Ticket validity in early-BR pre-Beeching days

[Rob F]

In the period of BR before the Beeching closures took effect, how did ticket validity work? If I bought a return from Nottingham to London, for example, was it valid to both Marylebone and St Pancras or were the tickets specific to the route, as they were pre-nationalisation?

The same question applies wherever there were duplicate routes that were previously operated by different companies, such as London to Plymouth or Sheffield to Manchester.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Fairly sure that tickets of the era would usually specify the origin station to be used in Nottingham (more than the one?!) the destination station (or stations) in London, and would likely make reference to several via points. Alternative routes were sometimes permitted, but it would then be necessary to refer to the "book of routes".

 

[lyndhurst25]

There was something called the “Passenger tickets book of routes”, a bit like the current Routeing Guide. I have PDF of the 1952 version that I found online somewhere. London to Nottingham tickets were valid via St Pancras or Marylebone.

 

[Sir Felix Pole]

Fares were based on mileage, and generally limited to a specific route indicated on the ticket. A Paddington to Plymouth ticket would say 'via Lavington and Dawlish' so no travelling via Bristol, Okehampton or even Devizes! Manchester to Plymouth would say 'via Severn Tunnel' or 'via Birmingham'. In the case of major competing flows, however, the fares would be equalised (at generally the shorter distance) so that Waterloo to Plymouth would be the same as that from Paddington despite the greater distance.

 

[30907]

Fares were pretty strictly mileage-based, with some "capping"

Looking at the 1958 SR timetable online, fares to Eastbourne, Bexhill etc were "capped" at the Bexhill West (via Crowhurst) fare - it wasn't very different 20 years later! But going via Brighton attracted a premium, which was no longer the case in 1978 (or 2024).

Another example: fares to Exmouth were cheaper changing at Sidmouth Jn than ar Exeter - the difference being 6 miles at 2d/mile.

The Plymouth fare mentioned is calculated at 224 miles which is slightly less than the WR route mileage - and applies at Devonport too..

How often excess fares were levied for off-route travel is an interesting question to which others may have an answer.

 

[Taunton]

Fares were based on mileage, and generally limited to a specific route indicated on the ticket. A Paddington to Plymouth ticket would say 'via Lavington and Dawlish' so no travelling via Bristol, Okehampton or even Devizes! Manchester to Plymouth would say 'via Severn Tunnel' or 'via Birmingham'. In the case of major competing flows, however, the fares would be equalised (at generally the shorter distance) so that Waterloo to Plymouth would be the same as that from Paddington despite the greater distance.

I think that statements like "via Lavington and Dawlish" were as much about fare calculation method, which then was a fixed pence per mile, rather than passenger routing. It was impractical to say no travel via Bristol, as a number of services, including all the overnight seated trains, went that way.

Fares on competing routes were equalised at the shorter route distance, this long went back, and applied not only to passengers but also to freight rates as well. For freight the rate charged was by the shortest route, but the actual proportion division of it was by the way the wagon actually went, which before 1948 was the driver of all sorts of alternative transits, such as London to Bristol on the LMS, keeping the freight revenue all to themselves.