Zone 9 Chesham advice

[ngood77]

Hello everybody,

Hope you’re all well. On Sat 28th March I’m travelling from Tonbridge to Chesham returning same day.

I’ve looked into my options and would be grateful if you could give me any further advice if I’ve missed something or got something wrong.

I have a Network Railcard.

Return train TON to LON, then TfL PAYG LON to Chesham, £23.35.

Return train TON to Knockholt, then TfL PAYG Knockholt to Chesham, £23.15. If I did this I’d have to tap in and out at Knockholt presumably ? If so a paper Travelcard is £1.50 (why ?!) more but would permit me to sail through Knockholt on a fast train ?

Return train TON to Chalfont & Latimer, then TfL PAYG C&L to Chesham, £27.55 (ruled out due to engineering works)

Much obliged to you all.

 

[ngood77]

Many thanks, I would not have worked that out - another indictment of our awful fares system . I have tried to find a way to buy the Chesham ticket online but no tickets are offered. Can you expand on how to actually buy that leg ? Thanks.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 21 Mar 2026 ==

Ok I need to select Marylebone as destination. Forum ticket site doesn’t seem to offer tickets from Chesham.

 

[MikeWh]

Forum ticket site doesn’t seem to offer tickets from Chesham.

Probably because Chesham is an Underground station. The key thing is to have the "AAA Zones 7-9" as the route so you could have used Amersham instead as they are both in zone 9.

 

[ngood77]

Probably because Chesham is an Underground station. The key thing is to have the "AAA Zones 7-9" as the route so you could have used Amersham instead as they are both in zone 9.

No that doesn’t work either probably because the line is up. Looks like I’ll have to buy from another vendor. Thanks once again though, it’s greatly appreciated.

 

[ngood77]

I think the issue with Amersham on 28th is because there are no trains. It comes up ok if I select 11th April for example.

I also tried Brentwood but the £11.80 wasn’t being offered. If you could share a screenshot this time that would be great because these options aren’t really working. Cheers.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 21 Mar 2026 ==

Right, into Liverpool St you mean, I see it now. Thanks

 

[yorkie]

Many thanks, I would not have worked that out - another indictment of our awful fares system

Not really; you'll never have a system that finds such cheap fares including non-NR modes, such as London Underground.

Especially so in this case, as the "AAA Zones 7-9" element unusually allows you to effectively use the ticket 'in reverse', which is not normally the case for 'out boundary' Day Travelcards.

Any new fares system is likely to include abolishing Travelcards, so I'd be careful with what you wish for...

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 21 Mar 2026 ==

I also tried Brentwood but the £11.80 wasn’t being offered. If you could share a screenshot this time that would be great because these options aren’t really working. Cheers.

Results | RailUK Tickets

TrainSplit is a free service that makes it easy to find the cheapest train tickets for your journey.

tickets.railforums.co.uk

It appears for me. Can you provide a screenshot / search link?

 

[ngood77]

Not really; you'll never have a system that finds such cheap fares including non-NR modes, such as London Underground.

Especially so in this case, as the "AAA Zones 7-9" element unusually allows you to effectively use the ticket 'in reverse', which is not normally the case for 'out boundary' Day Travelcards.

Any new fares system is likely to include abolishing Travelcards, so I'd be careful with what you wish for...

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 21 Mar 2026 ==

Results | RailUK Tickets

TrainSplit is a free service that makes it easy to find the cheapest train tickets for your journey.

tickets.railforums.co.uk

View attachment 200831

It appears for me. Can you provide a screenshot / search link?

Yeah I’ve found it now, clearly I did something wrong earlier.

Cheers all - I’m sorted now

 

[redreni]

Don't be surprised if the ticket fails to open the barriers at stations in zones 7 to 9 (including Chesham).

That was my experience when I went there a few weeks ago on exactly this ticket (Network Railcard-discounted Brentford to Z1-6 Travelcard Route AAA Zones 7-9).

Worth allowing a bit of extra time when arriving for your train back from Chesham - the barriers were closed but unstaffed when I arrived for my train. I nearly missed it as a result, and they don't come along every 5 minutes out in Zone 9, as you can imagine...

 

[ngood77]

Don't be surprised if the ticket fails to open the barriers at stations in zones 7 to 9 (including Chesham).

That was my experience when I went there a few weeks ago on exactly this ticket (Network Railcard-discounted Brentford to Z1-6 Travelcard Route AAA Zones 7-9).

Worth allowing a bit of extra time when arriving for your train back from Chesham - the barriers were closed but unstaffed when I arrived for my train. I nearly missed it as a result, and they don't come along every 5 minutes out in Zone 9, as you can imagine...

Closed and unstaffed ? Didn’t think that was allowed. How did you resolve it ?

 

[redreni]

Closed and unstaffed ? Didn’t think that was allowed. How did you resolve it ?

Tried to resolve it by using the help point, but they didn't seem to have a way of opening the barrier remotely so put me on hold, at which point I pushed through the barrier because I was worried about missing the train. Not something I would ordinarily do.

It wasn't the last train of the day into central London, but if I had missed it and waited for the next then I may well have had to resort to a night bus to get home from central London.

 

[ngood77]

Tried to resolve it by using the help point, but they didn't seem to have a way of opening the barrier remotely so put me on hold, at which point I pushed through the barrier because I was worried about missing the train. Not something I would ordinarily do.

It wasn't the last train of the day into central London, but if I had missed it and waited for the next then I may well have had to resort to a night bus to get home from central London.

Wow what a shoddy experience, hopefully not the norm.

 

[ngood77]

Tried to resolve it by using the help point, but they didn't seem to have a way of opening the barrier remotely so put me on hold, at which point I pushed through the barrier because I was worried about missing the train. Not something I would ordinarily do.

It wasn't the last train of the day into central London, but if I had missed it and waited for the next then I may well have had to resort to a night bus to get home from central London.

I had the same issue at Rickmansworth and Chesham on Saturday. There were staff available to let me through but it’s a pity that was necessary. No issues at barriers within zone 6.