Day out in London on the Underground.

[HSP 2]

Me and some mates are thinking about a day out in London (not sure about the date at the moment) but it will be on a Saturday. Arrive Euston approx. 10 am walk to St. Pancras, then tube to London Bridge, tube to Waterloo, tube to Victoria, tube to Paddington, tube to Marylebone, then tube back to Euston.
We will be using rail cards depending on who goes it could be one family and friends or a mix of the following disabled and senior. I've had a look on the Transport for London web site and found this ticket National railcard discount travel card, price adult £8.90, child £6.70.
Is there a lower priced ticket. We'll be buying the tickets on the day using contactless.

Thanks for any help.

 

[swt_passenger]

For many origins you should be able to buy an inclusive day travelcard in a single “all in” price. If you tell us where you’re coming from, it’ll be possible to find out if the inclusive fare is a better deal...

 

[hkstudent]

I think it would be best to get a oyster card from TfL ticket machine / Travel Centre, and load it with Railcard discount at ticket machines at any London Underground / Overground Station / Travelcentre.
As I notice that your trips will be mostly in zone 1&2, it maybe better to get a zone1-2 day cap on a oyster card (£4.60) than using Travelcard (which is zone 1-6, more expensive, £8.90).

 

[swt_passenger]

I think it would be best to get a oyster card from TfL ticket machine / Travel Centre, and load it with Railcard discount at ticket machines at any London Underground / Overground Station / Travelcentre.
As I notice that your trips will be mostly in zone 1&2, it maybe better to get a zone1-2 day cap on a oyster card (£4.60) than using Travelcard (which is zone 1-6, more expensive, £8.90).

However, PAYG is not usually recommended for a day spent randomly visiting variously mainline locations for the purposes of a typical rail enthusiast, because you can fall foul of OSIs and time limits causing incomplete journeys.

TLDR, far better to stick to a mag stripe ticket if just out for a look around the railway and tube system.

 

[hkstudent]

However, PAYG is not usually recommended for a day spent randomly visiting variously mainline locations for the purposes of a typical rail enthusiast, because you can fall foul of OSIs and time limits causing incomplete journeys.

TLDR, far better to stick to a mag stripe ticket if just out for a look around the railway and tube system.

Which means, that's the £8.90 Day Travelcard, purchased from National Rail or TfL ticket office / machine.

 

[si404]

a zone1-2 day cap on a oyster card (£4.60)

It's £4.75 now - though you'd need to get your railcards put on the Oyster (and the Family and Friends travelcard mentioned isn't valid for addition to Oyster) to get that price. Otherwise it's £7.20.

Add in that you'd have to pay £5 for the physical Oyster card, and be unable to use that as credit for a year (it's not a refundable deposit anymore). As you can't put railcards on Contactless, you'd have the £7.20 price if you use bank cards rather than Oyster.

So there's the following options for adults (in order of price and difficulty):
£7.20 via contactless bank card / apple pay / etc - but this runs the risk of being a much higher cost due to accidental maximum fares being triggered by incomplete journeys
£8.90 Paper Z1-6 travelcard
£9.75 Oyster with railcard (but not valid with Friends and Family) - though you'll get £5 of that back in a year's time as store credit

There's also, which I would view as the simplest, and likely the cheapest, option - travelcard integrated with your ticket to London.

 

[HSP 2]

We would be traveling from Liverpool Lime St. to either Euston or Marylebone, so could we buy the underground ticket at Liv or would we have to buy them in London?

I forgot to say that we would be buying the tickets through Trainsplit.com

 

[Hadders]

Where are you travelling from? We cannot answer the question properly without knowing this.

 

[221129]

Where are you travelling from? We cannot answer the question properly without knowing this.

Liverpool Lime St as explained in the post directly above yours.

 

[cool110]

From Liverpool you have 2 main options for out-boundary Travelcards. The cheaper option routed WMR/LNR only (£51 or £33.65 with railcard), or the more expensive Avanti semi-advance (booked train only out, any return. £69 no railcard discount permitted).

 

[Hadders]

If you're using a combination of tickets then consider an outboundary travelcard as part of the combination, for example Milton Keynes - London Zones 1-6.

 

[HSP 2]

We could be traveling from Liv to Eus (I'm using a date of 27/6/20 to only get the times and prices) direct and return at a cost of approx. £30.40 using TrainSplit and railcards.
Or (on the same date) Liv to London Marylebone at a cost of Approx. £45.00. Again using TrainSplit and railcards. This run out is looking like the one we will go for.

