Rail Travel: Tips on Cheap Tickets

shoe*gal_2

Can anyone tell me the best way to get 2 adults and 2 children to London for a day trip on the 10th August? We are near Telford Central but would be able to travel from Wolverhampton or Birmingham as well. Last time I went to London by train I got a really cheap ticket but that was years back and I don't remember how we got them. The children are 5 if that makes a difference. Thanks.

dzug1

shoe*gal wrote: »

Can anyone tell me the best way to get 2 adults and 2 children to London for a day trip on the 10th August? We are near Telford Central but would be able to travel from Wolverhampton or Birmingham as well. Last time I went to London by train I got a really cheap ticket but that was years back and I don't remember how we got them. The children are 5 if that makes a difference. Thanks.

Try http://www.wrexhamandshropshire.co.uk/train-times.php who operate a direct service from Telford to London

Otherwise try Chiltern http://www.chilternrailways.co.uk/start/commuter/ from Birmingham Snow Hill

Sunday is not the best day for rail travel unfortunately

shoe*gal_2

Thank you. I found tickets for £37.50 with Chiltern but we'd have to drive into Birmingham. Hopefully parking at Snow Hill won't be outrageous.

gner_ex

Leopardlady wrote: »

oops sorry about that, how stupid do i look!:rolleyes:
we are travelling from Swindon, so yes a little further away, we usually go to London on great western then on from Kings cross.

Thanks

For the through journey, there isn't anything that brilliant. A flexible ticket (saver return) is £141.50 (via london, inc the tube) or £128.30 (not London), so for two of you, a total of £257 not London.

The cheapest advance fare on your dates (based on a quick scan) appears to be £50.50 each way, so a total of £202. Are either of you eligible for 16-25 railcard, senior railcard, disabled railcard, etc?

Spiltting at Reading or Didcot is an option. Didcot to Edinburgh (route not London) is £106.90 saver return, or I can see an advance fare of £33.50 (leaving Didcot at 12:56 on Sat 23rd Aug), and an advance fare of £54.50 (leaving Edinburgh at 09:30 on Tue 26th). Swindon to Didcot is £14 for a saver return per person.

Best advice I can give is to have a play around at http://www.nationalrail.co.uk yourself. You could try Swindon to Birmingham, then Birmingham to Edinburgh, however I always caution against this - simply because if one train is late then you will miss your connecting train, and will then have to purchase a new ticket anyway.

Unless you're saving at least 50% of the cost of a saver return (in my view) it is best to just get that flexible ticket.

gner_ex

shoe*gal wrote: »

Thank you. I found tickets for £37.50 with Chiltern but we'd have to drive into Birmingham. Hopefully parking at Snow Hill won't be outrageous.

Telford to Birmingham is £7.50 cheap day return for one adult. Contrast this with the cost of fuel and parking. Perhaps start a seperate thread, asking for the cheapest place to park near Birmingham Snow Hill station?

A further option, is that the Chiltern trains also stop at Solihull and Dorridge. BE AWARE that if you have already purchased cheap tickets, you cannot start your journey 'short' (it seems silly, but this is the rule!).

jenny_f

Can anyone help me. I used to be fine with gner tickets but now it's all changed I just can't seem to handle the new website.

I'm wanting to go from Huddersfield to Stevenage leaving on Friday after 17:15 and returning Sunday anytime but not getting back *too* may be 11pm latest. Either the weekend of the 18th to 20th or the following weekend the 25th to 27th.

I do have a young persons railcard.

Any help appreciated. Thanks in advance

dzug1

Try someone else's website if you can't hack the new GNER one - Great Western for example show the cheap singles first.

You'll lose the GNER discount - but to get that you are going to have to work out their new site.

Maybe find the cheapest fares on GW then go look for the same thing on GNER.

TCG_2

I am going to Cornwall for a long weekend in October. I do not want to drive and having heard about cheap train journeys and splitting tickets etc I just tried it on thetrainline.com yet the cheapest is £71 return and singles works out the same??? I am booking way in advance so am surprised at the cost. Or is that reasonable?!

I'm not contemplating flying instead :rolleyes: probably works out the same only much quicker!

KeithP

I think you probably only need to get to the railway station five minutes (or so) before the train leaves. Don't try getting to the airport five minutes before your plane leaves.:D

Whereabouts in Cornwall?
It might help if you told us where you are travelling from.
Travelling weekdays or weekend? Peak or offpeak?

moonrakerz

Apologies if this has been posted before, have done a quick search and couldn't find anything.

If you are going to (through) London on SWT have a look at this page:-
http://www.southwesttrains.co.uk/SWTrains/Ticketsandprices/Ticket+types/AdvancedFares.htm?Letter=0#navigation

There are fares on here that do not appear on the National Rail site. I have tried several "trips" on various dates from my local station to Waterloo.
Nat Rail gives: £18 ret std class. £50.40 ret 1st class
SWT gives. £18 ret std class. £34 ret 1st class.
Railcard discount are available on these tickets.