Sheffield to Birmingham

[button_boxer]

I'm trying to find the cheapest combination of walk-up tickets that would allow me to travel on the 08:20 CrossCountry service from Sheffield to Birmingham on a weekday morning and return around 18:00 on a different day. The through SOR is £75, I've got it down to £50.60 with a combination of two over-distance starting short anomalies, can anyone do better than that (by PM if appropriate)?

This will be a semi-regular journey and I intend to look for advances when they are available and I know the dates, but I just wanted to get an idea of the price ceiling above which it's not worth bothering with advance tickets.

The return can be more flexible but I'd really like to stick to the fast through train on the outward unless there's a huge saving to be made otherwise (but still getting to Birmingham by 09:30).

 

[SS4]

Try splitting at Derby

 

[button_boxer]

Try splitting at Derby

A straight SOR split at Derby is £65 (£33 Sheffield-Derby + £32 Derby-Birmingham). Buying singles between Sheffield and Derby brings this down a bit but not much (SOS SHF-DBY £19 + CDS DBY-SHF £10.10).

 

[button_boxer]

Nontheless, the Attenborough SOR is cheaper than my previous best - we're down to £47 total now for Sheffield to Birmingham return.

 

[bb21]

I have a combination for £46.30 so not much saving over your result of £47 if you're interested.

I would not recommend using my combination on a through train though. You will need to change at Derby.
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For anyone who is interested, I have now found a combination totalling £37.30 for this journey. Please PM if you need further details.

Note that the particular trick will not work for travelling at off-peak times.