Hadders, we would be using a combination of tickets, how would we attach an out boundary travelcard to any one of the above journeys, and at what cost. We would be using national railcards.

 

[hkstudent]

We could be traveling from Liv to Eus (I'm using a date of 27/6/20 to only get the times and prices) direct and return at a cost of approx. £30.40 using TrainSplit and railcards.
Or (on the same date) Liv to London Marylebone at a cost of Approx. £45.00. Again using TrainSplit and railcards. This run out is looking like the one we will go for.

Hadders, we would be using a combination of tickets, how would we attach an out boundary travelcard to any one of the above journeys, and at what cost. We would be using national railcards.

I would not suggest getting any advance ticket to travel in late June as the Pandemic may possibly not calm down by June...
If there are some tickets like Underground Zone 1-2 or something like that, they are a single / return TfL paper tickets which are not worth the price compare to a Travelcard. It would be best to get a zone 1-6 day travelcard to travel in London instead.
As mentioned by Hadders, splitting at Milton Keynes Central to get a Milton Keynes Central - London Zone 1-6 Off-peak day travelcard (Avanti only, for sections out of Zone 6) would be your best bid. You can select the travelcard option when you buy it from a TOC site.

 

[Hadders]

We could be traveling from Liv to Eus (I'm using a date of 27/6/20 to only get the times and prices) direct and return at a cost of approx. £30.40 using TrainSplit and railcards.
Or (on the same date) Liv to London Marylebone at a cost of Approx. £45.00. Again using TrainSplit and railcards. This run out is looking like the one we will go for.

Hadders, we would be using a combination of tickets, how would we attach an out boundary travelcard to any one of the above journeys, and at what cost. We would be using national railcards.

The most straightforward way if you want to travel via Chiltern into Marylebone is to use a destination in South London like Twickenham or East Croydon rather than Marylebone as this should force a travelcard into the combination (do check that it offers a travelcard though rather than a normal tickets to a named station). To force the journey via Chiltern into Marylebone put via High Wycombe as a via point.

Just checking Trainsplit and it suggests a Liverpool to Penkridge Off Peak Day Return, Penkridge to Wolverhampton Anytime Day Return and a Wolverhampton to London Zones 1-6 Super Off Peak Day Travelcard for £46.14 (adult railcard discounted price)

 

[HSP 2]

Thanks very much for that Hadders.
That works out as a nice saving on the ticket prices, am I correct in thinking that the London zone 1-6 travelcard also works on some of the national rail network in the 1-6 zones?
I don't know when we be able to do the trip but you have to do something to keep looking forwards.

 

[MikeWh]

Travelcards are valid on all National Rail services in the zones apart from HEx and HS1.

Note: outboundary travelcards are valid on HS1 if the route says PLUS HIGH SPEED.

 

[hkstudent]

Thanks very much for that Hadders.
That works out as a nice saving on the ticket prices, am I correct in thinking that the London zone 1-6 travelcard also works on some of the national rail network in the 1-6 zones?
I don't know when we be able to do the trip but you have to do something to keep looking forwards.

Of course, if it is not a must to travel via Chiltern to London, then getting a Milton Keynes Central - London Zone 1-6 Day Travelcard would be your best bid.

 

[Hadders]

Of course, if it is not a must to travel via Chiltern to London, then getting a Milton Keynes Central - London Zone 1-6 Day Travelcard would be your best bid.

Assuming Milton Keynes is an appropriate splitting point. Not many Liverpool Trains call at Milton Keynes although the Chester/Holyhead ones so which might be an option.

 

[HSP 2]

Of course, if it is not a must to travel via Chiltern to London, then getting a Milton Keynes Central - London Zone 1-6 Day Travelcard would be your best bid.

We want to travel via Chiltern rail due to the 68 workings. So the plan is Liv to Wvh to Sgb and then onto Marylebone. We could got to Euston a good bit quicker but with no 68s as traction. Just a aeroplane that doesn't have any wings.

Hadders
Will we get a separate ticket for traveling around London or will it be on the super off peak ticket? That would also be our return.
As you can tell I've not been down to London for a good while.

 

[Hadders]

The Wolverhampton to London Zones 1-6 travelcard is issued as one coupon.

