UK tickets to/from Eurostar

[Polrail]

I'm planning a trip from Poland to the UK for Model Rail Scotland in late February. My DB SuperSparpreis EU tickets were already issued nearly 2 months ago. But now I'm having trouble sorting the London-Glasgow-London tickets.

Sources such as Seat61 and National Rail Enquiries suggest that advance tickets should be on sale starting 12 weeks before travel. It's within 12 weeks of travel now.

I arrive London St. Pancras Int. at 14:05 on the Thursday, the 21st. I've been watching the Virgin Trains site, and nothing under 100GBP has shown up. Today I spotted a fare of 50,50GBP on the LNER site at 15:30, but am a bit worried about the connecting time in this case. (TrainSplit also shows a 16:00 option for 59GBP, changing at Edinburgh.)

My return Eurostar departs London at 15:04 on Sunday, the 24th. I thought I could easily catch a morning train from Glasgow to make the connection. This, too, is proving problematic, as there seem to be few morning trains. I really will have to take the first at 07:56 from Glasgow, changing at Edinburgh for a 13:49 arrival in London. But for this train I'm only seeing tickets at 146GBP, even when checking earlier Sundays in Feb. and Jan.

Note: Trying the return booking on the ScotRail site, it displays the info: "Unconfirmed timetable. We cannot confirm whether some of the journeys shown here will run. This is because Network Rail haven't fully confirmed the timetables (usually done 12 weeks before travel)."

So I'm not sure whether I should be panicking or not! Would it be advisable to book the LNER fare now, and see what happens later in regard to the return? Could cheaper tickets for the return still appear, once the timetable is confirmed? And what is the likelihood that the early Sunday train may not run at all? If it didn't, I'd have to consider heading south a day earlier and overnighting in London or somewhere along the way.

 

[bspahh]

I'm planning a trip from Poland to the UK for Model Rail Scotland in late February. My DB SuperSparpreis EU tickets were already issued nearly 2 months ago. But now I'm having trouble sorting the London-Glasgow-London tickets.

If you are looking for tickets which will lock you to a specific train, I would look for ones from London International CIV, so that you are covered in case there are delays

 

[30907]

As you have an international ticket you can take advantage of this walk-up fare which is not bookable online AFAIK.
http://www.brfares.com/#faredetail?orig=GLC&dest=LNE&grpo=0433&ldn=1&tkt=EVS
The fare may be slightly higher in January. This is the same in total as the public Off-peak return fare, but without the time and day restrictions. You need to buy it on arrival in London.
Obviously you can get an Advance ticket that is cheaper, but you need to travel from Kings Cross via Edinburgh for the best price. The fares from Euston are higher. If you specify via Edinburgh, you will find the GBP59 fare on the later Thursday trains.

FYI if your ES is delayed, you will be allowed to use a later train with your Advance ticket - booking the 1500 would be safe.

 

[D6700]

Looking on Raileasy (search for raileasy no fees in Google), for your outbound journey, you can purchase an Advance Single from London International (CIV) to Glasgow Central, travelling on the 15:30 direct train from London Kings Cross to Glasgow Central for £34, as long as you specify "Via York" in the Advanced options. This shows up as starting at 15:14, as it allows for walking from St Pancras and would be protected in case of late Eurostar arrival.

 

[_toommm_]

Advance tickets are normally available up to 12 weeks in advance, but due to some trouble Network Rail are having publishing engineering works in a timely manner, most Train Operating Companies (TOCs) are working on a six-week booking window.

Looking from Euston, there's a 17:43 and 18:30 direct to Glasgow priced at £47.00 and £43.00 respectively (Euston is a 10-15min walk from St. Pancras).

Your return journey is not yet available for booking (as engineering works in the UK often take place at the weekends so I suspect any plans will still be being finalised). Regardless, you can sign up for ticket alerts on this page, and they will email you when the cheap tickets become available:
https://www.lner.co.uk/travel-information/early-bird-ticket-alerts/

I would highly suggest travelling from Kings Cross on at least one of your trips - the East Coast Main Line is gorgeous between Newcastle and Edinburgh. If you do, sit on the right in the direction of travel towards Glasgow, or on the left in the direction of travel towards London.

 

[Polrail]

Thank you to everyone for the feedback.

I've taken D6700's advice and booked the £34 fare from London International (CIV) to Glasgow Central. This gives me peace of mind should anything go wrong with the connection from Eurostar.

For the return, I decided to change the plan slightly and travel with an overnight stop at Crewe. I found a Glasgow-Crewe ticket with Virgin for £10,50, and a ticket Crewe-London the next morning for £16. I'll be in London at 12:44, so there should be plenty of time to make the 15:04 Eurostar. All tickets sorted.

Question: For the Virgin tickets, they specified that I choose a pickup station. Do the tickets actually have to be picked up there, or can I collect them from any machine in the UK?

Comment: I deal with DB and PKP ticket issuance daily, so I have some experience in booking railway tickets. If someone with rail experience like myself has trouble with understanding the UK ticket system, how does the "man in the street" deal with it?!

 

[gordonthemoron]

You can pickup your tickets from any ticket machine, you only need to specify the pickup point to confirm that ticket on departure is available from that station. As far as staying in Crewe is concerned, I'd recommend staying in the Crewe Arms opposite the station or Holiday Inn Express round the corner. Hops is a nice Belgian bar

 

[30907]

Comment: I deal with DB and PKP ticket issuance daily, so I have some experience in booking railway tickets. If someone with rail experience like myself has trouble with understanding the UK ticket system, how does the "man in the street" deal with it?!

I have just tried to replicate your enquiry, and like you, have ended up confused about the availability of Offpeak Return tickets. This is important, because British practice of allowing return travel at around the single fare (or even less) is a long standing feature and it differs from mainland European use.

Essentially, neither Virgin nor LNER allow you to choose an Offpeak Return ticket for a Return journey.
The Virgin site refuses to allow the perfectly valid return leg from Queen St to KGX on the Sunday morning.
LNER will not show the Offpeak return fare, though to be fair it quotes the correct price at the end, unless you choose LONDON TERMINALS as your starting point.
On the other hand, if you start on the National Rail Enquiries website, the correct fare shows instantly. I've not checked other websites.

All this TBH is rather concerning, and frankly surprised me.

 

[D6700]

Thank you to everyone for the feedback.

I've taken D6700's advice and booked the £34 fare from London International (CIV) to Glasgow Central. This gives me peace of mind should anything go wrong with the connection from Eurostar.

Glad to be able to have helped