London August 5-7th

[Andy70]

Hi, any help appreciated please.. Of to London on 5th August, have a family and friends railcard. 2 adults, 3 children. Ages 14,13 and 8. We're returning on the 7th. Want to set of early morning, coming home evening. Live between chester and wrexham. Going to go to Watford junction for Harry potter land one day.. Our hotel is in Windsor as were also of to legoland,on another day. We sleep in hotel at Windsor for 2 nights. On one day we fancy doing sites in London. Any info on best priced tickets please. Is it easier to get return to London as primary ticket, then get overground return to Watford. Travel card around London 1-9 zones. For Windsor day singles to-from London paddington.. Getting confused what's cheapest, any help much appreciated

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Hi, any help appreciated please.. Of to London on 5th August, have a family and friends railcard. 2 adults, 3 children. Ages 14,13 and 8. We're returning on the 7th. Want to set of early morning, coming home evening. Live between chester and wrexham. Going to go to Watford junction for Harry potter land one day.. Our hotel is in Windsor as were also of to legoland,on another day. We sleep in hotel at Windsor for 2 nights. On one day we fancy doing sites in London. Any info on best priced tickets please. Is it easier to get return to London as primary ticket, then get overground return to Watford. Travel card around London 1-9 zones. For Windsor day singles to-from London paddington.. Getting confused what's cheapest, any help much appreciated

I presume you know that with a F&F railcard you can use an Off Peak Return (SVR) on Virgin without time restrictions?
Very useful in these days of draconian restrictions into Euston otherwise.
At peak times it is not valid on connecting ATW or LM services.
You can also use it to travel to/from London into Marylebone or Paddington with time restrictions, and you can mix routes and break your journey.
You can use other Virgin trains (ie Liverpool/Manchester ones to Crewe) and change onto ATW for Chester (off-peak - typically late evening).
That gives you more choices for the return journey.
Railcard fare from Chester or Wrexham is £53.85 for adults.
Wrexham has just the one VT service to Euston 0700 out and 1810 back, dividing at Chester. Hourly from Chester of course.
I wouldn't bother looking for Advance tickets from Chester, they are normally high price and no better (and a lot less flexible) than the SVR fare.
Looks like the total for this fare is £154.20 (2x53.85 and 3x15.50).

From Wrexham there are also 2 other Off Peak Return fares via High Wycombe to Marylebone, on Chiltern Railways.
One is an SVR at £40.90, the other an OPR (Super Off Peak) at £25.75.
The SVR is restricted to arrival at Marylebone after 1005 (no return restrictions).
The OPR is restricted to arrival at Marylebone after 1130 (and no return between 1600-1900).
For these tickets you would need to travel on ATW to Birmingham New St and cross to Birmingham Moor St to pick up Chiltern.

You can buy a London Travelcard online from Virgin/ATW or at the stations.
If you go on Virgin, try and book coach D which has better seats/tables (sometimes it is First Class).

 

[Andy70]

I presume you know that with a F&F railcard you can use an Off Peak Return (SVR) on Virgin without time restrictions?
Very useful in these days of draconian restrictions into Euston otherwise.
At peak times it is not valid on connecting ATW or LM services.
You can also use it to travel to/from London into Marylebone or Paddington with time restrictions, and you can mix routes and break your journey.
You can use other Virgin trains (ie Liverpool/Manchester ones to Crewe) and change onto ATW for Chester (off-peak - typically late evening).
That gives you more choices for the return journey.
Railcard fare from Chester or Wrexham is £53.85 for adults.
Wrexham has just the one VT service to Euston 0700 out and 1810 back, dividing at Chester. Hourly from Chester of course.
I wouldn't bother looking for Advance tickets from Chester, they are normally high price and no better (and a lot less flexible) than the SVR fare.
Looks like the total for this fare is £154.20 (2x53.85 and 3x15.50).

From Wrexham there are also 2 other Off Peak Return fares via High Wycombe to Marylebone, on Chiltern Railways.
One is an SVR at £40.90, the other an OPR (Super Off Peak) at £25.75.
The SVR is restricted to arrival at Marylebone after 1005 (no return restrictions).
The OPR is restricted to arrival at Marylebone after 1130 (and no return between 1600-1900).
For these tickets you would need to travel on ATW to Birmingham New St and cross to Birmingham Moor St to pick up Chiltern.

You can buy a London Travelcard online from Virgin/ATW or at the stations.
If you go on Virgin, try and book coach D which has better seats/tables (sometimes it is First Class).

Thank you so much for reply, I'm being a bit stupid here but svr mean of peak return then. Thank you again

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Thank you so much for reply, I'm being a bit stupid here but svr mean of peak return then. Thank you again

SVR (used to be called a "Saver") is the code for the Off Peak Return walk-on ticket you can buy for most long journeys (not Anytime).
They are normally subject to time restrictions Monday-Friday.
But VT has a concession that allows railcard holders to board their peak trains when they would normally be banned.
For example, the first normal Off Peak train from Chester is the 0935 (the restriction is actually that trains must arrive in Euston after 1130).
But with a railcard you can board the earlier trains at 0624/0735/0835 and arrive at Euston as early as 0840.
Return trains are also normally banned to Off Peak ticket holders from Euston between 1500 and 1845, but railcard holders can ignore that.
No other train operator has this concession, which is why you can't use the ticket on connecting services run by ATW/LM at peak times.