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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: A Train Question
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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
A friend suggests this site for buying train tickets in the UK:
http://www.thetrainline.com/
Anyone heard of these people?
Brenda
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Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
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Albertus
Shipmate
# 13356
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Posted
Yes. They're OK- nothing wonderful about them but perfectly OK, on the whole*. I've used them for years, just out of habit, really. There are a number of websites for buying train tickets here, including pretty much all the train companies: I don't know whether there's much difference in the price of the tickets available but their admin charges (for use of credit cards etc) will vary slightly.
*Actually to be fair I have used their customer service line- the usual Indian call-centre- a couple of times when things have gone wrong, and they have been pretty helpful.
[ 12. July 2014, 22:08: Message edited by: Albertus ]
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My beard is a testament to my masculinity and virility, and demonstrates that I am a real man. Trouble is, bits of quiche sometimes get caught in it.
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Leorning Cniht
Shipmate
# 17564
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Albertus:
I don't know whether there's much difference in the price of the tickets available but their admin charges (for use of credit cards etc) will vary slightly.
AFAIK, they all sell the same tickets, but as you point out, some will charge a couple of quid for using a credit card, and some won't.
For Brenda, you'll notice that the advance purchase tickets are very much cheaper indeed, if you're travelling any distance, but require you to commit to a particular time of train in advance. You can buy tickets online and pick them up at electronic kiosks at most stations - you'll need both your credit card, and the booking reference you get at the time of purchase. Don't forget the booking reference.
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
quote:
Anyone heard of these people?
Yes. A lot of people use them. I got my season ticket through them.
Check the fees carefully (in the small print). I'm not keen on the flat rate £6 special delivery postal charge that they ask for. There may also be booking fees for your tickets. It doesn't cost anything extra to buy one over the counter at a station. Your advance fare bought online may not be as much of a bargain as you think once the extras are added on.
Also, if you have a pass that covers you for multiple journeys, and the magnetic strip fails, in theory you can just turn up at any station and ask for a replacement ticket, as an alternative to posting it back to the Trainline company and asking for a replacement. In practice, many stations may refuse to replace a defective ticket that was bought online and not from them. You can of course show it to the staff at the ticket barriers when you need to go through, but it is a bit annoying having to do this.
Having said that, you probably won't have this problem, unless you're the careless sort who puts the tickets and the mobile phone into the same pocket or compartment in your handbag. Don't lose your tickets, either.
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Brenda Clough:
A friend suggests this site for buying train tickets in the UK:
http://www.thetrainline.com/
Anyone heard of these people?
I bought my ticket to London from them the other day. Used them in the past, never any problem that I recall. As others have said, print out the booking reference, put it in your travel folder; the ticket machines will be fairly prominent in the station - very like the automated checkin at airports.
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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daisydaisy
Shipmate
# 12167
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Posted
On some routes there is no discount for buying in advance.
Posts: 3184 | From: southern uk | Registered: Dec 2006
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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
Thank you, all you persons of experience!
Brenda
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Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
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Pigwidgeon
Ship's Owl
# 10192
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Posted
I used them last year, buying a ticket within England while I was still at home in the U.S. It all went well, but I was amused to board the train and find my reserved seat at a table with two other people -- and no one else in our car. I decided they and I would be happier if I moved to another seat by myself.
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"...that is generally a matter for Pigwidgeon, several other consenting adults, a bottle of cheap Gin and the odd giraffe."
~Tortuf
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Leorning Cniht
Shipmate
# 17564
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Ariel:
Your advance fare bought online may not be as much of a bargain as you think once the extras are added on.
If you pickup the tickets from the electronic kiosk at the station, there is no fee, and no extras (except possibly a small purchase fee, as mentioned earlier.)
Posts: 5026 | From: USA | Registered: Feb 2013
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M.
Ship's Spare Part
# 3291
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Posted
i have used the trainline but usually just use nationalrail.co.uk,.
The links take you through to the train companies' own websites, which often give an extra, albeit small, discount for booking online.
M.
Posts: 2303 | From: Lurking in Surrey | Registered: Sep 2002
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Leorning Cniht:
If you pickup the tickets from the electronic kiosk at the station, there is no fee, and no extras (except possibly a small purchase fee, as mentioned earlier.)
If you buy the tickets in person there is no fee either. I do object to paying a purchase fee, which is essentially paying for the privilege of paying.
