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Hi, does anyone know what the best route from the South West to the South Coast would be, for example Exeter to Brighton.  The journey planners seem to suggest quite a few alternatives, I would have always gone via Paddington and Victoria but is changing at Reading and Gatwick a better option?

i would have thought westbury or sailsbury

Depends if cost or time is an issue also.

This would result in long journey on a underfloor engine DMU.

now your just making it hard! ok so you have a hst fettish one second

god talk about going the long way round! well if you went via westbury you would have about an hour on a hst from exeter the nearly 3 hours from westbury to brighton thats a long way! i dont know what rolling stock is used on this line?

or you got clapham junction but thats on a class 159 (to be honest would pic this over a fgw hst anyday)

its a long long way there dont seem to be any trains from the west? shortest journey time i found is 3 hours 50 via westbury and to be honest unless you are ok with spending alot of time and possibly money i wouldnt count on loco hauled all the way

The coast route from Bath Spa to Brighton is pretty hellish to be honest. Back in the day it was tolerable when one could settle into the smoker with a couple of cans of pop and 40 Marlboros but today the least painful journey is via Paddington, then on to either Victoria, or you can go to Farringdon on the Hammersmith and City and pick up the Thameslink down to the coast.

Reading - Gatwick is somewhere between the two in terms of sheer unpleasantness. Be prepared for a long, slow haul with lots of stops and lots of people with more luggage than is strictly necessary for a long weekend in Margate.

Best way is via London though this may cost more.

how long would this take

Exeter - Plymouth - Roscoff - Dieppe - Newhaven - Brighton. (http://www.millan.net/minimations/smileys/loveboat.gif) (http://www.millan.net)

hehe

Exeter St Davids > HST > Westbury > 158 > Southampton Central > Brighton...??

Granted you'll spend 1hr on a 158, but IMO would be the best option;D

Go via London to utilise the ^3 fare to Brighton!

When I lived in Gunnislake and used to go and see my sons in Brighton very regularly we tried every combination and decided best route was via Reading - Gatwick mainly for relatively easy platform changes, comfort of journey and length of journey. This was also their favorite for coming to see us.

Used Exeter - Clapham - Brighton (SW trains) several times as cheap but longer - got really fed up with booking seats that were not tagged and subsequent fight to sit down.  There also used to be a single weekend Plymouth - Brighton direct which I would recommend to no one if it is still running.

My preferred route from Exeter at least would be via Honiton and change at Salisbury. The 159s are reliable, comfortable units - I've never found the underfloor engines a problem. There's usually room as long as it's a 6 car train, though they can be busy east of Yeovil Junction. Hopefully when the line gets an hourly service in December it'll keep the journey time nearer to 1.5 hours than 2 hours. Also at Salisbury there are SWT services to Southampton if you're not going any further. Salisbury is a much nicer place to change as well than Westbury IMO.

Wow what an interesting question.

Brings back memories of sitting at the bottom of my grandmother's garden in Woolston overlooking the Portsmouth line and seeing the morning Brighton Plymouth drift down the bank from Sholing behind an unrebuilt West Country usually  around luchtime. Later in the day if we weren't out the opposite working used to come huffling up the bank in the way WCs had when working hard.They were special trains because they were some of the few trains on the line that didn't stop at Woolston.

However, that was the 50s. When you only had paper timetables.

Just tried to get Exeter Brighton via Clapham Junction in National Rail planner as I thought probably only one change and reasonable stock 159 to Clapham and Electrostar to Brighton. Also I know friends that do Axminister to Clapham Jn a lot and get very good advanced fares. However it  keeps giving me FGW to Padd TFL to Victoria and out to Brighton.

Just tried Exeter Central to Clapham Junction got a couple of through trains but also got Central to St Davids, Padd, TFL, Vic, Clapham Jn. Also got via St Davids Westbury Salisbury Basingstoke!

If you go via Salisbury you can also do it with one change if you time it right but it's DMUs all the way SWT 159 and FGW 158! You can also change into the FGW 158 from an HST at Westbury.

If you change at Southampton as well you can  presumably get a Southern  Electrostar through to Brighton.

Maybe via Reading and Gatwick could be best so just tried it out on rail planner and it gives me a via Clapham Junction also got via Padd and Farringdon!

Is there a coach? At least it would probably be one change in Victoria.

If you do find a reasonable journey how you find out what the best fare is I haven't a clue!

Sometimes computers are just not as good as books. e.g. Journey Planners and versus printed timetables.