Travelling Chester-Brum-London-Chester

joolsyb

Hi there everybody!

I'm looking for cheapest train advice - there are so many options I thought I'd see if any of you know the best tactic!

I am travelling on day one Chester to Birmingham Int, then day two Birmingham Int to Euston, and day three Euston to Chester.

So essentially it is:

Chester - B'ham Int - Euston - Chester (over 3 days beginning tomorrow)

I don't know if I can get a return from Chester to Euston and stop off at Birmingham overnight i.e. if they stamp my ticket on the way to Brum does that invalidate it?

So confusing.

I also have a New Deal railcard in case that makes a difference to any advice you can give me.

Many thanks in advance!!

jd87

Whatever kind of ticket you buy, your outward journey is only valid on one day, so you cannot buy a ticket all the way to London and split your journey over two days, you will need to buy separate tickets.

You have left it a bit late to find advance tickets but some might still be available.

jd87

Ok it looks like the cheapest way to do it is the following:

Chester to Bham Int: £10.55 off peak single (no need to buy in advance).

Bham Int to Euston: Fast train £19.00 advance (buy now online) or Slow train £12.95 off peak single (no need to buy in advance).

Euston to Chester: If you don't mind your journey taking a bit longer, then just do the reverse of your outward journey (buying separate tickets to Bham Int and then on to Chester. This works out cheaper than going the more direct route that avoids Brum.

And yeah you're right that a return ticket Brum<->London might be worth it (also Chester<->Brum actually) , though generally if advance singles are available these are cheaper.

The website I would recommend in this case is the London Midland one. It has a good search layout, allows you to select New Deal railcard (not all websites do) and when you do a search you can use the "show other routes" option for cheaper (but slower) tickets.

dzug1

If you buy the most expensive ticket (an anytime return) the outward half is valid for five days.

Even at this late stage I'd have thought there were cheaper options though. Possibly an off peak return Chester to Birmingham and another Birmingham to London. Only snag with that is that you'd have to return through Birmingham

Also worth looking for are London Midland only tickets - there won't be any from Chester I'm pretty sure but from Crewe and Birmingham they are a possible

Livingthedream

An Off Peak Return Chester to London via Birmingham Int should be Ok @ £70 (£35 with New Deal Railcard) as this carries a restriction code of 2C which means;
1. You may travel on any train that
is scheduled to ARRIVE:London Euston Before 0720 or at or after 1130
2. You may travel on any train that
is scheduled to DEPART:London Euston Between 0926 & 1500 (inc.) and at or after 1845

But more importantly;
Overnight Break of Journey – restarting journey from an intermediate station:
Outward (on day 2): outward morning restrictions as above apply from/via the stations shown above
(Mon-Fri) and journey must recommence before 12.00 (all days). Recommencing from any other
station en route that is north of the stations shown above must be on trains timed to depart 09.30-
11.59 inclusive (by any train before 12.00 on BH and other days)

So as long as you restart your journey before 12.00 on day 2 you will be OK. On the return journey you don't need to go via Birmingham

bb21

jd87 wrote: »

Bham Int to Euston: Fast train £19.00 advance (buy now online)

The only £19 Advance fare on this flow seems to disappear and to be undiscountable with New Deal Cards on my Avantix Traveller. I will say the following.

Do NOT pay £19 for one single journey unless it's in 1st class.

[Ticket 1]
Birmingham International - London Terminals
Off-Peak Return
Route Any Permitted
£22.00

offers far better value and is valid for the return journey the following day. (Any reason to suggest Birmingham International over the more central Birmingham Stations - New Street, Moor Street, Snow Hill?)

The above ticket costs £22.15 from Birmingham Stations. The Route Any Permitted tickets allow travel on all services whoever the operators are.

The tickets that restrict to slower routes are:

[Ticket 2]
Birmingham Stations - London Terminals
Super Off-Peak Return
Route London Midland Only
£8.75

Price is the same from Birmingham International.

You are only allowed to travel on London Midland services.

[Ticket 3]
Birmingham Stations - London Terminals
Super Off-Peak Return
Route High Wycombe
£9.75

Price is £11.50 from Birmingham International.

You are only allowed to travel on routes that pass High Wycombe, normally with Chiltern out of London Marylebone.

Basically for your travel plans, on day 2 you should be fine. On your return journey from London Euston / Marylebone on day 3, the following time restrictions apply (summary):

[Ticket 1]
Euston: Between 0926 & 1500 (inc.) and at or after 1845.
Marylebone: None.

[Ticket 2]
Euston: Not before 1030, not between 1630 and 1930.
Marylebone: N/A.

[Ticket 3]
Euston: N/A.
Marylebone: Between 1030 & 1559 (inc.) and from 2000.

If you happen to need to return during the evening peak whilst in possession of either [Ticket 2] or [Ticket 3] then you should be able to excess both tickets at the ticket office to an Off-Peak Return, by paying an excess fare of either £6.25 for [Ticket 2] or £6.75 for [Ticket 3] (using Birmingham Stations as an example). Once upgraded to an Off-Peak Return you can then be free from afternoon time restrictions. However this excess for [Ticket 1] will be huge.

Between Chester and Birmingham, I cannot seem to find any meaningful alternatives to the through Off-Peak Return ticket:

Chester - Birmingham Stations
Off-Peak Return
Route Any Permitted
£16.75

which has no time restrictions on when it can be used.

All above fares are NDC-discounted and obviously Saturdays and Sundays do not carry time restrictions.

bb21

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

It would seem that I was wrong. If you choose [Ticket 1], you will not have any time restrictions due to the concession Virgin Trains offers holders of certain documents including New Deal Cards, as long as the train you travel on is run by Virgin.

[Ticket 2] and [Ticket 3] still carry their respective restrictions.

dzug1

Cancellation (where possible - only on walkon tickets) attracts a £10 fee per ticket, so would cost you more than you would save