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Sarasa
Shipmate
# 12271
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Posted
I think all these companies are pretty similar, though some seem to have slightly easier to use websites. One thing to look out for is the price of a return ticket. It's sometimes cheaper to buy one ticket for your journey out and another for your return. Some people I know also buy seperate tickets for differnt legs of a long journey as that apparently saves money too, but I've never tried that.
I'm sure you know about Visitor's Oyster Cards for when you are in London.
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'I guess things didn't go so well tonight, but I'm trying. Lord, I'm trying.' Charlie (Harvey Keitel) in Mean Streets.
Posts: 2035 | From: London | Registered: Jan 2007
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Arethosemyfeet
Shipmate
# 17047
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Posted
The scotrail website seems to be the cheapest as they don't charge a booking fee and offer free postage on tickets, which is a big help if your journey starts somewhere out of the way.
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Leorning Cniht
Shipmate
# 17564
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Ariel:
quote:
Originally posted by Leorning Cniht:
If you pickup the tickets from the electronic kiosk at the station, there is no fee, and no extras (except possibly a small purchase fee, as mentioned earlier.)
If you buy the tickets in person there is no fee either. I do object to paying a purchase fee, which is essentially paying for the privilege of paying.
It is, however, rather difficult to by advance purchase tickets in person whilst your person is in a different country. OTOH, I can buy advance purchase tickets (for less than half the standard fare) from the US, fly to the UK, get myself to the station, and then collect a big stack of cheap rail tickets from the kiosk.
Posts: 5026 | From: USA | Registered: Feb 2013
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Albertus
Shipmate
# 13356
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Posted
One thing- if you are collecting your pre-booked tickets from a machine, make sure that it's at a decently staffed station. The one real problem I've had was when I booked tickets from the Trainline for travel using rail company X, for collection at my local (unstaffed) station which is run by rail company Y- and the ticket machine ran out of ticket blanks. So the system said my tickets had been printed, but I didn't have them, and rail company Y whose machine was at fault said it was nothing to do with them...Still trying to sort out the refund.
Posts: 6498 | From: Y Sowth | Registered: Jan 2008
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Schroedinger's cat
Ship's cool cat
# 64
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Posted
If you have long, planned train journeys to make, these are pretty good for buying from. As others have said, buying in advance can often be cheaper, which is why I mention "planned" - when you know your arrival time, or suchlike.
If you are using the train for more local journeys, it is often not worth the trouble, and turning up at the station to buy on the day might prove better - there is also the option to change your mind, start later or earlier, depending on the weather conditions and any train issues that might occur.
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Blog
Music for your enjoyment
Lord may all my hard times be healing times
take out this broken heart and renew my mind.
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Leorning Cniht:
It is, however, rather difficult to by advance purchase tickets in person whilst your person is in a different country.
Yes, however, unless you intend to use the advance tickets immediately on arrival, buying them over the counter after you've arrived is still an option.
Basically in buying rail tickets over the internet from a company that exists solely online, you're dealing with the intangible and faceless, and if it goes wrong, it's a more protracted and expensive process to sort this out than if you'd got them from a human being in a physical location you can visit. You may have to phone a premium-cost phone number, or as I found, as a last resort after 5 days of getting nowhere, try explaining yr prblm in 140 chars on Twitter.
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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
a cogent point, especially for us Yanks. We already will have problems enough!
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Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
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Jengie jon
Semper Reformanda
# 273
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Posted
If you are buying in advance tickets of where you are buying tickets between. There are advance tickets between Sheffield and Birmingham but not between Sheffield and University, a stop near the Edgebaston Campus at the University of Birmingham.
Jengie
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"To violate a persons ability to distinguish fact from fantasy is the epistemological equivalent of rape." Noretta Koertge
Back to my blog
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Leorning Cniht
Shipmate
# 17564
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Ariel:
Yes, however, unless you intend to use the advance tickets immediately on arrival, buying them over the counter after you've arrived is still an option.
In the old days, you used to have to buy APEX tickets a month in advance. These days, I gather that a certain number of advance purchase tickets are made available for each service, rather than having a time cutoff, but this still means that if you want to get the cheapest ticket, you usually have to book well in advance. Popping in to the station for an advance ticket for tomorrow doesn't usually get you the cheap price.
