Train ticket app

The National Rail site (nationalrail.co.Uk) is the gateway for all information on rail travel in the UK, buying tickets and passes etc, and for planning journeys

I'm traveling to England soon and have downloaded the app for the train company that runs the routes I'm interested in taking - LNER.

Where are you traveling to? It may be that you would need to download more than one app and then perhaps add them to your wallet on your phone. Although I think (not 100% sure) that you can buy a ticket for any route from any train company.

Are you wanting to use the TrainSplit app to do split ticketing to some of your destinations?

Yes,

you can buy any tickets to anywhere from any train company so Travel for Wales will do for anywhere. Some train companies websites are better and more intuitive than others, but that is a matter of personal preference.
When you select your ticket there will be a box to check somewhere on the form (where depends on the company), just check that then choose from the drop down list which railcard you want.
There are a few cases where there are local offers only available on the specific train companies website, and most rail rovers and rangers are not available on line- only at stations or on train (if joining at a station without a ticket office). These are tickets which cover unlimited travel within a specific area and can be very good value.
These are all the available rovers (most can be purchased from anywhere, not just in area), so if it stops at the boundary station, you can catch a train into a rover area, pre-purchase a rover, and a ticket from your start point to the rover boundary station.
http://www.railrover.org/

TfW means Transport for Wales and is really another train operating company - just like others such as LNER, Avanti West Coast and GWR. Each different company operates certain routes though in some cases, two or more companies operates on the same line. The National Rail website allows you to put in for any journey from any station in the UK to any other and if you decide to buy, will send you through to the company who set the fare for most of that journey. However, you can purchase tickets through just one company for ALL of your travel should you wish to though dealing direct with the train company you travel on is more likely to make getting a refund/compensation for late running easier.

On some routes, it pays to split the ticket. This is especially so where you change company en-route but can also happen when travelling on the same train throughout but the split must be done at a calling point. All the websites mentioned by me above do not tell you if split ticketing is cheaper but Trainsplit does as does >https://www.traintickets.com/?/

However, these ticket split sites do charge a commission of the amount saved by doing the split.

Don't forget that if visiting Wales, that RS has a separate forum on that part of the UK and if you read through back posts, you will pick up more advice.

Map of rail system.

Thank you for the information. After reading the train travel article from the Man in Seat 61, I was under the impression that the National Rail site just listed the possible routes but didn't direct you to a purchase option. The article also warned about booking fees and recommended Transport for Wales (thanks for the correction, James!), and TrainSplit as good sites to avoid booking fees.

We will be traveling by train from Heathrow to Bath, Bath to Oxford, Moreton-in-Marsh to York, York to London, and then departing from Heathrow.

So, it looks Iike it might be easier to do a bit more researching to see if one train company runs the routes I'm taking and download the app for that company, as Pam suggests.

Thanks for all of the help!

1. Heathrow to Bath- first you take Heathrow Express or Elizabeth Line to London Paddington then catch a Great Western train to Bath. Many people on this forum catch the National Express coach direct from Heathrow- easier and cheaper.
2. Bath to Oxford- Great Western- change at Didcot Parkway. £22.80, no advance fares, can buy on the day.
3. Moreton in Marsh to York- first catch a train from Moreton to Worcestershire Parkway (High Level)- Great Western (buy 1 ticket for this journey- £15.10, no advance fare, buy on the day), go down the stairs or elevator- then secondly catch a train from Worcestershire Parkway (Low Level) to Birmingham, change there, then Birmingham to York (book a second through advance ticket which costs £44.50 from WP to York for this- both trains are run by Cross Country Trains. Various other routes are available, but this is the official route and is the cheapest, if done on Advance Fares (in writing this I have done the split ticketing websites work for you)- needs to be booked as far in advance as possible from, about 10 to 11 weeks before your journey 4, York to London Kings Cross- operated by LNER or Grand Central Rail. LNER operate half hourly all day. Grand Central run 4 or 5 trains in the day, but are the more comfortable. You take your pick as to which you prefer. There is little difference in fares. They vary depending on the day and the train time, but an advance fare should be between £20 and £35. Book well ahead as above. You do NOT need the app for each operator. Get one (any one) of them and purchase all tickets from that one, everyone charges the same.

RE 2 on above reply
I am seeing Super off Peak Singles Bath to Oxford at £20.40

If you travel before 9am Monday to Friday Bath to Oxford is £33.20, if you travel between 9am and 10.30 am you pay £22.80 (an Off Peak Day Single) and if you travel after 10.30 am £20.40. Saturday and Sunday it is £20.40 all day.

As my other work is being questioned you can have the other fares-
Moreton to York is £109.90 full fare, valid via any reasonable non London route. On certain trains (it seems 2 or 3 a day) a £57.50 through fare via Worcestershire Parkway is available. The fare I quoted should be on all trains from Worcestershire Parkway after around 9am.
If you go via Oxford you will pay £16.60 peak (£11.90 off peak to Oxford), then £57.50 Oxford to York through fare or £21.50 + £34.90 (total £56.40 if you split across Birmingham- is £1.10 worth the extra split?). Likewise the £34.90 Birmingham to York can be reduced to £31.10 with a split at Derby.
The £21.50 Oxford to Birmingham fare could be further reduced by splitting that into Oxford to Banbury and Banbury to Birmingham which equates to £17.10. A point is reached where it just becomes outright fare evasion, and you are relying on too many things going right, plus you have a book full of tickets to juggle with. It is a total idiot's game.
If you go via London you pay £16.60 or £11.90 to Oxford, then £10 Oxford to Paddington, then a tube train to London Kings Cross then usually around £30 is your best fare- sometimes you might get one at around £25. Co-ordinating all the cheapest fares into one journey by that route becomes a self defeating purpose and is a strangely long way round.
My first answer for Moreton to York was by far the best and most sensible, travelling with luggage and not constantly stressing, and being productively helpful to the OP.
But to please Roger I have taken it to the n'th degree.
To be really stupid the cheapest route taking all day and several grey hairs is-
Moreton to Worcester Foregate Street £15.10
Foregate Street to Birmingham £9.50 (West Midlands Trains)
Birmingham to Stoke on Trent £6.00 (London North Western)
Stoke to Manchester £3.90 (Northern Rail)
Manchester to York £13.70 (Transpennine)= a total of £50.20, or a saving of around £8! Come on, let's get real.

If going from Heathrow to Bath by train, it is cheaper to take an Elizabeth line train to Hayes & Harlington and then a stopper going west to Reading where you change for an express to Bath. This avoids the expensive Heathrow Express service into Paddington and then out again on the express to Bath. If you do want to go via Paddington, the Elizabeth Line trains are cheaper and don’t take much longer than the Heathrow Express services.

I have edited my reply
What about using the Derbyshire Wayfarer Ticket from Burton on Trent to Sheffield?

To isc31c WOW!! Thank you so much for all the research into my routes. My husband and I have been traveling to Europe once or twice a year since 2013 so I feel somewhat experienced?? but for some reason British train travel was just stressing me out. Thanks again for the valuable info.

There are buses from Heathrow directly to Reading Station. Probably quicker than changing trains several times. We have used the bus to get back to the airport several times, dropping off the car rental in town the day before we fly home.
This trip we will use trains after flying to Inverness. I’ve been using the National Rail app, which transfers you to ScotRail to pay for the tickets in Scotland, no extra fees.