Booking trains in the UK

[steveindenmark]

We are thinking of bringing our bikes over from Denmark in September.

We land at Stansted and want to get the train to Halesworth in Suffolk. The plane lands late afternoon and we prefer to take the train rather than ride.

The best route is from Stansted to Cambridge and then Cambridge to Halesworth, via Ipswich, I think.

That is 3 trains. How do I find out if these trains take bikes and how do I book them?

 

[Milkfloat]

Assuming the bikes are boxed or bagged, I would leave them like that and not bother with the fuss of trying to pre-book anything.

 

[shouldbeinbed]

The trainliine is the national frontrunner website but there are numerous train split websites that offer cheaper options if you buy tickets for chunks of the journey rather than one end to end. There have been a couple of threads on it on here relatively recently.

I recall @vernon amongst others having some good info & a bit of knowledge on it.

Bikes on trains are generally limited and can be hit and miss dependent on time of travel and busy-ness. Pre buying tickets is good because you can then get the train operator you're intending to use and check their policy if the split ticket web booking options don't give the choice of adding a bike (I don't know on that, never booked a bike on a splitter site).

 

[annedonnelly]

You need to find out which train company is operating each train and see what their rules are. E.g. Virgin East Coast you have to book in advance. Cross Country you don't need to book (I think). The local companies will have their own rules.

 

[steveindenmark]

Thanks for this guys.

It is such a palava I think I will just hire a car instead.

 

[ColinJ]

And even if you book, you sometimes find other bikes in your reserved spot!

 

[HelenD123]

And even if you book, you sometimes find other bikes in your reserved spot!

Or a bag full of the cleaner's rubbish!

 

[ColinJ]

Or a bag full of the cleaner's rubbish!

Oh yes, I've had that one too. And a pile of suitcases!

 

[andyfraser]

And even if you book, you sometimes find other bikes in your reserved spot!

That happened to a friend. He booked for his bike and had all the correct paperwork only to find all the spaces taken. The train staff refused to do anything about because it would be hard to sort out quickly (finding the person who owned a bike that shoudn't be there, getting them off the train and making alternative arrangements). My friend had to get a later train with no compensation for the inconvenience. That was First Great Western, giving me one more reason to hate that company.

 

[ColinJ]

That happened to a friend. He booked for his bike and had all the correct paperwork only to find all the spaces taken. The train staff refused to do anything about because it would be hard to sort out quickly (finding the person who owned a bike that shoudn't be there, getting them off the train and making alternative arrangements). My friend had to get a later train with no compensation for the inconvenience. That was First Great Western, giving me one more reason to hate that company.

I had the same experience with staff, but at least I managed to get onto the train. I bungeed the bike to the side of the bike compartment but then had to keep moving it when people wanted to get on and off.

When the train got into Leeds, I discovered that one of the bikes belonged to @Calum, then a student in Leeds, and who had been on several of my forum rides. (I can't remember if he was one of the bike owners who hadn't reserved a space.)

 

[Bodhbh]

Thanks for this guys.

It is such a palava I think I will just hire a car instead.

It's actually not too bad if you're taking bikes on the train all the time - all the networks rules end up getting remembered. But I can understand anyone who doesn't regularly do it just looking at the apparent fuss and thinking they'd rather not bother.

The way I would do it - use Virgin East Coast and try booking the bikes on for the whole journey. It should either let you do it, or throw a wobbly that you can't book a bike over some part of the journey. If you can be bothered you may want to find out a work around, or just leave it.

Another option would be to cycle 18m to Chelmsford and pick up the London train going NE to Ipswitch and Halesworth.

 

[Bodhbh]

Oh yes, I've had that one too. And a pile of suitcases!

Or it's one of those trains with pull down seats in the bike space - which is almost a setup for an argument.

 

[snorri]

[Steveindenmark, post: 3856023, member: 13227"]We are thinking of bringing our bikes over from Denmark in September.

The best route is from Stansted to Cambridge and then Cambridge to Halesworth, via Ipswich, I think.

[/QUOTE]
Redspottedhanky.com suggest travelling via Liverpool Street London, and it looks a little cheaper than via Cambridge but may depend on the day and time of travel.
I'm with Bodhbh re the problems of taking bikes on trains, the smooth trips outnumber the problem ones by a very large proportion.

 

[growingvegetables]

http://www.atob.org.uk/bike-rail/uk-bike-rail-restrictions/ - wot it says on the tin!

 

[Hitchington]

I find this website an absolute mine of good info on train travel http://www.seat61.com/