Here's an example. Last month, I was in the UK, and made a rail journey on an advance purchase ticket for GBP 18. If I look at that journey now, the earliest time I can find that price available is the end of July. So if I wanted to get the cheap ticket, I couldn't wait until I arrived in the UK. Had I done that, I'd have been paying GBP 40 for my ticket.
quote:
Basically in buying rail tickets over the internet from a company that exists solely online, you're dealing with the intangible and faceless, and if it goes wrong, it's a more protracted and expensive process to sort this out than if you'd got them from a human being in a physical location you can visit.
This is possible. It hasn't been my experience with internet orders in general, but I have never had an issue with buying rail tickets online, so I can't comment on that specific case.
Every problem I have had with an internet order has been resolved with one phonecall, which has been rather cheaper than the bus fare to the nearest full-service rail station. YMM, of course, V.
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Leorning Cniht:
Every problem I have had with an internet order has been resolved with one phonecall, which has been rather cheaper than the bus fare to the nearest full-service rail station. YMM, of course, V.
Yes. It took me 5 days, 4 visits to 3 train stations, 3 emails, 3 phone calls and a Twitter exchange to resolve a problem with a defective ticket which, because it had been bought online, nobody would in practice replace at the counter. The position was that if I sent it back to the vendors via recorded delivery and waited a couple of days I could then receive a replacement.
Meanwhile, I'd need to buy some replacement tickets over the counter for the travelling period in between, which I could then send to the online vendors afterwards via recorded delivery for reimbursement, which would presumably be sent to me via recorded delivery at my own expense. Sum total of extra postal charges c. £24 (nonrefundable) + cost of interim tickets if I did that.
Out of desperation I approached another train station where the staff immediately replaced my ticket within two minutes without surprise or fuss and free of charge. End of. YMM indeed V.
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Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by M.:
i have used the trainline but usually just use nationalrail.co.uk,.
The links take you through to the train companies' own websites, which often give an extra, albeit small, discount for booking online.
Some discounts (e.g. on Southern, East Coast) can be quite substantial. Plus you don't have to pay the Trainline's booking fee. You can buy tickets for any journey on any company's website, by the way.
BTW Sometimes it's worth booking tickets in two parts. e.g. London-Ipswich is sometimes cheaper if you book London-Manningtree & Manningtree-Ipswich (definitely true at weekends if two people are travelling together). You don't have to get off the train at the "changing" station but it must have a scheduled stop there. On a journey from Ipswich to Leicester I saved quite a bit by "changing" at Melton Mowbray (but I wouldn't have by "changing" at Stamford, the next station down the line).
Prices can be bizarre - I once travelled from Ipswich to Manchester for (I think) £20. If I had booked the same train just as far as London, on the same website, it would have cost me £26! So I was effectively paid £6 to travel from London to Manchester ... bonkers!
[ 13. July 2014, 17:52: Message edited by: Baptist Trainfan ]
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Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Leorning Cniht:
In the old days, you used to have to buy APEX tickets a month in advance. These days, I gather that a certain number of advance purchase tickets are made available for each service, rather than having a time cutoff, but this still means that if you want to get the cheapest ticket, you usually have to book well in advance.
You can't usually book more than 12 weeks ahead, though. The rail companies' websites should say up till when they're booking to - when the date is released, get in quick if you're aiming to travel at a busy time.
[ 13. July 2014, 17:55: Message edited by: Baptist Trainfan ]
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Curiosity killed ...
Ship's Mug
# 11770
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Posted
I usually use the National Rail site which redirects to the rail company. It can be worth booking via Megabus, but they are not always the cheapest option. I haven't had a problem so far. I have used trainline but don't like it as much. Booking is usually something like 50p but not that expensive. Megabus tickets have to be printed off for use and also charge a booking fee of £1 or 50p.
The savings can be huge - £20 instead of £140 for some fares. There are £1 Megabus fares available.
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Mugs - Keep the Ship afloat
Posts: 13794 | From: outiside the outer ring road | Registered: Aug 2006
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chive
Ship's nude
# 208
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Posted
I use the trainline website always when I buy tickets and I've never had a problem. Two things worth looking at - first, see if you have any chance to get a railcard, I have a disabled persons railcard so get a 1/3 off my fares and there are other types available. Secondly, check the difference between first and standard class prices if you're booking in advance. I've sometimes found that you can get first class tickets cheaper then standard class and travelling first class is much more pleasant.
