Sheffield Mdland - Reading

[sheff'd victoria]

I need to find the cheapist ticket from Sheffield - Reading for Saturday 17th April , Iam limited time wise as ive got to get into Reading around 12pm and leave back from 1800-1830pm , is it cheaper going direct via brum or via London via Midland Main Line.

Cheapist ticket I have upto now is 2 singles at £28 each via brum

# If going via London dont mind catching a very early train from Sheffield if its cheaper but I have to leave Reading around 1800-1830pm

 

[Broken Viking]

Cheapest fare found so far: £40.30 - Splitting DBY, SOT and WMB. (Discovered by BB21)

Hail, Sheffield Vic!
I'm not the best when it comes to splits, I have to admit...But handily enough, ye appear to be travelling on one of the days that London Midland are offering dirt cheap Easter returns for! 8)

Having a very brief poke with Avantix (And bearing in mind I'm tired) here's what I can immediateley dig up. These assume ye have no Railcard or other discount to hand:

1. £27.40 - SVR Sheffield --> Stoke on Trent (Transpennine)
2. £10.00 - PROMO SVR Stoke on Trent --> London Euston (London Midland internet only fare - LM services only)
3. £00.00 - London Euston --> London Paddington (Walking - About 20 mins down the Marylebone Road, or LUL 10 mins/£1.50 on Oyster)
4. £15.00 - CDR London Paddington --> Reading
5. £52.40 - Total fare (A whopping saving of £3.60 on thy original tickets! )

OK...That's probabally a bad one, and the journey time and restrictions would make the singles a much better deal in the long run. With a bit of rest though, I or someone else might be able to work out a cheaper/better set of fares later on. 8)

 

[bb21]

Quickly checked splitting along the route.

Sheffield-Derby £8.50
Derby-Birmingham £12.50
Birmingham-Leamington Spa £8.30
Leamington Spa-Oxford £14.60
Oxford-Reading £7.50

All "Off-Peak Day Return"s. All trains call at all these stations along this route so you'll be fine.

£51.40 in total.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
OK I admit i forgot about the london midland sale. In that case,

Sheffield-Derby £8.50
Derby-Stoke £7.40
Stoke-Wembley Central / Euston £10 (Buy Online Only)
Wembley Central (Not London) / Paddington or Waterloo-Reading £14.40 / £15

All "Off-Peak Day Return"s except the third ticket. Total £40.30 / £40.90.

 

[Broken Viking]

Quickly checked splitting along the route.

• Sheffield-Derby £8.50
• Derby-Birmingham £12.50
• Birmingham-Leamington Spa £8.30
• Leamington Spa-Oxford £14.60
• Oxford-Reading £7.50

All "Off-Peak Day Return"s. £51.40 in total.

Yikes! Didn't occur to me that going via Derby would be cheaper...I was trying to make a fast dash for the LM lines (And SWT/EMT don't do "cheap" fares! ) but that's not easy to do via Stockport and keep the costs down!

That said, I'll borrow the start of thy working and mix it in with some of my previous research here... 8)

• £08.50 - CDR Sheffield --> Derby (East Mids Trains)
• £12.50 - CDR Derby --> Birmingham New St (Arriva XC)
• £14.80 - CDR Birmingham New St --> Banbury (Arriva XC)
• £10.00 - CDR Banbury --> Reading (First Great Western)
• £45.80 - Total for all tickets...A saving of £10.20 compared to thy original (Advance?) singles.

...Looks like my original mistake might've been trying to use the LM promos despite the main LM line running perpendicular to the general direction of travel!

That said though, I'm thinking that over £40.00 is still a bit steep for a Sheffield --> Reading day return...At least as I see it. Maybe someone else could slice this one down further?
Oh, hang on...BB21 already has - For an excellent overall saving of £15.10 to boot! (Anyone else think we should make a mind sport out of this art of finding split fares? )

 

[bb21]

...I'm thinking that over £40.00 is still a bit steep for a Sheffield --> Reading day return...

Very expensive route indeed.

On the advance fare front, i can find a 0705 departure from Sheffield direct to Reading at £19, but the return is more problematic. There are some £11.50 fares Reading-Birmingham New Street but they just miss the last departure to Sheffield at 2103. There are also some advance fares for Birmingham-Derby later on for £5 but they also miss the last departure Derby-Sheffield. Given it's a Saturday the services finish surprisingly early on the MML.

I would say though the LM route via London is unlikely to be practical given the return leg Derby-Sheffield would be tricky. The XC route would probably be better, although more expensive.

Alternatively there are some very nice £9/11 outbound fares Sheffield-London on megabus/megatrain at the moment and £5 late night return on megabus London-Sheffield. Throw in a £15 return Paddington or Waterloo-Reading it costs you a grand total of around £30 for a reasonable day return, well, that depends if you would like to be zooming down the M1 rather than the MML for your sight-seeing.

 

[Broken Viking]

On the advance fare front, i can find a 0705 departure from Sheffield direct to Reading at £19, but the return is more problematic. There are some £11.50 fares Reading-Birmingham New Street but they just miss the last departure to Sheffield at 2103. There are also some advance fares for Birmingham-Derby later on for £5 but they also miss the last departure Derby-Sheffield. Given it's a Saturday the services finish surprisingly early on the MML.

...And as it's a Saturday, there's going to be very little chance of getting MDS and MES type fares I'd imagine! That MCS for £19.00 is a good deal, but it'd be trying to get any relatively discounted seat on the way back that'd be near impossible...As ye rightly suggest! hock:

I presume ye've already looked at Advance tickets on the direct AXC trains between Reading and Sheffield, havn't ye?

I would say though the LM route via London is unlikely to be practical given the return leg Derby-Sheffield would be tricky. The XC route would probably be better, although more expensive.

One thing that's just hit me is that the £45.80 route that I came up with - Though a fiver over the cheapest - Would allow Sheffield Vic to complete his entire journey on a single direct train with no complicated routings and changes required!

Unless things have changed a bit since I was last on the Oxford line, the XC services between Newcastle and Reading call at Sheffield, and all of the splitting points I've highlighted for the route...Meaning that all three splits could be used on the one working (In full compliance with the NRCoC) in both directions! 8)

Anyhow...I've been up so long, my brain's now splitting at Dalwhinnie, Canolig Caerdydd, and Ashford Intl all at once, so I'm off to bed. Hope this has helped ye a bit, Sheff!
>> Death <<

 

[philjo]

There seem to be some reasonable East coast advance tickets southbound on that morning, but not much back in the evening.
There are a couple of through fares (if you put "via doncaster") - a couple came up as £24.50 inc the 10% discount, but I also found some other options by entering Mexborough-Kings Cross & then get £15 CDR from Paddington-Reading. Plus, Sheffield-Mexborough cdr is £4 or split a Doncaster if your from Sheffield train is a fast one.

 

[sheff'd victoria]

.... Hope this has helped ye a bit, Sheff!
>> Death <<

It has thanks everyone