please empty your brain below
It’s heartening to see the double arrow logo taking central stage again. That doesn’t look like Rail Alphabet though.

Dan | 27.04.22 - 7:08 a.m. | #

The fact that the tickets are only for one TOC at a time's a bit annoying as well, especially for journeys like London - Manchester where a LNWR + Northern ticket's still a lot cheaper than Avanti. LNER seems to be the only TOC limiting the discounted tickets to Mondays to Thursdays.

Andrew | 27.04.22 - 7:30 a.m. | #

I've managed to plot three trips - one new, one favourite, and one to the seaside - for less than £40. So that's nice, despite the late departure time restriction making day trips tricky.

Bemused by your weekend "bonus trip" as the offer is Mon-Thurs only.

dg writes: Not on all routes... I have a Friday trip and a Saturday trip.

Frank F | 27.04.22 - 7:32 a.m. | #

Oh! Not paying (full) attention..

**scoots off to log in again**

Frank F | 27.04.22 - 8:00 a.m. | #

Maybe this doesn't tick all boxes for you, but London to Sunderland would be available on 11th or 18th May, 8:27-12:04 and return 17:30-21:06, two singles for for £13 each.

Visit Sunderland | 27.04.22 - 8:03 a.m. | #

Lumo has crazy prices on their lines. I had to go to Newcastle, which is well worth a day trip, and one way would be less than 25£.on a fast and comfortable train (Hitachi 2018)

Balar Gazont | 27.04.22 - 8:04 a.m. | #

I think Dan that it's TFL's New Johnston/Johnston/Johnston 100 typeface.

So admittedly still very much in keeping with public transport, but yes not rail alphabet, which I think certainly seemed to fall out of usage post-privatisation.

Jonathan | 27.04.22 - 8:07 a.m. | #

From Peterborough, my nearest mainline station, I've booked a day trip to King's Cross next Monday (Bank Holiday) for £7.70 each way, and a midweek one to Warrington for £12.20 each way. Total £39.80 which seems pretty good to me - and the Monday trip starts at 08:28, so there are (were?) opportunities for early starts.

Ian | 27.04.22 - 8:22 a.m. | #

It's not Johnston typeface - the dots above the i are round, not diamond shaped. Looks like Gill sans to me.

Dude | 27.04.22 - 8:46 a.m. | #

I am curious on what the town that no sane tourist will visit is!

Phil | 27.04.22 - 8:55 a.m. | #

That makes sense, now I look closer I see the i properly-I've always presumed that Johnston and Gill Sans are the same sort of family, they are relatively similar although I tend to often prefer Gill Sans, but the dotted letter i in Johnston is very pleasing to my eye at least.

Jonathan | 27.04.22 - 8:57 a.m. | #

I didn't know about this, because I am an emigrant, but I am returning during the time period and managed to get a weekend return from the airport to my parents for under £20, so th many thanks.

Can we call the new typeface Boris Johnston? :D

Ian | 27.04.22 - 8:59 a.m. | #

The typeface is definitely Gill Sans.

Charles | Homepage | 27.04.22 - 9:07 a.m. | #

It isn't as great as the great german ticket sale. In June, July & August, germans can buy a 9 euro ticket per month to travel anywhere using regional transport. Some possible single journeys can be 300KM+, but the ticket is valid for a whole month.
The intent is to reduce petrol & diesel consumption for energy security. It is a bit more substantial as an approach to the cost of living crisis than making MOTs bi-annual which is aimed at just reducing the living.

Mike | 27.04.22 - 9:24 a.m. | #

Good luck to anyone taking advantage of the Rail Sale but please don’t blame the traincrew when your train is cancelled because of their absence: We can’t continue working from home when we have covid!

Joe | 27.04.22 - 9:24 a.m. | #

I had a look for the stations near me (in Greater Manchester) and Northern are basically offering tickets for bog standard suburban journeys into Greater Manchester, Monday to Saturday, but not Sunday. And not much else.

Well, wow. Whoopy do. Yes £1.50 is a cheap single fare from Marple to Manchester Piccadilly, but it's hardly a novel experience or a major day out.

Andrew Bowden | Homepage | 27.04.22 - 9:36 a.m. | #

I say bring back the Persil tickets and the dirt cheap Merrymaker excursion trains!

Frank | 27.04.22 - 9:40 a.m. | #

Reading the comment about the generous German offers makes me realise just what begrudgingly given scraps tend to get thrown our way.

Cornish Cockney | 27.04.22 - 11:02 a.m. | #

Sights from yesterday's train trip: lambs, lakes, lowland drainage, hilltop cottages, castles, cranes, cattle, distant towers, budget flights, hard shoulder, yachts, swans, malls, stadia, solar panels, spring greenery, sunshine

Companions from yesterday's train trip:
pizza-stuffers, pie-shovellers, freight-filmers, conversation-forcers, boy-screamers, neck-inked blighters, wasabi-breath snoggers

diamond geezer | Homepage | 27.04.22 - 11:59 a.m. | #

This offer is all very well but I think it would have benefitted far more passengers if it was more straightforward and booking online only must disadvantage many passengers.

It would have been better to say that from 1st to 31st May ALL Off-peak tickets, however purchased would be a straight 50% off.

Compare this with the eat out to help out deal. It may have been restricted to certain days of the week and not every pub/restaurant was involved but you could simply order food and it would be 50% off immediately.

JOHN PARKIN | 27.04.22 - 12:35 p.m. | #

Merrymaker! Takes me back. That, Motorail and the Awayday.

David | 27.04.22 - 1:49 p.m. | #

The biggest difficuty with what is, after all, just a window-dressing publicity stunt purporting to show that the government takes living costs and green travel seriously, was probably getting the rail companies on board at all. I've marketed a few branding exercises like this in the past (not in transport), and finding an overall offer that all participants would agree to was always the toughest part. Different TOCs will have different peak/trough times and routes, so, assuming no government compensation for lost income, they're likely to promote the least they can get away with rather than be seen as not taking part.

Labourer | 27.04.22 - 3:22 p.m. | #

It would have been fantastic if they had extended the scheme into the half-term week at the end of May, giving families more opportunities to explore other parts of the country at more reasonable prices.

gooneruk | Homepage | 27.04.22 - 3:43 p.m. | #

Found a London - Sheffield return for £9 each way! For reasons known to those who know me, young Master Shapps may not be too pleased with what he's achieved...

Joel | 27.04.22 - 5:03 p.m. | #

I booked a couple of tickets to Berney Arms for a day trip. Can't wait!

Jimmy | 27.04.22 - 6:15 p.m. | #

Using the South Eastern site, I can add a London Travelcard "from £43.80" to my £5.20 single from Hastings.

ap | 27.04.22 - 8:08 p.m. | #

Spent an hour looking, and then just gave up. GWR is my local company, plenty of offers on the GBR website but nothing matching on GWR.

John | 28.04.22 - 12:29 a.m. | #

I think all the tickets are Advance Single tickets, which don't allow break of journey.

So that's some loopholes closed (stopping short and not continuing, and also joining late).

May be worth looking for tickets that go a little beyond and the come back on a local train (the split ticket websites don't seem to offer that optimisation, and often there is low or no extra time needed--express then local vs stopping service)

MilesT | 28.04.22 - 10:48 a.m. | #

Seems like only yesterday that it cost £32 pounds from London Paddington to Bridgend (the stop after Cardiff) off-peak in first class. Thinking back it was perhaps six or seven years ago.

TravelSnapp | Homepage | 30.04.22 - 3:17 a.m. | #











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