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'Edward was the kind of man who thought there was no such thing as a lesbian, just a woman who hadn't done one-to-one Bible study with him.' Catherine Fox, Love to the Lost
Posts: 3542 | From: the cupboard under the stairs | Registered: May 2001
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Baptist Trainfan
Shipmate
# 15128
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by chive:
Secondly, check the difference between first and standard class prices if you're booking in advance. I've sometimes found that you can get first class tickets cheaper then standard class and travelling first class is much more pleasant.
IME this occurs most frequently towards the end of the morning rush and the beginning of the "off-peak" period. May be different elsewhere, of course.
Posts: 9750 | From: The other side of the Severn | Registered: Sep 2009
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
Advance purchase can be a good thing, though it does sometimes tie you to a particular seat on a particular train, which can be complicated by a late-running connection. Miss that and you can end up being charged the full fare.
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Polly Plummer
Shipmate
# 13354
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Posted
I use Cross-Country, the company which runs the service I most often use. They don't make a charge unless you want the tickets posted to you, and I haven't had any problems with them.
On some journeys, if you're not sure what time you want to travel, you can get an off-peak return ticket. which is quite a bit cheaper. Most weekend journeys count as off-peak.
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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
I can immediately deduce, from all the replies, that trains in the UK are run by the government. No other body would be so idiosyncratic.
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Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
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Sioni Sais
Shipmate
# 5713
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Brenda Clough:
I can immediately deduce, from all the replies, that trains in the UK are run by the government. No other body would be so idiosyncratic.
They were from 1948 until about 1990, when the nationalised railway company, British Rail, was broken up into a number of Train Operating Company (TOC) franchises, plus a single network provider.
They carry more people than before, but whether the railways now cost the taxpayers more than when they were nationalised depends on how you calculate such things, which in turn depends on your political persuasion.
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"He isn't Doctor Who, he's The Doctor"
(Paul Sinha, BBC)
Posts: 24276 | From: Newport, Wales | Registered: Apr 2004
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daisydaisy
Shipmate
# 12167
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Posted
It might be worth considering a railcard if you are doing a lot of train travel.
Posts: 3184 | From: southern uk | Registered: Dec 2006
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Dafyd
Shipmate
# 5549
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Brenda Clough:
I can immediately deduce, from all the replies, that trains in the UK are run by the government. No other body would be so idiosyncratic.
If only it were that simple.
The actual trains are run by private firms. They compete with each other for contracts over certain areas. The actual tracks and signals themselves are run by a separate company, which is technically private, but actually run by the government.
Basically, it's the result of a government in starry-eyed love with free-market ideology to the point of not thinking through how it might work.
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we remain, thanks to original sin, much in love with talking about, rather than with, one another. Rowan Williams
Posts: 10567 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Feb 2004
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Brenda Clough:
I can immediately deduce, from all the replies, that trains in the UK are run by the government. No other body would be so idiosyncratic.
No, the tickets are issued by different train operating companies, and some online providers. This is why it’s idiosyncratic.
A railcard lasts for a year. Unless you’re planning to make more than one trip across the Atlantic in the coming year and several rail journeys I wouldn’t advise getting one. Just take the train from Paddington to Cheltenham (if you’re still thinking of doing that) with your advance tickets and that should be fine. If you pick your trains carefully in advance you can get a single for £13.90 instead of £42.
Sample National Rail journey planner
[ 14. July 2014, 07:43: Message edited by: Ariel ]
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Schroedinger's cat
Ship's cool cat
# 64
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Brenda Clough:
I can immediately deduce, from all the replies, that trains in the UK are run by the government. No other body would be so idiosyncratic.
Believe me, if it were government run, it would be a whole lot clearer.
They are all run by a range of private companies who are all out to confuse and baffle passengers so as to make the most money possible from them.
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Blog
Music for your enjoyment
Lord may all my hard times be healing times
take out this broken heart and renew my mind.
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Firenze
Ordinary decent pagan
# 619
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Posted
Posting as someone currently bowling down the east side of England - in first class, replete with cooked breakfast and frequent coffee refills, and a-using of the free wifi - the train can be very pleasant when you do get to it....
Of course I am paying a lot - Hello Durham! - for this, but it's competitive with air travel for the same journey, and a lot more comfortable.
