Glasgow Central to Derby Staff Travel

[insidetrack77]

Hi there, long-time lurker first time poster!

I am looking for advice for a journey I am planning to make in June. I am aware that advance fares are not yet available, but I'm looking to make the journey as cheaply as possible and would appreciate any advice on routeing etc.

I am travelling from Glasgow Central to Derby on Thursday 13 June and returning Monday 17 June. I have staff travel facilities allowing free travel on the First Group network, therefore the obvious first stage of my journey will be the 1010 TPX Glasgow Central to Manchester - presumably Oxford Road.

My question therefore is basically what would be the cheapest way from here to Derby and back again? I do not have safeguarded travel facilities but do have the ATOC 75% discount.

Any help or advice gratefully received - I hope to be able to call on my own experience on the railway to help answer other questions I feel qualified to help with.

 

[MidnightFlyer]

Could use (First) TPE from Manchester Piccadilly-Sheffield and then £8.65 for a Priv Open Return Sheffield-Derby. It may be cheaper still to split that at Chesterfield but that would limit slightly your journey options along that final leg.

 

[hairyhandedfool]

Yeah, the best way (imo) would be Matt's suggestion, changing at Piccadilly, the only downside would be the 53 minute wait in Manchester on the outward trip (based on the current timetable). It would be cheaper to split tickets at Chesterfield, but only marginally (85p), and you would have to have singles for each part as there are no open returns, so (imo) it isn't worth it.

 

[Inspector999]

Do you work for ScotRail?

If you do you could use your free travel on the sleeper from Westerton (or whichever of the Highlander stops in the Glasgow area is most convenient) to Crewe and then onwards from there for a tad over £6 return. The outward connection is just over half an hour, the return connection isn't so good at almost two hours but in both cases the overall journey time should be less than going the TPE way.

 

[bb21]

The cheapest way could be quite convoluted.

You can get from Manchester to Doncaster on TPE, then time yourself for a Hull Trains service to Grantham, all for free.

A PRIV-discounted single between Grantham and Derby is £3 so a total of £6.

You will only have limited choice of trains though in that case.

 

[insidetrack77]

Thank you all for the suggestions! I do indeed work for Scotrail. The sleeper idea is a cracker, hadn't even thought about that!

Will prob go with Matt's idea as I may have a few friends with me who will benefit from £5 return on the First services (and advance fares for the rest of the journey) which I do not believe can be used on the Sleeper. £8.65 is quite an improvement on the £80 bus journey!