Chesterfield-Reading Fares avoiding London & Nuneham Viaduct

[Llandudno]

My daughter is travelling from Chesterfield to Reading in a few days time, staying a couple of nights before returning.
She normally buys an off peak return with a YP Railcard for about £65

As she is travelling with a suitcase she doesn’t fancy travelling via London Underground or on the rail replacement buses between Didcot and Oxford.

It says on the Cross Country website that she can travel via Cheltenham or Bristol at no extra cost which is great, but we can’t find anyway of booking one of these tickets on any of the booking websites as it keeps offering via London or via Oxford and bus replacement fares. If we force the booking engine to route via Bristol or Cheltenham then no fares are offered?

Is it best to simply buy an old fashioned paper ticket from the station booking office as presumably there would be no itinerary or specific routing applied?

Thanks!

 

[mangyiscute]

Buying from the ticket office or from a ticket machine would work (as long as it doesn't offer advance tickets - I'm not sure about the Chesterfield ones)

You can also just buy a ticket for any train online, make sure you buy the one that costs £67.70 with a 16-25 railcard and is called an off peak return routed not via london, and then this ticket will be valid for any train after 09:30 leaving chesterfield on the via Cheltenham/bristol route, even if the itinerary you booked the ticket for is for the replacement bus. This is because an off-peak ticket is valid on any valid train throughout the day provided it isn't blocked by the time restrictions (which for this ticket is just nothing before 09:30) not just the one you book it for.

You can also book seat reservations for these trains by either messaging the relevant TOCs team on twitter or by the gwr seat reservation function once you are signed into an account

 

[Llandudno]

Buying from the ticket office or from a ticket machine would work (as long as it doesn't offer advance tickets - I'm not sure about the Chesterfield ones)

You can also just buy a ticket for any train online, make sure you buy the one that costs £67.70 with a 16-25 railcard and is called an off peak return routed not via london, and then this ticket will be valid for any train after 09:30 leaving chesterfield on the via Cheltenham/bristol route, even if the itinerary you booked the ticket for is for the replacement bus. This is because an off-peak ticket is valid on any valid train throughout the day provided it isn't blocked by the time restrictions (which for this ticket is just nothing before 09:30) not just the one you book it for.

You can also book seat reservations for these trains by either messaging the relevant TOCs team on twitter or by the gwr seat reservation function once you are signed into an account

That’s a great help - thanks!

Just a bit wary of booking on line as you appear to have to select an itinerary to access the tickets, but I guess even the e-ticket will just state off peak return Chesterfield-Reading but won’t it also show the itinerary and trains on it that I don’t want to use?

 

[mangyiscute]

That’s a great help - thanks!

Just a bit wary of booking on line as you appear to have to select an itinerary to access the tickets, but I guess even the e-ticket will just state off peak return Chesterfield-Reading but won’t it also show the itinerary and trains on it that I don’t want to use?

It will show an itinerary, but you only have to travel to this itinerary if the ticket is an advance ticket. If the ticket is an off peak or anytime ticket, you can take any train of a valid route for the day you are travelling (in fact, the return is valid for use on any day for 30 days). When they ask for the ticket on the train, if its an e-ticket then you can just show them the barcode and it'll scan.

 

[Llandudno]

It will show an itinerary, but you only have to travel to this itinerary if the ticket is an advance ticket. If the ticket is an off peak or anytime ticket, you can take any train of a valid route for the day you are travelling (in fact, the return is valid for use on any day for 30 days). When they ask for the ticket on the train, if its an e-ticket then you can just show them the barcode and it'll scan.

Great!

I guess the guards on XC and GWR are used to seeing passengers travelling from the Midlands to Reading via Bristol Parkway or Cheltenham at the moment!