Southampton to Crewe routing question

[nw1]

Hi,

Travelling from SOU to Crewe this weekend and figured I'd go via London because the off peak fare is only slightly more than the slow and overcrowded (IMO) Cross Country route.

Couple of questions:

* If I get across London quickly I might be able to pick up an 1857 non stop service which is shown as an off peak train. Is this right, I thought it was from 1900? (It's a Piccadilly service apparently, must be some sort of peak extra I presume, a relief for the 1900?)

* Is it possible on a SOU-Crewe via London return to travel back via Birmingham? (i.e Crewe-New St and then New St-Euston, Waterloo-Southampton) with a break of journey? Seeing as there are through trains this way I'd presume the answer is yes. Are there peak hour restrictions out of New St TOWARDS London which I need to avoid? (returning on Monday) Could I excess (or de-excess) to XC if I want to go back that way? (It's XC on Friday which is a PIT* in my experience, more so than trains out of Euston, so don't mind returning via XC)

Thanks,
Nick

 

[Bletchleyite]

* If I get across London quickly I might be able to pick up an 1857 non stop service which is shown as an off peak train. Is this right, I thought it was from 1900? (It's a Piccadilly service apparently, must be some sort of peak extra I presume, a relief for the 1900?)

It's a relief service on selected days only (certainly Friday, can't remember if also Thursday) which is off-peak.

* Is it possible on a SOU-Crewe via London return to travel back via Birmingham? (i.e Crewe-New St and then New St-Euston, Waterloo-Southampton) with a break of journey? Seeing as there are through trains this way I'd presume the answer is yes.

Technically you need a zero-fare excess, but as nobody ever bothers with these, yes, it is de-facto valid, following the restrictions on the Not London ticket.

Another option is that you buy the Not London ticket, then go to a ticket office and excess the outward half to Via London for half the difference.

 

[LexyBoy]

The Routeing Guide contains the following information. Whether you wish to bother with an excess for a £1.55 difference is up to you - as Neil says you can use the Via London ticket not via London. Whether an excess is "technically" needed is a matter for debate but in any case there is no penalty for obtaining an excess on-board: the only options would be for your ticket to be accepted, or to be issued a zero-fare excess and the (excessed) ticket accepted.

DUAL ROUTE AVAILABILITY
Where two or more permitted routes are available for a specific journey, customers may wish to travel out by one route and return by another. If a higher fare applies for the return leg of the journey the customer should be issued with a ticket for the more direct route and an excess fare issued to cover the difference in fare for the return routeing. This option should be made available to customers who wish to pre-book a dual routed ticket prior to travel.

The restriction for your ticket is 9I - valid from 1845.

If travelling back on XC you would need to travel after 0930 (1001 departure would be the earliest, change at Wolverhampton). Via London, the restriction is on trains arriving in London before 1130 (0956 first valid train).

 

[kieron]

* If I get across London quickly I might be able to pick up an 1857 non stop service which is shown as an off peak train. Is this right, I thought it was from 1900? (It's a Piccadilly service apparently, must be some sort of peak extra I presume, a relief for the 1900?)

Peak on your ticket from Euston is from 18:45 according to the ticket restriction.

* Is it possible on a SOU-Crewe via London return to travel back via Birmingham? (i.e Crewe-New St and then New St-Euston, Waterloo-Southampton) with a break of journey?

Yes, that's fine.

There are no break of journey restrictions for your ticket.

Crewe-Southampton is valid on almost any valid route to London followed by any valid route from London (there are some restrictions to this which are not relevant here). Crewe-London is valid on the LC map, which includes the route you give between Crewe and London. Maps such as SW include a range of London-Southampton routes you can use.

 

[Puffing Devil]

The 18:57 runs from Euston to Manchester calling only at Crewe on Thursday and Friday. It is an off-peak and Fully De-restricted train. You can get reservations in the first class carriages, though many times they are not loaded.

My advice - get a reservation in the first class section and make sure you get the platform from realtimetrains to get to your seat pronto.

 

[nw1]

Thanks for the replies!

Hoping to get that 1857 train as looks like it will be relatively quiet at a guess (if it's only calling at Crewe, not Stoke or Stockport for example). Otherwise it's the 1910, I think, the Chester train IIRC.

It's a case of getting across London from the 1820-ish arrival to Waterloo.
"De-restricted" means you can use 1st on a standard ticket I take it?

 

[All Line Rover]

The 18:57 is normally full. Most passengers are travelling to Manchester Piccadilly, not intermediate stations.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

"De-restricted" means you can use 1st on a standard ticket I take it?

It means that the first class carriages are designated as standard class carriages.

 

[Haywain]

Declassified would be easier to understand.

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[Puffing Devil]

Declassified would be easier to understand.

Sent from my SM-G800F using Tapatalk

Indeed - that's what I meant to say, but the wrong word sprung into my mind.

Let's hope the OP got the train - it can be very busy,