SWR/LNER Advance Fare

[Belgravia]

If I purchase an advance ticket from Guildford to Newcastle, (using the tube between Waterloo and Kings Cross), will I have to use a specific train between Guildford and Waterloo?

I.e. Can I get an earlier train from Waterloo in order to “break” my journey to have supper in Kings Cross before I board for Newcastle.

 

[miklcct]

If I purchase an advance ticket from Guildford to Newcastle, (using the tube between Waterloo and Kings Cross), will I have to use a specific train between Guildford and Waterloo?

I.e. Can I get an earlier train from Waterloo in order to “break” my journey to have supper in Kings Cross before I board for Newcastle.

Yes. Most fast trains between Guildford and Waterloo are reservable so you must take the exact train.

 

[sonic2009]

Trainsplit will help with this - if you select the time you wish to leave Guildford and then go to advance options - enter go via London Kings Cross and select change at and enter 60, then also go to the box underneath max changes and enter 30 minutes in the Extra change time - i was able to get this journey for a random search on the 31st August

Guildford to Newcastle Advance Single (BSU)

£59.20

Only valid on booked London North Eastern Railway services and required connecting services. Restriction GD applies - click for details This fare includes a journey across London by tube, DLR or train

 

[Watershed]

If I purchase an advance ticket from Guildford to Newcastle, (using the tube between Waterloo and Kings Cross), will I have to use a specific train between Guildford and Waterloo?

I.e. Can I get an earlier train from Waterloo in order to “break” my journey to have supper in Kings Cross before I board for Newcastle.

If the train your itinerary includes is reservable, then yes you would be tied to this - as it would be shown on your tickets when they are issued.

If it's non-reservable then you are still supposed to take that train, but in practice it's not possible to enforce that restriction if you get a paper ticket, as the train selected won't be shown anywhere.

You can force the use of non-reservable stoppers by entering e.g. via Cobham.

Of course if you have been put on a non-reservable stopper then you "should" also not use a reservable, fast train. But that rule is not really documented anywhere in the public domain and so again, is effectively unenforceable.

 

[Belgravia]

Wow, that’s ideal. Interestingly the journey planner often recommend the stoppers anyway, as allows you to change at Vauxhall to make getting to Kings Cross easier. Many thanks.

 

[General Zod]

I recently bought a Peterborough to High Wycombe ( Chiltern Line) Advance from the LNER website , as expected the Peterborough to Kings Cross legs was reserved but surprisingly so was the Marylebone to High Wycombe journey . The exact train time was printed on the ticket. This is the first time I've ever come across the High Wycombe leg of my journey being reserved. I travel a lot between the said station and the North East, Edinburgh and Glasgow but I have always been sold a ' + Connections' ticket and never been allocated a specific train from Marylebone to Wycombe ( or vice versa ) . On the said Peterborough-HWY journey, I arrived early at MYB but the gateline staff refused me permission to travel on an earlier train saying I had to use the train printed on my ticket.

 

[Belgravia]

I recently bought a Peterborough to High Wycombe ( Chiltern Line) Advance from the LNER website , as expected the Peterborough to Kings Cross legs was reserved but surprisingly so was the Marylebone to High Wycombe journey . The exact train time was printed on the ticket. This is the first time I've ever come across the High Wycombe leg of my journey being reserved. I travel a lot between the said station and the North East, Edinburgh and Glasgow but I have always been sold a ' + Connections' ticket and never been allocated a specific train from Marylebone to Wycombe ( or vice versa ) . On the said Peterborough-HWY journey, I arrived early at MYB but the gateline staff refused me permission to travel on an earlier train saying I had to use the train printed on my ticket.

Interesting, I assume you’d done that journey before and the Chiltern part hadn’t been reserved?

How do you find out if a specific train is reservable or not?

 

[freddie1729]

How do you find out if a specific train is reservable or not?

Realtime Trains will tell you. If it's not reservable then it won't say anything.

 

[General Zod]

Interesting, I assume you’d done that journey before and the Chiltern part hadn’t been reserved?

How do you find out if a specific train is reservable or not?

Yes I've done that journey before and the MYB-HWY section has never been reserved. The ticket has been an LNER + Connections and I've often taken an extended break in KGX for food and refreshments before continuing my journey onto HWY. On this occasion I had a reservation on my ticket for the 1742 from MYB-OXF which stopped at HWY. The original ticket was a Peterborough - High Wycombe Advance dep Peterborough 1551.
Taking a look at RTT it does state that Reservations are available for this service.

 

[Birmingham]

I recently bought a Peterborough to High Wycombe ( Chiltern Line) Advance from the LNER website , as expected the Peterborough to Kings Cross legs was reserved but surprisingly so was the Marylebone to High Wycombe journey . The exact train time was printed on the ticket. This is the first time I've ever come across the High Wycombe leg of my journey being reserved. I travel a lot between the said station and the North East, Edinburgh and Glasgow but I have always been sold a ' + Connections' ticket and never been allocated a specific train from Marylebone to Wycombe ( or vice versa ) . On the said Peterborough-HWY journey, I arrived early at MYB but the gateline staff refused me permission to travel on an earlier train saying I had to use the train printed on my ticket.

The workaround in post #4 will work for you also using the HWY stoppers

 

[Watershed]

The workaround in post #4 will work for you also using the HWY stoppers

Specifically in this case (where all trains take the same route), you would need to enter a via point that narrows it down to the stopper. Most of the intermediate stations between Marylebone and High Wycombe aren't mandatory timing points, and so trains won't be timed there if they don't stop there.

Only Wembley Stadium, South Ruislip, West Ruislip and Gerrards Cross are mandatory timing points. So by entering any of the other stations that the stopper would stop at, e.g. Denham, you would get automatically sent onto a stopper.

 

[yorkie]

I concur with others to tailor the itinerary to suit your needs on Trainsplit (which will also figure out of it's cheaper to split or not)

Realtime Trains will tell you. If it's not reservable then it won't say anything.

View attachment 119369

True, and so will the link available from Trainsplit to the relevant train on Timetablehistory.com (bottom left rather than top right)

I.e. Can I get an earlier train from Waterloo in order to “break” my journey to have supper in Kings Cross before I board for Newcastle.

Just to clarify, break of journey is a defined term which means leaving railway premises (other than for the purpose of interchanging between stations).

You are not allowed to break your journey intermediately on a through Advance fare, however if you have supper within King's Cross station (e.g. at any of the many outlets within the station, such as the Parcel Yard etc.) that is absolutely fine as this does not constitute a break of journey; it's also fine to do so at St Pancras which increases the range dramatically (e.g. Carluccios is a good place for a proper sit-down meal).