Senior Railcard

Unless anyone else knows better, Euston is not the London station for trains to Sheffield. The station with the fast direct trains is St Pancras. The booking office there, where you ought to be able to buy a Senior Railcard, is on the main concourse and opens at 5.45 a.m. It is best to have all your paperwork, etc ready when you arrive there.

Thank you, Bob! That's great news for me. You are correct; I looked at my ticket and the train leaves from St Pancris.

Have you attempted to purchase your Senior Railcard online from home? I did that for my recent trip and don't recall that it was too difficult to do. You would have to upload a picture of yourself.

any rail booking office, including St Pancras International, is able to issue, upon proof of age (passport), a Senior Railcard. It won't take but a few moments.

https://stpancras.com/ has lots of good information about the station.

Number 2 - buy a new full priced ticket or expect a fine.

The St Pancras East Midlands Trains booking office is open

Monday to Friday: 05:45 to 22:00

Saturday: 06:00 to 21:00

Sunday: 08:00 to 22:15

I just landed at Heathrow (whichever terminal Finnair uses--I think it was T2 or T3) at a bit after 1500 with one checked bag and was in the tunnels heading to the Underground within about 30 minutes of the opening of the door of the plane. They had a lot of e-gates open, so things moved fast. Do pay attention to the posted instructions to press your passport down firmly. Don't forget to remove your mask.

I'm sure it helped that I was on a fairly small (single-aisle) plane and traveling on Wednesday, but things looked very good.

To geepepper: Thanks for the idea. I tried to purchase it online but couldn't complete the process. They ask for a UK phone number, which I don't have. Also, the FAQs are ambiguous about what documents can be used for identification. It says a UK Drivers License or Passport. It doesn't say whether it has to be a UK Passport, but the requirement to provide a UK phone number seems to limit online purchase to a UK resident.

Thanks, Nigel. You're a lifesaver. I'm grateful for your input, and also the late hours of operation (over which you have no control, I know).

I tried to purchase it online but couldn't complete the process. They
ask for a UK phone number, which I don't have. Also, the FAQs are
ambiguous about what documents can be used for identification. It says
a UK Drivers License or Passport. It doesn't say whether it has to be
a UK Passport, but the requirement to provide a UK phone number seems
to limit online purchase to a UK resident.

One of the "Buying Online" FAQs on the railcard website says: "We accept machine readable passport codes from all countries except for those issued in the Philippines and Bangladesh prior to 2010." The answer goes into detail about finding and entering the passport code.

Have you tried contacting them directly? There's a form to submit with your question here: https://www.senior-railcard.co.uk/help/support/ A few years ago I was considering buying a senior railcard, and had a question related to being in the US. I was pleasantly surprised to receive a prompt reply by email. I can't remember the issue, only that they were helpful. I didn't buy the railcard after all back then, but am considering getting one next year.

Thanks for the suggestion. I appreciate everyone's suggestions. I've just run out of time to do this; my fault entirely. I never considered purchasing a railcard online. Obviously, I should have started earlier.

I was able to get a senior rail card quickly at the St. Pancras International ticket office today. I grabbed one of the discount-card brochures from the rack, filled out the application and handed it to the ticket agent along with the passport. You're not supposed to remove the form from the brochure; the agent does that after processing the application and filling out the receipt, also in the brochure.