Thinking of travelling by train? Some useful links

Some useful train links I know of.  Please post follow-ups to add any more that I haven't discovered

What stations are available for me to travel from and to?

If you want a map:
http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/info/maps/uk.pdf
If you want to enter a place name or postcode:
http://www.thetrainline.com/Station_Search/browse_stations.asp
For London:
http://tube.tfl.gov.uk/

How can I find the train times and best routes?

Two sites that you enter your "from" and "to" and get routings and times ...
If you want the best, use a German site. Seriously:
http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en
Official UK timetable system:
http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/planmyjourney/time_table/journey_requirements.asp
For journeys within London:
http://tube.tfl.gov.uk/

Tickets and discounts?

There's a standard set of "Open" ticket fares for each route and then many, many much lower cost offferings available.  You might like to start with the train operating company sites, or the various online bookers but they may not find you the cheapest; most people buy at the station or (if the station is unstaffed like ours) on the train.
http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/tocs/tocs.htm
http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/info/info.asp
For London:
http://tube.tfl.gov.uk/content/tickets/default.asp

If you're under 26, over 60, a student, a family, or disabled you can get a railcard which will then give you discounts off rail fares:
http://www.railcard.co.uk/

If you're a visitor from outside the UK, look at:
http://www.britrail.com/index_us.html
These passes are bargains!  For 140 pounds at current exchange rates, you can travel anywhere by train in the UK for 8 days.  If you only have a British address, the best you can do is 338 pounds for 7 days.

Is the train on time?

For updates on longer term changes and general disruptions:
http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/realtime/trainrunning.htm
To see the departure board for your local station from the confort of your living room:
http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/ldb/fs_departures.asp
Up to date information for the London Underground:
http://tube.tfl.gov.uk/content/nexus/

For all of the above
Phone rail advise line: 08457 48 49 50


And for pleasure trips where the travel is more important than the destination

Steam trips and days out to unusual destinations:
http://www.toursatpathfinder.freeserve.co.uk/
Heritage railways and museums:
http://ukhrail.uel.ac.uk/

[Edit note - I made one "L" of a mistake in my original post - I said .html when I meant to .htm on one of the links!]

Wow, Graham.  Those are some great links.  I may have to re-think my usual train taking policy of going to the station and hoping the right train turns up.  

I have however used the family rail card and it is a really good deal.  

Wow Graham!
I will need to check this out further – but thanks!
We will be planning a train trip from Turino Italy to somewhere in Spain then into France where we will fly back to Bristol airport. It is still in the discussion stage – but my husband wants to go visit his family in Turino before we move back to the States – and I want to see Spain!!!

We will be planning a train trip from Turino Italy to somewhere in Spain then into France where we will fly back to Bristol airport. It is still in the discussion stage – but my husband wants to go visit his family in Turino before we move back to the States – and I want to see Spain!!!

Incredibly, the German web site I pointed to in my original post for timetables is Europe-wide ... Just put in "Turino" and "Madrid" and you'll get your routings!

This is incredibly fabulous!  Can we make it a sticky topic so we don't lose it?  Pretty please? ? ?

Great thread Graham!
I'd like to add another link: whenever we've bought tickets ahead of time, like if we're going to London or something, we always use this site:

www.qjump.co.uk

and it's a good way to see how much it will cost to take the train anywhere in the UK.

oooh very helpful ...thanks graham

Goodness - thanks for all that feedback. Elle - I'll make sure it doesn't get lost ... I'm hoping to do something similar for buses and coaches, etc, and perhaps transatlantic flights and driving too.  When they're done and revised (thanks for the extra link, Marlespo), I'll stick 'em somewhere in a single thread so as not to clutter the top of the board!  How does that suit everyone?

sounds like you've got your ducks in a row.

 How does that suit everyone?

Oh this is going to be a great resource! Thank you Graham!

Graham - is this the site you were referring to in an earlier post? http://www.internet.xephos.com
I am in the beginning stages of planning our Spain/France/Italy trip. We want to fly into Mallorca (Spanish Spelling), take a boat to Barcelona, then train journey through the south of France into Italy - down to Rome, then up to Florence then onto Venice and across to Turin (Italian spelling) Torino (English spelling) to visit my husbands family. Then we want to get to a spot in France to fly back to Bristol. Whew - I am tired now!

Yes, that's the site I referred to in another post - it does integrated bus and train timetables, but (I think) British Isles only.  For a train trip across multiple countries, I would use the German Railway site ... http://reiseauskunft.bahn.de/bin/query.exe/en.

Return flights from France .... Ryanair?  Easyjet?  Air Chance (Err - I mean Air France)?  Probably a look at each of their sites to see what they offer on a map near what you need.  

Ferries to Barcelona.  Wow - that's a good one.   Many of the UK ferry sites offer a huge range of timetables including the Greek Islands; they may also offer the Spanish Islands.  I'll see if I can find a link and post it up.

I've just got back today by ferry from Dublin and I'm researching ferries to Holland for us in a couple of weeks - it's a very ferry sort of day!

Ferries!!!  These any help?  My Spanish Geography is naff!!

http://www.ibiza-spotlight.com/transport/ferry_i.htm

If any of you are interested in taking a fun, scenic train trip with your kids then check out this link.
ftp://http://www.westcoastrailway.co.uk/

It takes you over the viaduct bridge see in the Harry Potter movies...where Harry and his friend are in the flying car and they almost land in front of the train.  Anyhow, worth checking out I think.  The only draw back is it mostly only runs in the summer.  I remember doing something similar to this with my parents when I was younger, and going on the old trains is still one of my favorite childhood memories.

Thanks Graham! We will look into this and let you know what we find out! Wow! What an adventure this will be!!!