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I am considering taking a train from Pwllheli to Bristol. It looks like the train tickets using the fastest route would cost around £100, and the cheaper alternative, connecting in Shrewsbury and Newport, is much more affordable around £50. In case I will not spot an Advance ticket for my journey, I am happy to take the train via Newport (the ticket conditions seem to state "Offpeak, via Hereford").

My question is, if I decide to get the "offpeak via Hereford"-kind of ticket, can I stop for an hour or two while connecting at Shrewsbury, instead of taking the first possible train onward? It would be nice to break the 6-hour train ride to have lunch, for example.

Since there is no ticket vending machine or a ticket office in Pwllheli, I hope I can buy the ticket onboard the train (should I ask "one ticket to Bristol via Hereford please"?)

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  • Highly related: travel.stackexchange.com/questions/102901/…
    – skifans
    May 17, 2018 at 8:26
  • I suspect when the train comes to Pwllheli the guard will have to get out to check the platform before s/he can safely dispatch the train. If they are on commission which guards on some routes are s/he will definitely spot you and come down to try to sell you a ticket
    – mdewey
    May 17, 2018 at 15:29
  • There is a difference between breaking your journey by staying in a station for a later train and by leaving the station for a while to return to the same station for a train, (whatever the time that has passed.) In the UK the first kind was always allowed as long as you do not have timed tickets, the second kind was often not allowed. I am not familiar with the current rules, but if you have to leave through gates, talk with staff before you put your ticket in on the way out.
    – Willeke ♦
    May 17, 2018 at 16:37
  • Indeed. As @Willeke says, you may find barriers and, if you put your ticket in to leave the station for a break in the journey, you may not get it back. Staff may be willing to let you out and back in. However, a lot of stations will have cafes "train-side". NationalRail.co.uk indicates that there is a Pumpkin cafe.
    – user25730
    Apr 26, 2020 at 23:34

2 Answers 2

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Peter Green has answered the first part of your question very well - the fare you're looking at allows break of journey (in fact, all anytime and most off-peak tickets allow this), so you should have no problem having a lunch break in Shrewsbury. Since the anytime tickets are valid for at least two days (an anytime single is valid two days; an anytime return is valid 5 days on the outward portion and a month on the return) you can even have an overnight break if you wish!

In terms of ticket purchasing, yes, the rule (6.1 on page 7) is that you must buy a ticket at the first opportunity you get on your journey. This is taken to mean that if there's ticket buying facilities at a station, you must buy it there. But if there aren't, you may take a seat on the train and wait for the guard. While some operators encourage it, there is no requirement to actively seek out the guard (but of course, you may choose to do so to set your mind at ease, and especially on other routes with fewer stations with no ticket facilities, doing so to avoid potential trouble could be wise). If the guard doesn't come round (which may be down to their machine being broken or them just not wanting to come round and sell tickets...), you must buy a ticket at the first interchange station with ticket-buying facilities where you have sufficient time to do so (in your case it would likely be Shrewsbury).

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In theory whether "break of journey" is allowed on an off-peak ticket depends on the particular ticket. Most allow it but some have restrictions preventing it.

Curiously though I don't see any off peak singles from PWL to BRI, only anytime singles. It seems an anytime single from PWL to BRI via Hereford costs £53.10 and doesn't have any restrictions.

http://www.brfares.com/#faredetail?orig=PWL&dest=BRI&rte=822&tkt=SOS

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  • Yes, it seems I got confused with the fares, while checking them for multiple journeys. The fare I have been looking for PWL-BRI is certainly that Anytime fare.
    – borellini
    May 17, 2018 at 14:31

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