If you spend as much time travelling by train as we do, you’ll know that it can be an expensive undertaking. However, with a bit of knowledge and a small amount of patience, it's often possible to travel cheaply. As the saying goes, look after the pennies and the pounds will look after themselves!

1) Plan in advance

* If travelling any great distance, try to get your tickets as early as possible. Most advanced tickets are available 12 weeks before the date of travel, although this varies between train companies.
* Be aware that advance tickets are normally non-refundable and you will have to travel on your booked train so if your travel plans change, you will be out of pocket.

2) Buy online

* All rail operators can sell you tickets for other companies, so you don’t need to buy from the company you are travelling with.
* Most providers offer special online deals or further discounts when you buy tickets for their trains on their own websites, so shop around.
* Avoid third-party providers like The Trainline. Unlike rail companies, they will often charge you a booking fee, plus extra for using debit or credit cards, as well as a handsome fee for delivering your tickets. Sometimes you even pay for the privilege of collecting your tickets at the station!
* Check out megatrain.com, which offers £1 tickets between major cities that use Stagecoach-owned services.
* If taking your bike, book through southernrailways.com. Unlike most websites, they allow you to book your bicycle for the journey, saving a trip to the station or a long wait on the phone.

3) Travel together

* Most companies offer group discounts for off-peak travel, so ask about group tickets if you’re travelling to the same destination with more than two people.

4) Single or return?

* You would expect a return ticket to be cheaper than two singles. Yet logic and train fares go together like a kettle and a rabbit. Many of the best deals are only available on single fares, so always check to see if two singles is cheaper.
* And just to make it more confusing, if you only need to travel one way, buying a return could be cheaper! So in short, it’s always worth asking for the alternatives. nationalrail.co.uk displays the fare options clearly and refers you on to a seller to purchase your ticket.

5) Travel short

* This means buying a ticket for a journey further than you want to travel, and getting off (or ‘de-training’, as the rail operators like to call it now) earlier. For example, an advance ticket from Brighton to Bath costs less than £10, but these tickets aren’t available for Bradford-on-Avon to Bath, even though it’s the same train, on the same line, and 10 minutes shorter!
* One thing to note – travelling short is against the ‘conditions of carriage’ that tickets are issued under, so do this at your own risk and have a good excuse up your sleeve if questioned!

6) Split your fare

* Splitting your fare – buying two tickets for one journey – is a game to play if you’ve got a bit of time to spare.
* Sometimes, cheap advance tickets aren’t available for long journeys simply because a small part of the journey is on a train where advance tickets are unavailable or have sold out. This can leave you with expensive anytime or off-peak tickets as the only option. But try breaking your journey into sections according to where you change trains – the total cost of two or three tickets might be cheaper than one single ticket.
* Here’s an example: a ticket from Bristol Temple Meads to Birmingham is £38.50 if you buy a peak-time single. But instead you could pay £7.30 for a single from Bristol to Cheltenham and £17.50 for a single from Cheltenham to Birmingham - a saving of £13.70, and you don’t even need to change trains!
* The rewards can be even greater for longer journeys. A single on the 07.00 train from Bristol Temple Meads to London Paddington costs £79.50. But if you split your ticket at Didcot (so a single from Bristol to Didcot and one from Didcot to London), you will save a whopping £33. Almost enough for a sandwich and a cup of tea from the trolley.
* Another great fare-splitting tactic is for journeys that start during peak times but arrive afterwards. Try splitting your fare by buying a ticket to the first station on your journey after peak time ends and then buy an ‘off-peak’ ticket for the remainder of the journey – it may work out cheaper. Peak times vary between operators and destinations, so you will need to read the small print.

7) Have a moan

* Some hard-earned pounds can be recouped if your train is delayed or cancelled. If this happens, always ask for a customer comment form (the station staff rarely offer these by default!) and keep your tickets. Compensation for delayed journeys is usually provided as vouchers for future travel.
* Whether you qualify for a full or partial refund depends on the journey and rail operator, but as a rough rule of thumb, if you’re over 30 minutes late then it's worth pursuing.
* Some operators are quite generous and give a full refund; others offer the bare minimum that the rules require.
* The website traindelays.co.uk provides an easy way to find out what you’re entitled to, and has a simple online form – and remember to keep hold of your tickets.
* You can sometimes get compensation for other reasons, such as poor customer service, a lack of toilet facilities on trains, or missing / incorrect seating / bicycle reservations.

For more information and other money-saving tips, visit:

cheaptraintickets.info
moneysavingexpert.com/travel/cheap-train-tickets
nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/promotions/rangers_and_rovers.html

If you travel from West Yorkshire and use the Settle to Carlisle line a lot, join the Friends of the S C & buy a Gold Card. This gets you 33% off all tickets and fabulous discounts in the winter (e.g. Nov 2010 to Feb 2011 £6 day return to anywhere on the line).