Getting train tickets after prebuying them in advance from USA

When you buy the train tickets online in advance they are sent to you digitally by e-mail.

A QR code is on the e-mailed ticket and you just use your phone to scan that at the train station gate before boarding or show it on your phone screen to the train conductor.

Paper tickets are no longer necessary, although you can print them out at home so you will have a paper copy as a backup in case your phone malfunctions at the train station.

Have fun in England!

We had to pick up paper tickets this summer from a manned station for a trip we’d booked online. It worked just fine to show an agent in a London train station the email with a number and they printed out our compete tickets for a journey 3 weeks in the future. It was the only set of tickets that had this requirement. We were traveling on a Greater Anglia train, the Elizabeth Line and then onward on Great Western Railway train.

You can choose to have physical tickets and pick them all up from any train station but not a tube station. Or you can opt to receive them digitally and store them on a phone.

For Hampton Court you can just use contactless payment like tube rides - no need for any sort of ticket.

Yes,
But you should be able to get them all as digital tickets if you want. Unless you are like me and just prefer paper tickets.
You may want paper tickets to Hampton Court as you have a railcard, for two for one or for other reasons. But tapping Oyster or your card etc is cheaper. No pressure, just duty bound to mention it.
You can also tap for Charing Cross to Sevenoaks but in that case a day return is the same price as a ticket.

Also as well as Hampton Court there is a Hampton station and a Hampton Wick station, both close by!!

Yes, I am old school and prefer paper tickets. I have seen phone issues before and then you have a problem.
So paper for me.
Thanks so very much to all!

Oops - I see your post above mine. Ignore the below if you wish. But, there is an option that allows you to print paper tickets at home and carry the tickets on your phone. At least you might consider what I have written the below.

If you are comfortable using apps and Wallet tickets, I have very successfully used the LNER website or app to order tickets from the US - multiple trips and train tickets in the last 6 months. I've purchased LNER tickets and tickets for several other carriers - LNER has been the best website I've used for purchases. Tickets come in an email download and are in your account on the app. I have printed off the tickets before leaving the US, but have never needed to show those - I always had reception and could show the Wallet tickets or could have gone back to the email if necessary.

An advantage of having an app with account set up is that when in England, you can easily purchase additional tickets if necessary (emergencies, change of plans, etc). I had to do this a couple times, literally standing on a platform. No manned ticket kiosk, I suppose I could have used the machine, but a familiar app was easier.

We had one of our trains over an hour delayed and a second train canceled last month - we got refunds very easily from two different carriers. Having all the ticket info stored in "My Account" was quite helpful for pulling the required info on the journeys.

I have also successfully used the Southeastern App. I couldn't get Southwestern to work either in the US or the UK.

As stated above, you can print them out at home. I also like to have a paper copy and just print the tickets out from home once they are emailed to me.

When you buy the train tickets online in advance they are sent to you digitally by e-mail.

Not always. When I bought tickets from Great Western earlier this year, I could not get their app to work from the U.S. The only option their website gave me was to collect the ticket from a machine at a train station. I haven’t had that issue when purchasing from other train operators.

In the UK, any train operator sells tickets for all train operating companies. Find one app that works whose layout you like and stick with that.

Lin, I've only been on one train in the UK, so maybe things work differently. In those parts of Europe where I have traveled by train, nothing like Kenko describes scanning something at gates.

I've purchased a ticket from the train company and loaded it on the train company app on my phone. Then, presented the app to the conductor when he comes by to check tickets. BUT, I am like you, so I have a paper copy in my day bag. So far, when purchasing online, all of the companies have either emailed a pdf copy or allowed you to download a pdf copy for printing.

Some UK train stations have ticket barriers, others do not. If there is a barrier, you can scan the QR code. Conductors also come through the train checking tickets/QR codes - or, occasionally, do not come through checking tickets.

@ Kenko, above, was incorrect, and everyone else has jumped on the same bandwagon, trying to be as high tech as they can.

The OP has clearly stated a wish to have paper tickets.

@Lin- It is an OPTION, not a necessity, for you to have the tickets sent by e-mail with QR codes then printing at home, showing on your phone stuff.
The other option, which you and I both seem to prefer, is to have a collection code sent to you. You then collect physical tickets from the machine with that code.
Tickets which do not have a QR code on them. If you wanted to you could even write those codes down on a piece of paper. You don't even have to have your phone with you at the time of collection.
You never need to be using a train company app and wallet tickets if you don't want to. You can buy them from your desktop using their website.
And any other tickets you want buy from machines or clerks as paper tickets on the spot.

None of these journeys have seat assignments, and none have better fares by pre- purchasing (other than tap and go). So you don't even have to pre purchase at home, even on your desktop. You could just wait and buy in the UK from a machine or a real live clerk.
You can even pre purchase (or Advance date) at a machine or from a Clerk.
So buy on Monday for travel on Thursday for instance.

ORDtraveler, isn32c: I live and learn. Thank you both.

You can retrieve them from any station that has a ticket machine. You insert the card that was used to make the payment, enter the code that was sent to you and the tickets pop out below. Make sure you wait for them all to be printed, you seem to get more tickets than you expect,

Just in case anyone needs to collect National Rail tickets at Heathrow, you use the Elizabeth Line ticket machines (not the Heathow Express machines). These machines have a "Collect tickets" button and the card readers are marked as Transport for London. The TfL machines at the seperate Underground stations can only sell National Rail within the TfL Oyster area and I'm not sure whether they can print/deliver online bookings that go beyond that area.