Lincolnshire - Portsmouth - help please!

[ivrytwr3]

Hey all,

I am attending a course at Portsmouth and would like the family to come and visit during one of the weekends. However, as we NEVER use the trains, we are a bit lost and would like some advice/help.

1 x adult and 1 x 5 year old and 1 x 4 year old, will be leaving on 6 August anytime after 8am and returning on 8 Aug sometime before 1pm.

Can travel from anywhere in the Lincolnshire area (Lincoln central, Sleaford, Grantham) and need to get them to a rail station near to:

Southwick Park, Fareham, Hampshire, PO17 6EJ

where i will drive to and collect them.

We do not have any railcards or any discount and i am hoping that there will be a direct train as the wife is very reluctant to change in London, travel on Tubes etc with luggage and 2 x young children!

I hope that is all the info you need and thanks for looking!!

 

[MidnightFlyer]

Hey all,

I am attending a course at Portsmouth and would like the family to come and visit during one of the weekends. However, as we NEVER use the trains, we are a bit lost and would like some advice/help.

1 x adult and 1 x 5 year old and 1 x 4 year old, will be leaving on 6 August anytime after 8am and returning on 8 Aug sometime before 1pm.

Can travel from anywhere in the Lincolnshire area (Lincoln central, Sleaford, Grantham) and need to get them to a rail station near to:

Southwick Park, Fareham, Hampshire, PO17 6EJ

where i will drive to and collect them.

We do not have any railcards or any discount and i am hoping that there will be a direct train as the wife is very reluctant to change in London, travel on Tubes etc with luggage and 2 x young children!

I hope that is all the info you need and thanks for looking!!

Grantham - London 9kings Cross) - London Vic (tube/walk/bus) - Fareham or KGX-Waterloo - Southampton and from there to Fareham. book well in advance it could be quite expensive.

 

[Oracle]

I am going to let someone else advise you on times but I did a quick check on
http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/
but as I know of Southwick Park (having lived in the area for years), I would suggest that the two choices of destination station were Fareham or Cosham...Cosham is the one I would go for. It would appear that if you can nevertheless cope with the tube or can afford a taxi, then Grantham>Kings Cross then Victoria>Cosham is the least number of changes, although Fareham is served by the same Victoria-Southampton train.

 

[ivrytwr3]

ah, thanks very much. It looks like the journey is out of the question then as she refuses to change at London!

 

[tony_mac]

It will be worth getting a Family railcard for this just one journey - currently available for £13 online. (with discount code MAIL50)

Advance tickets are available each way for £24 - 28 (I adult, 1 Child with railcard). A 'weekend return' seems to be about £80, which would allow you some flexibility with times / routes.

On the way down, you can specify via St Pancras. This will take a bit longer, but you can avoid the underground completely by walking to St Pancras (about 100 yards!) and changing at Gatwick. This is definitely easier than changing trains at somewhere like Birmingham.

Unfortunately, this option isn't available at weekends, so I'm not sure what to do about the return, apart from wait until Monday!

 

[Big Chris]

Avoiding London the best I can find you is two changes:
It does take a while though, I would seriously consider a via London trip with a taxi between Kings X and Waterloo for sheer ease.

However without a railcard (Although I would dertainly buy one as it will reduce the costs to you by about a third-ish) These prices are for one adult and one child. Your four year old is too young to need a ticket.

Depart Lincoln Central 0835
Arrive Nottingham 0930
Ticket for this leg: £20.30 (Off Peak Return)
Depart Nottingham 1011
Arrive Newport South Wales 1311
Ticket for this leg: £34.50 (Advance)
Depart Newport South Wales 1344
Arrive Fareham 1627
Ticket for this leg: £ 21.75 (Advance)

Return:
Depart Fareham 1232
Arrive Newport 1523
Ticket for this leg: £27.75 (Advance)
Depart Newport 1603
Arrive Nottingham 1904
Ticket for this leg: £34.50 (Advance)
Depart Nottingham 1937
Arrive Lincoln 2034
Ticket for this leg: £N/A (2nd half of return)

Via London would look like a far more attractive option when looking at the journey times and with the change points its a bit of a round the houses route

A quick look shows a return costing 94.50 (using advance tickets with no railcard) a saving that would more than cover a Taxi ride between Kings X and Waterloo with just a change of trains at Newark, it also gets you there in 3hrs 25 mins (0759 departure) rather than nearly 8hrs. If you want to know the itinery of the via London please just post back here.

 

[MikeWh]

You're not going to be able to avoid London unless you want to add about 2 hours to the journey and travel via Birmingham New Street. That is not to be seriously recommended.

A quick look at NRES suggests that the best route might be via Waterloo or Victoria. A sample journey might be: Grantham 09:02 - Kings Cross 10:11; Waterloo 11:09 - Cosham 12:58. Or the other way: Grantham 09:26 - Kings Cross 10:40; Victoria 11:32 - Cosham 13:26.

 

[yorkie]

ah, thanks very much. It looks like the journey is out of the question then as she refuses to change at London!

A taxi from King's Cross to Victoria/Waterloo would be easy and involve no steps. Is this out of the question? How is she getting to the station? driving? If so, maybe she could drive to somewhere on the Midland Main Line and catch EMT to Luton, where step-free interchange is possible with Thameslink services toward Brighton, and onwards a step free interchange may be possible with a Southern service at East Croydon (depending on platform allocations). There would be quite a journey time penalty though.

