Train travel in October from Southampton central station to Edinburgh

How did you manage to find times and prices for October on the NR site? The farthest out i can get is late May. And when I do that, I find a 9:15 train to MIM for £51.80.

Allowing 3 hours for sightseeing and lunch, I see a 14:18 train to Edinburgh (change at Worchestershire Parkway) for £168.60, arriving at 21:09. These are advance single prices. For your dates, you would want to book some time in July (12 weeks in advance). You would have to do the math to see how much you could save with a rail card.

Thanks CJean, yes, I found that you can't get past May, but I did it for Feb 27 just as an estimate. I guess you cant really check on October prices until around summer, but I wanted to get an idea especially on the train route. On my search to Moreton-in-March I plugged in Feb 27th, and came up with 86 pounds. I know it will vary somewhat. I came up with similar for the route to Edinburgh as well. Thanks for your time and help. I think we will wait until summer to check/buy train tickets.

I wonder if simply flying from either Southhampton or London to Edinburgh might be the way to go. We just wanted to see the countryside via train.

For the longer train rides, the further out you book, the lower the price of tickets, in many cases. Which may explain the difference in price for the same train this week vs in 3 months. Isn31c is our resident expert on train travel in the UK, and he can explain it all better than I.

If you wanted to forgo MIM, You could go from Southampton to Edinburgh in much less time. I see a 0900 train with changes in London (arriving at Waterloo Station, then taking the tube to Kings Cross), getting in at 15:38. That counts as 2 changes. Advance single ticket for £70.70 pp.

There's also a 09:15 train with a single change at Birmingham International at twice the price.

I would personally fly from Southampton to Edinburgh. There are two flights a day, and another flight to Glasgow that will generally be cheaper.

The UK has some pretty train journeys, this is not particularly one of them. 8 hours on a train is a lot of time, and Moreton and Marsh is nice enough but not worth this sort of detour.

It would be better to find 3 nights another time to dedicate to the Cotswolds

Moreton-in-Marsh is do-able. But you are travelling on a Saturday when there is the chance there could be rail engineering work somewhere on the way. We will know by late July.

Assuming there isn't [quoting fares for 25 April] -
Leave Southampton at 0815, M-i-M arrive 1018 (change Oxford], M-i-M to Edinburgh depart 1421 arrive 2023 (change Worcestershire Parkway and Birmingham New Street
SOU- Oxford £10.60 each Advance Single
Oxford to Worcestershire Parkway (valid for break of journey at M-i-M) £24.30 Off Peak Day Single
Worcestershire Parkway to Edinburgh £40.70 Advance Single

(Interestingly these fares are a lot lower than using split ticket websites, because of the human touch knowing how to accurately split).

Total of £75.60 each. Buy a Two Together Railcard for £35 for the two of you and save 1/3 off the above fares

So with the railcard (£7.05 + £16.15 + £27.10) x 2 + £35= £135.60 total, and the railcard is valid for a year.

I was also going to suggest skipping MIM and flying to Edinburgh.

I flew out of Southhampton a few weeks ago. It's a small airport so very easily managed.

The flights are on a Loganair turboprop. They fly lower than jets and if the day is clear, the views can be amazing.

I fly Loganair a few times a year including my flight out of Southampton.

Otherwise, your plan makes for a very long, tiring day. Plus, being a Saturday, as previously stated, if there is work on the line, it will become a journey through hell. I personally do my best to avoid weekend rail journeys in the UK. (I hate rail replacement buses.)

I'd fly from Southampton too. Long rail journeys in the UK are not fun. I did 8 hours from London up to Aberdeen not too long ago and I really, really wished I'd gone by plane.