One day round trip

[Fyldeboy]

Hi all, want to do this, probably on 8 March

Neath 1005	Cardiff 1050	TFW 158
Cardiff 1122	Hereford 1230	TFW 67/Mk4
Hereford 1239	New St 1409	WMT 172
New St 1430	Derby 1505	XC 221
Derby 1532	St.Pancras 1709	EMR 222
Paddington 1834	Bristol TM 2007	GW 800
Bristol TM 2021	Cardiff 2124	GW 125
Cardiff 2140	Neath 2222	GW 800

Feasible? Cheapest way to ticket it? I'd like to include a bit of 1st class and I'm guessing that would be Derby-London but its not essential.

 

[A S Leib]

I'd like to include a bit of 1st class and I'm guessing that would be Derby-London but its not essential.

The cheapest 1st class for the 15:32 Derby - St. Pancras on the 8th March is £83 according to book.splitticketing.com; a Derby - Leicester 1st advance single is £10.50 and the same from Leicester to London is £72.50 (standard class advances are £7 Derby to Leicester and £58 Leicester to St. Pancras for the same time and date).

 

[JonathanH]

Not straightforward to get tickets to do this as fares from Neath to the East Midlands don't allow travel via London, so travelling out one way and back the other means a number ticket splits.

Moreover, many of the journeys fall at points when advance fares are unavailable or expensive. As a result, using off-peak singles priced just below the off-peak returns would be another expensive factor.

 

[Jason12]

Neath to Bottesford?

 

[JonathanH]

I have come up with the following, making one change to the itinerary to use the 1609 from Derby to St Pancras rather than the 1532. The 1532 appears to be expensive compared to other Derby departures. Also, the 1609 departure helps with the comment made below about having a break point, since you can be an hour late at Derby and still make your return journey.

Neath to Cardiff £10.00 off peak day return

Cardiff to Hereford £13.00 advance single
Hereford to Colwall £7.60 anytime day single
Colwall to Derby £11.70 advance single

Derby to Reading via London Paddington £35.50 advance single
Reading to Didcot Parkway £6.90 off-peak day single
Didcot Parkway to Bath Spa £16.50 super-off-peak day single
Bath Spa to Cardiff £12.00 advance

Total = £113.20 The cost can potentially be reduced further by using later connections between Reading and Neath.

A 1609 departure from Derby in the GWR booking website gave the 1834 as the train to Reading.

 

[Watershed]

It's a perfectly feasible journey, but it will cost you quite a bit doing it at those times and on those specific trains.

You'll probably want to buy something like:

• Neath-Cardiff Off-Peak Day Return (CDR) - £10
• Cardiff-Newport CDR - £4.90
• Newport-Cwmbran Anytime Day Single (SDS) - £5
• Cwmbran-Birmingham Anytime Single (SOS) - £25
• Birmingham-Derby Off-Peak Single (SVS) - £19.20
• Derby-Reading Super Off-Peak Single (SSS) via London - £86.20
• Reading-Didcot Off-Peak Day Single (CDS) - £6.90
• Didcot-Newport SSS - £33.90

Which would be a total of £191.10.

It may also be possible to do some of the legs cheaper using Advances, but I've just searched for walk-up tickets there. I also haven't looked into which leg would be cheapest/best to do in First.

The reason why it's so expensive is that you are effectively making two one-way journeys (as there isn't any through fares valid from Neath/Newport to Derby via Hereford as well as via London) - and walk-up single fares are often priced at just £1 or so less than the return.

If you altered your journey slightly so that you made your route something that could be done with one ticket - for example if you went via Nuneaton and Leicester rather than via Derby - it would be considerably cheaper.

You could then buy something like a Neath to Kettering return, buying the cheaper via Newport route for your outward journey (£95.30) and excessing it to via London for your return journey (which would be half the difference, so £12.25 if you took a train departing Paddington after 19:00, or £40.05 for one departing after 18:30). Total cost would reduce to £107.55 or £135.35.

