• 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!

Stafford to Worthing avoiding London.

Status
Not open for further replies.

sw1ller

Established Member
Joined
4 Jan 2013
Messages
1,567
Hi all, I got a friend that wants to get from Stafford to Worthing and back but wants to avoid London. I’m terrible with train journeys south of Crewe if I’m honest and just can’t help her. Then I remembered you lot are fantastic at this stuff, so thought I’d give you a try.

I don’t know the reason she wants to avoid London but I suspect it’s anxiety and the fact she’s in pain a lot with fibromyalgia, so the least transfers the better.
Thank you all.
 
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R

RailUK Forums

rg177

Established Member
Associate Staff
International Transport
Joined
22 Dec 2013
Messages
3,692
Location
Newcastle-upon-Tyne
Without consulting permitted routes, Stafford to Worthing is possible with just one change at Southampton Central (XC to Southampton then a Southern service to Worthing)
 

ForTheLoveOf

Established Member
Joined
7 Oct 2017
Messages
6,416
Hi all, I got a friend that wants to get from Stafford to Worthing and back but wants to avoid London. I’m terrible with train journeys south of Crewe if I’m honest and just can’t help her. Then I remembered you lot are fantastic at this stuff, so thought I’d give you a try.

I don’t know the reason she wants to avoid London but I suspect it’s anxiety and the fact she’s in pain a lot with fibromyalgia, so the least transfers the better.
Thank you all.
She can do the journey with just one change if she takes the CrossCountry service to Bournemouth as far as Southampton Central, and then changes onto a Southern service to Brighton as far as Worthing.

All stations involved are fully accessible, in case this is relevant.

It's a permitted route on a through ticket to go via Southampton. I would advise buying tickets at the station (at a ticket machine if need be) because it can be very difficult to be shown your preferred service when booking online at the moment for CrossCountry, because of the silly games they are playing with the reservation system.
 

sw1ller

Established Member
Joined
4 Jan 2013
Messages
1,567
That’s great. I’ll search that out for her. National rail was telling me it was impossible! Haha.
 

swt_passenger

Veteran Member
Joined
7 Apr 2010
Messages
31,264
Without consulting permitted routes, Stafford to Worthing is possible with just one change at Southampton Central (XC to Southampton then a Southern service to Worthing)
That was my immediate thought, it’s just a pity the connection time at Southampton is so long.
 

ForTheLoveOf

Established Member
Joined
7 Oct 2017
Messages
6,416
That’s great. I’ll search that out for her. National rail was telling me it was impossible! Haha.
Probably because the train is "fully booked" for walk-up tickets according to the reservation system. Of course it will no doubt still have plenty of free seats in real life.

That was my immediate thought, it’s just a pity the connection time at Southampton is so long.
To be fair, the overall journey time is barely 25% longer when choosing the one-change option, which I think most people would regard as acceptable in exchange for the reduced number of changes.
 

Hadders

Veteran Member
Associate Staff
Senior Fares Advisor
Joined
27 Apr 2011
Messages
12,980
Take a WMT train from Stafford to Milton Keynes, change for the Southern service to Clapham Junction and change there for a train to Worthing.

The train goes through London but you don’t change there. No need for seat reservations and probably more comfortable than a Voyager.
 

MarlowDonkey

Member
Joined
4 Apr 2013
Messages
1,094
From Reading, changing at Clapham Junction is a suggested route. Stipulating via Southampton for Reading to Worthing suggested no fares available, implying a need to split, presumably at Southampton.

If going via Clapham Junction using the services from the WCML via Kensington Olympia would also seem possible.
 

RailAleFan

Member
Joined
2 Jul 2014
Messages
314
Location
Midlands
That’s great. I’ll search that out for her. National rail was telling me it was impossible! Haha.

If its any help with the planning here are the two station pair timetables



May require separate tickets but almost certainly a good candidate for a significant split ticket saving as passing through Banbury...
 

Hadders

Veteran Member
Associate Staff
Senior Fares Advisor
Joined
27 Apr 2011
Messages
12,980
On the ticketing front, if you do decide to go via Kensington Olympia (changing at Milton Keynes and Clapham Junction) then there are WMT & Southern only ‘walk up’ tickets available that will probably be cheaper.

Unfortunately there aren’t any such tickets between Stafford and Worthing but splitting at Hayward’s Heath or Hove should be advantageous.
 

sw1ller

Established Member
Joined
4 Jan 2013
Messages
1,567
Thanks everyone. I’ve passed on all the information and she’s very greatful. As am I. Thank you.
 

paul1609

Established Member
Joined
28 Jan 2006
Messages
7,188
Location
Wittersham Kent
Personally I think the easiest way to do this journey would be Stafford down to Euston, Taxi to Victoria and then train on to Worthing. In theory avoiding London sounds good but via Southampton will mean (in normal times) overcrowded trains between Brum and Reading, it's also a long way round Southampton is as far West of Worthing as London is North of it over 50 miles. The Kensington Olympia route is also much slower and means changing at Clapham Junction which is not for the feight hearted and at least as bad as a London Terminal.
 

yorkie

Forum Staff
Staff Member
Administrator
Joined
6 Jun 2005
Messages
67,432
Location
Yorkshire
There are websites which allow you to choose modes, e.g. exclude the tube, and/or you can avoid particular locations e.g. avoid Euston and maximum changes can be as low as 2 (if you search for 1 it will fail as that is impossible)

For example if I search for Stafford to Worthing by train only, avoiding Euston, maximum 2 changes for Tuesday next week, I get prices from under £22; see below.
sta-eus.png
 

NSE

Established Member
Joined
3 Mar 2010
Messages
1,727
Personally I think the easiest way to do this journey would be Stafford down to Euston, Taxi to Victoria and then train on to Worthing. In theory avoiding London sounds good but via Southampton will mean (in normal times) overcrowded trains between Brum and Reading, it's also a long way round Southampton is as far West of Worthing as London is North of it over 50 miles. The Kensington Olympia route is also much slower and means changing at Clapham Junction which is not for the feight hearted and at least as bad as a London Terminal.

I have to say, Clapham Junction isn’t as bad as it might seem. It’s actually operationally quite simple and isn’t likely to have last minute platform changes. If you changed from a Milton Keynes to a Worthing service you are guaranteed to arrive on 17 and depart from 13.

Of course, I don’t know your friends circumstances (I’m assuming avoiding London is avoiding the terminals and tube and not because she is banned from entering inside the M25!) but i wouldn’t write it off just cause it’s Clapham haha
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Top