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Birmingham to London then back using unusual routes

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TSR :D

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I plan to leave from Birmingham Centro area for London then back during Easter term holiday.

I've decided that on return leg, I'll take 10:30 from Paddington to Banbury, and from there I'll be taking XC train to Birmingham on Sunday.

I considered taking one from Worcester, but decided against it because tickets are too expensive.

Going via Leicester, taking EMT to London is surprisingly quick, taking around 2 hours, but I can't seem to find advance tickets for a leg between Leicester and London.

Any ideas for Birmingham to London leg?
 
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yorkie

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Any ideas for Birmingham to London leg?
What date? What price have you found so far? Chiltern are usually cheapest, and less likely to be affected by engineering work. Have you tried them?

That said tickets may not yet be released, especially given the engineering works taking place at weekends (which may affect Chiltern, even if their route is not directly affected, due to other operators - FGW or Virgin - using the route).
 

TSR :D

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What date? What price have you found so far? Chiltern are usually cheapest, and less likely to be affected by engineering work. Have you tried them?

That said tickets may not yet be released, especially given the engineering works taking place at weekends (which may affect Chiltern, even if their route is not directly affected, due to other operators - FGW or Virgin - using the route).

I plan to go out and return during Easter term holiday, between 28th March and 12th April, staying in London for 3-7 days.

The cheapest I can find is £29 super off peak return via High Wycombe for use on FGW and XC trains on the return. It'd mean I would have to use the usual route to London from Birmingham. I'd like to avoid that if possible.

Looking at National Rail, I don't think advance tickets has been released for this flow yet, although it looks like they might not be releasing those tickets after all. I don't think FGW release advance tickets Paddington to Banbury flow either.

Although I did manage to find £11 advance single from Birmingham to St Pancras via Leicester. Now all I need is another advance single via other unusual route to go with it.

I don't think engineering works timetable is firmly set in stone, it's probably best to wait.
 

fishquinn

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Maybe do Birmingham-Nuneaton-Coventry-Oxford-Paddington if you don't mind changes.
 

TSR :D

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Does that mean I have to use this ticket? If so, the restrictions doesn't really give me a suitable time for arriving into London or leaving from it.
 

TSR :D

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Good suggestion. Although any route that I would be unlikely to cover sometime in future would take priority.

Oxford would possibly be a good "splitting" point for travel via Oxford & Banbury.

I see, it costs me an extra fiver if I buy an XC advance ticket to Birmingham from Oxford instead of Banbury.

When's it happening?

- Sat 14 – Sun 15 February - very limited services to and from London Euston
- Mon 16 February - severely reduced until 16:30

- Sat 21 – Sun 22 February - very limited services to and from London Euston
- Mon 23 February - severely reduced until 16:30

- Fri 3 – Mon 6 April - very limited services to and from London Euston
From route improvements on Virgin Trains website linked here.

Could this be a mistake? If "very limited services" means blockbuster services as it is confirmed for February weekend closures, capacity constraints makes this non-starter. Is there other routes VT could take to get in and out of London Euston other than GWML/Chiltern Line?
 
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Techniquest

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How about doing something completely different:

Birmingham Moor Street/Snow Hill to Droitwich Spa (via Kidderminster)
Droitwich Spa to Hereford
Hereford to Newport
Newport to Bristol Temple Meads
Bristol Temple Meads to London Paddington

OR

As above to Bristol Temple Meads, then:
Bristol Temple Meads to London Waterloo via Salisbury

Obviously you won't be able to do that on one ticket, and I've not looked up tickets to do it, but I would imagine that would be rather different and involve routes you wouldn't normally do!
 
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