Straight answers about BritRail, please.

March 29, 2005 7:22 AM

TravelFilter. Where can I get the best answers, strategies and deals about BritRail?

My wife and I are heading to the UK on November 1. Our return is November 15. In between, we'll try see as much of England and Scotland as we'd like, lingering in London and Edinburgh, while keeping the possibility of hitting the Continent in the back of our mind. We want to do this by rail, but we're having a little trouble with the logistics. Do we get 8-day flex passes, paying around $700, knowing that we'll be buying Tube tickets in London? Is it cheaper to buy some of our rail tickets a la carte? Or maybe all of them?

Really, we're looking for the best sources for dependable rail information, the best strategies for railing around the UK and the best deals for Americans wanting to purchase rail passes prior to departure.

(And if any UK MeFites want to treat a couple of witty US MeFites to dinner while abroad, let us know.)

posted by grabbingsand to travel & transportation (18 comments total)

To find out how to get from A to B on the rails (where to change), and at what times the trains actually run, use the Network Rail site and click "Planning your Journey".

Tickets can be priced (and bought, if you have a UK address to send them to) at TheTrainLine and QJump.

For significant amounts of London Underground use, you will want an Oyster Card.
posted by Mwongozi at 7:29 AM on March 29, 2005

Oh. It appears that TTL has "eaten" QJ, they now appear to be the same site.
posted by Mwongozi at 7:37 AM on March 29, 2005

For some reason BritRail passes are quite a bit cheaper to purchase in the U.S. I would recommend getting a pass that can cover all of your train travel before you leave. From what I remember, individual train tickets are surprisingly expensive in the UK.
posted by mervin_shnegwood at 7:39 AM on March 29, 2005

Scotland has a different rail system to England, with seperate ticket prices, offers, etc. Their website is here. You should be able to book tickets for English and Scottish travel from the same (English or Scottish) vendor, but as you say, it's worth checking all available info/prices.
posted by fire&wings at 7:56 AM on March 29, 2005

For London Underground, just buy 3 day or week Travelcards... not really worth getting an Oyster card just for a few days.
posted by adrianhon at 7:57 AM on March 29, 2005

There's not much in the way of strategies required. Even if you buy individual tickets, they generally don't specify a route or a train or an operator. Be careful that passes and discount tickets might not be valid for journeys to/from London at peak times.

Almost all stations will have a huge printed timetable on the concourse or the platform - Look for a row of big white posters labelled "Departures". Destinations are listed alphabetically, and under each one is a list of every train that goes there, minus slow stopping services that aren't worth catching. It's usually much easier to use these to work out what train to catch than to figure it out from the electronic screens.
posted by cillit bang at 8:09 AM on March 29, 2005

If you know how many days you want to spend in London, where you want to visit, where staying etc, as the self appointed MeFi Oyster 'guru' I can work out what type of ticket will be the most economic for you, even if it's a plain old paper ticket. Email me off list (in profile) if that helps.
posted by floanna at 9:47 AM on March 29, 2005

I used Trainline, and bought advance-purchase tickets incredibly cheap (London-Manchester rt for 20pounds-ish, etc). You pay ahead of time, and then use the machine at the stations to get the tickets that day.
posted by amberglow at 9:52 AM on March 29, 2005

Similar experience to amberglow - advance tickets from Qjump - super cheap. London - Nottingham for 20 pounds ish return. Unless you really need that freedom -seems to make sense to do a bit of planning and book actual journeys then to spend 700 dollars to buy more than you might need. It's kind of like flying - fares for the same trip at different times an on different days vary wildly.
England is insanely expensive for Americans right now - I would think thrifty on the journey so you have more for the destination.
Either floanna or the friendly people at the staffed windows in the tube stations can easily help you figure out what kind of pass you need for the tube. I seem to recall getting an unlimited paper pass for the week we were there for a reasonable price.
Have fun!
posted by Wolfie at 10:38 AM on March 29, 2005

You can get very cheap first-class travel from London to Glasgow, if you book early enough and travel off-peak. There's free food and drink the entire way! It's quite pleasant.

