Catching the Train

[St John Pea]

Hello everyone. I'm new here and despite searching, I've not found any answers to my question. I am not very clever at sorting trains and public transport routes, timetables or prices very well - I get lost in all of the options and detail. I need a little guidance.
So, could anybody help me with how I set about and find a train that I can book in advance that is economical (cheap!) that would take me from Stafford to as near as possible to John O'Groats WITH a loaded bike of course! Then the same issues in Cornwall for return to Stafford. Travelling times do not matter. I don't have a particular start date yet but I am thinking that I ought to try for some time in 2022. I appreciate that timetables for next year will not be set yet, but guidance is certainly required!
Thanks - I hope this request makes sense and I've explained myself clearly enough, I suffer with anxiety and struggle with thought organisation (among other problems - non physical).

 

[ColinJ]

The cheapest prices are found when booking Advance tickets for particular trains. The problem with doing that is that you have to catch those trains or your tickets are void! If you have through tickets and miss a connection due to problems on the railway, then you can catch the next available train.

The problem is that the cheapest combination of tickets is usually found by 'split-ticketing'. (Due to the stupid rail system in this country, you can save a lot of money by buying silly combinations of tickets.) With split Advance tickets, if the first train is late and you miss the next train, you are in trouble.

Missing trains may also be a problem if you need a bike reservation. Some rail companies will NOT let you on a train without a reservation, others are not fussy and will try to squeeze you on somewhere. Some companies will let you make a bike reservation a few minutes before the train is due to leave, but then you have to hope that there will be space for the bike!

What I do is to buy split tickets to save money, but not Advance ones because I don't want the stress if there are problems.

Take a look at TrainSplit.

 

[IaninSheffield]

There's some useful general advice about catching the train (and other options) here https://www.cyclelejog.com/transport.html

Wise words from @ColinJ , especially regarding cheaper Advance tickets - if coping with anxiety might be a concern, then how big a price can one put on reducing it? Enjoyment of this adventure is important, right, so bookending the trip with possibly stressful experiences perhaps needs mitigating as much as possible?

Being comfortable working my way around online ticketing sites, I'm happy to gradually bend them to my will to get the best deal ... whilst also being aware of when cutting costs might be best avoided, such as when needing to make an important connection. One option you might consider is visiting a station (Stafford?) to make your booking - let the booking clerk take the strain? From experience, set aside a good chunk of time - a complex trip like this, with a bike, can take a while for them to wrangle through the system and won't be done in a couple of minutes. Or have a practice with an online ticketing site - put it in some notional dates and times a couple of months ahead and see what you get offered - you don't have to complete the booking. Once you get nearer your actual date, you could use what you learned to get some suggestions to take to the station booking clerk.

A word of caution. Not all online ticketing sites allow you to make bike reservations - thetrainline.com doesn't for example. One which I sometimes use which does provide that option is https://redspottedhanky.com/

Happy hunting.

 

[mudsticks]

I've travelled from one end of the country to the other with a loaded bike on our trains quite a few times now .

As others have said different train companies have different booking regimes.

I mostly use the Trainline, and book a couple of months in advance, but have used split ticketing too.

I'm afraid the savings on splitting don't always seem worth the effort, to me, for the hassle but that's going to depend on on your budget


Different guards even seem to have different attitudes, to cyclists, depending on whether they got a nice bun at tea break.

You need patience, humour, and a sense of acceptance that however well you plan, you are in the lap of the 'train gods'

Oh and strong arms and agility for loading it all on and off various types of accommodation.

And wheeling your bike into lifts / up and down the escalator s..

All the funs , in fact.😄


I've also had occasions where upon getting back to Inverness, after a couple of weeks touring, that the whole trip back to the southwest has been rerouted from the East coast to the West coast line in my absence..

Cue much rebooking of bike tickets!!

I'd do it all again in a heartbeat , but I seem to find rather curious , quixotic pleasure in tricksy travel situations..

If however you're of a less cheerful disposition when dealing with the unexpected..

How about getting your bike couriered to start point ??

And from your end point ??

And just taking your luggage on the train??

 

[mjr]

So, could anybody help me with how I set about and find a train that I can book in advance that is economical (cheap!) that would take me from Stafford to as near as possible to John O'Groats WITH a loaded bike of course! Then the same issues in Cornwall for return to Stafford. Travelling times do not matter. I don't have a particular start date yet but I am thinking that I ought to try for some time in 2022. I appreciate that timetables for next year will not be set yet, but guidance is certainly required!

