Collecting online train tickets at the station

Normally collecting tickets bought on line (such as from the machines at Barking Station, for example), though it can be done at any machine, requires the card that was used to buy the tickets and the reference number provided by the ticket selling site. This is OK for most people, but not very handy for people who buy tickets on behalf of others.

But in Rail 765, Barry Doe says "it seems like some operators [which he doesn't name] ... allow some frequent 'trusted' customers to use any card to collect tickets. This means that those customers who have a history of successful purchases through the site are allowed to insert any card to bring up the on-screen keyboard on which to type in the reference number." "But, because there could [sc: can] be no general rule, people should be careful to check the wording on their printouts, to be sure they are allowed to do this."

By "printouts" I assume Barry means the information provided by the ticket selling website.

One such operator is Southern - See http://www.southernrailway.com/tickets-and-fares/buying-tickets/ticket-on-departure/ who allow this from ticket machines as well as human ticket clerks (only theirs I have to assume) and I'm not sure if you would have to buy tickets from their website.

Southwest, if I read it correctly, only allow it from human clerks - not from machines.

http://www.southwesttrains.co.uk/how-to-buy-tickets.aspx

Cheapest Gold Card

Barry Doe highlighted the cheapest Gold Card on the rail network as Lichfield Trent Valley to Lichfield City - see http://stibasa.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/cheapest-gold-cards.html. Unfortunately, as he reports in Rail 765, London Midland Trains realised that this not often sold ticket had hardly risen in price for 19 years and they promptly put it up from £108 to £144! It is still the cheapest, but see the link for why you might consider the Isle of Wight (Ryde) card at £168 if you're likely to be using South West Trains.

New path and gate in Mayesbrook Park

http://stibasa.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/new-path-in-mayesbrook-park.html

Further to my post back in September about the new path (see link above) the new gate I expected is now in use.

The gate is between Exeter House to the East and Keele House to the west. These are in Academy Way near its junction with Honour Gardens. Academy Way at its E end fomas a crossroads with Lodge Avenue and Fitzstephen Road.

Virgin Trains Luggage collection/delivery service - Bag Magic

See www.virgintrains.com/bagmagic.

Virgin Trains has started a bag collection/delivery service called Bag Magic. For £9.99 a bag weighing up to 30kg can be collected from your home on Mon-Fri and delivered to your final address the next day. The price is £16.99 for two bags.

At weekends the charge is £8 (1 bag) or £14 (2 bags) but the weight limit is 20kg and you will need to take the bag to a collection point and collect it from one, too, and there's a size limit of 38 x 38 x 64cm.

Let's hope other companies will also offer this system which was universal at one time back in British Rail days.

Thanks to Barry Doe / Rail Magazine issue 763 for the information.

Cheapest Gold Cards

According to fares supremo Barry Doe, in Rail Magazine issues 761 and 763, the cheapest Gold Card - £108 at current prices - will be Lichfield Trent Valley to/from City. The former cheapest Gold Card was Ryde St Johns Road to/from Ryde Esplanade on the Isle of Wight. This now costs £164, but, if bought at a South West Trains station, it (and I assume any South West Trains Gold Card) entitles the holder to 6 free South West trains tickets in the year. This may save you more than the £56 difference in price from the Lichfield one.

The discounts obtainable with a Gold Card, which change from 2015, are explained here:http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/ticket_types/46573.aspx

Train ticket splitting websites - save £ on train fares

Thanks to A to B magazine for pointing out https://www.splitticketing.com/ and https://raileasy.trainsplit.com/. (These are connected sites: the second can be reached via the "Need more options?" link on the first.)

The major breakthrough is that these sites can deal with more types of tickets, and you can buy tickets directly on them. The earlier sites were good for finding a split point, but then you needed to go off to another site to try out the splits on cheaper ticket types, and buy tickets.

My earlier posts on the subject are here http://stibasa.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/tickety-split-improved-version.html and here http://stibasa.blogspot.co.uk/2012/07/split-train-tickets-and-save-money.html.

You can read up on the pros and cons of ticket splitting in A to B Issue 105 or on the above mentioned sites, but the sense of ticket splitting is that you buy several tickets for a journey, costing less in total than a ticket for the whole journey, whilst travelling on exactly the same train(s). The websites work this out for you (the train has to stop where your tickets are for) and the savings can be very large.

History in the making as Cullen Bridge joins Dagenham to Elm Park

Today I went to see a new pedestrian/cycling bridge being lowered into position across the R Beam, nr Western Avenue Dagenham, joining Beam Valley Country Park with Bretons Outdoor Recreation Centre. The bridge should be ready for use in about 3-4 weeks time - marki it on your maps now - and the formal opening will be on 28 April 2015, which is the 80th birthday of veteran walking campaigner Michael Cullen, who has doggedly campaigned for a bridge in this vicinity for many years.

The bridge is a Sustrans project funded by TfL. Some photos and moving pictures I took are here:
https://picasaweb.google.com/105158567856821703505/CullenBridge20141020