Train travel question

Dist

Dist

Dist

Soldato
Joined
1 Jun 2005
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5,152
Location
Kent
I need a little help with a train journey I have on the 30th into London for my graduation ceremony, I've never traveled on trains before so the timetable is not the easiest of things to read.

I've got the tickets already from Gravesend to London (and I want to stop at london bridge as that is closest to the Barbican) and some return tickets. I got them already as the person who picked them up for me was told they go from Gravesend and to London bridge.

The problem is http://www.southeasternrailway.co.uk/ has 2 ways to check the times of departure/arrival. The problem is the PDFs for mainline 2 and mainline 3 (which seem to be the only lines shown that include London Bridge and Gravesend), neither show trains that go from Gravesend to London Bridge. where as the ticket booking feature on the website shows lots more trains running that is shown in the .pdf timetables, and shows that it is possible to go from Gravesend to London Bridge. So i'm not sure what to believe.

Anyone that can help me with my complete lack of train travel knowledge would be much appreciated.
 
Great, thanks for the help. It looks like the ticks I've got are the right ones, going from Gravesend to London bridge around the times I need it.

How good are the trains going into london? for example should I expect the trains within 5 min of the times on the schedule or should I be expecting that they could be out by 20 min or something?
 
Despite the constant crying and moaning about trains in the UK you will probably find the time keeping to be fine. It's more likely it'll arrive bang on time than it will late.
 
Have you got an Oyster card? You will be fleeced on public transport in London without one. London Bridge to the Barbican is walkable, but if you're in a suit and it's sunny then you could be a bit of a sweaty mess on arrival.
 
You didn't have to book so soon for a short journey like that.

Further to what you have booked, you can change at London Bridge for Thameslink and then travel to Farringdon and walk from there.

You could have also pushed the boat out and caught a high speed service to St Pancras and then caught the underground from there to Barbican.
 
I was planning on just taking a cab or something from London Bridge to the Barbican, as that saves me having to faff about with changing trains, switching to the underground (which again is more money).
 
You could go to Faringdon (the train to London Bridge should go onto Faringdon) and walk from there - probably take you no more than 10 minutes.
 
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Dist said:
I was planning on just taking a cab or something from London Bridge to the Barbican, as that saves me having to faff about with changing trains, switching to the underground (which again is more money).
Click to expand...

<insert you're gonna get raped pic here> due to the cost of the taxi fare!
 
Buy ticket, sit on train, get to london. Train travel is like taking a bus but about a million times better (provided everyone just gets on with it).

Could have considered a travel card for a fiver to cover messing about on the tube if you wanted (just around zones one and two) to make a bit of a day out of it all and see some cool stuff :)
 
Looking at that national rail site, if I was to go to Farringdon I would have to go to St Pancras International and then switch to a different train to Farringdon. Would the ticket I've got already from gravesend to London allow a switch over like that?
 
Dist said:
Looking at that national rail site, if I was to go to Farringdon I would have to go to St Pancras International and then switch to a different train to Farringdon. Would the ticket I've got already from gravesend to London allow a switch over like that?
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What does the ticket say?

Go to London Bridge (you'll probably arrive at Platform 2) and then move over to Platform 6 for the train to Farringdon. No need to use the underground or take cab.
 
Looks like TheTrainline and National Rail want you to get the HS1 not Southeastern.

HS1 to St Pancras, change to another service to get to Farringdon: £15.40
IMO this is hassle as I wouldn't know if you needed to get another HS1 service or the First Capital Connect service.

South Eastern to London Bridge then first Capital Connect service to Farringdon

Gravesend to London Bridge return with South Eastern: £8.35 then at London Bridge
First Capital Connect from London Bridge to Farringdon return: £4.70

TBH would be easier if you had an Oyster Card as you wouldn't need to get the second ticket - unless you bought it online of course.

These are all off peak trains.

BB x
 
shine said:
What does the ticket say?

Go to London Bridge (you'll probably arrive at Platform 2) and then move over to Platform 6 for the train to Farringdon. No need to use the underground or take cab.
Click to expand...

The tickets say:
standard anytime
from gravesend *
to London terminals

And the opposite for the return tickets.
 
uvarvu said:
Does it say "not valid via HS1"? If not then feel free to travel to st pancras.
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I 'think' it says not valid on HS1, but it's hard to read as all 4 tickets (2 there, 2 return, as it's me and 1 other) are not printed that well and some of the text is quite bad. But after reading what you mentioned I would assume that's it does say not valid on HS1.
 
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