Milton Keynes - Dalgety Bay Off Peak

[Christof Royal]

Long time viewer, occasional poster here, big fan of your collective work...

I've got a business trip arranged to Scotland next week, and have a dilemma - train or plane?
I prefer the train and it looks like it's cheaper, but I need to check some things:-
- if I travel up Monday 28th, and come back Tuesday 29th, the fares are advertised as £113.80 Off Peak - does this mean that I can buy them at MKC ticket office on the day? I'm tempted to hedge my bets because of the weather
- if I buy MKC - DAG, but want to stay at Haymarket, will that be okay? I think so, as I believe break of journey is allowed, but would prefer reassurance
- (long shot this one) how busy is the 1513 train from MKC going direct to Haymarket likely to be? As I can't reserve a seat, am I going to end up standing for hours on end?

Thanks in advance!

 

[telstarbox]

Long time viewer, occasional poster here, big fan of your collective work...

I've got a business trip arranged to Scotland next week, and have a dilemma - train or plane?
I prefer the train and it looks like it's cheaper, but I need to check some things:-
- if I travel up Monday 28th, and come back Tuesday 29th, the fares are advertised as £113.80 Off Peak - does this mean that I can buy them at MKC ticket office on the day? I'm tempted to hedge my bets because of the weather
- if I buy MKC - DAG, but want to stay at Haymarket, will that be okay? I think so, as I believe break of journey is allowed, but would prefer reassurance
- (long shot this one) how busy is the 1513 train from MKC going direct to Haymarket likely to be? As I can't reserve a seat, am I going to end up standing for hours on end?

Thanks in advance!

You can buy the ticket at the station on the day. The restrictions on the off-peak ticket are:

Outward journey: depart MKC before 0430 and at or after 0900.
Return journey: arrive MKC before 0430 and at or after 1020.

However, if you buy the ticket online (to collect at MKC before departure) and select the 1513, you should be able to reserve a seat. If you buy through Virgin Trains' website there is an option which says "Would you like to reserve a seat on the outward journey" and the same for the return. You can do this up to 1800 the day before travel (Sunday evening) to get reservations.
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Edit: if price/travel time is your main concern, EasyJet currently have the following Luton - Edinburgh flights for £76 (www.skyscanner.net) but this wouldn't get you to Dalgety Bay.

Monday 18:10 LTN – 19:30 EDI
Tuesday 19:55 EDI – 21:10 LTN

 

[jkdd77]

It appears that BoJ is not permitted on the outward leg of a Milton Keynes- Dalgety Bay '5F' SVR, (even though the ticket is not valid via London), albeit that it is permitted on the return.

BoJ is permitted on a MKC- Dundee '2T' SVR at £115.40, which is valid after 04:15, so this might be your best option if you want to stop at Edinburgh on the outward leg.

In principle, the outward portion of a SVR is only valid for one day. However, if you cannot reasonably complete your outward journey on the first day, then you are allowed to stop overnight at Edinburgh and continue the journey on the second day, and this overnight stay would not then be considered as a BoJ, as per Condition 16(ii) of the NRCoC.

It is unclear whether you could legitimately do this if there were connecting trains that could get you to Dalgety Bay the same day (as appears to be the case).

I don't know how busy the 15:13 train would be.