Off Peak Train Tickets

can I buy Off-Peak tickets in advance for a train we hope to catch (around noon) and then use those tickets for a later train (in the off-peak period, on the same day) should we miss it?

Yes.

Any reserved seats won't apply to the later train so sit in unreserved seats.

Short answer, yes.

Book it for a sample train (say the 12 noon) then travel on any other train after 9am that day (including in the evening peak). That will cost £109.

The only thing is you won't have a reserved seat on any other train. But do that on arrival at Paddington, if you have time or call 03457 000 125 when you know which train you can catch. All trains also have at least one unreserved car.

If you think you will be travelling after 10am you can buy a Super Off Peak Single for £79 which has the same flexibility, but is not valid on the 4pm or 5pm trains.

As you say 'we' buy a Two Together Railcard for £30 (valid for one year) to save 34% off the above fares, after 0930 on a weekday (anytime weekends). You can do that at any time, as long as you have it when on the train. It gives you the same discount on the Heathrow Express (so £25 full fare is £16.50 and £16.50 discount fare is £10.90)

Thank you- extremely helpful information, especially regarding the Two Together Railcard. I would not have thought of that. I just did a random search and it makes first class look quite tempting. Plus, we'll be traveling from Leeds to London later in the trip, so it will be useful for that as well. I'm going to get going on the process. Thanks again!

good advice from Stuart. He gave the same answer I would have done but I didn't know about the Super Off-Peak

There is no need to have the railcard until you step on to the train. You can still buy tickets ahead of time saying that you have the railcard though. It might be advantageous for you to wait until the last minute to get the railcard we’re you planning to come back to the U.K. before September 25 as it lasts for a year.

Thanks, that's very good to know. I was initially thinking that the railcard would be mailed to me like a passport, perhaps even processed by a human. But how silly of me, of course it's all digital and instant. Thanks again.

By the way I don't know if you have seen my other posts on the subject but you can also do on line seat reservations in the 'my account' part of the GWR website/app so as soon as you were clear at Heathrow and knew your train west, you could do that on your phone if you have data or wifi, as you do on HEX.
You don't have to give a ticket number or anything. In fact you can reserve a seat without a ticket that way. It's all very easy.

Excellent! Thanks for information.