The Lemon Fool

No matter what I try in any rail ticketing site I cant find any trains from eg Chippenham to St Ives. Or from Bath Spa. Or Westbury.

St Ives has a rail station. But its seems either no trains actually go there (?!) or the rail sites just cannot find how to connect to it ?

Anybody any ideas where I can investigate/plan a rail trip there (that doesn't involve driving 10+ miles to our nearest rail station to speak to a human being)

cheers

didds

didds wrote:No matter what I try in any rail ticketing site I cant find any trains from eg Chippenham to St Ives. Or from Bath Spa. Or Westbury.

St Ives has a rail station. But its seems either no trains actually go there (?!) or the rail sites just cannot find how to connect to it ?

Anybody any ideas where I can investigate/plan a rail trip there (that doesn't involve driving 10+ miles to our nearest rail station to speak to a human being)

cheers

didds

I'm using nationalrail.co.uk and trying Reading to St Ives - there appear to be connections locally from somewhere called St Erth (SER) to St Ives (SIV) - a 11-12 minute local journey.

didds wrote:No matter what I try in any rail ticketing site I cant find any trains from eg Chippenham to St Ives. Or from Bath Spa. Or Westbury.

St Ives has a rail station. But its seems either no trains actually go there (?!) or the rail sites just cannot find how to connect to it ?

Anybody any ideas where I can investigate/plan a rail trip there (that doesn't involve driving 10+ miles to our nearest rail station to speak to a human being)

cheers

didds

I've just looked at the National Rail app and it finds plenty from Bath to St. Ives. It involves 2 or 3 changes though.

St Ives appears to just have a shuttle service from St Erth so you need a train stopping there. Some journeys involve a change at Bristol then one at St Erth, others an additional change at Exeter.

Try the National Rail enquiries website. The journey planner is on the page below. Just type in the station names, or use the three letter code (SIV for St. Ives).

All trains to and from for St. Ives change at St. Erth, which is one station before you get to Penzance. You take the Bay Line to St. Ives.

https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/

https://greatscenicrailways.co.uk/lines/st-ives-bay-line/

Years of travelling from London Paddington to the South West have fixed the train stops into my memory because back then Great Western loved to tell you what stations were left over the tannoy. Consequently every time I hear "Newton Abbot" I reflexively think "Totnes" (the next stop). "St. Erth" (rarely heard by me nowadays) immediately causes me to think "Penzance"

.

there is a park and ride at st.erth on the main line .

change there for the branch to st.ives.

very scenic little branch .

Many years, for work, ago I went to St Ives by train
A colleague was going to drive me home so I only needed a single
amazingly it was cheaper to buy a return
that was my frist dip into the weird world of train fares

well that is really weird.

i had DEFINITELY tried the trainline and raileasy. neither of which worked.

I tried the above links - all good.

then found thetrainline and raileaasy now worked.

very very weird.


thanks all!

staffordian wrote:I've just looked at the National Rail app and it finds plenty from Bath to St. Ives. It involves 2 or 3 changes though.

St Ives appears to just have a shuttle service from St Erth so you need a train stopping there. Some journeys involve a change at Bristol then one at St Erth, others an additional change at Exeter.

Yes I think the best you could do is two changes, at Bristol to a Penzance-bound Cross-Country train, and then again at St. Erth.

More likely change at Bristol, and then again at either Exeter or Plymouth, and then St. Erth.

As said - the Bristol - Exeter - Plymouth trains nearly all go to St Erth on their way to Penzance.

It is tricky, I once stood behind a Fenchman at the ticket window in Plymouth, trying desperately to buy a ticket to "Sonn Eaves".

Paul

DrFfybes wrote:As said - the Bristol - Exeter - Plymouth trains nearly all go to St Erth on their way to Penzance.

True but not all the Cross-Country Bristol to Exeter trains go all the way through to Penzance.

Some terminate at Plymouth and others end up in Paignton!

St Erth is basically at Hayle, and it's where tourists in cars are often advised to park before they take the onward journey to St Ives. It's one of the loveliest clifftop train journeys in the south of England. A sheer delight - have your camera ready - and it brings you right into the village with not too much of a steep slope for pedestrians. (Unlike the official car park, which is a bloody steep climb.)

But the rail line is more of a shuttle service than a serious railway route. Have fun, and give my best regards to the Tate and the Hepworth garden.

BJ

This might reduce your costs - split fares:
https://www.mytrainpal.com/

bluedonkey wrote:This might reduce your costs - split fares:
https://www.mytrainpal.com/

wow! Ive used slplit ticket sies in the past including raileasy... but that's amazing based ona test!

thanks!

Yes I've used split ticketing a lot
I can't remember the exact details but Reading <> Kidderminster was as least £20 more expensive than splitting the ticket at (??) Hanborough or Moreton in Marsh..on the same route, same trains

pje16 wrote:Many years, for work, ago I went to St Ives by train
A colleague was going to drive me home so I only needed a single
amazingly it was cheaper to buy a return
that was my frist dip into the weird world of train fares

Not just trains.

Years ago we used to drive to France and the way the ticket prices worked was bizarre.

Forget all about singles or period returns. I used to go to a travel agent, book a day return to Calais and pay with cash, giving my car reg number with some numbers 'accidentally' mixed up. I learned all this from my boss who travelled UK-France all the time.

Two weeks later we had to do the same coming back, but the ferry companies knew what was going on, so tried to make it harder.

One time, we found it cheaper to spend the night in a hotel and buy a day return Calais-Dover the next morning.

Not sure we saved much, since my wife would hit the shops and we'd go back with the car full, and the kids hidden on the back seat under loads of shopping bags!

Steve

stevensfo wrote:

pje16 wrote:Many years, for work, ago I went to St Ives by train
A colleague was going to drive me home so I only needed a single
amazingly it was cheaper to buy a return
that was my frist dip into the weird world of train fares

Not just trains.

Planes too. A return ticket by air is often cheaper than a one-way. I think the airline reasoning is that it is only business people who need one-way flights at short notice, and that is price-insensitive, so they stick it to them.

The ultra cheap airlines don't have this problem, as that is mainly leisure travel and there is no premium cabin. But play around with Google Flights on trans-Atlantic flights in Business or First and the excess cost of one-way flights can be shocking.

But be careful buying a return and then not using the return leg. Airlines can and will ban people who do that too often.

stevensfo wrote:I used to go to a travel agent, book a day return to Calais and pay with cash, giving my car reg number with some numbers 'accidentally' mixed up.

so the incorrect car regn was not an issue boarding?

Cracking!

didds

didds wrote:

stevensfo wrote:I used to go to a travel agent, book a day return to Calais and pay with cash, giving my car reg number with some numbers 'accidentally' mixed up.

so the incorrect car regn was not an issue boarding?

Cracking!

didds

Sorry for the late reply. Been 'offline' for a week.

We never had a problem. This was approx 1997-2002 and I was careful enough to make the changes in reg plate look like a simple error. Besides, in those days, they never checked such things. They simply looked at the ticket very fast and waved us forward.

Unlike today where plate recognition cameras are everywhere!

Soon to be followed by facial recognition!

Steve

PS Re. Facial recognition, I am selling Dominic Cummings facemasks on Ebay. Comes with a Specsavers reminder letter as accessory.