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What would be the best way to get from LHR to Whitley Bridge by train? First time in the UK.

Thanks!!

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    By best do you mean fastest, cheapest, least changes?
    – Uciebila
    Commented Aug 12, 2019 at 16:01
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    I imagine if you have something to do in a middle-of-nowhere place such as Whitley Bridge, you're probably in contact with some locals. It would be wise to ask them what the easiest way to get to the particular place you need to be is.
    – hmakholm left over Monica
    Commented Aug 12, 2019 at 16:50

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Whitley Bridge is a rural station in Yorkshire, near Leeds, about 250 km north of London. According to Wikipedia it is only served by a few trains a day, so unless you are traveling at exactly the right time, you'll need to take a taxi or local bus from a nearby station with better service, such as Selby, Knottingley or one of the Pontefract stations.

If you want to go by train all the way, you're looking at a travel time of at least 4-5 hours, and it won't be particularly cheap. It might be quicker and cheaper to extend your air ticket with a domestic flight to Leeds-Bradford Airport and take local transportation from there.

By train, you would need to take a train from London Kings Cross and change to a local train somewhere around Leeds or Wakefield. See this question for getting from Heathrow to Kings Cross, and use the National Rail journey planner to find a suitable connection from there.

(If you enter "Heathrow" as a departure point in the National Rail planner, it will try to put you on the expensive Heathrow Express into central-ish London. It is cheaper and not much slower to take the tube instead).

Note that the train ticket can be significantly cheaper if you buy it in advance, but then it will be tied to a particular departure from Kings Cross, and you won't have much flexibility to deal with flight delays.

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  • Searching on nationalrail.co.uk actually suggested it can be done in 4 hours and 25 minutes (of course that was with the heathrow express), I didn't look into the details, so I can't say if that's realistic, but it suggests that "at least 5 hours" is a bit high. I would probably also look into flying a bit closer. Nowadays I guess the Heathrow-Paddington part of the Elizabeth line (that part should be open) is an option that's between the Heathrow Express and the tube in both price and time (depending on where you're going of course, but continuing from King's Cross, I think it holds).
    – Henrik supports the community
    Commented Aug 12, 2019 at 16:21
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    @Henrik: As for Elizabeth line, it's not running yet -- TfL has taken over the operating responsibility for the stopping trains formerly known as "Heathrow Connect", but the trains, route, and frequency are the same.
    – hmakholm left over Monica
    Commented Aug 12, 2019 at 16:25
  • @Henrik: I overlooked that the travel time is unusually sensitive to the departure time you put in, because there are only a few trains a day to Whitley Bridge.
    – hmakholm left over Monica
    Commented Aug 12, 2019 at 16:44
  • Had a look at trainline for pricing. Cheapest off-peak ticket for tomorrow is £62. For a random date 26th September cheapest is £34 here are the journey details and of course return fares are available too. There are several changes of train, which are given.
    – Weather Vane
    Commented Aug 12, 2019 at 19:29
  • ...and the first leg Heathrow to Kings Cross is given as Underground Picadilly line, which is the best option unless you have loads of baggage, in which case take the Heathrow Express to Paddington station and then a taxi to Kings Cross station.
    – Weather Vane
    Commented Aug 12, 2019 at 19:35

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