Friday evenings London to Liverpool

[bkhtele]

Help! How can I cut the costs of regular travelling: depart London for liverpool fridays 7 to 9pm (If possible) or sat 9 to 10am
return sunday 1 to 3pm. Virgin seem to want a lot of cash! Is it worth splitting the fares or varying the route.
any good tips you guys can come up with would be much appreciated
thanks

 

[stuart100100]

If you go Saturday and come back Sunday you can get a Super Off Peak Return for £24.00 if you travel with London Midland only (from Euston get a LM train to Crewe and change at Stafford for the Birmingham-Liverpool service, on the way back change at Crewe)

 

[John @ home]

depart London for liverpool fridays 7 to 9pm (If possible) or sat 9 to 10am
return sunday 1 to 3pm. Virgin seem to want a lot of cash! Is it worth splitting the fares or varying the route.
any good tips you guys can come up with would be much appreciated
thanks

Slower but cheaper (2010 prices):
£37 London - Liverpool Off-Peak Return route London Midland only.
Example:
Friday 18:49 London Euston - 21:01 Birmingham New Street 21:36 - Liverpool Lime Street 23:23.
Sunday 12:34 Liverpool Lime Street - 13:19 Crewe 13:38 - London Euston 16:53.
Validity: Northbound M-F from 0845. Southbound M-F arr London from 1000. Sat, Sun any train.

If you delay your outward journey til the Saturday, there is an even cheaper option with no time restrictions on Saturdays and Sundays:
£24 London - Liverpool Super Off-Peak Return route London Midland only.
Example:
Saturday 08:46 London Euston - 10:53 Stafford 11:09 - Liverpool Lime Street 12:10.
Sunday 12:34 Liverpool Lime Street - 13:19 Crewe 13:38 - London Euston 16:53.

 

[bkhtele]

That looks great: why change Stafford going out from London and Crewe going back and are platforms changes easy?

 

[ChrisTheRef]

If you know you're going to be travelling, go for advance tickets. They start at £12 to go direct on a Pendolino. These usually sell out quite quickly though as they're released 12 weeks prior to travel.

 

[John @ home]

why change Stafford going out from London and Crewe going back

It's quicker that way. Some London Midland services go by a longer route between Stafford and Crewe and are overtaken by other LM trains. For example, on Saturdays the 08:46 from Euston actually goes to Crewe and arrives there at 11:38. But by then the 11:09 from Stafford has already left Crewe. On this service, you need to change at Stafford to make the connection

are platforms changes easy?

They appear to be. The xx:53 arrivals and xx:09 departures at Stafford both tend to use Platform 5. At Crewe, the xx:19 arrivals tend to be on Platform 5, and the xx:38 departures from Platform 3, which is a bay platform on the same platform island.

More details of Stafford and Crewe stations.

 

[mathmo]

If you know you're going to be travelling, go for advance tickets. They start at £12 to go direct on a Pendolino. These usually sell out quite quickly though as they're released 12 weeks prior to travel.

I agree. Try to leave London after 8pm as cheaper tickets seem to be available then. For example, for the first weekend in March you can get £11 tickets on both the 2007 from Euston on Friday and most services on the Sunday. This is £22 a week and as good as you'll get. You do need to book at least a couple of months before you travel and get the correct train but it's worth it for the savings.

For dates in the next couple of months, look at what others have posted, or the Advance tickets are at least £22 each way (I'm looking at 8th/10th Jan as an example) which still isn't too bad.