First time traveler to England - train question

Www.nationalrail.co.uk is a good place to start for information. It brings together routes, pricing and timing on all the UK's main rail companies.

Britrail is not a rail operator. They sell sometimes-overpriced passes that are only available for tourists. If you know where you're planning to go and at approximately what time, you are far better purchasing Point-to-point tickets which would also come with seat reservations. But if you already have the rail pass and were happy with the price, then I guess it's a done deal.

Reservations aren't essential but for a longer journey like Bath they can be useful. Sometimes those trains are busy and many passengers will have acquired reserved seats when they bought their tickets.

Daytime trains don't require seat assignments, but if you want one, you can make it for free at any staffed train station up to a day ahead. One time that you could do so would be when you stop to have the pass activated at a ticket window.

www.nationalrail.co.uk is home base for British trains and most likely to include any short-notice updates. The all-Europe schedules through the DB link at Looking Up Train Schedules and Routes Online will also give you schedule info, without prices.

Trains from London to Windsor depart from either Paddington station (half hour, connect at Slough) or from Waterloo station (one hour, direct train). Same-day roundtrip tickets cost about the same as one-way when you travel after 9:30 weekdays (avoiding commuter hours). You can buy at the station.

Why use a rail pass for London to Oxford when the Advance fare starts from £5?

For Windsor you will leave from Paddington Station in London. It's a 35 minute train ride, you will change trains in Slough, which is easy. When you get to Windsor exit the traipsing, go to your left and walk up to High Street, the castle is right there across the street.

Windsor has TWO Train Stations, the one from Paddington goes to the Windsor station that is close to the castle, the train from Waterloo to Windsor comes in MUCH further away from the castle, my daughter and I found out the hard way.

I MUCH prefer the bus coach from Victoria station, WAY more comfy, no commuters, nice and quiet. Big green bus stops right at the top of the hill. Just don't go with all the kids to LegoLand if you don't want to, and you'll be good.

Greenline bus to Windsor

I think you could have done this for less without the Britrail pass. Plenty of people have said this on this forum.

When you go from Oxford to Bath, you will need to change trains at Didcot. Just go to the relevant platform and the electronic signs will tell you when the next train to Bath is arriving. (Bath will not be the final destination).

I've used Britrail passes. Twice. The first time, it wasn't a great thing from the financial point of view - I could have taken the rail trips for less money. But I took the hit to my wallet without a flinch because it was convenient and stress-free just to go to the station and get on a train. The second time, it was one of my best bargain buys. Ever.

Not to mention, I'm a person of at least ordinary intelligence, with a decent amount of travel experience - and I find the British train ticketing system just freakin' intimidating. I swear, I spent a lot of time on internet forums, asking questions, and carefully reading the answers and other information. And yet all the talk about "advance tickets" and "anytime tickets" and walk-up fares and "you have to change at Little Fartwold, be sure to cross to the other platform" - made as much sense to me as "yada yada blah blah." You know, the cartoon where the human is speaking in complete sentences to a dog and all the dog hears is "blah blah blah"? Yeah. Like that.

So back in 2009 or 2010, I forget which trip, I got the Britrail London Plus pass and used it for day trips. I could afford it, and I really needed to relax on that trip. As travel costs go, it was a splurge, but not ruinous. And, it was fabulous to just get to the station and get on a train, and ride. Totally worth the cost.

Then, I found https://seat61.com/index.html - The Man in Seat Sixty-One. Bless that man's heart. His website cracked the subject open for me, and bits of comprehension began to filter into my brain. I kept reading the Q&As in travel forums.

My second Britrail pass was for a 2-week trip around the UK in late 2015. I covered a lot of ground, with long trips, and my itinerary changed a bit even after I'd landed in the UK. I visited Glasgow, Edinburgh, York, day trips around York, Penzance, London, Brighton. That pass saved me hundreds of pounds - which my itinerary changes would have cost if I'd bought those advance fare tickets instead of having the Britrail pass.

Now, with www.nationalrail.co.uk and https://seat61.com/index.html, I feel much more comfortable about going to the UK without a Britrail pass. But I did price it out for one possible future itinerary, and I wouldn't rule one out. By the way, I recommend that you avoid the site www.nationalrail.**com** which is the Trainline, a reseller site that adds fees to the cost of train tickets. As the Man In Seat Sixty-One says, you should buy direct from the train operators' sites. Details here: https://seat61.com/UK-train-travel.htm

So, C.M., if you're just doing day trips around London, to places with frequent trains, you'd probably come out a little better financially without the Britrail pass. But the convenience and flexibility is worth something, and after all you're on a vacation.

As to seat reservations, I know that with a First Class pass you can make reservations at least a day in advance of the trip, at a rail station. Not sure about standard class. You have to present your Britrail pass at a train station to be validated. If you have a list of your trips in hand you can get seat reservations at that time. For long journeys or peak times a seat reservation is in my opinion important. But they will load the trains up with everyone who has a ticket or pass, even if some passengers are standing. You will get to your destination but you might not get a seat. OTOH I didn't have reservations when I went to Bath and got a seat just fine.

What a useful and well written post, Suz