London to Worcester advances

[trivran]

So I'm trying to book train tickets to and from Worcester for any given Saturday that the booking system will allow me, and whilst brfares claims there are advances, I can't find any - am I to assume that there aren't any?

If so I'd be much obliged if someone could find me the cheapest alternative; I hold a disabled railcard and would like to depart London as early as possible, up to a latest arrival in Worcester of 1330, and arrive back in London at before 2100.

 

[yorkie]

I just put London Euston to Worcester Foregate Street via Northampton and they came straight up. I searched on Saturday 14 June (date chosen randomly).

If you're still struggling, click 'select a route' and tick both 'via London Midlands Trains only' boxes.

You can get there for £7 if you can leave at 0624, or £10 to depart 0913.
You can get back for £7 at your preferred time of travel, arriving 2045.

 

[IanD]

The advances are for London Midland Trains only so you have to travel via Northampton (possibly), Rugby and Birmingham.

For Saturday June 14th there are £4.60 fares for the 0534, 0624 and 0754 from Euston which arrive in Worcester at 0930, 1030 and1130 respectively. All require a change at Birmingham with the 0624 requiring a change at Rugby too.

There are £4.60 fares for the return all day (mostly with a single change at Birmingham), the 1724 arriving Euston at 2109.

Go to the London Midland site (or RSH, East Coast etc..) and on the mixing deck select 'Show slower routes' and then tick the London Midland only boxes.

Edit: Beaten to it by Yorkie. The £4.60 is the same £7 ticket with railcard discount.

 

[trivran]

Thanks very much guys. Lack of digging on my part, it seems.

 

[yorkie]

Oh yes, sorry forgot to add my fares were without a Railcard, so as IanD says, it's even cheaper with your Disabled Railcard! Of course, you've seen the fares already anyway on BRfares.com but I should've mentioned that!

Under £10 return for a journey of that distance is a bargain!

 

[Techniquest]

A bargain yes, but it is painfully slow! Not to mention boring! May the Almighty be on the side of the OP if he's unfortunate enough to book onto the slowest Birmingham to Euston services, those are truely awful to endure!

Yes, I DO speak from experience of trips to/from London with LM all the way. It's not quite so bad if you get one that's fast to Leighton Buzzard or similar, but then that said it's still slow as anything after that. My strongest bit of advice would be to have a truckload of stuff to do as you may find yourself bored out of your mind otherwise!

I would also recommend booking First Class Advances if the fares are reasonable, get yourself a table and a power socket. No complimentaries, and if you're leaving at busy times of the day (the 1724 departure from Worcester - booked 150 if that's of any relevance to the OP - will definitely be busy, as will the likely connection to London, the 1833 to London Euston. I speak from experience...) a stronger chance of a seat may swing it for the extra ching. I sure wish I'd gone for it when I came back from London last time. It was rammed in Standard out of Euston and very busy all the way to Birmingham. This was leaving at 1449 from London, with just a solo 350. So be prepared to fight for a seat, as you don't get a seat reservation as such on LM, just an allocated and mandatory service.

Finally, don't forget Birmingham to London services are a mix of 350/1 and 350/2, so if you go Standard Class you run the risk of getting a /2 with no tables and 3+2 layout. Imagine the fun that is with a large cup of coffee in your hand with plenty of other stuff too...

Hope you enjoy the trip to Worcester

 

[andythebrave]

A wee bit more but much quicker is advances on Virgin to and from Birmingham at £4.95 each way and an off peak return from Birmingham to Worcester at £5.55.