network railcard
 

Can I renew one online? Or do I have to buy one in person like I did (Ashford Int'l) like I did last year. I think the cost a year ago was 30 quid.

yes you can renew on line. Though in effect you are buying a new one.

Not sure if they will sent it to Texas though!

But requires your phone to not run out of battery and the app to not suddenly fail (as it did a few months ago).

thanks for the info folks!

Just in case you're not aware you can book tickets in advance and get the railcard discount but not have the card at that time.

You only need to have the card when you travel.

Yes thank you I did know that. When the ticket master comes around and looks at my ticket he eagerly waits to see the network card.

Yes, they can be posted abroad - though the cost appears to be £10 regardless of the international destination. (Also, it's sent as an "International Tracked Signed" letter, so may need someone to be in at the delivery address to sign for the delivery - something which isn't always convenient.)

Whilst the other ('national') Railcards have been available for purchase online and delivery by post for yonks, this was only made available for the Network Railcard within the past two or three years. It comes in the form of a more indestructable (though less planet friendly) credit-card sized plastic card compared to the somewhat flimsier piece of paper card that you receive when you buy a Network Railcard in person from a station ticket office.

Interesting. It might be easier to buy my usual st pancras express train to ashford and instead of going to the ticket kiosk at lhr to pick up my ticket just go to the ticket booth to pick it up plus buy the discount card at the same time.

Without sounding too stupid as I find it confusing are all the different railways separate companies? Southeast rail has its own website.

A little off topic but I remember back to the early 90’s traveling the SE network and the coaches were so old I used to lower the window and open the door via the handle. Lol

I've personally never had an issue with the app for my Two Together railcard.

If you find yourself regularly travelling during the week and hitting the minimum fare, note that you can get round this (at a cost) by buying a cheap annual season ticket instead of the railcard (aka Gold Card), but you'd need to be doing this a lot to make the saving worthwhile. I understand the current cheapest one is Exeter St Davids to Exeter Central (£144).

Nor me, and with the advent of high capacity power blocks, and many more trains having charging points, it's increasingly unlikely that your phone would completely run out of charge with no method of restoring a few percent fairly quickly.

The app (at least the Android version) does not allow you to screenshot the photo page, but you can grab an image of the previous screen which shows names and card expiry as a back up if the app does malfunction.

I think there are people whose phones often run out of battery, and those who don't. You already know which category you fall into, and can judge whether or not you want to use this app accordingly.

I do need to get a new phone, though. 4 years old, and the battery is starting to struggle!

You can pick up a pre booked train ticket at any UK train station. You will get a warning during the booking process if you select a station not involved in the journey but you just click through it. I collect my tickets for Euston to Manchester at Brighton for example.

Yes the UK train companies are separate compaies and operate different franchises and have their own websites. But they each sell each others tickets. I buy my Southern Rail tickets from Great Western because Great Western offer nectar points but Southern don't. The price is the same. Just avoid sites such as the train line that charge booking fees.

Those 'slam door' trains have long gone!

Not on all routes. If the OP fancies a spot of nostalgia then Greater Anglia still deploy them on the Norwich-London Liverpool Street mainline, albeit not for much longer.

The interiors have been refurbished relatively recently with new seating and power sockets installed, but to illustrate how old the carriages actually are they still have 'BR' imprinted on the slide down window handles.

British Rail hasn't run a train since 1997, and these certainly pre-date that by a few years.

LNER, CrossCountry and East Midlands Trains still operate slam-door HSTs for now, as well as the two sleeper services, although much of these are also shortly going to be replaced. I'm sure someone could find some other obscure ones.

I did have a fondness for the old commuter trains into Waterloo (when I started commuting from South London). One door per seat bay. They'd all be swung open well before the train came to a halt, with commuters jumping off when they could manage. Those things were ancient! And pretty horrendous in a crash.