Railways

National Rail, Heritage & Overseas

It should come as no surprise that someone as autistic as I am is a big fan of public transport, particularly trains. I don't drive and have no plans to learn. I co-founded a Railway Society at my university that has organised several trips in the last few years. I used to keep a spreadsheet of every single UK train station I had called at, but have long lost track as my interests increasingly shift towards Eastern Europe. However, I still love a good heritage railway and am very fortunate to be surrounded by them in Mid Wales.

• Booking Tickets: I advise against using Trainline as they charge a booking fee that adds up over time. It is better to book via the website/app of any UK train operating company, as none of these charge such fees. I recommend Transport for Wales or LNER.
• Railcards: If you qualify, you really should purchase a railcard, which gives you 1/3 off all train journeys in Great Britain. They are available for 16-30 year olds, disabled folk, the elderly, UK Armed Forces veterans and various others. They generally cost around £35 per year and mine always pays for itself. See the official website for more info.
• Rover/Ranger Tickets: These are often the most cost effective way to make several trips within a defined area. See Railrover.org for a full list of these tickets.
• BritRail Pass: If you do not live in the UK, you can buy our equivalent of an EURail/Interrail pass, which allows unlimited travel on the rail network for between two days and one month. More info here.
• Ticket Splitting: Sometimes you can reach your destination at a much more reasonable price by splitting up your tickets. For example, if I was looking to travel from Gainsborough Lea Road to Holyhead, the standard price of an any time day single would be £95.90. However, by purchasing a ticket from Gainsborough to Sheffield, then another from Sheffield to Manchester, and another from Manchester to Holyhead, I'm able to reduce that to £46.60. This is complicated, but thankfully there's a very useful website that calculates the best ticket splitting options for you and makes it super easy.
• When to purchase advance tickets: Advance single tickets tend to become available in the UK 8-12 weeks before the departure date, so while booking in advance is often recommended, you also shouldn't bother booking too far in advance. If its a longer journey that you'll want seat reservations for, its best to book around eight weeks in advance. There are also any time and off-peak fares which have a fixed price and unlimited availability. The price of these does not change so it really doesn't matter whether you buy them on the day of travel or a month in advance. It's also a good idea to try and avoid busier days and times.
• Travelling to Ireland/NI: You can purchase tickets from any GB mainland railway station to Dublin or Belfast, which is valid on the ferry to either destination. This is via Holyhead for Dublin and via Stranraer/Cairnryan for Belfast. Just search for 'Dublin Ferryport' or 'Belfast Port' as your destination. This is very often the cheapest way of travelling between Britain and Ireland.
• Delay Repay: Train delays are fairly common, and if you're more than 30 minutes late to your destination, there is almost always the option to claim compensation from the train operating company. As a frequent rail user, I have received more than £400 worth of compensation over the years. Unfortunately, each train operating company has a slightly different policy on this, with some seeing rover tickets as valid for compensation and some (naming and shaming TransPennine Express here) explicitly stating that passengers travelling on rover tickets cannot claim compensation.

• Vale of Rheidol - Aberystwyth
• Talyllyn Railway - Tywyn
• Fairbourne Railway
• Corris Steam Railway
• Welsh Highland Railway - Porthmadog
• Ffestiniog Railway - Porthmadog
• Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway
• Severn Valley Railway - Bridgnorth/Kidderminster

• Poland: PKP Intercity
• Ukraine: Ukrzaliznytsia Booking
• Latvia: Vivi.lv
• Romania: CFR Calatori
• Georgia: Georgian Railway