London - Liverpool in a week(ish) time

[lookapigeon]

Good evening, I am scouting out good prices for the above journey, leaving Friday and coming back Sunday. Best I've found is an super offpeak return c. £46 leaving EUS with split at STA and ending in LIV whcih doesn't seem too bad for the mileage covered, although, as always I am keen to know if anyone on here has any other good ideas that could make it even more economical.
I'd be leaving EUS after midday and ideally would like to get back to London by 21:30ish.
Soem of the walk-up fares offered are crazy, into the hundreds of pounds...
Many thanks for any suggestions which you may give.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Using the WMT services will be the cheapest option. I would put it into the Forum site and see what it finds.

 

[gray1404]

You do not need to split your ticket at Stafford for the WMT Super Off Peak Return fare.

 

[JBuchananGB]

It's not a split at Stafford, it is the recommended place to change trains. Unfortunately on the Sunday this means waiting 55 minutes.

 

[lookapigeon]

My mistake, I thought it was a split specific but it seems to just be an itinerary suggestion and the ticket is a through one from London to Liverpool.
Checked the forum ticketing site and it's come with the same one (and other more expensive options), but with some help in the other thread I have managed to get the Avanti site to cough the ticket I want up, and avail myself of the Amex offer at the same time.

Great I think I'll go with the £46 and pence super offpeak return option. Thanks all.

The terms of the ticket are this:

Not valid for travel on trains timed to arrive London Terminals before 13:00.
Not valid for travel on northbound services timed to depart any station before 10:30.
Not valid for travel on services timed to depart the origin station on the ticket after 15:59 and before 19:01 in either direction.
A connecting service can be used to complete a journey begun at a valid time.
Super Off-Peak Return

Valid on London Northwestern Railway and West Midlands Railway services only.

 

[JBuchananGB]

On Friday I was on the 15.12 LNR train from Liverpool towards Birmingham, and the train manager announced at Crewe that passengers connecting for London should change there. It means going over the bridge to platform 7, but I suppose it means you get on an empty train, and can settle down all the way to London. Quite a few people seemed to be making that move. I guess you could do the same in reverse, ride all the way to Crewe, and wait 55 minutes there for the Liverpool train.

 

[30907]

On Friday I was on the 15.12 LNR train from Liverpool towards Birmingham, and the train manager announced at Crewe that passengers connecting for London should change there. It means going over the bridge to platform 7, but I suppose it means you get on an empty train, and can settle down all the way to London. Quite a few people seemed to be making that move. I guess you could do the same in reverse, ride all the way to Crewe, and wait 55 minutes there for the Liverpool train.

It's a through off-peak ticket, so that's perfectly in order.

 

[lookapigeon]

I don't think I'm feeling that aventurous (!) but it could be an idea since one has to hang around for 55 mins on a Sunday for a connection but needs must.

I have to say that the Avanti website is very annoying, it tries to force you towards Avanti options (naturally) and I had to end up selecting an arbitrary date in the future (Monday) to actually be able to buy this ticket as for some stupid reason forces you to select a return leg, and all it offers are the Avanti options and since the ticket is WMR/LNR only all of the options are greyed out untl you play with the time enough that it offers a return leg on WMR.
Since it appears the return leg is open for a month (subject to conditions in restriction code LF) it doesn't matter if you pick an arbitrary one, my understanding is it only really matters only in advanced tickets where you must get on the specific train.

Not one I'd frequent again were it not for the cashback on offer.

 

[yorkie]

I don't think I'm feeling that aventurous (!) but it could be an idea since one has to hang around for 55 mins on a Sunday for a connection but needs must.

I have to say that the Avanti website is very annoying, it tries to force you towards Avanti options (naturally) and I had to end up selecting an arbitrary date in the future (Monday) to actually be able to buy this ticket as for some stupid reason forces you to select a return leg, and all it offers are the Avanti options and since the ticket is WMR/LNR only all of the options are greyed out untl you play with the time enough that it offers a return leg on WMR.
Since it appears the return leg is open for a month (subject to conditions in restriction code LF) it doesn't matter if you pick an arbitrary one, my understanding is it only really matters only in advanced tickets where you must get on the specific train.

The forum's ticketing site will let you pick your interchange station, and you can differentiate your preferences between the outward and return legs.

A seat selector is also available....

Not one I'd frequent again were it not for the cashback on offer.

....however if the principal aim is to obtain cashback, then yes you would need to put up with substandard websites, sorry!

It's not possible to have it all; the forum's ticketing site doesn't benefit from free advertising at stations and on trains, nor taxpayer subsidy, and doesn't get up to the sort of tricks that certain other retailers get up to (see recent threads about TrainPal!)

 

[boiledbeans2]

I don't think I'm feeling that aventurous (!) but it could be an idea since one has to hang around for 55 mins on a Sunday for a connection but needs must.
[...]

It's easy to spend 55 mins at Crewe. Walk to the south end of the platform(s) and spot all the LSL trains. Just the walk from the middle of the station to the south end of the platform will take 10 mins!