Alfreton to Glasgow

[ChrisC]

I’m travelling up to Glasgow from Alfreton next month for a few days. My outward journey is on Monday 13th October and returning on Saturday 18th October. Using my Senior Railcard and splitting tickets at Hellifield, I can do the journey, using flexible tickets, for a very reasonable price of £72.10. The tickets are:
Alfreton to Hellifield Anytime Return @ £29.10
Hellifield to Glasgow Central Anytime Return @£43
I won’t be in any hurry so will enjoy a nice leisurely journey via the Settle to Carlisle Line.

I had considered paying around £30 more and getting an any permitted return ticket from Alfreton to Glasgow to enable me to travel one way by a different route. This would also allow a bit more flexibility to change plans if there were any delays or cancellations. However, I can’t find an any permitted ticket available from Alfreton. The only return ticket I could find has the restriction of via Lancaster, and so would not allow me to travel via Appleby, even if I travelled via Leeds. This seems very strange as an any permitted Off Peak Return to Glasgow is available from both Nottingham and Chesterfield.

 

[Dewedin]

Splitting tickets at Carlisle would also be cheaper than the through ticket, but would restrict weekday morning travel. The through Off Peak Return has a token 'not valid before 04:15' restriction.

A Long Eaton-Glasgow Off Peak Return is 'not valid before 05:00' and has Any Permitted routeing so may be the best option for a through ticket at £113.85?

I would have potentially suggested complaining to Avanti (who set the Alfreton-Glasgow fares) that the 'Via Lancaster' restriction is ridiculous, preventing travel via both the Settle-Carlisle and East Coast Main Lines which are both perfectly reasonable routes for this journey, but I have no confidence that this wouldn't simply lead to Avanti slapping similarly ridiculous restrictions on the Nottingham-Glasgow fares for 'consistency'.

 

[ChrisC]

Splitting tickets at Carlisle would also be cheaper than the through ticket, but would restrict weekday morning travel. The through Off Peak Return has a token 'not valid before 04:15' restriction.

A Long Eaton-Glasgow Off Peak Return is 'not valid before 05:00' and has Any Permitted routeing so may be the best option for a through ticket at £113.85?

I would have potentially suggested complaining to Avanti (who set the Alfreton-Glasgow fares) that the 'Via Lancaster' restriction is ridiculous, preventing travel via both the Settle-Carlisle and East Coast Main Lines which are both perfectly reasonable routes for this journey, but I have no confidence that this wouldn't simply lead to Avanti slapping similarly ridiculous restrictions on the Nottingham-Glasgow fares for 'consistency'.

I will almost certainly make use of the very reasonable £72.10 fare by splitting at Hellifield. I do like travelling that route and I will be in no hurry. I‘m planning on starting my journey on the 0845 train from Alfreton to Leeds. That gives me a journey with reasonable connections and an arrival in Glasgow Central at 1500. For The return journey on the Saturday I plan to leave Glasgow on the 0800 to Carlisle which also has good connections with an arrival back in Alfreton at 1406.

Hopefully there will be no delays or cancellations but I’ve got all day to do the journey. The ticket from Long Eaton would be of no use to me as it is not valid from Alfreton as it is only valid via Derby. A better option would be the Off Peak Return from Chesterfield at £105.80 which I have used in the past. I need to travel from either Alfreton or Nottingham as I can’t get to Chesterfield station from home by bus before 0945. The reason for posting this was that I was amazed that there is no any permitted ticket available from Alfreton to Glasgow, as there is from both Nottingham and Chesterfield. The ‘via Lancaster‘ restriction is indeed ridiculous considering that ‘via Appleby’ is the shortest route, although much slower.

 

[Starmill]

I will almost certainly make use of the very reasonable £72.10 fare by splitting at Hellifield. I do like travelling that route and I will be in no hurry. I do want to start my journey on the 0845 train from Alfreton to Leeds. That gives me a journey with reasonable connections and an arrival in Glasgow Central at 1500. For The return journey on the Saturday I plan to leave Glasgow on the 0800 to Carlisle which also has good connections with an arrival back in Alfreton at 1406.

