Reading to Barrow-in-Furness

[SirBroccoli]

Dear All,

Wondering if anyone can help me, as i'm struggling. Two of my friends want to travel from Reading to Barrow-in-Furness, leaving this Friday after 12, and coming back on Sunday around the same time. Both have 16-25 railcards.

At the moment, i can only get the £64.60 Off Peak Return which I know is valid on all Virgin Trains services from London Euston. Can anyone do any better with splits or even advance tickets?

Kind Regards,
Sir Broccoli

 

[cuccir]

The £64.60 Off Peak Return 'via Lancaster' (this name is not very helpful) is not valid via London. It's intended for use with on Cross Country services from Reading to Manchester, changing at either Wolverhampton or Manchester.

The £71.10 Off Peak Return 'via London' (a more helpful name at least) can be used on all trains from Euston before 0430 and at or after 0905. Note no Break of Journey is alllowed on the outward leg.

There are small savings to be had with Advances splitting at Manchester (~£6 cheaper. Off-Peak Return to Manc then buy Advances from this link from Manchester Piccadilly to Barrow to get an extra discount on top of current 16-25 discount). However, they can only do this if they're willing to travel on the 19:16 from Manchester to Barrow and the 12:25 from Barrow to Manchester - they'd be travelling by a slower route and restricting themselves for only a few pounds.

 

[SickyNicky]

I agree that the £64.60 ticket is not intended to be valid via London. It may be technically valid, however. Bear in mind that although as it's not ANY PERMITTED, you can't rely on the Routeing Guide instructions that tell us Any Permitted tickets without a + can still be valid via London, so expect a struggle going into and out of London. In any case, it's probably quicker to go via Oxford than London.

If you wish to travel via Oxford one way and London the other, you should buy the £64.60 ticket and buy a change of route excess for half the difference. You can do this on the train without penalty.

It's possible to save around £10 by using London Midland between London and Liverpool, but that journey would take all day! Definately not worth it in my opinion.

 

[LexyBoy]

The £64.60 Off Peak Return 'via Lancaster' (this name is not very helpful) is not valid via London. It's intended for use with on Cross Country services from Reading to Manchester, changing at either Wolverhampton or Manchester.

What it's intended for doesn't determine validity, the routeing does. A Via Lancaster ticket is valid on Permitted Routes which pass through Lancaster, which would include those via London. As far as I can see, both tickets are effectively Any Permitted.

Of course, you'd likely have trouble using this ticket via London.