Buying Brighton <> Crewe Southern/WMT only - how?

[aye2beeviasea]

Hello, I need to travel Brighton to Gatley next week.

I can go off peak, need flexibility on which trains to take, but don't mind taking longer if there's a saving.

Off peak return via Virgin is £110.10. But I know there's a Brighton to Crewe (Southern/WMT only) off peak return at £52.20 and Crewe to Gatley off peak return at £17.80.

But how do I actually buy the Brighton-Crewe ticket?

I can't get Southern, WMT or any other TOC site to show it. Even if I click the option to show cheaper slower fares on say the WMT site it does list that ticket, but clicking the 'Check for trains' returns N/A.

If I go via National Rail enquiries, click Other cheap fares, it claims that there are no cheaper tickets than the £110.10 even if I search with off peak times that should be valid. The 'Cheapest Fare Finder' does find the ticket, if I open the search criteria to all day. But when I click the link to buy then regardless of which TOC I choose the £52.20 ticket isn't offered.

Can anyone explain why, and how I can actually buy this ticket?

Thank you.

 

[alistairlees]

On the Soutthernrailway.com and TrainGenius.com websites I could force it to appear if I put in a via of Northampton. This forced it to use WMT, otherwise it kept using VT (even when I put in "via Kensington Olympia"). You can buy the other ticket at either of those sites too. Enjoy.

 

[aye2beeviasea]

Yes! Thank you @alistairlees - that seems to work perfectly

 

[M28361M]

Try a TOC that uses the WebTIS "Mixing Deck". Transpennine Express is the one I use. On the fare matrix, under the "show slower routes" option, you should be able to tick a box to show ONLY the Southern/WMT fares.

Failing that, as both fares are walk-up fares, you can simply buy from a ticket office on the day.

 

[Merseysider]

When?

tickets.tpexpress.co.uk will sell it for tomorrow, specifying Southern & WMT Only under ‘show me’ then ‘show slower routes’.

And by the way don’t buy a Crewe - Gatley return. Buy a Longport - Gatley return as it’s slightly cheaper and valid through Crewe.

 

[aye2beeviasea]

Thanks @M28361M and @Merseysider - yes, I can find the ticket on Transpennine's site - and thanks for those instructions, it's not easy to spot otherwise

And thank you too for the Longport tip