Stafford to as near as possible to John O'Groats: that's probably Wick. Stafford to Crewe is London Northwestern or West Midlands Trains (same company, two brands) who are easy with bikes. Crewe to Edinburgh is Avanti, who will require booking the bike on, but I think it is a big compartment at one end of the train with a normalish bike rack, so pretty good. Similarly, Edinburgh to Inverness with Scotrail should be similar on an Intercity set, plus you have the advantage of getting on at the start of the route as well as off at the end. With all of them, it's normally best to keep your bags with you, rather than on the bike. It still isn't cheap and I can't see much way to get it cheaper than a £114 Off-Peak Single, but maybe TrainSplit can.

The problem is that Inverness to Wick is low capacity and in high demand by JOGLE riders. Either you will need to book as soon as tickets become available (which I think is as shown on https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/ticket_types/44703.aspx ) or https://cycle.travel/advice/cycling_by_train/scotland_and_north suggests a bike taxi firm.

Cornwall to Stafford: the problem there is the horrible hang-up-your-bike hooks on GWR Intercity Express Trains and the ones on XC are not much better. If you can hang your bike, the XC service at 09:25 Penzance to 14:56 Birmingham and then a local West Midlands Train to Stafford can be had for £90 if you reserve early enough. If you can't or don't want to hang your bike, on current timetables I'd suggest a local train 08:55 Penzance to 11:55 Exeter (only 5 minutes slower than some Intercity because it's limited by the track more than the train) is £17.40 Advance or £23.80 flexible return (no singles... odd), a 12:25 Exeter to 15:49 London Waterloo train is £25.10 Advance or £50 super-off-peak (book your bike on this one IMO), then a quick 25 minute ride along NCN4, Cycleway 6 and some Bloomsbury back streets to Euston to catch a £22 Advance or £35 off-peak West Midlands Train at 16:46 or 17:46 back to Stafford arriving 18:38 or 19:38. Slow (about 10 hours in the current timetable compared to 7 for the XC service changing Birmingham) but much cheaper than the Wick leg.

Don't book on the trainline. I don't think it lets you book bikes and they normally charge an extra booking fee.

Station booking can be good if your station ticket office workers are any good and you can take the time.

 

[ColinJ]

I forgot to say that if you do the Advance split ticketing thing and make sure that you don't have to split trains, you should be alright. In case it isn't obvious, sometimes you can split a journey on one train into multiple tickets and save money. For example, on a recent return journey from Todmorden to Exeter, I saved money by splitting the journey into Tod-Bristol Parkway, BP-Exeter but just stayed in the same seat!

I always take a bungee cord when taking my bike by train. That way I can always make sure it is firmly held in place and not falling over or swinging around. (Some trains have broken/missing/useless retaining straps.)

 

[ColinJ]

Damn - there is another split ticketing quirk... If you use split tickets on a journey then the train(s) must stop at all of the stations at which the splits are made.

Oh, and (obviously) off peak tickets tend to be cheaper.

 

[KnittyNorah]

Why not try a few shorter day or half day trips by train to get yourself accustomed to and confident with the whole process, starting with easy, no-reservation-needed train services ? I don't know what the trains serving your local station are like wrt bikes, but Northern Rail runs from Stoke on Trent, which isn't that far away from you, and is very easy to take a bike with you (off peak of course). You could take the train to oh, Congleton say, have a good ride and come back to Stoke again by train for £6.00 return. Practice getting your bike on board and all that sort of stuff, so when you come to 'the big one' you're totally accustomed to the nuts and bolts of it all.
If your Stafford train services are good with bikes, then start from there of course, just a short journey to start with.

 

[presta]

Some rail companies will NOT let you on a train without a reservation

I think you can still be thrown off the train at the guard's discretion even if you have a reservation. That's possibly why they don't charge for reservations, they don't want the obligation to honour them.

 

[ColinJ]

I think you can still be thrown off the train at the guard's discretion even if you have a reservation. That's possibly why they don't charge for reservations, they don't want the obligation to honour them.

I spotted that in the T&C for Trans-Pennine. It puts me off doing rides that involve travelling with them, e.g. the Scarborough forum ride. Fortunately, most of the trains that I catch are Northern - no reservations needed, and I have never had any problems with them except the first commuter train from Leeds one evening.

 

[mjr]

I spotted that in the T&C for Trans-Pennine. It puts me off doing rides that involve travelling with them, e.g. the Scarborough forum ride. Fortunately, most of the trains that I catch are Northern - no reservations needed, and I have never had any problems with them except the first commuter train from Leeds one evening.

It's part of the national conditions of travel. If put off the trains because of nothing you've done, they still have to make best efforts to get you there, though.

Nothing to do with payment. If the train is dangerously overcrowded, even people on timed tickets can be put off. It's simply that passengers with bulky floor-standing luggage may be the first told to wait for a following train.

I think it's pretty rare. In 30ish years, I've once been unable to board a train due to overcrowding but I've never been asked to alight, including one trip where I thought we probably should have, with 26 bikes stood in a 6 bike carriage on a Bank Holiday Monday. The guard let us ride.