was usually cheaper than buying a return. Prices seem to vary according to how busy a particular train is and ... more
  • 98 of 98 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of tac20

    Level 7 tac20

    Member since 01/09/2005

    Reviews written: 87

    2 Stars Good-if-you're-First-Class Great Western 08/03/2008
    User doesn't recommend the product

    Advantages Advantages Nice design

    Disadvantages Disadvantages Late, completely packed

    I guess most reviews come from the fact that people either have something really great they want to tell people about, or really bad that they want to moan about. To be honest I would love this to be a big rant about Great Western, but I'm going to keep my comments fair, because although they do a lot of things wrong, there are also some things that I do actually like about the way they run their service. I started getting First Great Western trains from Reading a couple of months ago. I generally get the rush hour trains in and back, but I do also have experience of using their trains during ... more
  • 47 of 47 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of lazza123

    lazza123

    5 Stars Brunel would be happy with this! 06/10/2003
    User recommends the product

    Advantages Advantages Stress Free, straight into London, no hassle

    Disadvantages Disadvantages potentially could be delays?

    I had to attend a meeting in London on Saturday. I thought “well I drive so much, lets use the train, surely there will be no problems!!” I went from my local station, Taunton in Somerset to Paddington in London. ** Who are they? ** First Great Western are one of the train operating companies. They run trains from London (Paddington) to the West Country and Wales, and I think up to Worcester. ** Getting a Ticket ** Yes I needed one of those!! I decided to get my ticket on the Thursday before I travelled, so off I went to the ticket office. The staff there were really helpful in working out the ... more
  • 25 of 25 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of queenmaebh

    queenmaebh

    4 Stars First (or Last) Great Western - It depends! 13/07/2007
    User recommends the product

    Advantages Advantages Gorgeous Scenery/Wildlife, Beautiful Convenient Journey Breaks,!st Class

    Disadvantages Disadvantages Old Trains, Possibly Overcrowded,Unreliability not confined to this carrier

    WILDLIFE WATCHING ON THE GREAT WESTERN – ENGLAND Faster than Fairies, Faster than witches, Bridges and houses, hedges and ditches, And charging along like troops in a battle, All through the meadows, the horses and cattle: (From A Railway Carriage – Robert Louis Stevenson) I know what he meant! Like Robert we were to be afforded panaoramic grandstand views of one of England’s most beautiful stretches of coastline – but things did not start out well! As the Exeter train approached the station, the unusually large crowd of passengers waiting stoically inched forward - en masse - to the edge of ... more
  • 50 of 50 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of Critchyboy

    Critchyboy

    4 Stars From Cornwall to the Capital. 13/05/2003
    User recommends the product

    Advantages Advantages Regular Service and Cheap Advance Prices.

    Disadvantages Disadvantages Expensive if you just turn up

    I used to live just outside Chesterfield in Derbyshire - beautiful place with many fond memories but naff in terms of getting trains from the capital late at night. Now... if you have had the time, and the inclination, to read any of my reviews thus far, you will notice that theatre is rather a large love of life, second only to the wife, but above the dog. In order to see a show an evening show in London and travel there and back by train, I would have a number of options. Firstly, drive to a place where I could get a train out of London after 11pm and drive back after. This I did on one ... more
  • 40 of 40 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of Katieshaz

    Level 6 Katieshaz

    Member since 01/11/2002

    Reviews written: 121

    3 Stars Last Great Western 15/04/2004
    User recommends the product

    Advantages Advantages It gets you there

    Disadvantages Disadvantages may be delays, pricey, sullen staff

    *Update: Since writing this the first time I have had the displeasure to travel twice weekly with FGW and my estimations have gone down: old trains, slow trains, late trains (especially on a Sunday!) sullen and miserable staff members, overcrowding, prices have gone up etc. They also have the WORST train delays out of all the UK train companies...25% of their trains are late, what a disgrace.* About the Company: FGW is a train company that operates services from Wales, Bristol and the West of England into London. I always travel from Swindon and my most recent experience focuses on the London ... more
  • 40 of 40 Ciao users found the following review helpful
    Picture of sue.51

    Level 7 sue.51

    Member since 20/03/2001

    Reviews written: 275

    3 Stars Whoops, I've Done it again 22/11/2001
    User recommends the product

    Advantages Advantages Don't have the hassle of traffic

    Disadvantages Disadvantages Cold, expensive and other people

    An early morning start in Central London!!! - my normal grand ideas of taking a car everywhere with me went well and truly out of the window - even for me, a driving fanatic, the idea of driving around streets I didn't know, finding car parking who knows where was not in the least bit appealing - and so to the train. Checking out my options, it quickly became evident that I was going to have to leave Swansea at the ungodly hour of 5am to ensure I got where I needed to be by 9.15am - last time I did that it cost me the princely sum of £85 and that was a very long time ago, I would expect cheese ... more
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