Will she be happy changing at Birmingham New St? People consider this a nightmare, but if you use the lifts, it's not too bad. But given the much longer journey time, not really advisable.

 

[MCR247]

But is the core open on weekends now?

 

[MikeWh]

No, the central core isn't open at weekends at the moment so return would have to wait until Monday unless using the tube on a Sunday is considered less daunting than on a Friday. Interchange at East Croydon will be step free whatever the platform allocation as all the links are via ramps rather than stairs.

 

[ivrytwr3]

Looking at your suggestions, (need to get to Kings Cross) then tubes, taxis, walking etc - definately a no-goer!

Is there any direct trains running to the south of the country where, perhaps i could drive and meet them at the station, up to an hour away?

But thanks for all the in-depth suggestions!

 

[bangor-toad]

Looking at your suggestions, (need to get to Kings Cross) then tubes, taxis, walking etc - definately a no-goer!

Is there any direct trains running to the south of the country where, perhaps i could drive and meet them at the station, up to an hour away?

But thanks for all the in-depth suggestions!

Direct trains? Sadly no...

I know the scenario you have - I have two small children - and why messing around in London doesn't seem like a good idea!
The only thing I can think of that will simplify matters is this:

Your family needs to travel to one of Doncaster / Sheffield / Chesterfield or Derby. From there they can get a train to Oxford or Banbury.
At Oxford or Banbury you can get a train to Southampton. It's a simple change at either - it's the same platform. Probably a 30 minute wait if you get the right time of day.

The drive for you over to Southampton is reasonably simple and quick.

Hope this helps!
Cheers,
Jason

 

[ivrytwr3]

Jason, that is an awesome suggestion and wifey say's that is do-able!!

One last thing, fares and times, so going from Jason's suggestion, we can do Doncaster to Oxford or Banbury (whichever is cheapest, easiest, good timing etc) and then onto Southampton (about an hours drive away from where i will be staying.

1 x adult, 1 x 5 year old (and other 4 year old you have posted is free) leaving on 6 August anytime after 8am and returning on 8 Aug sometime before 1pm.


Thanks again all, i think we are nearly there!

 

[button_boxer]

You'll be hard-pressed to find any cheap advance tickets for a Friday in August, certainly at this kind of notice. The through ticket is £130.80 (off-peak return from Doncaster to Southampton Airport Parkway routed 'not London', I presume the airport would be easier for you than driving into the centre of Southampton) for one adult and one child. So it'd be well worth getting a Family and Friends Railcard as the saving on this one journey would be more than the cost of the card (£26 for the card, and the fare is then £74.10 return). I've had a bit of a look at splits but at least on the way down it doesn't seem to make much difference (and in many cases the cheapest advance single fares for the Friday are almost as much as the off-peak return), someone else may have a better idea.

Times-wise it look like leaving Doncaster about 5 minutes to each hour (they're all at xx:55 plus or minus a couple of minutes) and coming back it's 22 minutes past each hour from Southampton Airport.

 

[sonic2009]

would the wife mind going through london on a train that she didnt have to change. i.e lincoln to leicester, leicester to bedford/luton, luton to brighton, brighton to southampton??

other forum members may be able to give step free access queires.

 

[MikeWh]

would the wife mind going through london on a train that she didnt have to change. i.e lincoln to leicester, leicester to bedford/luton, luton to brighton, brighton to southampton??

other forum members may be able to give step free access queires.

It's not going to work on the way back because the central core between St Pancras and London Bridge is closed every weekend.

 

[tony_mac]

If Advance tickets are availalble, It might be possible to do that on Friday, and return on Sunday via Doncaster.
But she might find it less stressful to take the same route both ways.

You can see the station plans online, to work out the route between platforms etc, e.g. Banbury is here:-

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/stations/sjp/BAN/plan.html

 

[Mojo]

There are direct trains from Manchester/Stockport/Stafford to Southampton, although it's not exactly easy to get from Lincoln/Grantham to any of those locations. It might also be possible to change at Banbury/Leamington Spa.

 

[John @ home]

would the wife mind going through london on a train that she didnt have to change. i.e lincoln to leicester, leicester to bedford/luton, luton to brighton, brighton to southampton?

We established in post #10 that this option is not practicable because the Thameslink route through central London is not operating on Sunday 8 August.

 

[sonic2009]

We established in post #10 that this option is not practicable because the Thameslink route through central London is not operating on Sunday 8 August.

yes i just noticed. but their are advance fares going on the friday and coming back via banbury on sunday.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
im trying to force a stop at bedford. how do i do that on east coasT?
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
have just been on the phone to east midlands telesales. i have an option...

Outward

0835 Lincoln to Nottingham 0930
1002 Nottingham to Bedford 1117
1124 Bedford to Brighton 1349
1433 Brighton to Fareham arr 1553

£11.60 Off Peak Return Lincoln to Nottingham
£28.45 Std Advance Nottingham to Brighton.. stopping at bedford. emt telesales forced the stop for bedford on advance.
£14.45 Brighton to Fareham day single.

thats the outward.

 

[John @ home]

The through ticket is £130.80 (off-peak return from Doncaster to Southampton Airport Parkway routed 'not London', I presume the airport would be easier for you than driving into the centre of Southampton) for one adult and one child. So it'd be well worth getting a Family and Friends Railcard as the saving on this one journey would be more than the cost of the card (£26 for the card, and the fare is then £74.10 return).

I agree that Southampton Airport Parkway is the best railhead. Buses replace trains between Eastleigh and Fareham on Sunday 8 August, so Fareham station is best avoided.