Chesterfield - Glasgow via Warrington

I'm helping a relative book rail tickets from Chesterfield to Glasgow. They are looking to travel as cheaply as possible so have ruled out the direct XC service as more expensive, and longer than travelling via Warrington. They are happy to walk between Central and Bank Quay stations in Warrington but are concerned that with a large suitcase 30 minutes between the two stations provided as default may not be enough time. National Rail Enquiries allows you to extend the time in Warrington up to a more relaxed hour or 90 mins but when it then transfers to Virgin website to purchase the tickets, the Virgin website says no ticket found and defaults back to only a 30 minute connection time in Warrington. Any suggestons about how to get around this? Are there other non TOC ticket selling websites which will sell an advanced single with extended transfer time?

Incidentially, it is a shame that no advanced singles are available using TPE from Manchester to Glasgow as this would have been an easy same platform interchange at Manchester Piccadilly but I read that it is XC and Virgin which offer advanced fares between Chesterfield and Glasgow and that route would use EMR and TPE.

It would almost certainly be cheaper and more convenient to change at Manchester and Preston using a Northern train between Manchester and Preston than walking between the Warrington stations.

If Warrington is desired, using the option of putting additional time in the schedule using the 'Trainscanbecheaper' website might be the answer or selecting the operators by excluding XC.

Train Split will let you enter an extended transfer time.

It will also allow you to enter Manchester as a via point and see if it us cheaper to use a combination of trains and tickets.

Also see what results it gives you without specifying any of the above first as it may find split tickets using XC.

It takes around 15 minutes to walk between the two Warrington stations.

But, your train from Chesterfield may be late running through Manchester making your connection tight at Warrington, good chance of claiming delay repay tough which could make your journey from Chesterfield to Glasgow very cost effective!

The last time I travelled from Chesterfield to Glasgow I found some quite cheap advance tickets changing at Leeds and Carlisle. The journey time was a bit longer but lovely journey via the Settle to Carlisle Route. Just specify via Appleby when booking online and these journeys should become available.
Also entering via Wigan can bring up some cheaper fares involving changing at Manchester Piccadilly and Wigan North Western. Two changes would be easier than transporting cases between the two Warrington stations.

Haven't done it for a few years but when I've travelled to Glasgow I've tended to split at Manchester and use TPE from there (but not anywhere near peak time out of Manchester!). Are these now less available?

Llandudno said:

It takes around 15 minutes to walk between the two Warrington stations.

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I wouldn't fancy making it in 15 minutes, especially carrying luggage.

Despite being very familiar with Warrington I always find it a difficult walk!

portervalley said:

National Rail Enquiries allows you to extend the time in Warrington up to a more relaxed hour or 90 mins but when it then transfers to Virgin website to purchase the tickets, the Virgin website says no ticket found and defaults back to only a 30 minute connection time in Warrington. Any suggestons about how to get around this?

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If you use National Rail Enquiries to add via points and extended transfer time, then click through (using the drop down menu) to the TPEx website to book it should keep the extended time and via points. You can also get cashback and Nectar points booking with TPEx and don't have any booking fees or split ticket fees.