PalenQ

IME of first class it is definitely worth the extra - especially if like janis says it makes it much cheaper - you get comp food and beverages and much much bigger and more comfy seats and often several empty seats as opposed to an oft chock full standard (2nd) class.

kathleen

RM67 or anyone, I am about ready to abandon the Virgin site, period! I selected York under destinations and did not get any grid of fares for any week or month. Suggestions?

sofarsogood

I'm not sure what RM67 means by a grid of fares over the coming weeks/months but it's not important in your case.

You gave the date as 8 July - if that's your date of travel simply choose London to York and click on buy tickets - Advance fares are available from £13. Select the train you want and buy the ticket. I don't see what the problem is.

http://www.virgintrainseastcoast.com/

PalenQ

You'd better hop on that 13 quid fare - here today gone tomorrow often (and may come back again) - if the train times fit your presumed morning departure times.

historytraveler

That's a fantastic price. Buy now!

RM67

To pull up the price grid you click on the 'destinations' tab. Then click the destination you desire from the subset of new tabs. Then scroll down the page to the bottom where you will see a box saying 'London to wherever £'

Click on that and up comes your grid.

If you only ever use the search panel on the left hand side of the homepage then you will never know if the price you have been given is the lowest it can be - wheras the grid shows you how much the cost can vary. You can also predict from this when the price is likely to be at its lowest for your particular date of travel (based on earlier travel dates and they point at which they change)

As I said, they seem to be at their lowest about a fortnight after issue. So your July 8th fare would have been made available from (roughly) 8th April (I can't remember whether the release is 11, 12 or 13 weeks before?). Therefore the lowest fare for that date would probably be available around 22 April. So you are probably at or very close to the lowest price right now.

RM67

Btw, I was not aware that Virgin served York as I thought that came under the east coast line? Basically, my tips work for the actual Virgin services eg Glasgow, Edinburgh, Manchester etc etc on the Virgin website which are all listed as specific destinations and don't require use of the search box...

RM67

Ok - the east coast line website is set up differently and you don't get the grid sadly.

PalenQ

RM I too did not know Virgin Trains did London to York - but it seems Virgin East Coast may have gotten that franchise - the East Coast franchise?

janisj

It's been in the news for months. A group including Virgin and other companies won the east coast intercity franchise last year and (I think) started providing the service as of the last month or two.

kathleen

I plan on buying the tickets first thing tomorrow morning. As of five seconds ago they were still at that price. RM67 I'm glad you checked and that it wasn't something that I was overlooking or doing incorrectly on the Virgin site, re:YRK. Luckily, the departure time I want is exactly when the cheap fare is showing; since we'll be checking out of our hotel, saying goodbye to family, and getting to the train station without being in a super rush. I should be able to book the tickets online easily enough.

kathleen

Thank you all for your help! I just completed the train reservations for London to York @ 13.60GBP each (through Grand Central website), then York to Edinburgh@ 15.50GBP each (through the Cross Country website). Took me forever and I had a few failed attempts, but I feel that these fares represent remarkable savings and I thank you for the prompts to just do it, early. Plus, I booked the Harry Potter studio tour tickets and a Rabbies, 4 nights 5 days Scotland Tour to Skye and Highlands areas. So, my advance work is done!

My only other advance train reservation likelihood is: should we book in advance for the North Yorkshire Moors Railway? We’d like to do this on our second day in York.

janisj

If you know for sure the date you want there is really no problem pre- booking the Moors railway. But I for one wouldn't want to do it in a stormy.overly wet day.

PalenQ

I took the Moors Railway in peak summer season and just showed up - no problem getting on it seemed but as janis says this is a weather-related thing for enjoyment - I took a bus from the railway terminus to Whitby, home of Dracula but with a neat old castle hovering over it and sea - from there I took a bus along the coast to Scarborough - saw the Fair - not really - and a bus back to York - a really nice day.

http://www.ucs.mun.ca/~emiller/whitby.html - Talks about the many references to Whitby in Bram Stoker's Dracula!

kathleen

Thank you both. I think I'll wait until the actual day to book the NYMR (also, I'm really tired of pre-booking). A pleasant day on the train would make it considerably more worthwhile. The Whitby link is very interesting. Cute about Scarborough Fair.