Posts: 17302 | From: Edinburgh | Registered: Jun 2001
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Albertus
Shipmate
# 13356
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Posted
And- if you're on the East Coast main line- for the moment at least, State-run! (For overseas shipmates: the East Coast mainline operating company was taken back into state ownership a few eyars ago after a couple of private operators made a mess of their contracts. It now provides a good service and a reasonable profit for the state. You might think, then, that it would be a model for the future direction of railways in GB. Oh no. Oh no no no. How naive can you get. The government now wishes, in the interests of 'free' market ideological purity, to return it to private operation, no doubt requiring a hefty subsidy, as soon as possible... ![[brick wall]](graemlins/brick_wall.gif) )
Posts: 6498 | From: Y Sowth | Registered: Jan 2008
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marzipan
Shipmate
# 9442
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Posted
generally you can buy any ticket for travel within mainland UK from any train operator's website for the same price. The trainline charges booking fees, which the train company websites don't (though they might charge credit card fees). For looking up times & prices you can use the national rail site, but they don't sell tickets (they'll redirect you to someone else's site). East Coast's website used to be quite easy to use & compare prices on, but I've not used it for a few years so may have changed.
As for railcards, I think there's two of you travelling together? There's a railcard for that as long as all your journeys are together - it costs £30 and you both get a third off normal prices (including advance tickets), so you won't start saving money unless you're spending more than £45 each on various journeys. It's not valid for any journeys before 9:30am Mon-Fri either, which can be annoying if you're going from one end of the country to the other. http://www.twotogether-railcard.co.uk/
If you book advanced tickets, you will get a seat reservation which is super useful on busy long distance trains.
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formerly cheesymarzipan.
Now containing 50% less cheese
Posts: 917 | From: nowhere in particular | Registered: May 2005
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Firenze:
Posting as someone currently bowling down the east side of England - in first class, replete with cooked breakfast and frequent coffee refills, and a-using of the free wifi - the train can be very pleasant when you do get to it....
I note that you're in first class, where treatment is somewhat different and they even give you a seat.
Having said that, if you avoid travelling in the rush hour, train travel in standard class can still be a comfortable sort of journey and a pleasure where you have nothing to do but unwind and enjoy the landscape. I used to enjoy the days before I started commuting, when train travel was just for holidays and days out.
(I can remember one commute home where there were 13 people, luggage and a large sheepdog all squashed into a tiny vestibule. If you'd asked me beforehand I wouldn't have thought it possible to squeeze so many into a space that size.)
[ 14. July 2014, 12:17: Message edited by: Ariel ]
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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
Discovered, to my dismay, that Enterprise does not do one-way car rentals; it is impossible to pick up a car in one area of Britain and turn it in at the other. So I am indeed going by train, a lot!
Are there any arcanities about traveling by train from Cheltenham to the Lake district that I should know about?
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Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
alas, I have no UK address to which a railcard can be mailed...
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Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
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Schroedinger's cat
Ship's cool cat
# 64
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Brenda Clough:
Are there any arcanities about traveling by train from Cheltenham to the Lake district that I should know about?
Take a lot of reading. That sounds like quite a journey (I presume via Birmingham New Street and then up to somewhere else).
The other thing to note is if you can, avoid peak hours (which vary, but tend to end around 9:30, and start around 5:00, but on Mondays it ends later and on Fridays it can start from lunchtime). The trains and stations will be busy, and full of grumpy old men (like me when I have to do it). It is particularly an issue around the bigger cities like London and Birmingham, but it impacts a huge area around too.
Commuting by train into and out of London, for example, is something only for the brave or stupid.
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Blog
Music for your enjoyment
Lord may all my hard times be healing times
take out this broken heart and renew my mind.
Posts: 18859 | From: At the bottom of a deep dark well. | Registered: May 2001
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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
The other idea, which I am seriously tempted to do, is to simply rent the car, drive it madly about all over, and then totter all the way back to the original rental place to return it. Dammit, I am an American. In cars we come alive.
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Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
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Albertus
Shipmate
# 13356
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Brenda Clough:
Discovered, to my dismay, that Enterprise does not do one-way car rentals; it is impossible to pick up a car in one area of Britain and turn it in at the other.
Are you sure about that?
Posts: 6498 | From: Y Sowth | Registered: Jan 2008
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Piglet
Islander
# 11803
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Posted
Having spent most of my life in places without trains (Orkney and Newfoundland), it rarely occurs to me to use them (except when I was a student in the 1980s and had a half-price railcard which I used for visiting family in Edinburgh).
