Train from Bristol to Wareham (Dorset)

Question 2- No advance fares exist for that through journey, so they aren't sold out. There are none to start with.

Question 1- The Dorchester route is a very pretty route, well worth doing but you have the walk across town in Dorchester, presumably with luggage. If I have to split ticket anyway my solution would be to do a cross platform change at Upwey- the next station south of Dorchester towards Weymouth. A benefit of split ticketing!!
Unbelievably that village station is the subject of an active query on this forum.

If I was going for functionality I would choose a Southampton change. If for scenery the Dorchester/Upwey change any day of the week.

Question 3- If the first train is delayed then your tickets are just automatically valid on the next service on sector 2- no questions asked. Even on split ticketing. The guards can check live train running on their phones if there is any doubt.

Question 4- Buy both tickets on one or the other website/app. It doesn't matter and is just easier. SWT is a very clunky website. So GWR is probably the better website.

Question 5-There are no assigned seats on these routes, even with Advance Tickets. Just sit anywhere.
That fact would be the other reason for choosing route Southampton as the Dorchester route trains can get busy with holiday makers to the seaside resort of Weymouth. On a September weekday that is not going to be a problem.

The advance fares for both split routes are on sale now, so buy as soon as you can.

My comment is not about trains but rather to say i hope you have a very nice time in Wareham. I have a friend there so have visited many times (including a week ago). It’s a lovely town.

Elizabeth - thank you! I am very excited about visiting Wareham and the Isle of Purbeck!!

Stuart - Good morning! As always you gave me a lot to think over. I tried a lot of different combinations but the timings for Upwey somehow did not work out. So I went along with Southampton and was able to get the train times I wanted.

I did see the other post about Upwey - which was fortunate because I have the same problem as the other OP - My tickets from Bristol to Southampton are showing up on the GWR website, but not the ones from Southampton-Wareham. I downloaded the app, but I cannot log in - I will try again tomorrow morning. The receipt shows both tickets though.

Thank you again for taking the time to walk me through this.

A footnote as everything all seems sorted out but it might be useful to someone else related to this.

Through tickets without a split allow changes to be made between the Heart of Wessex & South West mainline at any of Dorchester, Upwey, or Weymouth stations as they are in the same routing group.

Out of interest, I just tapped in to find out what it would cost me this afternoon if I just walked into Bristol Temple Meads station & purchased an off peak single to Dorchester (West) = £24 plus an Anytime Day Single from Dorchester (South) to Wareham = £9 so Total = £34 or £22.37 with a Railcard. This is for the 14.03 departure from Bristol and including the 8 minute walk between the 2 stations at Dorchester = 8 minutes or so, I would arrive Wareham at 16.52 (2 hours 49 minutes total). (I would save a few bucks splitting the ticket at Dorchester).

PS. Be sure to visit Lulworth Cove & Durdle Dor whilst in Wareham.

Out of interest, I just tapped in to find out what it would cost me this afternoon if I just walked into Bristol Temple Meads station & purchased an off peak single to Dorchester (West) = £24 plus an Anytime Day Single from Dorchester (South) to Wareham = £9 so Total = £34 or £22.37 with a Railcard.

Except that on any day after 12 noon you wouldn't buy a Anytime Day Single from Dorchester South to Wareham for £9, but instead buy an Evening Out Single for £6.30.
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The Evening Out Single is a totally flexible ticket, bought on the spot- available for sort of short to middle distance trips on South West Trains outwith the London Commuter Zone.

There is a real oddity in that the Evening Out ticket is also available from Dorchester West to Wareham for £6.30 (via Upwey or allegedly Weymouth) but Upwey to Wareham is £8.40 and Weymouth to Wareham is £10. (West and South for fare purposes are treated as the same station).

Also Railcard discounts round to the nearest 5 pence- they do not use odd pence. So the railcard fare for £24 + £9 is actually £15.80 + £5.90= £21.70

Southampton to Wareham is too long a distance for an Evening Out Ticket (Bournemouth being the limit heading east)

There used to be specific easements for those starting at Upwey to enable doubling back via Weymouth dating back to when it mainly only had stops on the Western services. They hung on for quite a while but eventually were deleted. (Can't you tell this was my local station for some years ...)

This discussion just goes to show how ridiculously complicated the train ticketing system is. Even people who know it well can’t always find the cheapest and best tickets. Reform is desperately needed.

Marco, James and Stuart - thank you for the education. As Helen says, I did find it very confusing and I thought I had done a good job swotting up the rules :) However, it is all the fun of planning travel!

I eliminated Dorchester as the split point because I did not want to change stations with luggage, especially if it rains. Splitting at Upwey was resulting in a one-hour wait and I was not getting a good advance fare from Bristol-Upwey...I did see the evening-out fares on to Wareham though. So even though the Southampton route will not be as scenic, it won out due to (mainly) convenience and cost...it cost GBP29.20 for both of us from Bristol-Wareham (Advance fares - 8.50/each Bristol-Southampton, 6.10/each Southampton-Wareham) with a total travel time of ~3:40 hours.

James - We are definitely planning to visit Durdle Door and Lulworth Cove, and Corfe Castle and Brownsea Island....this is the part of the trip I am looking forward to the most. Actually, the reason I am hurrying to get to Wareham that day is because it is the only day we can ride the Swanage Railway.

I'm still having trouble logging in to the GWR app. I cannot see the Southampton-Wareham tickets on the website. I assume somehow it got changed to "collect at the station" as the receipt shows both sets of tickets. Is this something I should worry about or just wait till I get to the UK and can log in to the app?

Once again thank you for all your help - I definitely could not have figured it all out on my own.

Others on here have said that the GWR app does not really work overseas, but works fine when in the UK.

In theory, stress theory, it should work in the US if you have a VPN and set the VPN to be in the UK. That solution seems to be untried on this forum.

I admit I had wondered about the Upwey connection. I was up early sleepless this morning after a heavy week which has crashed my body clock again, and didn't check it. But I did wonder as the Wessex Electrics always did miss the Upwey connection into and out of the Bristol services by literally a minute or two, as long as 30 or 40 years ago in Network South East days. It was always alleged to be due to line capacity and power supply issues with the Wessex Electrics, how true that is I never knew. Dorchester to Weymouth was always alleged to have weak electric supply for the trains.
All these years on you would hope that had been solved, but maybe not.

It's a shame the Swanage Railway has abandoned through running to Wareham for this year. That would have been so easy for you.

Try and fit in the open top bus from Swanage over the Sandbanks Chain Ferry to Bournemouth.

Brownsea Island is a very special place.

Stuart, Upwey was a very intriguing possibility and I thoroughly enjoyed exploring that option. I hope you get your sleep rhythm back soon. We will try to fit in the bus ride you recommend, and I agree - what a shame the Swanage railway doesn't make it up to Wareham! Nevertheless, we are looking forward to that ride, probably from Corfe Castle to Swanage.

That’s a very good fare from Bristol to Southampton. They use Class 165/166 trains on that route which date from the late 80’s. If you get one of these, beware of sitting under a box on the ceiling as it will drop cold air on you. They also use Class 158 trains on that route and these are notorious for having failed air-con. When this happens, they open 2 little windows each side - which is not adequate in summer. So, when the train arrives at Bristol - if it is a 158 (that’s the first 3 digits of the number on the front which has a connecting door), look for a coach with the windows closed as that will have working air con.

James, that is VERY good information to have, thank you!