London Euston - Maybole (or Ayr)

[trc666]

May have to do this first weekend in November.

Anytime Return (SOR) for London Terminals - Maybole is:
£87.75 ANY PERMITTED and £76.00 VIA YORK

Apart from Advances are there any decent splits for this using Anytime fares only as I am on a TOCNE PRIV?

 

[calc7]

Unlikely. Anytime Returns are priced pretty flatly between London and the North (e.g. EUS-MAN £296, EUS-GLC £324, despite the latter being twice the distance)

 

[bb21]

Do you get reciprocal free travel on EMT?

If so, you can get as far as Sheffield quite easily, and then Sheffield - Maybole Route Via Dumfries Anytime Return is £25.55 PRIV.

 

[trc666]

Yes I do - South West Trains, Island Line Trains and East Midlands Trains staff have free travel on each other's services.

I did think of that, but ideally I would like a direct train to Glasgow using VT or EC as the Sheffield / Dumfries route will take a lot longer.

 

[bb21]

The trouble is that if you want a fast Virgin service, you are severely restricted in your options for splits. The SOR fares from London to the various first stops (Warrington - SOR £277, Stoke - SOR £246, etc) are all eye-wateringly high already so without using Advances, you are looking at a fair wack. The Warrington SOR comes in at £69.25 already at PRIV rate and you still have a massive distance to cover. The same applies to Stoke, for example.

I can't find any worthwhile splits using Virgin services and not stopping everywhere I'm afraid.