1B85
Member
- Joined
- 13 Apr 2017
- Messages
- 88
Are there any more reasonably priced alternative routes or split tickets than the direct Virgin service? Cost is the primary concern, not too bothered about it taking a bit longer...
There are now Transport for Wales/West Midlands Trains only fares for Manchester-London that are very cheap in comparison to Virgin and it's just one change at Crewe for the WMT to London. http://www.brfares.com/#!fares?orig=MAN&dest=EUS
Only £34 for the super off peak single (or £35 for the equivalent return). Off peak and anytime tickets are also available at a higher cost.
http://www.brfares.com/#faredetail?orig=MAN&dest=EUS&rte=371&tkt=OPR
When are you travelling?Are there any more reasonably priced alternative routes or split tickets than the direct Virgin service? Cost is the primary concern, not too bothered about it taking a bit longer...
Also note that this journey can be speeded up significantly by changing at Stafford and taking a WMT service via Atherstone, which nay be the same price - or by going from Manchester to Crewe instead of to Stoke-on-Trent.Cheap London Northwestern Railway tickets from Stoke to London on their slower trains.
Can you buy the ticket at Manchester?Isn’t Huddersfield to London cheaper?
Can you buy the ticket at Manchester?
Walk up fares from Huddersfield aren’t cheaper but they give flexibility to travel via the WCML (Via Manchester) or the ECML to London.
The cheapest way of travelling from Manchester to London, using straightforward tickets, is using the WMT & TfW tickets.
Cheap London Northwestern Railway tickets from Stoke to London on their slower trains.
Also note that this journey can be speeded up significantly by changing at Stafford and taking a WMT service via Atherstone, which nay be the same price - or by going from Manchester to Crewe instead of to Stoke-on-Trent.
Depends on connections but in the past if you went via Crewe you'd have had an extra change if you wanted to go direct on the WCML avoiding Alsager.Thanks... I think I'm stuck in the past, as before the London Midland (as was) Crewe services were speeded up some years ago, I'm pretty sure back then quicker to go via Stoke-on-Trent rather than Crewe (that's certainly what I and a group of friends did for a London-Manchester trip). However the world changes!
Its unlikely to be as cheap as going on West Midlands Trains and it will also be slower. But if anyone wanted to take that route, you could use Trainsplit's advanced mode and specify EMT and TPE only, or specify via Sheffield.I used to do London-Manchester and back regularly in the mid 2000’s saving a lot of Monday going via Sheffield on TPE and EMT. Not sure if that is still a viable cheap route.
You used to be able to get LM to Stoke and change there for Virgin, taking advantage of Virgin only tickets between Stoke and Manchester.
Nowadays the WMT&TfW fares are better value.
How reliable is the hourly TfW service to and from Manchester?
How reliable is the hourly TfW service to and from Manchester?
Not in the least bit. It's extremely unreliable between Crewe and Manchester.
Often terminated short at Wilmslow once it becomes clear that they won't make it to Piccadilly in time for the return working to leave on time.