Which route is acceptable
 

Hi All

Not sure if this is the correct thread to ask this but I will shortly be travelling from Ramsgate to Blackpool which I normally take the west coast mainline via Euston. My question is will my ticket be valid if I took an alternative route ie up the east coast mainline to York and across to Blackpool or via Birmingham travelling out of London from Marylebone. Many thanks from anybody who can advise.

Well online you can set your ticket accordingly.
Quite a lot of tickets have any permitted by the route section.
It might be worth calling the helpline.

Yeah just looked on National Rail Enquiries and they show a valid route via York. I imagine with an Anytime ticket you should be allowed access on both of those routes.

The National Routeing guide shows that a Ramsgate - Blackpool ticket is valid via Marlyebone, Paddington, Euston or St Pancras (as far as Sheffield).

IT IS NOT VALID VIA THE EAST COAST MAINLINE.

The National Rail Enquiries site shows that more than one ticket may be needed for travel via york

So it is, no 91's allowed then ;) .

Thanks to everyone who has taken the time to reply. I have tried to get my head around this National routing guide and I have come up with routes of LM and LR which appears to me that I have to travel to Victoria and then from Euston via Birmingham or Manchester or direct to Preston, am I doing something wrong.

Hmm.
Try to root out a couple of timetables from stations or online to actually look at the trains you want.

They usually will have them at the booking office or you could try a few operators websites.

If you are doing something wrong then so am I. That's how I understand it. :(
Perhaps Hairy can elaborate and explain how he gets the other routes?

The Routeing Guide does indeed allow for maps LM and LR, however Ramsgate to Blackpool also brings up "London". In this case you use the routes form Ramsgate to London and London to Blackpool.

Thanks for that Hairy.
I have now managed to find it in the Routing Guide instructions.

The Routeing Guide is anything but simple. It used to be when it was introduced as a paper document back in '96, then they had an over-elaborate online version with multitudes of routes not previously allowed (and some that defy logic), but even that was easier to follow than the current pdf format.

Thanks for explaining I understand it now just hope I can explain to a ticket inspector at Sheffield that my ticket is valid.

The ticket inspecter *should* know it's valid, I never had a problem with a Luton to Blackpool ticket that way a few years back (although I realise its not quite the same thing), but if you think you might have a problem print the relevant pages of the Routeing Guide and take them with you.