Reading - Newcastle

[leymoo]

Hullo,
I can't seem to find any obvious splits (or "travel beyond and stop short") type savings on a Reading-Newcastle journey. I'll be travelling next Tuesday (doesn't matter too much when on the Tuesday), and ideally via London, and travelling back next Wednesday after 4pm (I'd prefer to not have to be restricted to one train if possible).

I used to struggle with finding any savings on routes to the NE (eg Reading to Redcar Central), so I'm not expecting much joy. But if anyone can confirm this I will stop trying...

 

[cuccir]

There's not much scope for savings on flexible tickets travelling up north of York on the ECML. You can save a little bit using a Grand Central Only ticket to Sunderland and then getting the Metro, but only about a tenner and this limits you to 4 trains a day, as well as taking longer.

On the direct route, there are sometimes savings to be made by stringing together Advances and filling the gaps in with off-peak returns. The scope for these obviously falls when we're closer to the date of travel. More savings are available if as part of this you're willing to change trains on this route on the way up, waiting for services with cheaper Advances. Common splits to check might be Oxford, Birmingham, Derby, Sheffield, Doncaster and York.