Fare advice for Alnmouth to Birmingham New Street

[jsimpson]

I frequently travel between Alnmouth and Birmingham New Street, returning usually within about one week. I travel from Alnmouth anytime after 8am and usually return from New Street anytime after 5pm. I have a 16-25 railcard. I'm fairly flexible with times and routes. Any help would be much appreciated. I usually know about a week or two beforehand when I'll be travelling but can never seem to find cheaper tickets, I've had a play around and it seems only if you know you're travelling at least a month in advance that it gets any cheaper and even then on trains at inconvenient times! Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[calc7]

Fares on that line are priced by the lead operator, CrossCountry.

Their Off-Peak Returns carry a "2V" restriction - OUT and RTN portions valid after 0930 weekdays. The company is also known for its very high walk-up fares (both Off-Peak and Anytime).

Since all trains from Birmingham to Alnmouth will call at major stations like Derby, Sheffield, York, and Newcastle; your best bet is to look at "splitting" at these stations, into a series of Off-Peak Returns. Note that these shorter tickets may not be priced by CrossCountry, meaning an Off-Peak Return could be valid on any train, even before 0930.

For example, if taking the direct 0759 train:

07:59 Alnmouth [ALM]
Birmingham New Street [BHM]
11:27 3h 28m
Calling points Arrives Departs
Morpeth [MPT] 08:12 08:13
Newcastle [NCL] 08:30 08:35
Durham [DHM] 08:46 08:48
Darlington [DAR] 09:03 09:05
York [YRK] 09:32 09:35
Doncaster [DON] 09:57 09:58
Sheffield [SHF] 10:20 10:23
Derby [DBY] 10:50 10:53

This train would require the £141.90 Anytime Return with railcard!

However, buying the £39.25 Alnmouth-York Off-Peak Return which is valid after 0400, a York-Sheffield Anytime Return (£15.20), a Sheffield-Derby Off-Peak Return (£12.95) and a Derby-Birmingham Off-Peak Return (£10.70) pretty much halves the cost. You just need to obey the restrictions on the return leg - these can be easily found on www.brfares.com

Other splitting points may be cheaper - have a play around. Also remember that if your final destination is not Birmingham New Street but somewhere like Selly Oak or another local station, tickets to here from another city are likely to be the same price as ones just to Birmingham Stations and so you wouldn't need to buy a further connecting ticket.

I recently completed a journey from Yorkshire to Devon on a single CrossCountry train, booked less than a week in advance. By splitting Advance Singles I was able to almost halve the cost, including a couple of the back-to-back legs being in First Class where these tickets were cheaper.

 

[142094]

Splitting at stations such as York and Leeds should give a good discount - Xc always seem to have some cheap advances for Newcastle - York.

 

[calc7]

Splitting at stations such as York and Leeds should give a good discount - Xc always seem to have some cheap advances for Newcastle - York.

Though remember that the Newcastle-Reading services go via Doncaster and not via Leeds. This includes the aforementioned 0759 ALM-BHM direct service which starts back at Edinburgh.

 

[jsimpson]

Thanks for your help all, I've been playing around with it and I think I can book it now for around £52 compared to the £69 walk up fare. Alnmouth to Birmingham is all one train so a bonus but the Birmingham to Alnmouth involved a connection at York and going to Berwick then back down to Alnmouth but that doesn't bother me too much, only problem is first class is never cheaper, but oh well! Thanks again for your help.