Didcot to Windermere

[DidcotDennis]

Hi, my daughter and 3 friends, all with 16-17 railcards, are looking to travel from Didcot Parkway to Windermere on Saturday 5th July, arriving before 14.00, and rerturning on Wed 9th July leaving at or after 14.00. She has showed me a price of £282.60 + £1.99 fee she found on Trainpal for the four tickets on the following itinerary:
Out:
Didcot to Oxford, dep 0903
Oxford to Stafford, dep 0939, splitting at Banbury
Stafford to Oxenholme, dep 1147
Oxenholme to Windermere, dep 1334, arrive 1354.
Return:
Windermere to Oxenholme, dep 1400
Oxenholme to Preston, dep 1425
Preston to Birmingham New Street, dep 1518
Birmingham New Street to Oxford, dep 1734
Oxford to Didcot, dep 1907, arrive 1926

I've looked on nationalrail.co.uk, and all those trains exist, but the route doesn't appear on the RailUK tickets site - it is sending them them via Paddington and Euston, on the 0905 from Didcot, the 1030 from Euston and the 1303 from Lancaster, getting in at the same time. For the return journey, it suggests leaving Windermere at 1400 again, Oxenholme at 1425 again, then Warrington Bank Quay 1542 to New St, 1730 New St to Worcestershire Parkway, and finally 1813 Worcestershire Parkway to Didcot, getting in at 1942. This lot is priced at £283.40.

I'd like to use RailUK tickets, but I'm curious to know why the Trainpal return journey (specifically the bit between Birmingham and Didcot) isn't shown on their site, and if it would be cheaper to use that. Alternatively, any recommendations for a preferred route at a good price for four teenagers with large rucksacks.

Thanks in advance for any advice that is forthcoming.

DD

 

[Haywain]

Thanks in advance for any advice that is forthcoming

A starting point might be to try using a via point of Banbury to force the same route.

 

[DidcotDennis]

A starting point might be to try using a via point of Banbury to force the same route.

Thanks, I've just tried that and the cost has come down to £220, but the return journey gets in at 2029, leaving at 1400, via Wigan, Coventry, Leamington and Banbury. I think they'd prefer not to have a 6.5 hour return journey, but it isn't seeing the Trainpal journey. Very strange.

 

[Benjwri]

Have got it to show up here for £233.53 by telling it to avoid London and playing with the arriving before time. Not sure why it is so reluctant to show the 1400, one for the TrainSplit folks to look at.

 

[Dirty_Mac]

Any particular reason they'd want to avoid London? From what I can tell, going via London gives itineraries in the £220 range. £210 when not including the tube fares.

 

[Benjwri]

Any particular reason they'd want to avoid London? From what I can tell, going via London gives itineraries in the £220 range.

Just how I got it to show the requested route. I assumed they were wanting to avoid London with the travellers ages and the mentioned rucksacks

 

[Haywain]

Any particular reason they'd want to avoid London? From what I can tell, going via London gives itineraries in the £220 range. £210 when not including the tube fares.

The OP was asking about a specific itinerary.

 

[Lloyds siding]

I think if you leave Didcot at 8.02, and then get the 8.40 from Oxford to Stafford then you should save money.

 

[DidcotDennis]

Have got it to show up here for £233.53 by telling it to avoid London and playing with the arriving before time. Not sure why it is so reluctant to show the 1400, one for the TrainSplit folks to look at.

Thank you, I took that and tweaked it further, trying to force a change at Preston to match the Trainpal itinerary. So I deleted first Wigan North Western as a change point, then Warrington Bank Quay, then Lancaster. But the price after all that was the same, so I undeleted Lancaster, and it's a bit cheaper at £232.00.

 

[DidcotDennis]

I think if you leave Didcot at 8.02, and then get the 8.40 from Oxford to Stafford then you should save money.

Thanks, saving is only £5 though I think. These are teenagers going on a 4 day hike, the extra hour in bed will be precious to them, so I think they will decline!

 

[Lloyds siding]

Yes, I did think of my kids' penchant for a lie-in!

 

[DidcotDennis]

Any particular reason they'd want to avoid London? From what I can tell, going via London gives itineraries in the £220 range. £210 when not including the tube fares.

No particular reason, I was just trying to get RailUK tickets to match this other random site we found. Do you have an example of a via London itinerary leaving at 0900 and returning to Didcot at 1930? That'd be helpful, then I can give them the options to choose from. Thank you.

 

[andythebrave]

Results | RailUK Tickets

TrainSplit is a free service that makes it easy to find the cheapest train tickets for your journey.

tickets.railforums.co.uk

£227.60 decent enough times, out via Banbury return via London

 

[Dirty_Mac]

No particular reason, I was just trying to get RailUK tickets to match this other random site we found. Do you have an example of a via London itinerary leaving at 0900 and returning to Didcot at 1930? That'd be helpful, then I can give them the options to choose from. Thank you.

This one looks to have the same itinerary (except for some change points) only costs £175.15 £233.53

https://tickets-beta.railforums.co....false&adv:ob:MaxChanges=7&adv:ib:MaxChanges=7

And you can get it down to £148.35 £197.80 by using a slightly slower route via Worcestershire Parkway on the return.

 

[andythebrave]

This one looks to have the same itinerary (except for some change points) and only costs £175.15

Results | RailUK Tickets

TrainSplit is a free service that makes it easy to find the cheapest train tickets for your journey.

tickets-beta.railforums.co.uk

And you can get it down to £148.35 by using a slightly slower route via Worcestershire Parkway on the return.

I'm pretty sure it's for 4 people not 3

 

[Dirty_Mac]

I'm pretty sure it's for 4 people not 3

Oops my bad. Still. £197.80 for 4 people

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 14 May 2025 ==

Results | RailUK Tickets

TrainSplit is a free service that makes it easy to find the cheapest train tickets for your journey.

tickets.railforums.co.uk

£227.60 decent enough times, out via Banbury return via London

Also, it looks like if you disrespect the official connection time slightly, the ticket should also be valid on the 1752 train to Didcot (since it's non-reservable). That way you'd save about half an hour and be only 18 minutes slower than catching the fast train.

 

[DidcotDennis]

Thank you, I have given them the £197.80 option, also the London one. Although I now realise that the London option involves tired teenagers negotiating a Tube journey in rush hour with large bags, so might not be the most appealing option. There's also the issue of the Paddington gateline staff who might try and prevent them from boarding with their off peak tickets. For this reason I would probably favour the cheaper non-London option, with a 15 minute later arrival time. We'll see which one they choose.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 14 May 2025 ==

Many thanks all, the deed is done. They went for the cheaper, avoiding London option, so thanks to your collective wisdom, we've saved a packet.

DD