What are your best tips and ideas for great days out by train with the family? Share to win a £250 John Lewis voucher, courtesy of Great Northern and Thameslink.

[RebeccaEMumsnet]

We have been asked by the team at Thameslink and Great Northern to find out your top tips for great days out with the children on the train, your tips on travelling by train with children and how to keep the kids entertained on the rail journeys.

Here’s what they have to say:
"Family days out create lasting memories but can sometimes be costly! To help combat this, did you know that you can get 2FOR1 tickets on certain attractions around London, Brighton and Cambridge when you travel there by rail with Thameslink and Great Northern?

Thameslink operates train services to and from the heart of London, between Bedford and Brighton via Luton and Gatwick Airport, and St Albans and Wimbledon.

Great Northern connects King’s Lynn, Cambridge and Peterborough, via Stevenage and Welwyn Garden City with London King’s Cross. Metro services run to and from Moorgate weekdays, late evening and at weekends.

^Kids travel for just £2 when accompanied by an adult on our great value Off-Peak tickets, plus get 2FOR1 offers to heaps of attractions when you travel by train: thameslinkrailway.com/spring^

We'd love to hear how you manage to have your own great day out using the train with your family."

Please share on this thread your top train tips for all thing family - whatever it is that you do, Thameslink and Great Northern want to know*.

Everyone who posts on this thread will be entered into a prize draw where one MNer will win a £250 John Lewis voucher.

You can find out more about the Great Northern and Thameslink 2FOR1 promotion here

Thanks,

MNHQ

*Standard Insight T&Cs Apply

Lots of snacks, some pencils and paper are helpful. Plan as far in advance as you can. I once managed to get a first class seat for an extra £8. It was well worth the money, we were almost the only ones in the carriage so plenty of space. My son loved playing with the table lamp and I enjoyed my free tea.

i think always pre plan your journey and make sure you have a table seat. bring plenty of board games and snacks and water.

My tips are very basic, decide what to do and book the tickets at least 3 weeks in advance to take advantage of reduced fares in single tickets (2 singles are ofter cheaper than a return ticket when booked in advance), and yes, by all means get the Family & Friends card.

I normally arrange to visit two to three attractions to cater for DS and for me (I go to children stuff on the condition that he will tag along to a museum of my choosing). If we keep trips interesting for everyone involved, we are more likely to keep doing them often.

Pack sandwiches or get a lunch deal from Boots at the station to eat later.

Now, if someone has any tips to get teenagers interested in days out by train let me know. At the moment the only way to get DS out is to bring a friend around, which is normally a bit expensive.

Book seats, carry plenty of snacks and bottled water, bring books and magazines. Hangman is a great, old-fashioned way to pass the time!

I find booking a table seat before hand is a must, the last thing you need to be doing is trying to find seats so that the whole family can sit together, otherwise you could be separated!..Take plenty of food/snacks/drinks and most important childrens painkillers/plasters,light weight games, i find the more you are prepared the easier it goes and then everybody will have smiles on their faces.

I always plan a trip about 1/2months in advance and i am so glad idid on all of my trips.

We take plenty of snacks books puzzle books stickers and sketch pads. We get the kids to practice their handwriting skills and make up a story about what they have seen on their train journey. My daughters favourite stories are about spy's. The kids also love drawing what they see.

oh we do a lot of trips on the train. I would agree that non-messy snacks are a good plan! If you are going with a buggy, take a lightweight one and a large bag for all your stuff, just having to lift off one bag and then fold the buggy if you need to use stairs makes life a lot easier than if you have lots of stuff under the buggy.

Take books and load toddler games on your phone (which you need to charge!) to keep them entertained.

Book tickets in advance (so it's cheap and you get a table), lots of snacks, toys and spare clothes for DD.

We bring plenty of snacks (rice cakes, oat cakes, fruit, sandwiches and juice boxes) and quiet-type activities (drawing, colouring, etch-a-sketch). We play eye-spy and I-hear as well. And we offer to buy a treat (or bring a chocolate) that the child will receive at the end of the trip if he/she behaves.

Make sure you book seats in advance, so that you can ensure you're all sitting together (preferably round a table) - nothing worse than scrabbling for seats and all being split up, especially if it's a long journey.
We take an assortment of stuff to keep them occupied - ipads (with chargers!), books, magazines, and plenty of snacks / resealable drinks as the buffet car tends to be really expensive.