Theoretically the via Newport fare is also valid via London (as it isn't "not via London" for example), but you can be sure it wouldn't be accepted on the Underground as it lacks a Maltese cross, and there is also the possibility of problems using it via London on the trains. Probably best avoided, for the sake of a £12.25 excess.

 

[Nottingham59]

Hereford to Birmingham £7.60 anytime day single
Colwall to Derby £11.70 advance single

I think that should that be Hereford to Colwall for £7.60?

 

[JonathanH]

I think that should that be Hereford to Colwall for £7.60?

Yes, I have corrected it, and changed the final split point to Bath Spa instead of Bristol Temple Meads, which saves a little more.

 

[yorkie]

Hi all, want to do this, probably on 8 March

Neath 1005	Cardiff 1050	TFW 158
Cardiff 1122	Hereford 1230	TFW 67/Mk4
Hereford 1239	New St 1409	WMT 172
New St 1430	Derby 1505	XC 221
Derby 1532	St.Pancras 1709	EMR 222
Paddington 1834	Bristol TM 2007	GW 800
Bristol TM 2021	Cardiff 2124	GW 125
Cardiff 2140	Neath 2222	GW 800

Feasible? Cheapest way to ticket it? I'd like to include a bit of 1st class and I'm guessing that would be Derby-London but its not essential.

It is possible but do bear in mind what I've said before about circular trips; I'd put a layover in the journey somewhere:

Circular Journey - Cancellations

I understand of course if your train is cancelled on an Advance ticket, you can get the next train. Does this still apply to a circular journey? Im booked on the 12:04 from Shrewsbury to Llanelli which is now terminating at Llandrindod, where I’ve got to take a bus to Llanwrtyd (maybe) then a...

www.railforums.co.uk

 

[Fyldeboy]

Thank you so much everybody for your replies.

With regard to a break for late running, my rough calculations were worth that I could miss a train anywhere are and just use the next service on that line but at the end of the trip miss out the Bristol visit.

However, my intentions were to get as much different traction as possible*, hence the Cardiff to Hereford leg being on Gerald of Wales and that is 67/Mk4 only 4? times a day. Likewise, Bristol Cardiff on 125 - I worked for 9 years on them I'm allowed a bit of nostalgia.
I can see I will be up until the early hours again fine-tuning the itinerary. I guess at 56 there are no appropriate railcards I could use? Shame I don't have priv.

* In my head a small DMU is a dmu, 158 and 172 are the same experience.

 

[yorkie]

You can get better value, and traction, abroad.

Unfortunately you will have to wait 4 years to get a Railcard, unless you can bring someone along with you.

 

[D6130]

However, my intentions were to get as much different traction as possible*, hence the Cardiff to Hereford leg being on Gerald of Wales and that is 67/Mk4 only 4? times a day.

Best of luck in finding a 67/Mark 4 set on the 11 22 from Cardiff. It was a two car 175 (175 008) on Friday!

 

[Watershed]

Thank you so much everybody for your replies.

With regard to a break for late running, my rough calculations were worth that I could miss a train anywhere are and just use the next service on that line but at the end of the trip miss out the Bristol visit.

However, my intentions were to get as much different traction as possible*, hence the Cardiff to Hereford leg being on Gerald of Wales and that is 67/Mk4 only 4? times a day. Likewise, Bristol Cardiff on 125 - I worked for 9 years on them I'm allowed a bit of nostalgia.
I can see I will be up until the early hours again fine-tuning the itinerary. I guess at 56 there are no appropriate railcards I could use? Shame I don't have priv.

* In my head a small DMU is a dmu, 158 and 172 are the same experience.

I wouldn't bank on the 67/Mk4 materialising - they have frequently been subtituted by 150s, 153s or 175s in the last couple of weeks due to a lack of suitably trained traincrew.