I posted this question once before but received no answers so am trying again.

The situation: buying RR tickets (Norwich to Liverpool Street) on line from the US

Only viable option given is collecting tickets from a machine at one of the listed stations

Norwich is NOT listed as having machines

Will be driving from the Cotswolds for several days in Norfolk prior to actually taking the train. Plan is now to stop along the way (probably Ely) and pick tickets up there

The question: can these tickets be retrieved ANY other way or do I <b>have</b> to get them <b>only</b> from a machine?

Thanks very much.

There USED to be an option to collect tickets at the ticket office where there were no machines. I did it once at Penrith. As I remember, it was a pretty inefficient operation -- the ticket agent searching for an envelope, shuffling through the tickets in the envelope, etc. Perhaps that's why they no longer offer it.

Ron&lt;

Thanks for your comment.

When I was in the UK this past April I did learn one thing and that is you don't have to collect them at the machine location originally specified.

i had ordered rail tickets on-line and decided to pick them up at Liverpool Street; the tickets were for several different days.

I ended up getting them all at a machine in another station.

I've pretty much decided that I'll simply pick them up in Ely on the way over to Aylsham, Norfolk, and take some time to visit the Ely cathedral while there so not any sort of total loss.

Are you going to be somewhere else before the Cotswolds - in London perhaps? Or some other city? Can't you pick up the tix the first place you stay in the UK?

Thanks, Janis..actually probably not and here's why...

We are, for a change, taking the BA &quot;day flight&quot; from Dulles to Heathrow (I WISH it were Gatwick as I've come to like that airport better and that is a ticket (machine) option point) and will arrive around 8:15PM. By the time we get through C/I and pick up the rental car, etc., I wouldn't have time to venture into the city (and certainly would not DRIVE in);

I suppose what I could do is get up early the next morning and take the Tube in and pick them up. we are planning to visit Blenheim Palace on the way to Broadway.

Ely seemed like as good a choice as any since we are headed in that general direction after leaving Broadway and I understand the cathedral there is worth a visit so why not?

I DO appreciate your post very much. Your wise advice has helped me plan this upcoming trip more than you may realize.

There are times when I feel like a foreigner in my own country - What's an &quot;RR ticket&quot;?

Please do NOT say things like that...ever!
<b>R</b>ail<b>R</b>oad ticket.

I suspect you are more used to the term Rail<b>w</b>ay ticket

P.S. and as we often say in the US, to buy or reserve a ticket I suppose over there the term &quot;make a booking&quot; is more common.