Kidderminster to Edinburgh by train?

Frith

I've been searching for trains to and from Edinburgh in April. (Going for 2 night break). Managed to find one going for £25 for the three of us! (2 adults and 1 child with railcard). Coming back, nothing for less than £200. Surely that's not right?! Can anyone advise how to find a cheaper fare? I looked at the bus but it'll take 9 hours which is a step too far.

Frith

I also need to know whether it is better to replace the Friends and Family railcard (now one child is over 16) or to get a Disabled Child's railcard for my younger son. It's all very confusing.

martindow

Cheap fares are available in batches a few months ahead. It's possible that the return fares are not released yet. Try looking for fares Edinburgh-Kidderminster on your outbound date and hopefully you'll see cheap fares. You probably need to wait a few days and keep looking until you can book for much cheaper fares for the date you want to return.

Honey_Badger

Frith wrote: »

I've been searching for trains to and from Edinburgh in April. (Going for 2 night break). Managed to find one going for £25 for the three of us! (2 adults and 1 child with railcard). Coming back, nothing for less than £200. Surely that's not right?! Can anyone advise how to find a cheaper fare? I looked at the bus but it'll take 9 hours which is a step too far.

I used to travel from the West Midlands to Glasgow for work on a regular basis, found flying from Birmingham to Glasgow was the cheapest way of doing it.

agrinnall

Honey_Badger wrote: »

I used to travel from the West Midlands to Glasgow for work on a regular basis, found flying from Birmingham to Glasgow was the cheapest way of doing it.

Not as cheap as £25 for 3 people though! And then you need to factor in the cost of getting to BHX, and as the OP wants to go to Edinburgh, the cost of getting there from GLA or EDI.

OP, I would do as martin suggests, but also check to see whether there are any cheap Edinburgh - New Street fares then add on the travel to Kiddy.

daveyjp

Cheap fares are released 12 weeks before travel on most routes.

You could buy the out singles now and buy Edinburgh Kidderminster singles when they are released.

JulieM

Have you considered driving to Wolverhampton, about half an hour from Kidderminster, you may find better advance fares from there, and it would be a straight through journey with no changes. You would need to check out parking at Wolverhampton station, or can anyone on here help?

wealdroam

daveyjp wrote: »

You could buy the out singles now and buy Edinburgh Kidderminster singles when they are released.

The risk with that is that Advance Singles for the return leg may never become available, maybe because there are engineering works planned for the return date, or maybe for any one of a number of other reasons. If that happens, it could be that Off Peak Returns are more cost effective but tickets for the outward leg have already been bought.

My suggestion would be to wait until the return leg Advance Singles are released and then buy tickets for both the outward and return legs at the same time.
Of course there is a risk with that idea too - OP, you decide.

Cornucopia

Adding "via Carlisle" seems to bring out some cheaper £17 single fares.

mickey54

Will it also not depend on actual date?

Is the intention to travel over Easter weekend?

Frith

Interesting you mention the date, Mickey54, because we would be coming home the Thursday before Good Friday...

I could drive to Wolverhampton (have done before for a straight run to Blackpool) but I live half an hour from Kidderminster so Wolverhampton was s over an hour. There IS parking in Wolv but I'm not sure where to park for 3 days in a row.

We don't fly and live 50 miles from Birmingham airport.