Get a table seat and bring Uno!

Now this is naughty, but sit the opposite end to the buffet car and then every half an hour go for a walk to find it. The kids love walking with the swinging motion of the train, it keeps them occupied! As long as they are walking not running and talking not shouting, it keeps everyone amused. My kids love trains. My other tips is avoid any most of peak trains as that's just stressful for everyone and no fun!

We always go by train when having afamily day out in London which we love to do a few times a year, The children love train journeys as we can chat and play games and they get to see so much more than when we drive. As for destinations you cant beat London for a family day out theres always so much to do

We love the train. Always plan ahead and reserve your seats - with a table if possible. When DCs were younger it was colouring books and quizzes now it's playing card games and chatting about what we plan to do (outward bound) or what we enjoyed the most (inward).

I take drinks and snacks for the train and will buy a tea/ coffee onboard. I don't like having to change trains and prefer to get settled and enjoy the journey ahead.

We live in the Midlands so a train journey is much preferred than driving to a city such as London. Obviously this is all depends on the costs involved. There are some fantastic bargains lately to travel by train and I try to go as much as possible. Only this week we went to London and had a brilliant time.

We have yet to take our LO on a modern train - but cannot wait - Looking to this thread for inspiration! !! My son (3) has been on quite a few steam trains & has really enjoyed it. We are in Leicestershire, so may not travel too far for our first journey - but York looks a good option - a couple of hours for us, lots to see on the journey & the Jorvik Viking Centre to entertain us when we get there! My son is absolutely bonkers about Thomas & has been such a very young age - many toys have come & gone - but his Thomas track & trains (which we got secondhand on Ebay - love it!) have really stood the test of time & he knows every train by name.. although I'm getting pretty good on that now too! We'd love to go to Scotland by train in the future, although I think we'll definitely need some shorter practice runs in preparation for that!! :)

Hi Buckley just read your post and just in case you're Planning a trip soon, the Jorvik centre is closed till
Spring 2017 due to
The York floods -

Take snacks water and try not have anchildnin a wheelchair in your family! While possible it makes train travel much harder!

I love taking the train with the kids up to the south lakes, usually Windermere for a day out. They love seeing all the mountains and hills, then jumping off the train and with a short walk down to the lake you can be feeding all the swans, eating ice cream and going on the boats. We love it!

always book ahead, make sure you book a table, take some paper and pens and when you arrive at a station write down time arrived throughout your journey, this keep my kids amused and saves asking how long till

Book seats in advance, preferably with a table. Have lots of drinks and snacks and something to keep them amused. DD loves handpuppets.

Most importantly bring lots of snacks to keep the little ones busy also make your own little games you can play with them to stop them getting bored and the usual game consoles and colouring books. Make the journeys fun for them!!

take plently of snacks and drinks and things for the children to do on the journey, like colouring books.

We have 4DC and they love the adventure of going on the train! Our top tips:

• Plan your trip so you minimise hanging around at the station.
• Go off-peak as it works at much cheaper for adults and just a few pounds for kids.
• The station car park will be cheaper for all day parking after morning peak hours too.
• Teach rail safety whilst you're there. There have been some awful incidences in the news or people killed on crossings or having fallen or been pushed messing about on platforms.
• Try to get a table fairly near the toilets. You don't want to be trekking through carriages or have to leave DC unsupervised.
• Take a game like Top Trumps, pocket chess or colouring for the journey.
• Pack plenty of drinks and snacks, baby wipes, tissues and hand gel.
• Research in advance and take advantage of any special offers on attractions. The railway often advertise these too.
• If you have older DC, talk about the history of trains or different kinds of modern trains- bullet, maglev etc. Use it to bring up scientific topics they might be covering at school.
• Have fun!

Booking three months in advance & taking a picnic from home in disposable containers that everyone can thier own food and snacks in small back PACs. Take rain coats - to often been caught out in rain.

A train journey is excitement enough for my 3 year old - it actually doesn't matter where we are going! He loves having a ticket to hold and looking out the window. Having a snack and a magazine to hand for longer journeys can help, but he is also happy to talk about the things we see through the windows.
A great day out would be a trip into london, a theatre performance, a visit to the natural history museum and lunch some where family friendly.
Trains is a great way to travel with a toddler - its more exciting then the car and there are toilets too!