Planning for a wee day oot

[Bittern]

Planning to do a wee trip south of the border on a Spring Saturday, as to avoid crappy temperatures and severely limited daylight associated with winter. Here's what I've got planned.

07:10 Glasgow Central - Carlisle arriving 09:37
12:30 Carlisle - Newcastle, arriving at 14:01
16:03 Newcastle - Edinburgh Waverley, arriving at 17:37
18:00 Waverley - Queen Street, arriving 18:51.

This covers some routes I'd love to do and offers the chance to photograph trains I've never seen before!

Now I checked NRE and for an example date I used Sat. 5th Feb just for train times. I ended up checking costs as well and it comes to on average £55 total. Not bad, but is there any type of ticket I can buy rather than buying all singles (Glasgow - Carlisle, Carlisle - Newcastle, Newcastle - Waverley, Waverley - Glasgow)?

 

[LexyBoy]

Well, a Super Off-Peak Return is valid on both routes, but isn't any cheaper at £59.50. I assume the £55 you came up with is with some Advance singles - in which case the Return would give you more flexibility with timings etc.

 

[CarterUSM]

Dunno if a return to Hexham would be any use? Do you have a YP Bittern?

 

[Railjet]

Dunno if a return to Hexham would be any use?

It's the same price as to Newcastle, as quoted by LexyBoy.

 

[scotsman]

There used to be a condition on Carlisle tickets that permitted travel via Newcastle - sadly lifted now

 

[me123]

If you wanted to go and come back via Carlisle, you can get cheap tickets by splitting at Carlisle.

If you want to go the full circle, probably your best bet is the SOPR at £59.50 (without a railcard). Using Advance singles for such a complex route can be quite difficult; it relies on everything going well. One thing going wrong somewhere and you miss a train and that opens up a whole can of worms... The SOPR will allow you full flexibility on a Saturday.

I'm sure you'll enjoy the line from Carlisle-Newcastle. It's really nice, and rather underrated IMHO.

 

[Bittern]

What's a YP exactly?

 

[asylumxl]

Young Persons Railcard

 

[Bittern]

Well, a Super Off-Peak Return is valid on both routes, but isn't any cheaper at £59.50. I assume the £55 you came up with is with some Advance singles - in which case the Return would give you more flexibility with timings etc.

So where should I get the return to, exactly? I'm assuming Glasgow - Newcastle, but would this definitely be valid via Glasgow > Dumfries > Carlisle > Newcastle rather than just the more direct Glasgow > Edinburgh > Newcastle?

Just want to be sure I can do the full circle of Glasgow > Carlisle > Newcastle > Glasgow.

 

[LexyBoy]

So where should I get the return to, exactly? I'm assuming Glasgow - Newcastle, but would this definitely be valid via Glasgow > Dumfries > Carlisle > Newcastle rather than just the more direct Glasgow > Edinburgh > Newcastle?

Just want to be sure I can do the full circle of Glasgow > Carlisle > Newcastle > Glasgow.

Sorry, wasn't very clear- yes, it's a Glasgow-Newcastle return. Valid via both Carlisle and Edinburgh according to National Rail, the Routing Guide may have a different opinion . though both are intuitively reasonable. Of course you could do it either way round.

Edit: also valid via Dumfries- indeed, there are direct GLC-NCL trains.

Edit to edit: beaten to it by me123!

 

[me123]

It's definitely valid via Carlisle. East Coast will more than happily sell you the ticket, and is backed up the nightmare that is the routeing guide. (Glasgow-Newcastle lets you use either map ER or GN. ER allows travel down the East Coast, GN allows travel to Carlisle either via Lockerbie or Kilmarnock, then onto Newcastle via Hexham).

Nevertheless, there are a handful of direct trains between Glasgow and Newcastle via Dumfries. Even if it weren't a valid route, your ticket would be valid on any direct train regardless.

 

[MikeWh]

What's a YP exactly?

Young Persons Railcard

Now called a 16-25 Railcard.