Originally Posted by
ajax
If you search for your journey through
www.nationalrail.co.uk, you have the option to purchase it. When you do, you will be given a list of websites through which to go. TheTrainLine is but one of these.
All major rail carriers can actually sell tickets on most routes, even those on which they themselves do not operate.
But just about all other rail operators still use the crappy interface (and customer service) of The Trainline, so it's best to avoid most of these as thetrainline will still be dealing with the billing on behalf of the third party.
If you want to book tickets on a site that's no connection whatsoever to thetrainline, is generally easier to use and has UK based customer service then book via the
NXEC website. (I hate the deterioration of NXEC's on board product, but at least they kept the GNER online booking engine).