In a general way, if there's more than one person travelling and one of you is quite happy to do the driving, I'd recommend hiring a car - that way you can go where you want, when you want.
Except in London - if you're going to spend any appreciable amount of time there a travel-card for the Tube and buses would make more sense.
eta: we've done one-way car-hire lots of times - most recently when we got stuck in Scotland with the Icelandic dust-cloud and had to get to London for our flight home to Canada.
[ 14. July 2014, 16:29: Message edited by: piglet ]
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I may not be on an island any more, but I'm still an islander.
alto n a soprano who can read music
Posts: 20272 | From: Fredericton, NB, on a rather larger piece of rock | Registered: Sep 2006
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Ariel
Shipmate
# 58
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Brenda Clough:
alas, I have no UK address to which a railcard can be mailed...
If you decide you want a railcard, and order it near your flight date, you could ask for it to be sent to your hotel to await collection on arrival. Any good hotel should be used to that concept. There is no follow-up literature, either.
Also, Enterprise isn't the only car rental organization in England. Have a look at some of the others if you can't get the conditions you want. Shop around.
Posts: 25445 | Registered: May 2001
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Brenda Clough
Shipmate
# 18061
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Posted
Alas, I have booked with Enterprise. And now they have failed to send me confirmation/receipt. In a day or two I will have to phone them and wrestle with it. Must give them a good fair chance to get it together.
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Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
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geroff
Shipmate
# 3882
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Posted
The best place for any information about train travel is here -Seat 61
which is a website i have used for your country with great success.
But it is expensive to travel by train in the UK.
And pretty inconvenient if you are outside the big cities - a lot of interesting stuff and people is far from decent rail services - hire a car, explore our quirky road system and find stuff you didn't expect.
[ 14. July 2014, 18:45: Message edited by: geroff ]
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"The first principle in science is to invent something nice to look at and then decide what it can do." Rowland Emett 1906-1990
Posts: 1172 | From: Montgomeryshire, Wales | Registered: Jan 2003
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Horseman Bree
Shipmate
# 5290
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Posted
Trains actually do cost a lot to run. Both CN and CP in Canada have said that they never made a profit running passenger service after about 1925, once buses and cars became generally available.
But, geroff, you could be describing almost any
"developed" country. The US has a token passenger system, which actually works adequately within the limits imposed on it politically. Canada basically has no passenger train system, except for a rather miserable token amount in the Quebec-Windsor corridor. East of Quebec City, we're down to three round trips a week on a "main" line that was once necessary, but is threatened with closure, now that the Tories have succeeded in closing down any major industrial employers. (This was needed to prove that Maritimers are lazy and unemployable!)
You need quite significant crowding for trains to make any sense at all. Just be thankful that public pressure in the UK keeps quite a lot of service available.
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It's Not That Simple
Posts: 5372 | From: more herring choker than bluenose | Registered: Dec 2003
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Brenda Clough
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# 18061
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Posted
Just to catch everybody up on the aggravations of my travel planning. I tried to rent a car. It turns out that the day I have to return it is a bank holiday, and nobody will be open. Could I stay over an extra day and return the car the following day? No! But I realized that airport car rental offices would be open -- international air travelers are not going to be bound by bank holiday schedules and so neither will their service providers. So I will take the tube to Heathrow, rent the car there, drive, and eventually return to Heathrow (on the bank holiday) and turn the car in.
It frosts me that I am the one who thought outside the box to achieve this workaround. The car rental clerk was helpless.
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Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
Posts: 6378 | From: Washington DC | Registered: Mar 2014
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Jane R
Shipmate
# 331
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Posted
That's weird. When Other Half and I needed to hire a car (in Hereford) to go on honeymoon after our wedding (in the Lake District) the rental firm were great - we needed to pick the car up on a Sunday when their offices were closed, so they posted the key to us (in Essex, where we were living at the time) and parked the car in a prearranged spot in the car park opposite the station. 'What about the paperwork?' we asked. 'Just come in on Tuesday and fill it in,' they said (yes, it was a Bank Holiday weekend).
Of all the arrangements we made for the wedding, that was the one I was expecting to fall apart. But everything went off without a hitch.
Maybe we were just lucky. Maybe the car hire people made a special effort to be nice to us because it was our honeymoon. But they're not all like the firm you dealt with, Brenda. Or at least... they weren't, 25 years ago.
Posts: 3958 | From: Jorvik | Registered: May 2001
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