LexyBoy
Established Member
Sorry for the extreme post length!
TL;DR - What ticket to buy for Reading-Carlisle via S&C one way and direct back, and how busy?
What we'd like to do is the following: Reading to Carlisle, via the S&C to Carlisle, ideally avoiding London but not if the time penalty is huge. Return directly, so Virgin to Wolverhampton then XC to Reading. Out Friday 26th August (daytime), back Sunday 28th or Monday 29th.
Now, there are no "Any Permitted" fares for this flow, only "+LONDON" and the insultingly restrictive "BANBURY STAFFORD". In any case, rather oddly (IMO) there is no routeing involving map MM for Reading-Carlisle, except for the LONDON routeings which do not include Paddington, so the S&C is not a permitted route from Reading anyway. Thus it is not possible to do what I was hoping and go Reading-Leeds via Birmingham, then S&C (except by using a London-Scotland ticket, which would additionally require a Derby-Sheffield ticket to bridge the missing section of Cross Country Route in map AS). We must therefore go via London if we want to go via Leeds + S&C, unless an alternative origin/destination can be found.
The best ticket option then looks like the SVR Reading-Carlisle route:+London £109.10. Restriction 5F. This would presumably be valid on the BANBURY STAFFORD routeing as well (as is more expensive than the alternative routeing).
Now, questions:
- Any better suggestions?
- Are we likely to encounter problems using a RDG-CAR "Route:London" ticket on Birmingham-Reading?
- We're likely to get the 1449 from Leeds (arrives Carlisle 1728) - how busy is this likely to be on the Friday? Can we get reservations? Is it mostly Pacers on the S&C?
- I was thinking it would be nice to stop in Leeds for lunch (having never been there before), however this ticket doesn't allow BoJ on the outbound. So, would we be likely to have any problem at Leeds, and is there anywhere nice around or in the station anyway?
(It'll be 2 adults 1 child with F&F railcard; I've given fares as the undiscounted adult fare for simplicity)
TL;DR - What ticket to buy for Reading-Carlisle via S&C one way and direct back, and how busy?
What we'd like to do is the following: Reading to Carlisle, via the S&C to Carlisle, ideally avoiding London but not if the time penalty is huge. Return directly, so Virgin to Wolverhampton then XC to Reading. Out Friday 26th August (daytime), back Sunday 28th or Monday 29th.
Now, there are no "Any Permitted" fares for this flow, only "+LONDON" and the insultingly restrictive "BANBURY STAFFORD". In any case, rather oddly (IMO) there is no routeing involving map MM for Reading-Carlisle, except for the LONDON routeings which do not include Paddington, so the S&C is not a permitted route from Reading anyway. Thus it is not possible to do what I was hoping and go Reading-Leeds via Birmingham, then S&C (except by using a London-Scotland ticket, which would additionally require a Derby-Sheffield ticket to bridge the missing section of Cross Country Route in map AS). We must therefore go via London if we want to go via Leeds + S&C, unless an alternative origin/destination can be found.
The best ticket option then looks like the SVR Reading-Carlisle route:+London £109.10. Restriction 5F. This would presumably be valid on the BANBURY STAFFORD routeing as well (as is more expensive than the alternative routeing).
Now, questions:
- Any better suggestions?
- Are we likely to encounter problems using a RDG-CAR "Route:London" ticket on Birmingham-Reading?
- We're likely to get the 1449 from Leeds (arrives Carlisle 1728) - how busy is this likely to be on the Friday? Can we get reservations? Is it mostly Pacers on the S&C?
- I was thinking it would be nice to stop in Leeds for lunch (having never been there before), however this ticket doesn't allow BoJ on the outbound. So, would we be likely to have any problem at Leeds, and is there anywhere nice around or in the station anyway?
(It'll be 2 adults 1 child with F&F railcard; I've given fares as the undiscounted adult fare for simplicity)
). There isnt a reference for cross-country journeys in 5F, suggesting the ticket is unrestricted on XC (not that were likely to go before 0530 or even 0930, whichever would be the appropriate time).
