Britrail pass worth it?

Unfortunately, you are going to have to be the one to answer that question. Only you know how many trips you intend to make and to where. Price out a few possible trips and compare that to the price of the pass. Buying point to point tickets in advance is often cheaper than a pass, but you are the only one who can tell for sure.

I was afraid you'd say that... I'm wondering if I'm doing something wrong, because the tickets are SO expensive. Picking the first weekend in September, I found tickets to London (returning same day) for about 80 pounds for the 4 of us. Tickets to Edinburgh were around 300 pounds (leaving Friday morning, returning Sunday evening). The pass will be $870 - 2 adults, 2 kids free, with insurance, which means that the average cost of a day is $110, or around 67 pounds. It looks like a no-brainer to me, but since I keep reading that rail passes are not worth it, I am wondering if I am just not searching for rail fares correctly. I looked at these two websites for rail fares: http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/
http://www.thetrainline.com/buytickets/ Are there better (cheaper) ones?

You might want to private message Nigel, who posts often on this board. He works for one of the rail companies. I have seen advertisments ("over there") in the past - intended for residents- that seem to be good deals. Sometimes referred to as "days out", "family deals" "group travel" and other terms, too.
If you are going to be there for 4 months, I think you would want more than the 8 days per 2 months passes. We used a 15 days in 60 (I think). We liked the flexibility and I don't think you would want to commit to specific dates, times, etc that advance tickets require. Also advance tickets go on sell about 3 months out and usually sell out quickly.

Nigel here (thanks Toni). I'm short on time as we are packing for our holiday next week - Belgium, Germany, Salzburg, Netherlands - so really very short of time. Just moved house so can't find stuff. Nevertheless - Joyce. When do you head over here? Where will you be based? How old are the kiddos? Is standard class travel OK or do you need to be in the stuffed chair and polished wood department? If you could fill those in I can probably point you in the right direction. One hint, London Midland is doing a summer sale of half priced tickets right now...

Nigel is the obvious expert. What I've found is that if you are willing to commit almost 3 months out you can get real bargains. If you want to be spontaneous, you are usually better off with a rail pass for busy traveling schedules. I bought tickets for my me and my wife to go from Edinburgh to York and then on to London for a total cost of 45 GBP (standard class). These were bought three month ahead. I'm not sure how children would have been priced. York's worth more than a day trip. Since you appear to be limited to mostly weekend travel, I'd suggest you emphasize Great Britain. Your travel time to anywhere else would eat up a weekend and you can visit the Continent almost as easily from the US. Even a week or two of vacation can easily be absorbed in Great Britain. You've got a great opportunity. Enjoy.

The obvious corollary questions: if you're going to be there four months, will you have a car? where will you be in England?

Ed makes a great point. It's about a four hour drive from York to Edinburgh and about a 2 hour train ride. Even if your company doesn't provide a car, you can probably beat the cost of many last minute train tickets and/or rail pass days for four with a car rental.

Lots of questions. I'll try to remember them all. The closest rail station is Grantham. No car, although we could certainly rent one. Neither spouse nor I are thrilled with driving on the other side of the road though - been there, was rather stressful. We'll be there late August (3 weeks from now!) to early December. We're used to traveling with the unwashed masses (ie, not first class). Kids are 6 and 11. Both girls. Haven't thought much about where we're traveling. We have promised our daughter a weekend in Paris, but other than that, no plans. It will mostly be in Britain, unless a great airfare shows up. We have mostly 3 day weekends, and a couple of 4 day weekends. There's also that pesky work thing, so we probably can't travel EVERY single weekend. Work will be somewhat unpredictable, so the freedom to be spontaneous will probably be a plus. Thanks for all the help so far!

You are very centrally located although train connections might be a little bit of an issue for some parts of Britain. You are close enough to a number of locations that a bus may be a better choice since you aren't afraid to the "unwashed masses." I can assure you the "unwashed masses" of GB are a lot more pleasant to travel with than some of the "unwashed masses" I've traveled with. Short notice bus tickets aren't at as much of a premium as train tickets. You can probably get a bus to York with about an hour of traveling time. If you are planning on doing Paris via train, you really want advance tickets to save money. That would be a much better way to travel than air where you'll probably be out at CdG Airport. For ease of traveling, I suggest you not miss Edinburgh, York, London and Northern Wales. Get some guide books and plan ahead.

Grantham, eh? Say howdy to Maggie's gaff. You will be in East Coast territory. Currently, having been taken back by the government some time ago, it is run for them and tends to have pretty good deals - if you learn the ropes. The girls will go half price each (under 5 is free, over 15 is full fare so both will be half price "Child" tickets). Have a look at http://www.eastcoast.co.uk/special-offers/Flexible-off-peak-travel-for-less/ for a current half price deal. In order to save money without a pass you need to look for such things and plan ahead. If you are willing to invest £28 for a Family and Friends card you can get big discounts even on discounted "Advance" tickets. If more spontaneity is required maybe the very high post of a Britrail pass is for you.

Thanks for the tip on the Friends and Family card! It looks like we can recoup that cost, and then some, with just one trip to Edinburgh.
I think we'll buy the card, and give up the spontaneity for substantial savings. Although I like the idea of getting up on Friday morning and deciding right then where we'd spend the weekend, the truth is, I'm nervous unless I plan. And this work transfer has already become really expensive, and we haven't left yet!