Try the Trainline website William, I booked my tickets north a week or so ago. Other websites said that tickets weren't available.

Thanks John. All done, just have to wait and check route one more time again and ask myself "what if I had gone this way". One of the problems with submitting the route early...............
WB

Don't forget to consider split ticketing. I've just looked at a hypothetical journey in 12 weeks time - Harrogate to Oban with Senior Railcard. Through ticket - £91.80; split at Glasgow - 2 tickets total £22.80.
Hopefully similar deals will become available for 10 May.

I'm flying back, Aberdeen to Heathrow with a rucksack in the hold for £87. Not the cheapest, but better than a lot of train fares.

Don’t know how manage it.
No matter how we cut and dice it at the moment Birmingham to Glasgow to Lochailort comes up at nearly £300 for two of us with a railcard.
Hopefully by mid February we may be able to get a better deal.

Fred,
It appears that to get the cheap Advance fares on your route you have to wait to book until 12 weeks before travel.
But make sure you get in quickly, as the cheap seats go very quickly.

At the moment, Virgin are saying it's just under £75 Brum - Glasgow with a railcard for a single standard class seat.

:relieved:

Back in the day there was a nationalised rail network. Now we have who knows how many companies, and there's no uniform ticketing regime.

So, in the case of Virgin Trains East Coast, they choose to release tickets early - right now you can buy weekday tickets up to July 6, and weekend tix up to April 22. But that's only for the east coast line! London > Edinburgh > Glasgow > Aberdeen

The vast majority of other operators, as Alan points out, release 12 weeks ahead. But even then, there are wrinkles. Booking a through ticket - Lostwithiel to Plocton, for example, will cost you serious money, 'cos you're travelling with multiple operators. Which is where split ticketing comes in. Identify the operators for each leg of your journey, and buy seperate tickets.

If you've nothing better to do during this Month Of Drear, then you could further finesse this by buying two tickets with the same operator for the same journey. Whaargh! Here's why. Suppose you're travelling from Birmingham to Glasgow. You may find that your chosen train leaves Birmingham during peak times. So examine the stops on the journey and identify when the train crosses into the off-peak time zone. Then buy a ticket for each section. But each operator has a different definition of off-peak, alas. And it's a bit of a faff.

My head hurts . . .

Alan, there is much more to your fountain of knowledge ( and Humphrey’s) as regards negotiating Scotland from West to East but also your ability to buy bargain price trickers from South to North and return.
We are booking tickets for 4 of us from Birmingham to Lochailort and currently this tallies up to nearly £600.00.
We will keep looking and hopefully secure sensible priced tickets soon.
All part of the Challenge. We have transport to Acharacle from Lochailort, and the ferry from Dalilea, all logistics covered just need train tickets.

I know last year we managed to get cheaper tickets last year, Sue is on it.:upside_down_face:

You can fly from Birmingham to Glasgow - four people with a rucksack in the hold - for £277.96. Then coach to Fort William and train from there. Alternatively, try doing one way car hire. Four of you in an estate car driving from Birmingham to Glasgow, that can be done for just £300.

The cheapest way is still the seats on the sleeper, which are just £50 each.

Oh yes, Birmingham to Glasgow? Well, if yr into sit-up-straight-no-mumbling-this-is-serious-hardcore and prefer to spend your skoobies on mega-strength-cider then you could, uh, take the bus oh yea . . .

So now, here's a Birmingham > Glasgow bus route. Yes, it's a bus. And yes, it'll get you there.

Sure, it'll cost you all of - wait for it, easy now, no jostling at the back . . . - £5.00 each. Straight up. Serious money, que no?

But at £20 for four people a little cheaper than, uh, £300 for an estate car rental. Or £277 and counting for flights for four. Just checking, uh huh . . .

Click here for typical fares and schedules - is for a Thursday in April, but will be the same for May . . .

Lookit - the times are Beyond Horrid. But if yr on a budget, this is well worth a look.

Frankly, if it was me, I'd skip all this complex goobins and just take the train. Tix are released around Feb 16.Life is short, que no?

No, we won’t be on a bus.
We have to leave Thursday am and be in Lochailort same day.
It’s not a question of price beyond getting the best deal we can.
Hopefully mid February will open a window of opportunity for sensible prices.

Fly up and return the same way.
my flight from stansted to glasgow return is £86.96 including 20kg hold luggage.

I'm with Alan. :joy:

No..... I'm paying the same price from Montrose...... and he will probably have the, erm, pleasure of my company. :stuck_out_tongue:

Happy days. :laughing:

Whoop Whoop.

Just bought four tickets Droitwich Spa to Lochailort for £48.83 each with two together railcard on Trainline.
Maybe a good time for a look if your West Mids based.

Thank you for the heads-up! I have been checking recently and not had any joy. Now I have everything nicely booked thanks to your message alerting me!

Oh, and yes, do split the journey to save money!

We have booked a train with Caledonian Sleeper. Going from Euston to Fort William With one change in Edinburgh. This is just a sleeper seat not a bed but one way is only £50.00 each. Although this has no fancy perks its a cheap option :-) The company also travels from Montrose to London although we haven't booked this yet as we may end up staying and resting before travelling back to reality.

Try this website for split tickets - it does it all for you but takes 10% of the saving - well worth it!
https://raileasy.trainsplit.com/