Rail Travel (Southeast & Southwest England)

I don't know if you are aware but you can buy through Advance tickets across London eg- Canterbury to Lowestoft or Lowestoft to Plymouth (just as examples).

Such tickets include your cross London transfers by tube/DLR. Although they are on specific timed trains they are also protected connections in that if the first train is late (or the tube has problems) you can automatically take the next service for train two. So to Plymouth that would be one hour later (normally).

And Two Together discounts apply, subject to the normal time restrictions.

It all depends on how much you value flexibility, and what your reaction is to stress, if the trains do have problems. I'm not sure what the price is of an All England Brit rail pass (can't see the prices here in the UK), nor am I certain how much searching out the very best deal, to save a few $ or cents is important to you.

But on the face of what you have written above my gut reaction is that Britrail is the best solution for you personally. Even if it doesn't work out as quite the best deal then in the overall context of the cost of the whole trip there isn't going to be a significant difference.

Yes with Britrail you will have to pay your tube/DLR fares in addition. Not a big deal.

If you take that decision don't then go back and check the cost of your trips, and find you might have saved £34.56 (or whatever) overall. Take the decision and move on.

I agree with Stuart that once you have made your decision don't look back. You might have been ahead or behind.

Two Together Railcard (not a pass) gets you 34 percent off the cheapest fares, as long as both of you travel together. You can't use it if only one of you is travelling that day. You can't use it before 9:30 Monday to Friday.

But for £30 (going up soon) after you have spent £100 during your visit you are saving money. Advance tickets (train and time and date restricted) can be very inexpensive, and then knock off a third for the Railcard and you can be singing.

Or for a fixed price - like Stuart I don't have any idea of the current price - a Britrail pass is valid on pretty much all scheduled trains and for a price it can be more convenient.

But once you've chosen don't get buyers remorse.

On cross London fares with normal tickets (phone or paper) look in the lower left for a cross or a plus symbol - that indicates that you can use the Tube to connect your different London Terminus stations. It does not give you the right to get off the Tube, go upstairs and do something and go back down to continue your trip to the next train station.

I see your note about being one senior and one not - although the Senior Railcard allows fewer time restrictions outside the Southeast it is also not valid before 9:30 M-F for journeys entirely within the Network Southeast area. And it costs twice as much - you would need two at £30 pp if you qualified. by being over 60.

Happy travels

Thank you, Stuart and Nigel, for your helpful advice. We are leaning toward the BritRail pass. We are leery of committing to advance tickets because of how reliant our ability to get to stations on time will be on factors we won't necessarily control. While the cost is slightly more than it would be if we bought a TwoTogether card and purchased off-peak singles (I priced our plans out using the National Rail site), we think the flexibility will be worth it. Although this would lock us into specific times/trains, are there any destinations/trips where you'd recommend reserving a seat? In particular I was wondering about travel to Exeter St. David's from Eastbourne and to Penzance from there and then from Devon (Barnstaple) to London.

Yes, reserving a seat to / within the South West might be worthwhile especially if travelling Fri/Sat/Sun, even in March. Get an account set up with GWR and you can make the reservations for free where they are available, without needing to have bought a ticket from them.

There are engineering works on some weekends in March in Devon / Cornwall on varying branches so check if this affects your plans.

On the way between Exeter and Penzance, try for a seat on the left side facing forward. Coming out of Exeter, the train runs alongside the estuary and then right next to the beach at Dawlish. It’s unlike anything else.

You can't book seats from Eastbourne to London, or from Barnstaple to Exeter. Personally I would never book a seat on an Exeter to Penzance train- I have never had a problem getting a seat on that leg.

For the London to Exeter section, if you have a seat reservation (through GWR) and you are running late, then you can make a new one on your phone on the way- not sure what the exact cut off is- but it is now 2.10 pm, and I have just reserved myself a seat on both the 2.30 pm from Paddington today (which I can't use as I am 350 miles away from Paddington) currently and also one on the 2.17 pm from Plymouth to Penzance. The point is both that seats can be reserved at the last minute, and it can be done on line totally independently of having a ticket.

especially in a storm!!! Dawlish is indeed special

Although these days the trains are often too affected by the storms to run through them.