Hopefully there will be no delays or cancellations but I’ve got all day to do the journey. The ticket from Long Eaton would be of no use to me as it is not valid from Alfreton as it is only valid via Derby. A better option would be the Off Peak Return from Chesterfield at £105.80 which I have used in the past. I need to travel from either Alfreton or Nottingham as I can’t get to Chesterfield station from home by bus before 0945. The reason for posting this was that I was amazed that there is no any permitted ticket available from Alfreton to Glasgow. The ‘via Lancaster‘ restriction is indeed ridiculous considering that ‘via Appleby’ is by far the shortest route, although much slower.

If it offends you, my suggestion would be to write to Avanti West Coast and ask them to change via Lancaster to via Carlisle. While we're all very happy to offer travel suggestions, I am not sure what anyone here can do to help with this particular issue. I would be quite surprised if Avanti were willing to change it, but, if you don't ask, you don't get.

 

[ChrisC]

If it offends you, my suggestion would be to write to Avanti West Coast and ask them to change via Lancaster to via Carlisle. While we're all very happy to offer travel suggestions, I am not sure what anyone here can do to help with this particular issue. I would be quite surprised if Avanti were willing to change it, but, if you don't ask, you don't get.

It certainly doesn’t offend me and I have always been very appreciative of the travel suggestions offered by forum members. There probably isn’t anything that forum members can do to help with this particular issue. I posted this as I found it very strange that there was no any permitted fare available from Alfreton and thought it could be of interest to some people.
I am not going to write to Avanti, because this lack of an any permitted ticket will only affect a handful of passengers from stations on the Erewash Valley Line travelling to some stations in Scotland. Changes to this ’Via Lancaster’ ticket, which only appears to exist from a few stations, could result in higher fares and more restrictions for many others.

 

[Starmill]

It certainly doesn’t offend me and I have always been very appreciative of the travel suggestions offered by forum members. There probably isn’t anything that forum members can do to help with this particular issue. I posted this as I found it very strange that there was no any permitted fare available from Alfreton and thought it could be of interest to some people.
I am not going to write to Avanti, because this lack of an any permitted ticket will only affect a handful of passengers from stations on the Erewash Valley Line travelling to some stations in Scotland. Changes to this ’Via Lancaster’ ticket, which only appears to exist from a few stations, could result in higher fares and more restrictions for many others.

There isn't much consistency in whether the Avanti fares use route Lancaster or Carlisle. Both are pretty common. The fact that the LNER priced option is missing for this particular flow is disappointing but also not especially unusual unfortunately. It probably used to exist and got lost somewhere.

 

[Dewedin]

Hopefully there will be no delays or cancellations but I’ve got all day to do the journey. The ticket from Long Eaton would be of no use to me as it is not valid from Alfreton as it is only valid via Derby. A better option would be the Off Peak Return from Chesterfield at £105.80 which I have used in the past.

The Long Eaton ticket is valid via Alfreton. I searched it in a journey planner before suggesting. The Chesterfield ticket is cheaper but of course does not allow starting at Alfreton.

 

[ChrisC]

The Long Eaton ticket is valid via Alfreton. I searched it in a journey planner before suggesting. The Chesterfield ticket is cheaper but of course does not allow starting at Alfreton.

I had checked the Long Eaton ticket on the forums ticketing site. It does show that an any permitted Long Eaton to Glasgow ticket is valid via Alfreton. It also shows that a Long Eaton to Glasgow ticket is valid via Appleby. However, it would not come up with a fare for via Alfreton and Appleby and only journeys via Lancaster are shown. As I said earlier, as I will have plenty of time, I’m going to split tickets at Hellifield in both directions and save at least £30.

 

[jfollows]

Map TC in the routeing guide, https://rgpp.iblocks.co.uk/maps, shows a valid route via Alfreton & Appleby. Anyway, I don’t think you’re going to use it.