I don't want to highjack the current Edinburgh to London train thread. But reading it made me realize that maybe I'd better start a thread of my own.

My son and I are planning to take a morning train from King's Cross to York on a Tuesday morning in June. We're going to spend that night in York and then take a morning train to Edinburgh. Someone on the other thread mentioned the high cost of "long distance" train travel and the cost advantages of booking ahead. Does this apply when you're breaking up the trip as we are?

I'd pretty much been planning to buy our tickets on the day of departure. But now I'm wondering whether we'd be wiser to purchase them ahead?

Thanks for any advice.

London to Edinburgh bought on the day : £135 per person one way - this ticket would allow you to break your trip at York with an overnight stay

London to York to Edinburgh if booked 8-12 weeks in advance : £9 plus £12.50 per person one way - you have to buy two tickets as you can't break your trip with these tickets

Simplest thing to do is go to http://www.nationalexpresseastcoast.com/ and try some trial bookings

If you are returning to London consider the FirstScotrail sleeper train

Thank you very much, Alan! I'll definitely check it out. But it looks like we'd do much better to book ahead.

As for the return trip, we're flying from Edinburgh to Dublin to catch our flight back to the US. Otherwise, the sleeper sounds like it'd be interesting to try.

I'm very excited to read all of the posts on the other thread about the beauty of the scenery on that train route. I was looking forward to it just for the chance to see more of the countryside. But to find out that it's an especially pretty route is a wonderful bonus!

<London to York to Edinburgh if booked 8-12 weeks in advance : £9 plus £12.50 per person one way - you have to buy two tickets as you can't break your trip with these tickets>

We did this two years ago and the prices were just about the same...much, much cheaper than buying on the day.

Thanks, Lenny! I haven't yet had a chance to check out the website and probably won't until tomorrow as we're just about to head out for the day. But I assume it'll walk me through pre-ordering and tell me whether the tickets are mailed or we pick them up on the day of departure, etc.?

Hi CAPH - I don't know if there's a mailing option. We have always just picked them up at the station at the ticket kiosks (could not be simpler, you just need the credit card you booked with, and IIRC, they also e-mail a confirmation number).

You're probably a little early to book the lowest fares for June. If the fares for your dates seem high, try a trial booking for a date a few weeks earlier to get an idea for what the fare will be and an idea for when the fares you want might be released - They release the next weeks on a Friday IIRC

There's not much to see on the leg from London to York, but the last part of the leg from York to Edinburgh, which runs by the North Sea, provides you with the occasional decent view.

Thank you, Lenny, eigasuki and twk.

It sounds like picking them up worked very well for you, Lenny. Aside from any other possible problems with having them mailed, it's one less thing to remember to pack!

And I very much appreciate your heads up about checking to see whether fares will go down, eigasuki.

Now that we're in the 8 to 12 weeks window, I just checked the web site. It's showing me a fare of 68 GBP (for two people) from London to York. Does this mean we need to wait a while longer for the fare to drop? Or am I doing something wrong? Also, Alan mentioned that I would need to buy two tickets (London to York, York to Edinburgh). Can I do this in one transaction? And will we be able to pick up the York to Edinburgh tickets at Kings Cross when we get the London to York ones? Or do we get those at York?

Thank you!

Actually, I think that was for one person, not two. I just took eigasuki's advice and played around with the dates a bit. When I put in May 19th, it shows me an online discount and fares as low as 22.30 (depending on the time of departure).

Does that mean that, if I wait, I can expect to get that fare for our date in June? And does it mean it's not likely to go any lower than that?

Can anyone give me any guidance on this? Thanks!

My experience has been that the tickets get higher the closer you get...

Hi CAPH52 - I can't answer all your questions, but maybe our experience will provide some insight. On our last trip to London, we decided somewhat at the last minute to visit York. We were near King's Cross and got tickets for the next day. Got a very good deal, but had to go at nonpeak times (after 9am as I recall). Obviously, we understood it's better to get tickets further in advance, but the time of travel often makes a big difference.

BTW - we thoroughly enjoyed York and it's well worth a few days IMO. If you or your son enjoys trains, but sure to visit the National Railway Museum in York. It's a fascinating collection of engines and cars (carriages) and railway history. It's about a 10 minute walk from the train station.

www.nrm.org.uk

Thanks, jamikins. I suspect that's true after the 8 week mark.

And thanks again, dfr! I'm glad to know you got a good deal just the day before! Also glad to hear that you enjoyed York. I suspect we're going to wish we had more time!

I wish I felt more confident about the railway web site!

The franchise for that line has changed since I rode it in 2007, but what I did to determine the optimum time to buy was to initially price the route using one month intervals out from my inquiry date, after which it became obivous the range in which discount tickets were releasd, and I narrowed that down by search in smaller increments around that time. I believe that when I did this, it was actually 7 weeks, but whatever it may be, check the prices on that route right now for monthly intervals (in other words, price the route today for trips on April 24, May 24, June 24, etc.) and that should give you an indiciation.

Thanks, twk! I'll try that.

Well, it looks like there are online discount fares for April and May but none for June. So I'll keep checking. But again the lowest fare I found from Kings Cross to York is 22.30. Definitely better than the regular fare of 68 pounds. But considerably more than the ones Alan says he found!

I just checked the link that Alan gave me above (national express) again. I'm finally getting the reduced fares on my date. <i>But</i> I just went through a link someone posted elsewhere for National Rail and it's giving me a much cheaper fare! And I'm more confused than ever! Why are these two railway sites giving me vastly different fares? It is the same train, right?

If someone can explain this to me, I would really appreciate it!

Duh! I'm an idiot. It just dawned on me that, since the national express fare is exactly twice as much, it must be showing me the price for two adults!

I'm going to book these tickets later today.