Trivia: obscure rail tickets you've used

[Bletchleyite]

What are some tickets you've used that you think virtually nobody else has bought?

For example, recently I travelled from Shepreth (Cambs) to Leigh (Kent) on one ticket, and thanks to a split ticket, possess a Yarmouth (Wight) to Royston advance.

I can't imagine there are many Bletchley <-> Aughton Park sold, though given how busy Merseyrail is there may be one or two others.

I have been to Altnabreac, but sadly that was a break of journey on the return half of a Saver (it was that long ago) to Wick so I can't count that one.

 

[A S Leib]

Newcastle to Drem's probably fairly rare, although I'd be surprised if nobody's done the reverse.

 

[contrex]

Aged 12 I was issued a hand-written ticket from East Brixton to 'TULLS HILL'. The booking office was a little kiosk on the Victoria bound platform; I had to go down into the road and up the stairs on the other side of the bridge to get to the London Bridge platform (so I could change at Peckham Rye). I think that most destinations from the intermediate South London Line stations had to be hand written.

 

[mm333]

Travelling to my mum's in rural Lincolnshire, I needed to get a taxi for the last leg of the journey. If the cash machine at Doncaster station was only giving out £20 notes, I'd go to the LNER ticket machines, buy a child's Barry Links-Golf Street single and the machine would give me £19.?? change! I did that quite a few times

 

[Taunton]

John Betjeman wrote that in the mid-1950s he bought a First Class single from South Hampstead to Primrose Hill (called Chalk Farm then), next station along the DC Line, and it came out headed LNWR, having been in stock for at least 35 years previously

 

[xotGD]

Darlington to (Hayes and) Harlington is my favourite.

 

[D6130]

Darlington to (Hayes and) Harlington is my favourite.

Did you ever have an obscure ticket for that journey?

 

[xotGD]

Did you ever have an obscure ticket for that journey?

Well it was on expenses!

 

[The exile]

A Sea Mills to Bidston return issued as part of the YP February offer in 1987 - maybe not in itself remarkable, but it was on Edmondson stock and the grippers took up the challenge to the extent that by the time I got back there was more home than card.

 

[Sir Felix Pole]

Back in the day Wilmslow (and other principal LM stations) could issue continental tickets and also make the necessary reservations (actually by phoning London Victoria!). I have a 1980 Wilmslow to Copenhagen ticket (via Mcr Piccadilly, Harwich, Hoek van H, Bentheim,Hamburg, Puttgarden). Happy Days.

 

[cornishjohn]

Handwritten Edmondson Fulwell to Bristol return.

Handwritten airline format paper tickets Sandy/Underground/Harwich Parkeston Quay/Ferry/Hamburg/Lübeck return. I was surprised to have no trouble at all on the undergrounds section - we were just waved through.

 

[Segedunum]

Back when the Borders Line opened and there was a pricing issue to/from many stations I ended up with various wacky tickets like Eskbank to Kildonan for use between Edinburgh and Inverness.

My most recent unusual ticket is probably a single from Newcastle to Belfast!

 

[xotGD]

Just remembered one:

Five Ways to Rye. I didn't get off at Rye.

My one and only trip on a Thumper.

 

[jumble]

Sort of related: a fellow on another forum I visit did a FOI request for TfL journeys which nobody made in 2023-24. There are quite a few!

FOI request detail

FOI request detail

tfl.gov.uk

I am amazed someone did a Northwick Park to Kenton
The TFL route planner is somewhat messed up suggesting a quick trip to Preston Road and back and then walking



09:57 - Arrive at:10:19
Total time:22mins

Detailed steps for option 1​

Step 1​

DepartNorthwick Park Station at 09:57viaTransfer to Northwick Park Station


Transfer to Northwick Park Station
Journey time:
3 min

View directions

Step 2​

DepartNorthwick Park Underground Station at 10:00viaMetropolitan line to Preston Road


Metropolitan line to Preston Road
Journey time:
2 min

Step 3​

DepartPreston Road Underground Station at 10:08viaMetropolitan line to Northwick Park


Metropolitan line to Northwick Park
Journey time:
2 min

Step 4​

DepartNorthwick Park Underground Station at 10:10viaWalk to Kenton Station


Walk to Kenton Station
Journey time:
9 min

View directions

Arrive atKenton Station at 10:19Kenton Station

 

[Sealink]

By the ticket purchase fiasco I am sure no one had bought this ticket before (going back a few years) - it's a simple journey too.

Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street with First Great Western, Network Gold card discount and a £5 First Class upgrade. Think this would have been my one and only time on an Adelante.

