Rail Travel: Tips on Cheap Tickets

Helpless_Warrior

Thanks for the response.
The price is not too much of an issue, the timing is however.
There are 5 of us, 2 x adults, 1 x 3yo 1x 7yo and 1x 14yo.
As i said in my PP we need to arrive around 3pm, but to do this would mean the price rises to £200+, which obviously i would rather not spend unless necessary;)

Thanks again:)

Livingthedream

Helpless_Warrior wrote: »

Thanks for the response.
The price is not too much of an issue, the timing is however.
There are 5 of us, 2 x adults, 1 x 3yo 1x 7yo and 1x 14yo.
As i said in my PP we need to arrive around 3pm, but to do this would mean the price rises to £200+, which obviously i would rather not spend unless necessary;)

Thanks again:)

You could try this and pay just for the peak part of your journey, then pay off peak for the rest;

Gloucester to Cheltenham £7.20 Anytime Single
Cheltenham to Peterborough £105 Off Peak Return
Peterborough to Great Yarmouth £37 Off Peak Return
On the way back you need a Cheltenham to Gloucester £7.20 Anytime Single
So Total Return £156.20 2x adults 2x children & FF railcard as 3 yr old travel free.

With that combo you can catch the 08:54 dep Gloucester arr Great Yarmouth 15:09

Helpless_Warrior

Thanks LTD,

Most appreciated.


:T:T:T

ETA: There is no option for Off-peak chelt to peterborough for the times you stated, can't understand why not though seeing as it departs after 9am :question:

ellay864

I'm looking to travel Winsford to Birmingham New Street, 4 adults, day return on Tues 5 July. Don't want to leave til the 10 or 11am train and coming back is pretty flexible, likely to be the one around 4pm but don't want to commit to set time. Best I can find is £88.40 for the 4 of us. Are there likely to be any better fares coming up or am I best to book now before those disappear?

Livingthedream

ellay864 wrote: »

I'm looking to travel Winsford to Birmingham New Street, 4 adults, day return on Tues 5 July. Don't want to leave til the 10 or 11am train and coming back is pretty flexible, likely to be the one around 4pm but don't want to commit to set time. Best I can find is £88.40 for the 4 of us. Are there likely to be any better fares coming up or am I best to book now before those disappear?

Try London Midland Group Save basically 4 adults travel for the price of 2, however, they can only be bought at the station at the moment.

ellay864

Thank you...looks ideal. I'll pop by the station tomorrow (if it's still open - I know they were cutting down the opening hours!!) I'm assuming I can still buy them in advance and I don't have to get them on the day? It isn't clear on the site. But it does say online is coming soon so guess I can

Livingthedream

Helpless_Warrior wrote: »

ETA: There is no option for Off-peak chelt to peterborough for the times you stated, can't understand why not though seeing as it departs after 9am :question:

Strange, don't know what happened there, but try this;

Gloucester to Birmingham NS dep 08:54 arr 09:56 Anytime Return
Birmingham NS to Peterborough dep 10:22 arr 12:16 Off Peak Return
Peterborough to Great Yarmouth dep 12:43 arr 15:09 Off peak Return

Total Return £143.10

And again sorry for not posting back earlier, just seen your edit.:o

Livingthedream

ellay864 wrote: »

Thank you...looks ideal. I'll pop by the station tomorrow (if it's still open - I know they were cutting down the opening hours!!) I'm assuming I can still buy them in advance and I don't have to get them on the day? It isn't clear on the site. But it does say online is coming soon so guess I can

Yes, you can buy them in advance or you can buy them on the day, just ask the ticket clerk which are 'the certain very busy trains' you can't catch the day you travel.

And the best time to catch the ticket office will be just after rush hour around 10 o'clock.

cfc1900

"My other favourite ticket is the Derbyshire Wayfarer ticket when it can be used in conjuction with a Cheap Day Return ticket from Burton on Trent for travel to Birmingham.

Derbyshire Wayfarer - valid between Sheffield and Burton on Trent: £7.50 (includes a free child place!)

Cheap Day Return from Burton on Trent to Birmingham: £5.90 - making it £13.40 in total.

A full saver return between Sheffield and Birmingham costs a wapping £27.30 - plus half fare for a child if you are taking one.

By buying a combination of ticket as above, a saving of at least £13.90 can be made just for one day out! However, in this case, the trains that you travel must call at Burton on Trent station as neither ticket is a season ticket and so condition 17(b) applies."

I second this - I had to go from Rugby to New Mills the other day and it was cheaper to get an off peak single to Derby and then buy a wayfarer ticket at Derby station before boarding the next train. If you have a senior rail card or Derbyshire Gold card you pay £4.35, half the full fare (not a third as with normal discount on a senior card). Also the wayfarer is valid on buses. There are similar savings in the Greater Manchester area - go to the Manchester Transport website rather than waste time with the National Rail enquiries page, which is very variable in my experience.

Another tip is, when using the National website journey planner, try your journey from the next station on the line. EG a single from Rugby to Stockport is about £28 off peak with a card. It's £10.55 from Coventry, a £2 single fare away.

jad

I'm trying to book a one-way ticket, from Colchester to Liverpool St. on Saturday 4th June, arriving somewhere between 8am and 9am. Been trying to get a good price for a few weeks now, but nothing seems to be changing.

Has anyone got any ideas why there don't seem to be any advance single fairs on that day? Looking at the weekend after, I can find a fair for £10, same for this coming weekend, but for the 4th, the best I can see is coming in at £19.60.

Kinda typical that the day I need to go down there, is the day there are no cheap fares!