Hi - I live abroad so am a bit out of touch with rail travel in the UK. However, in September I want to travel from Southampton to Newcastle for a conference. I have just looked at the trainline site and am astounded by the prices! Is there any cheaper way of getting tickets? Or some tricks of the trade? I am getting a bit of help with attending the conference but at this rate, that's not going to even cover transport! Thanks!

You could see if you were eligible for a "Young Persons Railcard" which saves a 1/3 on train tickets - but since you live abroad you may not be eligible.

Try buying singles rather than return tickets - they might be cheaper - also, sometimes splitting a journey can be cheaper i.e. Southampton - London, London - Newcastle or suchlike. The online site let you play around with this kind of options.

If you can't get the train, try national express coaches, or even Mega Bus (megabus.com. The megabus is very basic and not exactly speedy - but it does the job. I checked today and Southampton to Leeds = £25 Leeds to Newcastle = £10.50. Not bad overall. Try looking for the same kind (or even direct journey) with National Express.

The trainline is the best site but the tickets are cheapest if you book exactly 12 weeks before the date you want to travel, for instance i am travelling form plymouth-Sheffield on August 27th I booked the ticket on 4th June and it was £26. It's also cheaper to buy two singles as a posed to a return!
Hope that's of help. I'd look into if you're eligible for a rail card too, it's worth it if you travel a fair bit on trains!

I have the answer! (I think)

Cheap tickets only come out a period of time before travel (I don't recall when, maybe a couple of months, maybe 3 - you could ring national rail enquiries to ask if it's not online). If I look for Sept it's coming up at over £100 for a single. Try August and it's just over £35. So, you might need to wait a bit longer before booking Sept, but not too long else you'll miss them!

In case you don't know, there are lots of diff ticket types. The cheap ones are the Advance ones, you must travel on a specific train (else you have to buy a whole new expensive ticket). They come in at a few diff prices, basically when they sell out of the cheapest, it goes to next band until all the advance tickets are gone.

And two singles in usually cheaper than a return. You can often get the two singles at diff prices depending on which band you end up in. And if you can, be flexible and search the earlier and later options till you find a cheaper one.

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That's what i said!! (hehe)

Great minds eh! :-)

Hi Tortellini! Yeah, I'd go with what everyone else here has said.

1.If going by train book two singles 3 months, (no more, maybe a bit less!), in advance.

2. Get a student/young person's rail card - this gives you 1/3 off all rail fares, even the discounted ones.

And I add:

3. If you get a rail card, try to travel with transpennine express. They give a 50% discount on all fares for students and young people.

4. Travelling to Newcastle from London by coach would, in my opinion, be a hard slog. You may find yourself needing an extra night's kip in Newcastle afterwards.

Good luck.;-)

Oh! I mean book and travel with transpennine express - you have to do it online to get the 50% off.

Just to add a Young Persons Railcard (you don't actually have to be 'young' to have one of these, but be a full-time student) will allow you to travel during peak hours with saver or off-peak tickets.

Megabus has been mentioned but there's also megatrain which you may find does all or part of your journey at lower fares.

As far as I can see only the megabus goes from Southampron and it only goes as far north as manchester ot Leeds

Thanks for the tips - I will investigate!