Using Trains .... Advice / Help please.

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landsurfer
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Using Trains .... Advice / Help please.

Post by landsurfer »

Getting tired of the local routes and i thought "out by train and cycle back" would be a pleasant change.
I have not travelled on a train with my bike for over 20 years and wonder how viable it is ?
For my first ride back i would like to travel from Rotherham to Bridlington early morning and ride home. The advice on National rail enquiries is woolly in the extreme.
Could someone with rail / bike travel experience give me some pointers to a hassle free outward rail journey ?
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bogmyrtle
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Re: Using Trains .... Advice / Help please.

Post by bogmyrtle »

Each rail company has its own policy on bike carriage.
There was a leaflet available that set out what these were but there have been a lot of recent changes so I'm not sure if it's up to date. There should be a link to it online. Would look for it but am about to go out.
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pal
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Re: Using Trains .... Advice / Help please.

Post by pal »

You would (I think?) be on Northern trains for that journey, which might be bad news when it comes to reliability, comfort, etc, but is good news when it comes to taking a bike: Northern don't require (or even allow, in fact...) reservations; their official rule is two bikes per train, but in practice their approach seems always to be much more sensible: if there's room for a bike, you can take it on. (I've been on Northern trains with about a dozen bikes stashed around them...). As long as you aren't travelling at peak commuter time, you should be fine (and even then, you'd probably be ok if you were getting on at or near the start of a route). Bike spaces tend to be in either the front or rear carriages (look for the bike symbol on the outside of the carriage, above the door); there's usually (not always!) some sort of strap to stop your bike toppling over.

Northern's official bike carriage policy is here: https://www.northernrailway.co.uk/trave ... -on-trains
PDQ Mobile
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Re: Using Trains .... Advice / Help please.

Post by PDQ Mobile »

No idea about your local train provision for bikes. But there must be some trains that accept bikes surely?
I would say travelling with a bike whether by train or flying is a really great feeling.
I just love wheeling the bike off (through the thronging pedestrians) somewhere new and far away, hopping on, and pedalling off to unexplored places. The feeling of freedom!

Bike and train is a fantastic natural combination either for commuting or leisure.
We must continue to fight for more and better provision on our trains.
PH
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Re: Using Trains .... Advice / Help please.

Post by PH »

What others have said, go with an attitude that it'll be alright and it usually is. I've travelled by train at least once a month for the last twenty years and the worst problem was once not getting on the train of choice and having to get the next one half an hour later.
BTW - For your journey it's probably cheaper to get an advance ticket for a specific train from Doncaster and a seperate ticket for the Rotherham - Doncaster section. I travelled Doncaster to Bridlington last year and it was around a tenner.
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Sweep
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Re: Using Trains .... Advice / Help please.

Post by Sweep »

+1 to advice on northern. Some of trains right old crates but sensible easygoing with bikes.
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landsurfer
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Re: Using Trains .... Advice / Help please.

Post by landsurfer »

PH wrote:For your journey it's probably cheaper to get an advance ticket for a specific train from Doncaster and a seperate ticket for the Rotherham - Doncaster section. I travelled Doncaster to Bridlington last year and it was around a tenner.


I live at the top of Wickersley hill so it's 4 miles sweeping downhill to the railway station ........ :D
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foxyrider
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Re: Using Trains .... Advice / Help please.

Post by foxyrider »

Never had any issues on Northern on this route, -I've used it to various points in the last few years and their services on other routes eg to Lincoln.

Yes they are rattly but usually warm and with friendly crews. Your bane will most likely be BMX'ers heading for Donny but never had any grumbles about number of bikes even when they are quite busy.

Worth looking at the Northern website for the cheapest fares and restrictions.
Convention? what's that then?
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Antbrewer
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Re: Using Trains .... Advice / Help please.

Post by Antbrewer »

My wife and I thought we might do a week or in Holland in May or June this year after returning from a month in Australia( not cycling). I have had a very quick look on the internet and there would appear so many differing rules and regulations on travelling with bike on trains. We would be going from Birmingham to Harwich perhaps. I am beginning to think that a visit to the station might be a good idea to get some sense of what is possible. I am not a lover of timetables etc at the best of times and I think sorting this out is going to be a pain.

Any thoughts to make life easier?
Anthony
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Sweep
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Re: Using Trains .... Advice / Help please.

Post by Sweep »

Antbrewer wrote:We would be going from Birmingham to Harwich perhaps. I am beginning to think that a visit to the station might be a good idea to get some sense of what is possible. I am not a lover of timetables etc at the best of times and I think sorting this out is going to be a pain.

