Rail travel problems in Britain

[dealemeout]

I'm going to be taking my first trip to England this September to attend the Great Gathering at Crewe and was planning on doing some additional travel by rail while over there. I'll be staying in London and am planning on getting a rail pass but a friend recently told me that traveling in or out of London on short notice to places like York, Blackpool or Crewe is pretty difficult and most of the time advance reservations are needed. I was just wondering if any of our British friends or some more seasoned travelers than I could tell me if this is true, especially during the time I'll be over there. This friend also told me that a better alternative would be to take the, (shudder), bus. Would appreciate any help and/or hints.

Thanks

[Hugh Jampton]

Your "friend" is somewhat misinformed. Obviously travelling at rush hour isn't a good idea as you may be in a standing room only situation, but where in the World is this not the case.
In my country we have a saying; "Only loosers take the bus!"

[davehoch51]

Dealemeout -

Although I don't consider myself a seasoned traveler, my wife and I were in London during the first anniversary of 9-11. We had purchased our first class rail pass here in the US ( unlimited usage) and used it to go from London to Newcastle and back. We took a blackcab (inexpensive) to the train station, checked the schedule, and got on board the train with our luggage. Had an extremely pleasant trip. Beautiful scenery, great food. I'll do it again in a heartbeat. If the first train is too crowded you can take the next scheduled. Enjoy your trip but please be careful of the exchange rate. You will be surprsed when you get home and open your credit card bill !!!!!!!

Dave [2c]

[Anonymous]

I am an American student currently on a year aboad it Britian. Recently I used my spring break to travel around the U.K. I definetly recomend the Britrail pass, it was much cheaper then then the point-to-point fares would have been. Reservations are not nessessary though can be made most major stations for free. I found the British Railway system in general to be good. I just recomend one thing. During the weekends certain lines close for mantainace or as the Brits call it "Engineering Works." So if you travel on the weekends check in advanced as this can pose problems. If a line is closed busses will be provied instead, but who wants to ride a bus.

Good information can be found at
www.nationalrail.co.uk



I went to both York and Blackpool and definetly recomend both places.

[BR60103]

If you can afford it, buy a first class pass. It'll be less crowded. Unless you want to see how the ordinary folk live.
You can make reservations and it may be suggested for some trains.
Make sure you know which station your train leaves from. London has about a dozen terminal stations, and they all have their own routes and destinations e.g. Cambridge can be reached only from 2 stations in the East End. Crewe should be reachable from Euston.
Watch out for seat size. A seat that looks big enogh for 2 over here may turn out to be for 3 or 4.
Check which TOC (Train Operating Company) serves your destination with which train. The organization which came from privatization was designed to make train travel inconvenient, with a eye for making everyone drive everywhere. There may be two TOCs running on the line and they may not take each other's tickets. (But the pass will be accepted.)
Check timetables, listen for announcements. Trains may run at close intervals, but to different destinations. I knew someone who got on a train that came 5 minutes before hers was due and went to Portsmouth instead of London.
London Underground uses a different pass. They also have a zone system. Their pass is good on Railway trains with in the zones and can be applied to ticket prices on trains going beyond the zones. (I have a ticket from "Boundary zone 6 to Windsor")
Ther's usually a good book shop in the main London stations. Victoria and Paddington have good railway magazine sections.
Best of luck.

[RudyRockvilleMD]

Crewe is on the west Coast Mainline to Scotland. Reservations were formerly mandatory on London - Glasgow trains under BritRail. Now I believe seat reservations are strongly recommended. I went from London to Newcastle three years ago, and I noticed the train from Newcastle returning to London was very crowded; standard class cars were standing room only south of York. I believe seat reservations are strongly recommended on the East Coast Mainline trains and the West of England (former Great Western) Mainline trains. We rode a cross country train from Leamington Spa to Reading three years ago, and even it was packed.

I agree the "BritRail" pass is not only a saving it is a convenience.

[andrewjonathon]

QUOTE: Originally posted by Hugh Jampton


In my country we have a saying; "Only loosers take the bus!"

Hey, my mother takes the bus. [:)] At different times I have used both the trains and buses in England. While I prefer the trains in heartbeat, the buses in England are very good. Depending on where you are travelling, sometimes the bus is your only option.

[oubliette]

As stated in earlier posts you will have no problems, just avoid peak times and it does help if you can book in advance but it's not always needed. If your travelling to Crewe on the actual Open Day there could also be extra crowds to allow for.

I work in Crewe on the railways and if it is the open day you are attending you should enjoy it but where I work we do get the odd stray pretending they got lost or just blatantly trespass to get on our site.

I hope you have a good time as I had a great time whilst in the US recently.

[Simon Reed]

Avoid the bus for long distance travel - it's a lot cheaper but has a top speed of 62MPH as opposed to 125MPH and above for rail.

All of the above are perfectly good recommendations but if you've got any more specific queries I'd be happy to try to answer them if you e-mailed me closer to the time. Same goes for any other US based members considering a European break.

Otherwise - enjoy!

[dealemeout]

Thanks for everyone's help and information. Now I won't have nightmares about waiting on the platform for the train to Crew, (Blackpool or wherever), and seeing nothing but trains packed like sardines. I'll let my friend know he's a bit off base this time.