Nottingham - Newcastle

[bangor-toad]

Hi there,
Next week (Tuesday 20th) I need to go from Nottingham to Newcastle for the day. I need to be there before 9am and I'll be returning some time between 12noon and 3pm.
It means getting the 5:20am out of Nottingham. This is the only one that the times work out on. The uncertainty of the finish time rules out advance tickets for the trip home.

There's a not too bad direct fare of £82.70 (Off peak return).
By splitting into Nottingham - Sheffield, Sheffield to York and York to Newcastle I can get this to £16.40, £17.90 plus £37.30 - total of £71.60.

Are there any extra tricks that can get this down further?
(I've got no railcards nor can I get one)

Cheers,
Jason

 

[yorkie]

Are there any extra tricks that can get this down further?

Unless I've missed something, no.

At off peak times this can be done cheaper by taking advantage of some routeing anomalies (which I could PM you, as if posted here it will be no use to anyone when ATOC see it) however these tricks do not work at peak times (as the tickets concerned are only really cheap for CDRs).

 

[SickyNicky]

There's a not too bad direct fare of £82.70 (Off peak return).
By splitting into Nottingham - Sheffield, Sheffield to York and York to Newcastle I can get this to £16.40, £17.90 plus £37.30 - total of £71.60.

Are there any extra tricks that can get this down further?

You can save another couple of quid if you make sure you get trains that stop at Darlington using:

Anytime Day Return
£68.90
Saves £80.10

Anytime Day Return
NOTTINGHAM to SHEFFIELD
Fare £16.40
Route ANY PERMITTED
Shortest route

Anytime Day Return
SHEFFIELD to YORK
Fare £17.90
Route ANY PERMITTED
Shortest route

Off-Peak Return (8E)
YORK to DARLINGTON
Fare £23.20
Route ANY PERMITTED
Shortest route

Anytime Day Return
DARLINGTON to NEWCASTLE
Fare £11.40
Route DURHAM
Shortest route

 

[34D]

You can save another couple of quid if you make sure you get trains that stop at Darlington using:

Believe I'm right in saying that the only train (of any operator) to NOT call darlington is 1E01 (the edinburgh-kx calling only at Newcastle).