Wolverhampton-Darlington/hartlepool

[pooliemag]

Hi Everyone,
I am hoping to travel from Wolverhampton to Darlington on Monday 2nd of April and return On Thursday 5th April and i am hoping the fine peeps on this site will possibly be able to get the fare down from the £80+ return fare I am getting quoted. I have no railcard but am quite free to use advance tickets and use whatever route is cheapest.I am not restricted by times but i would like to arrive and depart Darlington around lunchtime if possible?
Also if i may add, I may have to extend the journey through to Hartlepool if i cannot get a lift from Darlo, so any suggestions for this would also be most appreciated.
Many thanks
Mark

 

[cuccir]

The exact cheapest fare is almost impossible to determine for journeys of any length, because of the multiple different possible routes. So what we can offer is not necessarily the cheapest, but we can see what we can do! Also there are people with official 'fare advisor' status who spend more time on here, so might be able to more expert advice.

Your main problem seems to be a limited number of advance singles on the 5th, presumably because it's the day before Good Friday, so a busy day.

But I'll start you off: if you can afford to wait on the 2nd until 09:28, getting in at 12:58, then you can get an advance single from Wolves to Darlington for £33.00.

On the return, an advance single from Northallerton to Birmingham will cost £24 on any of the 12:58, 13:07 and 13:58 (requires a change in York). An off-peak single from Darlington to Northallerton is £5, and all of the trains that you are due to catch at Northallerton will have come from Darlington. A virgin only anytime day single from Birmingham to Wolves is £3.10.

That's a total of £65.10, if my maths serves!
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Edit -that £33.00 ticket is currently listed at East Coast, but not at London Midland. That may mean it's no longer available or, if it is still there, that it's the last one! If you can't get it, try the same journey pattern as I suggested for the return leg (ie splitting at Birmingham and Northallerton), as there are £20-24 AP tickets from Birmingham to Northallerton available arriving to Northallerton at 12:18, 12:54 and 13:18. All those trains carry on to Darlington, so you can buy the same £5 and £3.10 tickets as listed above (though obviously in reverse).
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Second Edit:
Re Hartlepool: I'm not clear if you're going to Darlington then Hartlepool, or if you are going to Hartlepool after stopping in Darlo. If Hartlepool is your only destination then consider just booking to Northallerton in the immediate future, and pick up your other tickets on the day or close to the time. Northallerton is only a 48 minute drive to Harltepool according to Google Maps, compared to 40 minutes for Darlington. If you end up getting the train to Hartlepool, then you might consider a Grand Central only anytime return Northallerton-Hartlepool for £8, though this comes with a health warning that it is only valid on a few trains a day - the 13:46 arriving at 14:23 from Northallerton and the 12:52 arriving at 13:29 from Hartlepool being the only ones that occur at roughly the times you want to travel.

 

[bb21]

Also there are people with official 'fare advisor' status who spend more time on here, so might be able to more expert advice.

Just a quick clarification.

Fares Advisors do not necessarily spend a lot of time on this forum, although most probably do. This special rank was designed to enable newcomers to this forum to quickly identify those posts from people who have demonstrated their knowledge in the past and are known to be reliable with their knowledge.

 

[sonic2009]

Just a quick clarification.

Fares Advisors do not necessarily spend a lot of time on this forum, although most probably do. This special rank was designed to enable newcomers to this forum to quickly identify those posts from people who have demonstrated their knowledge in the past and are known to be reliable with their knowledge.

well i spend quite a lot of time on the forum. so what's my title :P

also another note to the OP.

look at splitting your advance tickets i.e

Wolverhampton to Manchester
Manchester to Darlington

it may work out cheaper.

another thing, are you happy to take another mode of transport, i.e National Express or Megabus?

 

[pooliemag]

Hi and many thanks for the reply I should have worded my post better ..my journey is to Hartlepool but i normally get a lift from Darlington hence the post title, the journey from Darlington is a plan B if for any reason i dont get a lift ........However your suggestion for going via Northallerton seems to work out even better for myself and my lift I have managed to secure two advance tickets (wolves to Northallerton and reverse journey) at £24 each so i am very happy with that, the bonus part is the fact that the trains i have booked coincide with easy Grand Central connections to/from Hartlepool if needed Thank you very much as i would never have given that journey a thought
Sonic, thank you for your suggestions..I have used the Manchester split and indeed megabus in the past and will do so again in the future but your advice was welcomed with thanks........I have even tried to find a way of doing the trip via Carlisle and using the very reasonable priced £24.70 anytime return Carlisle to Hartlepool but i cannot find any advance tix from wolves to carlisle and revers on the said days
Once again, my thanks guys for the great help and advice