• Our booking engine at tickets.railforums.co.uk (powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!

London to Lancaster

Status
Not open for further replies.

DynamicSpirit

Established Member
Joined
12 Apr 2012
Messages
8,027
Location
SE London
Travelling Euston-Lancaster and thinking of using London Midland to get as far as Crewe to save money (albeit with much longer journey times). Can anyone confirm whether I'd be able to buy an LM-only ticket to Crewe at Euston on the day, or would they only sell me the more expensive Virgin tickets?

Also, does anyone have any idea how packed the Virgin trains on the London-Glasgow route tend to be coming out of Euston late mornings on weekdays? (If they're quiet, that could sway me to just go with Virgin).
 
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R

RailUK Forums

MCR247

Established Member
Joined
7 Nov 2008
Messages
9,564
I think the 0830 to Glasgow is booked 11 car now so that should give extra room :)
 

MidnightFlyer

Veteran Member
Joined
16 May 2010
Messages
12,857
Most are fine, especially now with 11 car sets. However. Beware the 1330 off Euston, for some reason that's full and sometimes standing. It's the busiest London-Glasgow train IIRC.
 

yorkie

Forum Staff
Staff Member
Administrator
Joined
6 Jun 2005
Messages
67,433
Location
Yorkshire
An LM-only Super Off Peak Return (ticket code OPR) is a ticket in the Off Peak category ...
National Rail Enquiries said:
You can buy Off-Peak tickets any time before you travel. The travel restrictions for your Off-Peak ticket will depend on the journey you are making and will be advised when you buy your ticket.
... so yes, it is available right up to departure. LM do not do seat reservations anyway, so there is no benefit to purchasing this ticket in advance.

Under impartial retailing rules, simply asking for a return to Crewe, you should be offered the choice of the LM only ticket, but if you make a specific request, specifying the ticket type & route, (e.g. a Super Off Peak return on LM only to Crewe, and an Off Peak Return from Crewe to Lancaster) then they do not need to offer alternative tickets and can issue the specific tickets you ask for.

The absolute cheapest way of getting to Lancaster on walk-up tickets (that I know of!) is to use an LM Only 'OPR' as far as Liverpool, and then take Northern from there. However it is quite slow!
 

dave87016

Established Member
Joined
9 Dec 2008
Messages
1,752
Location
Lancashire
05:39am Euston - Glasgow ( calls at Lancaster) usually has cheap seats and if you have a railcard the first class fares on that service are very cheap aswell and you get the complimentaries
 

All Line Rover

Established Member
Joined
17 Feb 2011
Messages
5,221
05:39am Euston - Glasgow ( calls at Lancaster) usually has cheap seats and if you have a railcard the first class fares on that service are very cheap aswell and you get the complimentaries

First Class is also very busy on that service. It's usually busier than Standard Class until at least Preston.
 

DynamicSpirit

Established Member
Joined
12 Apr 2012
Messages
8,027
Location
SE London
Under impartial retailing rules, simply asking for a return to Crewe, you should be offered the choice of the LM only ticket, but if you make a specific request, specifying the ticket type & route, (e.g. a Super Off Peak return on LM only to Crewe, and an Off Peak Return from Crewe to Lancaster) then they do not need to offer alternative tickets and can issue the specific tickets you ask for.

The absolute cheapest way of getting to Lancaster on walk-up tickets (that I know of!) is to use an LM Only 'OPR' as far as Liverpool, and then take Northern from there. However it is quite slow!

Cool, thanks. I did look at the Liverpool route, but you're right it's incredibly slow (and doesn't save much more compared to the Crewe route).
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Most are fine, especially now with 11 car sets. However. Beware the 1330 off Euston, for some reason that's full and sometimes standing. It's the busiest London-Glasgow train IIRC.

Good point, the 11 car sets should make a big difference. In 9-car days I can't recall ever being on a train on that route that wasn't packed or almost packed between London and Warrington.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
On a similar theme, do LM trains have power sockets for laptops?
 

bb21

Emeritus Moderator
Joined
4 Feb 2010
Messages
24,151
I hope you are aware that the majority of Lancaster services out of Euston do not call at Crewe. The ones that do are the ex-Birmingham ones and are mostly operated by Vomitors*.

You can connect onto a Pendo at Warrington however as the northbound ex-Birmingham arrives about 10 minutes after the Pendo ex-Euston, you will have a very long connection.

* Exceptions apply.
 

DynamicSpirit

Established Member
Joined
12 Apr 2012
Messages
8,027
Location
SE London
I am aware of that, but I'm not aware of why it would be an issue? I've always found the voyagers I've travelled on, when not overcrowded, to be perfectly comfortable.
 

Lampshade

Established Member
Joined
3 Sep 2009
Messages
3,713
Location
South London
I am aware of that, but I'm not aware of why it would be an issue? I've always found the voyagers I've travelled on, when not overcrowded, to be perfectly comfortable.

It would involve a 50 minute wait at Warrington Bank Quay though. There are better stations to have long connections at, Wakefield Kirkgate during a power cut for example :lol:
 

bb21

Emeritus Moderator
Joined
4 Feb 2010
Messages
24,151
I am aware of that, but I'm not aware of why it would be an issue? I've always found the voyagers I've travelled on, when not overcrowded, to be perfectly comfortable.

If you're happy with Vomitors all the way then you are more than welcome to go ahead with it.

I was just making you aware that you might have to endure it for long periods of time, but if you don't mind then I won't try and stop you.
 

kieron

Established Member
Joined
22 Mar 2012
Messages
3,048
Location
Connah's Quay
Cool, thanks. I did look at the Liverpool route, but you're right it's incredibly slow (and doesn't save much more compared to the Crewe route).
What could save a bit of money without slowing your journey would be to start short on some other ticket when you go north from Crewe.

Manchester-Lancaster is valid via Crewe, but I don't know how well known this is to guards on the line, particularly as Manchester-Preston isn't.

You can buy Runcorn-Lancaster tickets which say CREWE on them, so you would have no difficulties using one of those.
 
Last edited:

DynamicSpirit

Established Member
Joined
12 Apr 2012
Messages
8,027
Location
SE London
Probably one of the most hated types of rolling stock - lots of topics about it, hardly anyone likes them.

Ah yes, I did some searching and discovered a lot of people dislike them. Interesting, I've only been on them a couple of times. They're obviously too short for the routes they're used on on the WCML and so often overcrowded, but I thought they were comfortable (and liked the fact that, if I recalled correctly, they had more power points than pendolinos). I'll see what I think the next time I go on one. But that's getting off-topic now.

Incidentally I did the journey, in the end on a very expensive Pendolino-ticket. The 11-cars make a real difference - it was amazing just being able to walk on 5 minutes before the train left Euston, and get a table seat straight away.
 
Last edited:
Status
Not open for further replies.

Top