London - Leeds

[sep]

I'm looking for a train ticket for one adult for Wednesday/Thursday coming up or perhaps the week after, same day.

Would prefer to leave early morning and have a return ticket the same day but if it is cheaper to come back the next day, for example, then that's okay too.

Really, my journey is from an area in London (zone 3) and will have to catch the underground to Kings Cross (same line as mine). Want to go to Batley up north, but I know I have to stop at Leeds to get to Batley.

Would prefer redspottedhanky to book my ticket. Any advice please on how to get the cheapest fare for this time? I'll have a look.

 

[telstarbox]

Which station are you starting from? You can get tickets straight through from London to Batley and you may be able to get through tickets from your local station to Batley too.

 

[wellhouse]

You don't have to go via Leeds.

If price is more important than timings, check Grand Central advance fares on their direct services from Kings Cross to Mirfield with separate tickets for your Zone 3 and Batley connections. (GC offer no +connections advances)

However, they have no early morning London departures.

This Wednesday they offer £10.25 for the 1048 Kings Cross departure (which gets you to Batley via Mirfield at 1349), while EC via Leeds will cost £30.40 (arr 1315) £48.00 (arr 1215) or £66.15 (arr 1057) Any earlier than that is over £100 advance.

Anytime single between Mirfield and Batley is £1.90.

 

[soil]

You could try London - Grantham Off-Peak Day Return, Hull Trains Only, for £35.90, departing London 7:22 and arriving Grantham 8:27.

Returning from Grantham 20:38, arriving 21:46.

Not sure how best to continue from there.

 

[maniacmartin]

My general experience with Grand Central is that their Advance tickets start off more expensive than the cheapest East Coast & Connections Advance tickets, but as the cheaper EC tiers sell out, if you leave it a bit late when booking, then the GC Advance tickets (to Mirfield in this case) end up cheaper as their APs don't generally sell out as quickly.

The downside being that they don't run trains as frequently as East Coast.

You also get free wifi on GC even in Standard class, which is worth £5 in my opinion

 

[sep]

Thank you for your replies.

I am looking to get on from Walthamstow Central.

All I need is a seat all the way and that is it. I guess even Bradford is okay but cheapest is what I need, and booking with redspottedhanky as I have money on there.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Okay so looked a bit and still a little confused as don't know anything about the trains in the North.

Want to go tomorrow, or the day after or Friday if possible.

I have £30 credit on redspotted hanky so it can only cost a little more (maybe £5?) otherwise I need to split the journey as my relative has some on hers too.

 

[telstarbox]

If you want to travel tomorrow using Advance tickets, you will need to book them by 6pm tonight. What tickets have you found so far? www.nationalrail.co.uk is a good place to start (you can then buy the tickets on RSH).

 

[sep]

£67.20 from Walthamstow for a early train around 7am.

I changed it to travel from Kings Cross but it's the same price.

Same for Thursday.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
On Thursday £39.50 but it goes £10 from Kings Cross over so I need to split it somehow.

10:35
13:15
2:40 2

Plus it leaves a little too late. This is one way.

 

[maniacmartin]

Remember that, as mentioned earlier, GC don't do &Connections, so if you go via GC, you'll have to book seperate tickets from Walthamstow to Kings Cross (Oyster on Victoria line is best) and from Mirfield to Batley

 

[sep]

Thank you.

If I book on RSH, are there tick boxes to try and get a cheaper fee? E.g. London Euston - Birmingham, normally shows higher fees but if you click on via London Midland only then you get the really cheap ones.

 

[John @ home]

To get the cheaper Grand Central fares, enter London Kings Cross to Mirfield and tick the box for Trains with no changes. At present, redspottedhanky is offering the 1048 Kings X - Mirfield 1319 for £24.50 on both Thursday 14 February and Friday 15 February.

You can then click Book another journey and add a £1.90 Mirfield - Batley single for the appropriate date. This would be valid for any train on that day, but you would expect to catch the 1339 Mirfield - Batley 1349.

For the return leg, at this short notice I think it's necessary to travel at an unsocial hour to get a cheap fare. For example, on Thursday 14 February this itinerary

2049 Batley - Leeds 2107
2120 Leeds - Doncaster 2207
2244 Doncaster - Kings X 0103

is available at the time of writing with this split:

Advance Single Batley - Grantham: £7.10 on East Coast or £8.00 on redspottedhanky
Advance Single Grantham - Kings X: £19.60 on East Coast or £20.00 on redspottedhanky

Total: £26.70 on East Coast or £28.00 on redspottedhanky

You would remain on the same train when you changed from one ticket to another at Grantham at 2320.

Unfortunately, you would miss the last tube to Walthamstow and have to use a Night Bus.

 

[sep]

Thank you for your detailed breakdown for the journey. I understand it better now.

Plans have changed to next Wednesday/Thursday. It seemed a couple of days ago I could get tickets for £14 but they've gone up by £10, which is the same price as if I was to go tomorrow.

Gonna feel gutted using up so much of my train credit