Until Nov 30 train operators within the First Group are offering over 55s on off peak trains some remarkable deals.

Just about any journey on one of their companies' routes in England and Wales are £25 or £15 return and any journey in Scotland is £18.

The deals require no special card (but you need some proof of age with you), though if you have a Senior Railcard (for 60 yos+ only), there's a further 20% discount - bringing daytrips from London to Bath down to £20. And the definition of "off peak" has been eased, allowing you to get trains from London that really do allow a day's sightseeing in Cambridge, the Cotswolds, Brighton, Bath or Cardiff.

Applies to virtually all trains on Great Western, TransPennine, Anglia, Hull Trains, First Capital Connect and ScotRail. Details at http://club55.co.uk

Thanks for posting this

but these are only in 2nd class - which often IME of decades of riding British trains are third-world cattle cars - pay more for first class and travel in style typical of the Continent and not some sardine-can SRO second class car.

Really I have so many horror stories to report about 2nd class travel on British trains - do not be enticed by cheap prices as this means even more over crowding.

British trains IMO are the very worst in Europe in 2nd class but in first class up to par with the Continent.

caveat emptor - you get what you pay for!

"but these are only in 2nd class "

They're not.

It'd be nice to see you back if you'd learned to check the references in posts you want to witter about before starting an irrelevant and inaccurate rant.

PalenQ,you really do talk some shite.

2nd class varies a fair bit across europe. I count Romanian 2nd class at the bottom with Czech and Polish (running with vomit and snow as I remember) a close second. French local 2nd class can be pretty tatty while the Dart in Dublin has been poor.

British second class varies by franchise. I was on the old Southern line recently and felt I was on a very stiff tram with sit up and beg seats and I missed the wifi of the NE line (note that I missed the free WiFi!)

Some london suburban trains are pretty tatty but if you must live near the very dense and work in the rat pit what do you expect. Even so I used to travel to Crawley from Kings X a ot last year and the carriages were ok and on time.

As usual PalenQ writes drivel without checking facts.
www.club55.co.uk
The Club 55 fare from London to Bath, Bristol or Plymouth, for example, is £25 in standard class (it's not called second class any more) or £40 in first class.
As it happens, I went from London to Devon for the day yesterday. With a senior railcard, the fare was £20. The trains were not too crowded, quite comfortable and punctual.
This current offer ends on 30 November. The tickets are valid to come back within a month, so the journey back has to be by 29 December.

I'm not over 55, but I checked to see what kind of benefit it would offer for a trip from Maidenhead.

The special fare is, as noted, 15 pounds. But the standard off-peak day return fare is 9.50 pounds, so it wouldn't be of any use to people in the SL postcode area. However, farther afield, it obviously has some value (assuming the travel will be completed before next Wednesday, as the deal ends on the 30th).

As for 2nd v 1st, one of the worst possible purchases is a first class ticket on a local FGW train between Oxford and Paddington. Tickets are almost never checked on board. First class is often full of loud, drunken yobs and scroungers who have second class tickets (if they have tickets at all).

Regarding the quality of second class carriages in the trains we rode in the UK, they were pretty standard. No better or worse than second class on many local French(TGV excluded of course). Belgian or Dutch trains (although the trains from Brussels to Bruges are nicer). The real problem is that there simply aren't enough seats on commuter runs - many times I had to stand the entire way from Maidenhead to London or from Mhead to Didcot Parkway where I was working. And I don't think that situation will improve anytime soon.

Sorry, I meant the travel has to be started (not completed) before next Wednesday.

plans to introduce new and additional rolling stock were announced yesterday.

the snags - they won't happen until towards the end of the decade, AND passengers are going to have to start to pay for them now, by way of fare increases of 3% above inflation.

so commuter misery [which I remember well from living in Kent and working in london for nearly 20 years] is due to continue for some years to come.

Not even 60 yet, but now I qualify for even more "senior discounts". Let me get out the walker. You kids-get off my lawn.



dave

On many long-distance trains I've been on there seem to be two types of first class carriages

one is stuffed full, every seat with these promo fares and seems little better than standard class and there is First Class Gold that is infinitely better... you get what you pay for. Now not on every line but trains like really long-distance like East Coast line and Virgin seem to have these two tiers of first class.

PalenQ is writing drivel again. These Club 55 fares are not for specific seats. If you were to buy a Club 55 first class ticket, you can sit in any first class seat: the ticket is a normal first-class ticket.

I don't understand FoFoBT's message. From Maidenhead to, for example, Plymouth, the Club 55 fare will be only a fraction of the normal off-peak fare. These tickets are available to anywhere served by First Great Western trains.

but i think that Pal does have a bit of a point - do I recollect that if you up-grade your standard-class ticket to first class at the weekend, which you can do for about £5, that you are restricted to certain carriages?

or am i imagining that?

Apparently Geoff has never ridden Virgin trains or the East Coast Mainline where yes there are dedicated and always full IME carriages in first class for the discounted first class like those where you can upgrade to first class for a quid.

Those who get their expertise mainly off the internets may not realize that!

I have travelled on Virgin and East Coast trains. There is often a chance for standard class passengers to travel in first class for a supplement - at weekends, in particular, few business people travel so there would otherwise be empty first-class carriages.
This has nothing to do with the Club 55 offer. It you buy a first-class Club 55 ticket, it is proper first-class ticket, entitling the holder to sit in any first-class seat like other first class passengers.

Geoff, I picked the most common destination for people in Maidenhead. It would have been nice if the discount had affected that route. You apparently missed the part where I said for trips farther afield (like your example of Plymouth), it obviously has some value, assuming people will start their travel within the next 60 hours or so (and fingers crossed that the weather won't cause result in cancellations or add hours of delay to the trip).

I have travelled on Virgin and East Coast trains. There is often a chance for standard class passengers to travel in first class for a supplement - at weekends, in particular, few business people travel so there would otherwise be empty first-class carriages.>

This totally is opposite of my many many trips on those two lines in First Class - where there are first=class cars stuffed full, always all first, with seat reservations for discounted tickets. On Virgin trains IME the Gold Zone cannot be used for those type tickets.

So my experience is exactly the opposite of Geoff's - why do you think the brief case brigades pay literally hundreds of pounds to ride in first class - to be sandwiched in between hoardes of OAPs, etc on greatly discounted tickets?

Don't know about Clubb 55 tickets but have seen yes on Virgin often chocked full first class cars all reserved by the reservation cards stuck in seats. I do not believe those folks are able to relocated to the Gold First Class seats or why would fat-cat business types pay zillions of pounds?

But Geoff is NEVER EVER wrong so I must be.