Originally Posted by
pacer142
If you want to go on the cheap, buy a ticket to Crewe then change to London Midland services. Will take you ages, though!
For a journey between London and Manchester, the place to change would actually Stoke-on-Trent, not Crewe (the cheap London Midland train/ticket being between Stoke and London) - three and a half hours or so total journey time.