Teesside to Plymouth, returning via Croydon & Chester

[tsman]

I'm wondering if anyone has any ideas for what may be the optimal combination of tickets to buy for the following itinerary; I have a 26-30 railcard and flexible tickets are preferred.

31 July: Teesside to Plymouth
2 August: Plymouth to Croydon
6 August (evening): Croydon to Chester
8 August: Chester to Teesside

 

[30907]

As nobody has come up with anything:
(Super) Offpeak Return tickets are likely to be your cheapest option here, but you would need to do the outward journey Teeside-Crewe-London-Plymouth. If you wanted to cut the cost further, LNW fares Crewe-Euston are rouhly half Avanti's.
(London-Croydon and Crewe-Chester would be add-ons).

 

[Haywain]

I'm wondering if anyone has any ideas for what may be the optimal combination of tickets to buy for the following itinerary; I have a 26-30 railcard and flexible tickets are preferred.

31 July: Teesside to Plymouth
2 August: Plymouth to Croydon
6 August (evening): Croydon to Chester
8 August: Chester to Teesside

Which station is ‘Teesside’?

As nobody has come up with anythingSuper) Offpeak Return tickets are likely to be your cheapest option here, but you would need to do the outward journey Teeside-Crewe-London-Plymouth. If you wanted to cut the cost further, LNW fares Crewe-Euston are rouhly half Avanti's.
(London-Croydon and Crewe-Chester would be add-ons).

Important to stress that you mean multiple Off Peak Returns, not one return.

 

[Class800]

Teesside Airport railway station - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Extremely limited service - may be problematic

 

[30907]

Important to stress that you mean multiple Off Peak Returns, not one.

Thank you for underlining that.
Crewe may not be the optimum split point, either, I haven't checked - Manchester might do as well. Or even Huddersfield, whence there is a VIA MANCHESTER fare to London (but not an LNW one).

 

[Stormaggeddon]

In the past in pre-covid-19 times when I’ve travelled from Plymouth back to Newcastle the following splits have knocked a large amount off the ticket, so basically reverse it and omit bits you don’t need if going direct:

• Plymouth – Exeter
• Exeter – Bristol Temple M
• Bristol Temple M – Cheltenham Spa
• Cheltenham Spa – Birmingham New Street
• Birmingham New Street – Derby
• Derby – Sheffield
• Sheffield – York
• York – Newcastle

Depending on where you’re starting on Teesside you’d probably want to split from the origin to your nearest mainline station as this is often significantly cheaper. Obviously all different if you go via London or the North West.

 

[kieron]

If you were starting from Middlesbrough, one option would be:

A £17.15 (Middlesbrough (MBR)-York (YRK) "not Darlington" off peak return, restriction TF)
B £72.95 (York (YRK)-Milton Keynes Central (MKC) "not London" off peak return, 2V)
C £80.65 (Milton Keynes Central (MKC)-Plymouth (PLY) "any permitted" super off peak return, YP)
£8.63 (not sure how they round this) excess for the outbound leg to "via Gloucester" (restriction 2V)
£3.30 x 2 Oyster/Contactless off peak journeys between Croydon and Wimbledon.
D £12.00 (Crewe (CRE)-Chester (CTR) off peak return)
Total £197.98

On 31/7, you'd change at York onto a Crosscountry train. You'd use ticket A from Middlesbrough to York (shown on map YM), B between York and Birmingham (maps BY+ES) and C from Birmingham to Plymouth (maps EB+PB).

On 2/8, you'd use ticket C from Plymouth to Wimbledon (map LE), and Oyster from there to Croydon. You'd probably change at Woking.

On 6/8, you'd use Oyster, then ticket C from Wimbledon to Milton Keynes (maps LE+EN), B from Milton Keynes to Crewe (map MA), and D from Crewe to Chester (map CH). You'd have to catch a train which stops at Milton Keynes.

On 8/8, you'd use ticket D from Chester to Crewe, ticket B from Crewe to York (maps MA+MT), and ticket A from York to Middlesbrough. There are rail replacement buses between Crewe and Manchester, and the simplest option would be to catch one of those to Manchester, and two trains from there, changing in York.

There are ways to reduce the price (such as buying tickets to Northampton rather than Milton Keynes), or the time (such as travelling via Warrington rather than Crewe on 8/8), but it depends on your priorites.

You should check if prices with your actual start station, though - the split at York doesn't always make sense, and there may be other options.

 

[MikeWh]

£3.30 x 2 Oyster/Contactless off peak journeys between Croydon and Wimbledon.

Or 2x £1.55 tram journeys.

 

[TUC]

Teesside Airport railway station - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Extremely limited service - may be problematic

That is not 'Teesside'. It usually means any of Middlesbrough, Eaglescliffe, Thornaby or, at a push, Darlington.

 

[Haywain]

That is not 'Teeside'. It usually means any of Middlesbrough, Eaglescliffe, Thornaby or, at a push, Darlington.

It is the only station that features the word Teesside in its name.

 

[TUC]

It is the only station that features the word Teesside in its name.

Yes, but it is the name of a local area, not a town. It is rather like someone saying they want to travel from East Midlands to Plymouth and being advised on East Midlands Parkway trains because that is the only station with the term in its name.

 

[30907]

If you were starting from Middlesbrough, one option would be:

....On 2/8, you'd use ticket C from Plymouth to Wimbledon (map LE), and Oyster from there to Croydon. You'd probably change at Woking.

And Exeter! It would cost a pound or two more to travel via Paddington, but you could then go East Croydon-St Pancras and walk to Euston rather than go back to Wimbledon. (I would do that for the return leg anyway at £2.40 offpeak)

The Milton Keynes suggestion is excellent, allowing you to travel out via Cheltenham

My split of Manchester/London cost about the same allowing for an extra tube fare
41.55+62.35+71.90+12
Oyster 6.40 (or 3.95 using the tram one way)
Total 194.20
But it does mean travelling out Manchester-London-Plymouth which is a good bit slower.

Now if anyone can find a cunning way to allow one way York-Birmingham direct....

 

[tsman]

Thank you all!

 

[kieron]

Or 2x £1.55 tram journeys.

Thanks! I'd looked at the Single Fare Finder, but completely missed the fact that it doesn't cover Tramlink.

And Exeter! It would cost a pound or two more to travel via Paddington, but you could then go East Croydon-St Pancras and walk to Euston rather than go back to Wimbledon. (I would do that for the return leg anyway at £2.40 offpeak)

The ticket's valid on either route. Going via Paddington is quicker (although how much quicker varies a lot), but it costs more to get to Croydon.

One thing which is worth remembering is that the ticket has a Maltese cross on it, giving a "free" Underground journey "appropriate to the route of the through journey being made". Using that for (say) Victoria-Euston or London Bridge-Euston would be another option.

The Milton Keynes suggestion is excellent, allowing you to travel out via Cheltenham

I was looking for tickets which would allow use of the WCML between London and somewhere near Chester. Most tickets between the SW and the West Midlands or NW don't let you go via London, and most places further east don't let you use the WCML at all, so there weren't many options to check,

Thank you all!

No problem!