I want to travel with a friend and her 4-year old daughter. Just missed 
the 50% off offer.

Edinburgh York day trip.

Thurs 20th October. At least a few hours in York; obviously the Railway 
Museum and a walk around the town centre.

160 for the three of us starts to make driving down and staying in a 
B&B look a good possibility. I'd really like to do it by train. Would it 
be worth getting a Family Railcard? Or are there any other clever ways I 
can do it?

Any help would be gratefully appreciated.

John

Assuming you want flexible tickets, it is definitely cheaper to get a
family railcard, yes!

Edinburgh to York Saver for 2 adults is £128
(No child ticket required for 4 and under)

But it is cheaper to get a Family Railcard (£20)
and Edinburgh to York Saver for 2 adults and 1 child FAM comes to
£96.65.

However there are still Std Off Peak 1 Returns available (no railcard
discounts) at the time of writing, these are priced at £11 single each
way per person. So you should be able to do it for only £44.

Who said £160?! ;-)

"John" wrote:

> Edinburgh York day trip.
>
> 160 for the three of us starts to make driving down and staying in a B&B 
> look a good possibility. I'd really like to do it by train. Would it be 
> worth getting a Family Railcard? Or are there any other clever ways I can 
> do it?
>


A Family Railcard costs 20 for 1 year. One or two adults can be named on 
the card. There is no need for any of the people travelling to be related, 
just a minimum of one named adult and one child (the maximum is four adults 
and four children).

As the child is 4 they are not required to pay (child fares start at 5 
years) but you are allowed to purchase a ticket for an under-5 in order to 
gain the 1/3 discount for the adults.

The formula seems complicated in that adults save 1/3 and children save 60% 
off the child fare on "most rail fares" - in reality this means the heavily 
discounted fares such as Apex are excluded.

The easy formula is to take the full fare and take off 34% to give the adult 
discounted fare, or 81% off for the child. This means for a 10 ticket an 
Adult pays 6.60 and a child 1.90.

As an example, leaving Edinburgh at 09:00 and returning at 19:00 (both 
direct by GNER) with a Saver Return at 96.65 (with Family Railcard 
discount). Add the one-off 20 for the railcard which gives 116.65.

Makes sense? more info at http://www.family-railcard.co.uk/

GNER do a " Standard Off Peak 1 Single " which is 22, but no discounts 
available. 2 singles each for 2 adults is 88 with the child travelling 
free. This must be booked 7 days in advance.

I would also suggest you contact GNER directly. On their website at 
www.gner.co.uk they have special offers such as Glasgow-London "from 59". 
GNER Telesales Tel: 08457 225 225, open Sundays to Thursdays 08.00-22.00 and 
Fridays and Saturdays 08.00-20.00. I'm sure they can beat the almost 120 
for a family day out.

-- 
-=# Amos E Wolfe #=-
AIM: Traindriver9334
Get Firefox: http://www.spreadfirefox.com/?q=user/register&r=122394

> GNER do a " Standard Off Peak 1 Single " which is 22, but no discounts 
> available. 2 singles each for 2 adults is 88 with the child travelling 
> free.


Just spotted my mistake - The Trainline quoted 22 which is for *2 Adults* 
so that's 11 each way per person, so a total of 44, not 88


-- 
-=# Amos E Wolfe #=-
AIM: Traindriver9334
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"John"  wrote in message 
news:DdrSe.11359$hv5.2233@fe2.news.blueyonder.co.uk...

>I want to travel with a friend and her 4-year old daughter. Just missed the 
>50% off offer.
>
> Edinburgh York day trip.
>
> Thurs 20th October. At least a few hours in York; obviously the Railway 
> Museum and a walk around the town centre.
>
> 160 for the three of us starts to make driving down and staying in a B&B 
> look a good possibility. I'd really like to do it by train. Would it be 
> worth getting a Family Railcard? Or are there any other clever ways I can 
> do it?
>
> Any help would be gratefully appreciated.


GNER Off Peak 1 tickets at 11 single (so 44 total) are available on most 
trains for that date.

Peter Smyth