Help with fares for journeys from London/Edinburgh/Glasgow and Northern served stations

Can anyone please help with my query about the cheapest fares for the following three journeys:

1. What is the cheapest ticket that can be bought on the day at the station (so not an advance ticket and just basically an adult ticket with no railcard discount) between London and a station that is served by Northern Rail?

2. What is the cheapest ticket that can be bought on the day at the station (so not an advance ticket and just basically an adult ticket with no railcard discount) between Edinburgh and a station that is served by Northern Rail?

3. What is the cheapest ticket that can be bought on the day at the station (so not an advance ticket and just basically an adult ticket with no railcard discount) between Glasgow and a station that is served by Northern Rail?

This would be very helpful to know.

Many thanks.

user1234 said:

Can anyone please help with my query about the cheapest fares for the following three journeys:

1. What is the cheapest ticket that can be bought on the day at the station (so not an advance ticket and just basically an adult ticket with no railcard discount) between London and a station that is served by Northern Rail?

2. What is the cheapest ticket that can be bought on the day at the station (so not an advance ticket and just basically an adult ticket with no railcard discount) between Edinburgh and a station that is served by Northern Rail?

3. What is the cheapest ticket that can be bought on the day at the station (so not an advance ticket and just basically an adult ticket with no railcard discount) between Glasgow and a station that is served by Northern Rail?

This would be very helpful to know.

Many thanks.

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If it has to be just one single ticket, and combinations aren't allowed, then I'd say that the cheapest tickets would be:

1) London Euston to Stoke-on-Trent, Super Off-Peak Single route 'WMR/LNR only': £31.00.

2) Edinburgh to Carlisle, Off-Peak Day Single route 'Virgin Trains': £25.50.

3) Glasgow to Carlisle, Off-Peak Day Single route 'Virgin Trains': £16.00.

There might be cheaper ones out there (particularly loophole tickets) but those are the cheapest 'obvious' walk-up tickets from the stations you mentioned to a Northern served station.

Advances could greatly reduce the cost, even in some cases where bought on the day (e.g. Virgin Trains' Advance Purchase on the Day fares, available online up to 1 hour prior to the train's scheduled departure time). However, Advances are not available from ticket offices on the day (although you can buy them online and then pick them up immediately at a ticket machine if you use a booking engine such as GTR/Southeastern On Track Retail, TPE/GWR MixingDeck, TrainSplit etc.).

As as opening bid, how about a super off-peak single west midland trains only Euston to Stoke on Trent for £31.

(Someone beat me to it)

ForTheLoveOf said:

If it has to be just one single ticket, and combinations aren't allowed, then I'd say that the cheapest tickets would be:

1) London Euston to Stoke-on-Trent, Super Off-Peak Single route 'WMR/LNR only': £31.00.

2) Edinburgh to Carlisle, Off-Peak Day Single route 'Virgin Trains': £25.50.

3) Glasgow to Carlisle, Off-Peak Day Single route 'Virgin Trains': £16.00.
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I think that must be close to the optimum.

For 3) I was thinking..

Glasgow Cen/Qst->Penrith CDS TPE Only - £15.50 but Penrith isn't served by Northern, is it?

So ... CDS TPE Only to Oxenholme - £15.90

Thank you all. That is very helpful and useful to know for my future journeys.

I presume that £15.50 Glasgow to Penrith ticket can be used to or from Carlisle which is served by Northern Rail?

Also is there any cheaper split ticketing for these three journeys or is this the cheapest?

I am happy to use any split ticketing or combinations or loophole tickets etc for these three journeys as long as they are walk up tickets that can be purchased on the day at the station.

Many thanks.

user1234 said:

Thank you all. That is very helpful and useful to know for my future journeys.

I presume that £15.50 Glasgow to Penrith ticket can be used to or from Carlisle which is served by Northern Rail?

Also is there any cheaper split ticketing for these three journeys or is this the cheapest?

I am happy to use any split ticketing or combinations or loophole tickets etc for these three journeys as long as they are walk up tickets that can be purchased on the day at the station.

Many thanks.

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Yes; there are no break of journey restrictions on the tickets to/from Glasgow/Edinburgh mentioned here, so you are free to start/stop at Carlisle.

I can't immediately speaking think of any cheaper split combinations. That's not to say those are the cheapest tickets available - no doubt there will be some cheaper obscure combination for some of those journeys. Nevertheless it's a good shot.

If you have an internet enabled device with you, then as mentioned previously, you can buy Advance tickets on the day, whilst at the station, and then pick them up straight away at a ticket machine. For travel with Virgin Trains (West Coast), which could cover travel along any of the routes you have asked about, this is possible up to 1 hour prior to the scheduled departure time of the train, and it can sometimes offer a substantial saving over a walk-up ticket.

If you can in any way plan your journey a few days or week in advance, you should be able to get some incredibly good value deals for the journeys in question - e.g. it should be possible to get a £9.00 Advance to Stoke-on-Trent from London on quite a number of trains. And the same principle applies to the Scotland/England journeys. It's obviously not massively ideal having to tie yourself down for the best prices, however I don't think it has ever previously been possible to travel from London to Stoke-on-Trent for just £9, even in actual (non-inflation-adjusted) terms during BR days.

Thank you for the further information. That's very helpful to know.

Might be worth noting that from Glasgow to Carlisle, TPE trains are once every 2 hours, while Virgin has 3 trains per 2 hours (hourly service to London + 2-hourly London via Birmingham). Whether that is worth the 50p is up to you