Any thoughts to make life easier?
Anthony

Pedal it? Looks like a nice route on cycle travel? More time of course but I have the feeling that you have that.
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Cyril Haearn
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Re: Using Trains .... Advice / Help please.

Post by Cyril Haearn »

Antbrewer wrote:My wife and I thought we might do a week or in Holland in May or June this year after returning from a month in Australia( not cycling). I have had a very quick look on the internet and there would appear so many differing rules and regulations on travelling with bike on trains. We would be going from Birmingham to Harwich perhaps. I am beginning to think that a visit to the station might be a good idea to get some sense of what is possible. I am not a lover of timetables etc at the best of times and I think sorting this out is going to be a pain.

Any thoughts to make life easier?
Anthony


Go via Leicester & Peterborough, not London :wink:
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PH
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Re: Using Trains .... Advice / Help please.

Post by PH »

Antbrewer wrote: I am not a lover of timetables etc at the best of times and I think sorting this out is going to be a pain.
Any thoughts to make life easier?
Anthony


Whatever you do the booking system will try and route you through London and you should decide in advance if you're happy with that.
If not there are ways round, if you're not happy playing with the timetable than a helpful ticket office is probably the best bet.
There's also the option of a rail/sail ticket, I've used these from London a couple of times and it's been cheaper than buying separately.
bikepacker
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Re: Using Trains .... Advice / Help please.

Post by bikepacker »

Antbrewer wrote:My wife and I thought we might do a week or in Holland in May or June this year after returning from a month in Australia( not cycling). I have had a very quick look on the internet and there would appear so many differing rules and regulations on travelling with bike on trains. We would be going from Birmingham to Harwich perhaps. I am beginning to think that a visit to the station might be a good idea to get some sense of what is possible. I am not a lover of timetables etc at the best of times and I think sorting this out is going to be a pain.

Any thoughts to make life easier?
Anthony


There was a train ran from Watford Junction to Harwich, I used it a couple of times in the 1990s. For some reason only known to the railway It was never on the time table as one continuous train. I always got the booking from the station` travel centre so if you are paying them a visit ask about it.
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mjr
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Re: Using Trains .... Advice / Help please.

Post by mjr »

Cyril Haearn wrote:
Antbrewer wrote:My wife and I thought we might do a week or in Holland in May or June this year after returning from a month in Australia( not cycling). I have had a very quick look on the internet and there would appear so many differing rules and regulations on travelling with bike on trains. We would be going from Birmingham to Harwich perhaps. I am beginning to think that a visit to the station might be a good idea to get some sense of what is possible. I am not a lover of timetables etc at the best of times and I think sorting this out is going to be a pain.

Any thoughts to make life easier?
Anthony


Go via Leicester & Peterborough, not London :wink:

If you do that, you need to reserve the bike Birmingham-Peterborough as it's compulsory last I knew. Even if not, the poxy little local diesels pretending to be intercity trains on that route (part of Birmingham-Stansted) only carry 2 or 3 non-folding bikes. From Peterborough, it's a local train with bike section but no reservations. I've been one of six people with bikes on there. I think you might have to change at Stowmarket or Ipswich too, but it seems to change with each new timetable. It's possible to do Birmingham-Harwich with one change in Cambridge which is the old boat train but it cuts it a bit close for my liking, arriving Harwich 2129 most days.

Via London is simpler, if London Midland still let you walk up with loads of bikes, but you would have to get from Euston to Liverpool Street, which is fiddly but not difficult (ask http://cycle.travel/map ).
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millimole
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Re: Using Trains .... Advice / Help please.

Post by millimole »

As MJR and others have said the Birmingham Peterborough service is a good alternative.
I use the Leicester Birmingham trains a fair bit and We used this route to get from home in Leicester to go to Harwich (no bikes) last year and would offer the following observations.
The same train runs the full length of the journey Brum to Stansted, you do not need to change in Leicester. The Leicester to Birmingham store is the second least punctual service in the country. Trains around rush hour between Leicester and Birmingham in both directions can be rammed full. The rolling stock is modern DMU. The change at Peterborough is relaxed and easy (cross platforms, but with lift). The Greater Anglia trains are 'proper trains' and the train manager on our journey didn't seem to care how many bikes he let on. I would suggest changing at Stowmarket - no change of platform, and a very quiet station. There were lots of bikes getting on the small train to Harwich International - its an easy change along the platform onto an older style DMU with lots of vestibule space.
All in all a very pleasant journey if you avoid the busiest times of day - you might consider an earlier train out of Birmingham to miss the evening rush, break the journey at, say, Ely, and continue a bit later to arrive at Harwich at the right time for the ferry.

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