isabel

I need to get from Leamington Spa to Heathrow on Sunday March 20. I know there is (sometimes) a way to do this without going in to central London. My daughter has done it, and when I looked on the trainline.co and the national rail sites a month or so ago I saw numerous options and times. Now on both sites it requires multiple changes including going into central London and then taking the tube to the airport. Also there looks to be lots of tube work that weekend. If I put the journey together myself (eg look at schedules from Leamington to London and then figure out my own route on the tube) it seems reasonably straightforward ( and much cheaper).

So my question - is it likely they are doing rail work and that's what's now preventing me from finding a route from Leam to LHR without going into London? Or am I missing something? And if I do have to go into London, how come I can put together a reasonably painless schedule, but if I put in 'start in Leamington end at Heathrow' then the train sites give me much more convoluted routes/scheduels?

PatrickLondon

Most train services in Britain - the fast ones - are designed to link people to central London, full stop. From Leamington, take the Chiltern Railways train to Marylebone, then the Bakerloo Line or a bus to Paddington, and Heathrow Express or Connect to the airport.

But as it happens, www.nationalrail.co.uk are reporting that Chiltern will have work going on on that line over that weekend, but how it will affect the timetable hasn't yet been announced:
http://tinyurl.com/6zgxlyq

You could get a train to Birmingham, and change stations (Snow Hill to New Street) there for London Euston; or there's a long distance bus that takes about 3-4 hours to get to Victoria.

Kate

I don't think Leamington Spa ever did link direct to Heathrow by rail? The leamington train goes into London Marylebone which would mean a tube train or walk to london Paddington in order to pick up the Heathrow Express. No wonder you're confused!

A MUCH better option would be to take the train from Leamington to Reading and then get on the RailAir coach: http://www.railair.com/

But do make sure that the trains from Leamington are running ok on your departure date, Sundays are notoriously popular for maintenance shutdowns. I blame the rush to make everything perfect for the Olympics!

flanneruk

You can get to Heathrow by train ONLY from London Paddington (or a few suburban stops along the way, none of which connect with trains from Leamington unless - usually - you're nuts. Never, ever been any other route.

If you want to explore: train to Reading, train to Slough (or, VVV rarely: Hayes & Harlington), change at Slough for H&H, change at H&H for train to LHR

But Patrick's suggestion of a train to Reading, then a bus, is a lot easier.

The rebuilding's got nothing to do with the Olympics. Trains will be messed up at weekends in the Thames Valley till at least 2016

GeoffHamer

On the National Rail website, you can enter advanced search options. To get from Leamington Spa to Heathrow without going through London, specify via Reading and avoid London. This will then show journeys by train from Leamington Spa to Reading, then by bus to Heathrow (or by train via Hayes & Harlington).
On Sunday 20 March, there seems to be work on the line between Banbury and Oxford so, although there are trains from Leamington to Reading, they are being diverted and take much longer than normal. The National Rail website normally shows the quickest journeys, so in this case gives journeys via London unless you specifically ask for another route.

flanneruk

There IS another option.

The direct train to Reading doesn't seem to be running: delays on the line to London Marylebone look so far OK-ish.

Check for disruptions in a week or so: but you MIGHT find it easier to get the train to London Msarylebone, and get off at High Wycombe then get the A40 bus (http://www.carouselbuses.com/files/A40740timetable.pdf) to Heathrow.

Ot get the frequent train to Banbury, then the National Express bus (www.nationalexpress.co.uk). to Heathrow

isabel

Thanks for your replies. I am pretty sure it's the Leam to Reading train plus bus to Heathrow that I was thinking of. It DID show up as one 'journey' (with change to the bus of course) when I was looking at schedules last month. But now it does not appear on the trainline site as an option. Perhaps it's because of the work on the lines making it longer so it defaults to sending you into London.

So I know how to take the train from Leam to London and the tube to LHR so I guess I'll just have to do that. I still don't get why if I book it myself as two separate journeys (ie just book the train Leam-London, then add in the tube fare) it will only cost me about £25 but if I do it all on their site it will cost me £45.