Contrasting journeys with GWR

Saturday 3rd October 2026 I spent last weekend in Cornwall. I’d booked first class tickets with GWR over a month earlier, on 11th August, travelling on the 13:03 from Paddington to Plymouth on Friday afternoon, returning on the 12:57 from Truro to Paddington on Sunday afternoon. The train operating the outward journey is one of the few where GWR offers a Pullman style dining service and I decided to partake and treat myself. You can use GWR’s website to reserve a seat in the ‘restaurant’ section of the first class coaches but only two weeks in advance of your date of travel (before that the rather misleading default answer when trying to book is “Pullman dining is not available on this journey”) so I made a diary note to do this on Friday 11th September to avoid any disappointment. A (2×5) 10 coach train is allocated for the journey so you need to ensure you travel in the correct (rear) five coach section otherwise, you’ll miss out on the restaurant facility – not being able to walk…