Point to point rail prices in Great Britain

Nationalrail.co.uk is the best place. It covers all the regular rail companies. After you've selected a departure, it will bounce you to the appropriate company's website to make the purchase. If you have payment issues (which sometimes happens), try using PayPal. Back-up website: loco2.com.

Tons of helpful information about British (and other European) trains here: seat61.com.

Last-minute tickets on British trains can be extraordinarily, painfully costly, but if you're able to buy way in advance, committing to a specific date and time, the fares seem quite reasonable.

nationalrail.co.uk will allow you to search for journeys, and direct you to the company operating the trains in question to book. This is generally the best place to buy tickets.

And, as acraven said, many of the various prices are based on how far in advance you book, and whether you want to make an absolute commitment to travel by that specific train or lose your money. The actual trip will be identical.

Look at a date 11-12 weeks out to see the lowest Advance fares on the route. For example, looking at London Kings Cross to York, a journey of roughly 2 hours, you can buy an Advance ticket for Feb. 1 for as low as 17 GBP, compared to the 55 GBP you would pay for a walk-up ticket.

The Advance fares are specific to a particular train, and are non-refundable. Other tickets you may see offered on some route are “Anytime” (most expensive) and “Off-Peak”, which restricts travel to certain designated (off-peak) hours.

Jim, how many rail trips do you plan on doing? Will the dates for those be set (that is, flexibility is not an issue)? If you understand how to check and book the advance discount fares, and the timeline to do so, a pass is probably not cost-effective unless you're taking many trips or need flexibility. Another advantage of booking point-to-point online, is that you can pick and reserve seats at the same time as booking. Some of the operating railroads let you print out e-tickets while with others you have to pick them up at a rail station. Not an issue -easy.

Some of the sites you're looking at will sell you tickets (at a high price) for trips that are not available yet through nationalrail, knowing that they will become available eventually from the actual operator.

There are many ways to save money taking the train, but we need more information before we can give the best advice.

How many traveling? Adults/kids (ages) / Seniors (over 60)?

When will you be traveling?

Where will you be going to and from, and how many trips of each?

Will you be traveling during commuting peak time hours? Weekends?

Great information. Thanks to everyone.

or not.

you don't want to know how to save money?

Jim, when we were planning our travel in England, I found lots of great advice on this site. (You should spend some time reading through past posts on the subject of train travel). Train travel can be very confusing, especially the different kinds of tickets and when to buy. Nigel has a wealth of knowledge and is very helpful, so if you answer his questions he will give you excellent advice. Good luck with your trip!