112.70 train to newcastle any1 do better? 31 January 2008 at 6:29PM edited 30 November -1 at 1:00AM in Motoring 14 replies 873 views

jpaine

depart 15th feb fri
return 20th feb wed

1 adult + 2 kids 6+11

1 family railcard (im gonna apply 4 this soon)

pangbourne-newcastle £112.70

1 change at oxford.

can anyone do any better, i use the car everywhere,

(but at 95.00 return on petrol money its not worth the 600 miles being added to the car. or the hassle)

so not to good on these split ticket things. any advice would be much appreciated.

dzug

You can do it cheaper if you are prepared to travel via London on the outward journey - £52.55 out, £27.05 back, total for all of you

anewman

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=i6BzgTnBE5U

Get your car serviced if it's not had anything done for a long while. Plugs, oil and filter, air filter etc. And drive carefully at 50-60 instead of 70-80 and that £95 will come down to about £75. Plus no waiting for the train, no late/cancelled trains, come/go when you want and no lugging bags around. Fill some flasks and a cool bag with some food etc and use the free service station parking.

isasmurf

dzug wrote: »

You can do it cheaper if you are prepared to travel via London on the outward journey - £52.55 out, £27.05 back, total for all of you

I agree you can only do it cheaper if your prepared to travel via London on your outward journey, but I get £46.80 for the outward fare. This is through nxeastcoast.co.uk which includes a 10% discount on their advance tickets.

exil

anewman wrote: »

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=i6BzgTnBE5U

Get your car serviced if it's not had anything done for a long while. Plugs, oil and filter, air filter etc. And drive carefully at 50-60 instead of 70-80 and that £95 will come down to about £75. Plus no waiting for the train, no late/cancelled trains, come/go when you want and no lugging bags around. Fill some flasks and a cool bag with some food etc and use the free service station parking.

It's a bit of a myth that the only cost involved is petrol - there's wear and tear and depreciation as well. This is more significant if the car is new/and/or/expensive or has high parts costs.

And driving can be stressful too (I find it so anyway). Also - you're WORKING instead of having someone else drive you there. You can't have a sly 40 winks in the fast lane of the M1.

If I win the lottery maybe I'll hire a chauffeur. Until then for long journeys it's the train or plane for me.

It's largely a matter of personal preference. The difference in costs isn't usually big enough to decide on its own.

scottishlass

jpaine wrote: »

depart 15th feb fri
return 20th feb wed

1 adult + 2 kids 6+11

1 family railcard (im gonna apply 4 this soon)

pangbourne-newcastle £112.70

1 change at oxford.

can anyone do any better, i use the car everywhere,

(but at 95.00 return on petrol money its not worth the 600 miles being added to the car. or the hassle)

so not to good on these split ticket things. any advice would be much appreciated.

If you've got a pigsback account and book using south west trains (works for any journey) you could get half your fare back in points which can then be converted to vouchers (Boots, Arcadia, Lesiure Vouchers).

jpaine

thanyou for all your replys, it might take too long going via london, probs add another hour on an already long lourney.

is there any split tickets ways that could be cheaper?

thanx 4 yr time.

scottishlass

jpaine wrote: »

thanyou for all your replys, it might take too long going via london, probs add another hour on an already long lourney.

is there any split tickets ways that could be cheaper?

thanx 4 yr time.

All depends on what times you were planning on traveling at...

TimothyEBaldwin

jpaine wrote: »

thanyou for all your replys, it might take too long going via london, probs add another hour on an already long lourney.

It is around an hour quicker via London.

anewman

exil wrote: »

It's a bit of a myth that the only cost involved is petrol - there's wear and tear and depreciation as well. This is more significant if the car is new/and/or/expensive or has high parts costs.

Motorway journeys give cars very little wear and tear as the car is heated up and kept in the same gear for long periods.

There's no point in having a car and not using it though! Otherwise insurance, road tax, servicing and repairs are all being paid for nothing! Your car is going to depreciate and get miles on it anyway unless you never drive it in which case there was no point in buying it. If you can't afford the small increase in depreciation and possible repairs each time you use it, you probably shouldn't have bought the car - or should have got a cheaper one.

KeithP

jpaine wrote: »

is there any split tickets ways that could be cheaper?

Why not try it, jpayne?

Depending on which way you go, Birmingham, Doncaster or York are possible places to split tickets. There may well be other places too. Its a 'trial and error' game. Keep trying.