Brit Rail Tickets - Which website to use?
 

We need to purchase Rail tickets from London to Southampton. Which website should I use? I live in Canada and need to use a website that will accept a Canadian credit card, I do not mind picking up the tickets when I am in London. Thanks in advance.

I usually use http://www.thetrainline.com/

BTW - there is no such thing as "Brit Rail" tickets. Britrail is merely a marketing company for (generally) over priced rail passes. Brit Rail isn't a rail company.

There's very little point in booking trains to Southampton in advance on the normal system (such as the trainline or nationalrail websites).

The walk-up fare at the station is practically always the same as advance purchase on the London-Southampton route: there may be exceptions to this, but I know no-one who's found them

HOWEVER, a few trains a day qualify for Megatrain fares, which are roughly half the normal ones. These are available ONLY at the www.megatrain.com site, and do need advance booking. Although marketed by Megabus, which runs dedicated, overcrowded, discounted bus journeys, Megatrain uses ordinary traimn, but puts all its customers into a special section of the train. It's no different from the rest of the train: just a kind of ghetto for discount travellers.

I would add that trains to Southampton run every half hour and usually have lots of empty seats. Very few people reserve seats for a journey like this. The trains are only busy at the peak commuting time, leaving London Waterloo between about 1700 and 1900.

Perhaps they want to avoid lines. The trains depart from Waterloo, cost 26.70 pounds according to National Rail Enquiries. You might try the train company web site, Southwest Trains.

www.nationalrail.co.uk has same as thetrainline.com but i think latter charges a booking fee and nationalrail does not. Both show schedules and ticket prices for all of Britain 28 or so private train lines that once formed British Rail before it was privatized.

I'd say yes just buy your tickets at Waterloo

I'd like to thank all of you for your help. We were concerned that the trains maybe full which is why we were going to buy tickets in advance. Now, we will buy tickets from Waterloo station on the day of travel.