Had to go back to ticket office as they'd sold me a Weekend First upgrade (on a weekday) - missed the first train due to the queues and the amount of time it took to sort everything.

On way back guard accused me of fare evasion as he'd never heard of the Gold Card upgrade.
All in all a stressful day out!

 

[steamybrian]

John Betjeman wrote that in the mid-1950s he bought a First Class single from South Hampstead to Primrose Hill (called Chalk Farm then), next station along the DC Line, and it came out headed LNWR, having been in stock for at least 35 years previously

Prenationalisation tickets were still available on sale at stations until well into the 1970s. The last one I purchased was a Southern Railway (pre 1948) from Martin Mill in Kent. Until about 1990 on sale at Addiscombe were platform tickets of early British Railways design (early 1950s) with a printed price of 1d.

 

[D6130]

I didn't get off at Rye.

Shame....it's a beautiful medieval town with some excellent pubs.

 

[xotGD]

Shame....it's a beautiful medieval town with some excellent pubs.

I had to make do with a bottle of Newcastle Brown in a pub in Hastings.

 

[steamybrian]

I have a very large collection of tickets dating back to the 1800s some of which are illustrated on other websites.
Here is one to travel on a goods train in January 1968 over part of the Cuckoo Line which had by then closed to passengers but was completely closed a few months later. I have covered over (most) of my real name.

 

[Joey Beauchamp]

Split tickets have meant that a lot of unusual journeys don't result in unusual tickets. For example, when we travelled from long Buckby to Llangynllo last Easter, we split at Birmingham New Street and Knighton. It's a shame I'm not rich enough to spend the extra on through tickets!

My closest station used to be Pevensey Bay. The most unusual ticket I can remember that wasn't a split, was a Pevensey Bay to Newton for Hyde advance single.

My wife's ticket from Pevensey Bay is in the ticket wall at Northampton station - I really want to fill in Cottingley (before it closes) when I go to Leeds on Saturday, but it's almost twice the price of splitting.

 

[Rover]

I bet that there were a few 'creative' journeys produced when the Persil offer ticket was on in the 1980's!

A wonderful ticket. Chesterfield to Keith Jn out via the east coast and Aberdeen and back via Inverness and the west coast - or was it the other way round?

 

[Western 52]

40 years ago, using the free ticket offer BR had if you bought a student railcard in March, I asked for a return to Thurso at Cardiff Central. The ticket clerk had no idea where that was!

 

[route101]

York to Busby single.

 

[mervyn72]

I got a strange look from the guard when I asked her for a single to Prestwick International Airport after getting on at Whitley Bridge. For a short while in my early twenties, that was my local station. I think it was £40 something with my railcard which I thought was reasonable

 

[Acfb]

Wester Hailes to Breich
Eskbank to Shawfair

 

[Howardh]

Lostock to Lostock Graham. And yes, it was a journey I needed to make, and not for the heck of it!

 

[RetroCrowe]

My strangest has to be a Peartree to Tal-y-Cafn return

 

[swidnod]

Hi Gang;

During the InterCity 21 promotions...either £4,£8 or £12 Savers, I got a return from Leuchars - Shanklin(IOW). Outbound route was overnight 1V62 from Leuchars to Cheltenham, a Class 50 from there to Reading, a 33 to Basingstoke, a different 33 to Southampton, then somehow to Portsmouth for the ferry (included) and then to Shanklin. Return was same as outbound to Basingstoke, then direct to Waterloo, 85026 from Euston on a B'Ham Int additional (Mk1s), into BNS and back via Derby York and the ECML..not bad for £12.

 

[LMS 4F]

Back in the day. when I and a friend were track bashing we would pick a small station, Fitzwilliam was a regular, as our starting point and another as our destinatio. The advantage was that guards who checked our tickets often had no idea where we coming from or going to and seldom asked. We could then stray off approved routes to bash a bit more track.
Never challenged on many occasions we played this card.

 

[Leogilbert007]

What are some tickets you've used that you think virtually nobody else has bought?

For example, recently I travelled from Shepreth (Cambs) to Leigh (Kent) on one ticket, and thanks to a split ticket, possess a Yarmouth (Wight) to Royston advance.

Not that obscure but

• Gipsy Hill - Clapham Junction - Reading - Totnes Advance Single on a random Friday evening arriving at 21;49
• Southern season ticket from Gipsy Hill to Balham (don’t think many people hold one due to the prevalence of PAYGo but it’s cheaper with my 16-17 saver)