It allows one return from (in this case) Wolverhampton to Marylebone (technically it’s the boundary on zone 6 but we don’t need to worry about that here), and unlimited travel on National Dail services, Underground and buses/transnational in fare zones 1-6.

It is not valid Heathrow Express, HS1 ‘Javelin’ services or Emirates cable car services.

The ticket should open gtwlinea but don’t worry if it doesn't - just ask to be let through manually.

 

[kieron]

For a journey via Birmingham using Chiltern, I'd consider a "via High Wycombe" Wrexham super off peak day travelcard. It costs £32.00 (all prices with railcard), allows Wrexham-Chester-Crewe-Stafford-Birmingham-High Wycombe-London as a route, and allows break of journey (so you to start the journey at an intermediate station).

A Liverpool-Crewe return costs an extra £8.10 (to make the total £40.10), or £6.20 for "Avanti only". Liverpool-Chester returns start at £4.05, but take longer. If anyone's using public transport to get to central Liverpool, a saveaway may be worthwhile.

If you don't intend to use the route Liverpool-Crewe-Stafford-Birmingham-High Wycombe-London both ways, this ticket combination may need a rethink.

 

[hkstudent]

For a journey via Birmingham using Chiltern, I'd consider a "via High Wycombe" Wrexham super off peak day travelcard. It costs £32.00 (all prices with railcard), allows Wrexham-Chester-Crewe-Stafford-Birmingham-High Wycombe-London as a route, and allows break of journey (so you to start the journey at an intermediate station).

A Liverpool-Crewe return costs an extra £8.10 (to make the total £40.10), or £6.20 for "Avanti only". Liverpool-Chester returns start at £4.05, but take longer. If anyone's using public transport to get to central Liverpool, a saveaway may be worthwhile.

If you don't intend to use the route Liverpool-Crewe-Stafford-Birmingham-High Wycombe-London both ways, this ticket combination may need a rethink.

You get the point...
Chiltern do offer cheap tickets to North Wales with their "via High Wycombe" tickets.

 

[hkstudent]

You get the point...
Chiltern do offer cheap tickets to North Wales with their "via High Wycombe" tickets.

And of course, if OP wants a bit of flexibility (returning to Liverpool in a faster mean and on the latest train available), getting Advance tickets to London from Liverpool and acquire a separate London Zone 1-6 Travelcard (from any National Rail site/ TVM / ticket machine) would be the best idea.

The last "Via High Wycombe" journey would be 1823 service from London Marlybone which is a bit early for OP.

Also, OP can get decently cheap Advance tickets on last West Coast service.

 

[packermac]

We want to travel via Chiltern rail due to the 68 workings. So the plan is Liv to Wvh to Sgb and then onto Marylebone. We could got to Euston a good bit quicker but with no 68s as traction. Just a aeroplane that doesn't have any wings.

Hadders
Will we get a separate ticket for traveling around London or will it be on the super off peak ticket? That would also be our return.
As you can tell I've not been down to London for a good while.

I do not know what they will be when you eventually get to go but there were not many Class 68 Saturday diagrams. These are the ones that were posted on wnxx. Not sure how they fit in with your start location and giving a decent time in London.
Saturday
Diagram 2
1H10 07:12 Kidderminster - London Marylebone
1R25 11:10 London Marylebone - Birmingham Moor Street
1H37 13:55 Birmingham Moor Street - London Marylebone
1K49 17:10 London Marylebone - Kidderminster

Diagram 3
1H17 09:10 Kidderminster - London Marylebone
1G53 18:10 London Marylebone - Birmingham Snow Hill

 

[HSP 2]

We're looking at getting the diagram 3 (1H17) up to London and the diagram 2 (1K49) down to Birmingham.

hkstudent, we're doing the High Wycombe route for the 68 thrash. So the trains dictate the times, but latter on in the year (when that might be who knows). Then we may look at going via the west coast route, starting from Wigan, Manchester or Liverpool. I don't think that you have realised that we're not from Liverpool and have to make connections to get home as well.

All this info has been very useful in working out cost and timings. to us / me.

So thanks for all the input.​

 

[HSP 2]

As we will be doing some platform ending at some of the London termini, what are your views on reporting to the duty station manager following the guidelines for rail enthusiasts from National Rail. Are there any benefits? Are there any drawbacks? I'm only thinking about reporting if we're going to be on the station for more than half an hour.