However, no one above has stressed just how expensive last-minute long-distance travel can be in the UK. You can spend a ridiculous amount of money that way..
posted by ascullion at 11:33 AM on March 29, 2005

It is not only considerably cheaper to book tickets in advance and travel off-peak (e.g. 10% of the full price), it is always worth playing around with different routes, as additional savings can be made that way too.
Also, it may sound stupid, but it is often cheaper to buy tickets for stations further down the line. For example, if you were travelling London to Newcastle, it may be cheaper to buy a ticket from London to Berwick-upon-tweed as it is over the border in Scotland, and often subject to additional savings. A number of years ago, I used to get the train to school everyday, and bought a ticket for a station one stop further down the line, and it was actually half the price than if I'd bought a ticket to my actual destination! It's nuts, and now that the railways here are privatised it is even more so.
Also, see if there are any railcards that you may be able to get. If there are, you stand to make additional savings (usually 1/3 off the quoted price).
If you are going long distance, and you have legs, you may prefer to go first class, not that much more expensive when booked in advance, and really worth it IMO.

Basically though, like ascullion alluded to, whatever you do, don't just turn up and buy tickets on the day. 8 days of train travel like that for two people will set you back hundreds, maybe thousands of dollars!
posted by chill at 12:01 PM on March 29, 2005

I seem to recall getting an unlimited paper pass for the week we were there for a reasonable price.

Yep it's called a Travelcard. You can buy it on a daily, 3-Day, 7-day, monthly and up to a year and you can travel an unlimited amount of times on the tube, National Rail and Docklands Light Railway (DLR) and tram within the zones (pdf) that you buy it for and across the whole of the London bus network.

You can buy the daily and 7-day on paper tickets, however if making single journeys I recommend getting the Oyster card using the Pre Pay option which gives you cheaper single journey prices and especially now that capping has come in and gives you the flexibility to make that into a one day Travelcard. There is a £3.00 deposit on the card for Pre Pay or placing a 7-day Travelcard on the Oyster card but can be claimed back at a tube ticket office when you no longer require it if you have paid by cash. There really is a wide choice in tickets (pdf) and is why I am offering my services to help you save some pennies. :D

(blimey I sound like I'm at work)
posted by floanna at 12:29 PM on March 29, 2005

(And i need to work on breaking up some sentences before I hit post!!)
posted by floanna at 12:32 PM on March 29, 2005

"Pre Pay option which gives you cheaper single journey prices and especially now that capping has come in and gives you the flexibility to make that into a one day Travelcard"

I never knew about capping, that makes getting an Oyster card worthwhile for me. I live in Sheffield but often visit to London. There's been times when I've bought a travelcard and it's turned out that it would have been cheaper to buy individual tickets as I made fewer journeys than expected. Cheers!
posted by chill at 12:55 PM on March 29, 2005

The only thing to remember about capping is that it only works for Tube/DLR/Tram/Bus. It doesn't work on National Rail (unlike a Travelcard) and you don't get a discount on Water services (not that I've met anyone who has actually used these).
posted by grouse at 3:19 PM on March 29, 2005

Can't offer too much advice about rail travel, other than what's already been said. Though I will second the assertions about the incredibly expensive nature of booking last minute/next day travel on the UK rail network; I've got to go from Glasgow to London tomorrow for work, which was arranged last minute, and the fare was £160 (just over US$300) return, compared to ~£50 ($90) if I'd booked a week or so back. I'd also say, if you're travelling from London to Scotland, go up the east coast with GNER, rather than the west coast with Virgin, as the west coast line is currently being crippled by delays thanks to maintenance works at the moment (and the east coast journey is infinitely prettier). But if you're in Glasgow at all – and you should visit, because it rocks so much more than Edinburgh, which is pretty enough but frankly quite dull in comparison – email me (address on profile page) and we can go eat amazing food.
posted by Len at 4:32 PM on March 29, 2005

what Len said re: Glasgow (the train bet. Glasgow and Edinburgh is also a really nice, fast ride, with beautiful scenery) : >

on the TrainLine site, if you click on help, and then "What ticket delivery options are available?", you'll see the FastTicket option--that's the one i used.
posted by amberglow at 4:40 PM on March 29, 2005

If you do take up Len's offer, give me a holler too. Glasgow is topp.

One thing you might like to consider is booking the Caledonian Sleeper to return. You can get a bed overnight in a train from Inverness or Glasgow to London for £19, if you book early enough. It's not luxury, but my friend uses it all the time and rates it highly. You'll have to call Scotrail (fire&wing's link) for it, it's not on the web.
posted by bonaldi at 5:16 PM on March 29, 2005