London to East Grinstead: is it necessary to book a specific return train back from East Grinstead?

[UP13]

Probably worth not starting a new thread but am planning a trip to the Bluebell and am going on public transport.

My plan is to arrive at East Grinstead about half an hour before the connection back to London. Is the Bluebell likely to run 30 minutes late? I don't want to book a train an hour after I get back but nor do I want to book a train and run the risk of missing it.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Probably worth not starting a new thread but am planning a trip to the Bluebell and am going on public transport.

My plan is to arrive at East Grinstead about half an hour before the connection back to London. Is the Bluebell likely to run 30 minutes late? I don't want to book a train an hour after I get back but nor do I want to book a train and run the risk of missing it.

Is there any necessity to "book" a train from East Grinstead? Where are you returning to? Service frequency back towards London is broadly half hourly, and, unless you're travelling longer distances, I believe only walk-up tickets are normally ever issued to/from East Grinstead, so couldn't you just get the next train?

 

[UP13]

Is there any necessity to "book" a train from East Grinstead? Where are you returning to? Service frequency back towards London is broadly half hourly, and, unless you're travelling longer distances, I believe only walk-up tickets are normally ever issued to/from East Grinstead, so couldn't you just get the next train?

I'm returning to London, however I'm pre-booking tickets with a railcard and need to book a specific train.

I think the steam service will get into East Grinstead at 14:57. I'm planning to get the 15:36 train to Victoria. Just wondering what the liklihood of a Bluebell train being 40 minutes late is...

As a Londoner, I'm very used to turning up and going with my contactless card. It is annoying when having to plan specific trains in advance when travelling well outside the travelcard zones...

 

[JGurney]

Volunteers generally don’t want to work as late as 2100 and passenger demand is also much lower so it’s not really considered worth running at that time of night under most circumstances.

I used to enjoy going on the old Swanage Railway evening DMU services, but the last runs were often rather lightly loaded. I don't remember quite how late they ran, but I recall leaving Corfe Castle station in the twilight in late August, so it must have been around 20:30 to 21:00.

 

[Mainline421]

I'm returning to London, however I'm pre-booking tickets with a railcard and need to book a specific train.

I think the steam service will get into East Grinstead at 14:57. I'm planning to get the 15:36 train to Victoria. Just wondering what the liklihood of a Bluebell train being 40 minutes late is...

As a Londoner, I'm very used to turning up and going with my contactless card. It is annoying when having to plan specific trains in advance when travelling well outside the travelcard zones...

There aren't any Advance fares from East Grinstead to London, selecting any train online won't make any difference, you'll just be sold the same walk up tickets you'd get at the station (not for a specific train). There isn't any advantage to buying in advance so I'd just get it on the day encase of unexpected illness, poor weather etc.

 

[duffield]

I'm returning to London, however I'm pre-booking tickets with a railcard and need to book a specific train.

I think the steam service will get into East Grinstead at 14:57. I'm planning to get the 15:36 train to Victoria. Just wondering what the liklihood of a Bluebell train being 40 minutes late is...

As a Londoner, I'm very used to turning up and going with my contactless card. It is annoying when having to plan specific trains in advance when travelling well outside the travelcard zones...

Regardless of what train you "book", your ticket will be valid on the following (and any other train) on this route. Lots of booking sites have this stupidity where they make you "book" a specific service to buy a ticket which is actually not tied to that service at all.

It's very unlikely the Bluebell service will be 40 minutes late anyhow.

 

[UP13]

Regardless of what train you "book", your ticket will be valid on the following (and any other train) in this case. Lots of booking sites have this stupidity where they make you "book" a specific service to buy a ticket which is actually not tied to that service at all.

It's very unlikely the Bluebell service will be 40 minutes late anyhow.

Cheers. That puts my mind at ease if we do miss a train.

The booking site I am using is funnily enough the National Rail website.

We're doing the whole family on a family and friends railcard. If I click a specific train it says 27 quid, as opposed to an any time return which is 45 quid. If you're saying the specific train doesn't matter, then I can do the 27 quid option and not worry about an over zealous guard trying to fine me...

 

[duffield]

Cheers. That puts my mind at ease if we do miss a train.

The booking site I am using is funnily enough the National Rail website.

We're doing the whole family on a family and friends railcard. If I click a specific train it says 27 quid, as opposed to an any time return which is 45 quid. If you're saying the specific train doesn't matter, then I can do the 27 quid option and not worry about an over zealous guard trying to fine me...

It's the outward journey that determines if you can get an off-peak ticket, it's not that it ties you to a specific train but that it can't be used before a certain time on weekdays. So if the booking site offers you an off peak return, you can use it on any train on the way back.

 

[Mainline421]

We're doing the whole family on a family and friends railcard. If I click a specific train it says 27 quid, as opposed to an any time return which is 45 quid. If you're saying the specific train doesn't matter, then I can do the 27 quid option and not worry about an over zealous guard trying to fine me...

Only "Advance" tickets are for a specific train (which don't exist on this route). For Super Off-Peak tickets to East Grinstead you can use any train subject to these restrictions https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/ticket-types/validity/pb/

 

[yorkie]

Cheers. That puts my mind at ease if we do miss a train.

The booking site I am using is funnily enough the National Rail website.

NRE will redirect you to another site; it doesn't actually sell tickets.

You may want to consider booking through us .

Choose the 'open return' option; just select your desired outward service. You can return on any train, as there are no peak restrictions on your return journey, so your open return will be valid on any train that day.

Booking through us helps support this forum; also, our site and the data behind it has been designed for the benefit of passengers rather than to benefit the train companies themselves, so we have all sorts of additional features (not relevant to this particular journey, so I won't go into detail here).

 

[UP13]

NRE will redirect you to another site; it doesn't actually sell tickets.

You may want to consider booking through us .

Choose the 'open return' option; just select your desired outward service. You can return on any train, as there are no peak restrictions on your return journey, so your open return will be valid on any train that day.

Booking through us helps support this forum; also, our site and the data behind it has been designed for the benefit of passengers rather than to benefit the train companies themselves, so we have all sorts of additional features (not relevant to this particular journey, so I won't go into detail here).

Thanks. Already booked last night, but will remember to use you guys for any future journeys!