"Neil Williams" wrote:
But anyway, it looks like the cheap tickets (£16.60 for 2 adults, 1 kid,
with family railcard - all zones travelcard return from Gatwick) should do
the job fine for the journey from Heathrow to Gatwick via Barons Court,
Victoria, and changing at East Croydon.

I believe there's a Southern-only version for even less. That might
make sense for you, as it sounds like you want to use Southern.

Heh - it would do, but if there is such a thing, it seems that no sod wants
to tell me about it! The guy in my local station (Bracknell) was extremely
helpful, and whilst he didn't notice the £16.60 fare straight away, telling
me about the £25 or so fare that was Gatwick Express only, I mentioned it
and he found it. The girl on the phone at National Rail Enquiries didn't
seem to have a clue about a Southern-only ticket either, but I don't doubt
that someone at Gatwick might know though! Though I don't see a lot of
point in paying extra for the Gatwick Express, as Southern seem to do a
fairly frequent service that's only 4 minutes longer - are there other
benefits to the Gatwick Express, like being able to check in luggage
directly from the station or something?

1. Will the lack of the tickets having been through any ticket machine
before getting on the tube replacement bus at T4 (or tube at Hatton Cross)
cause any problems (as effectively they're using it as a single ticket)?
(Sorry if someone did answer this before!)

Doubt it. (I'm assuming these are being bought in advance, as the Tube
ticket office at Heathrow wouldn't be able to issue such a thing, as
you're not strictly meant to do it in that order).

Indeed ;-). At the end of the day though there could have been all manner
of reasons why those tickets hadn't gone through a machine - barriers open
at the start of journey - travelcards only used on buses, etc etc, so like
you say, I can't see it being an issue.

2. Will changing from a Southern tran to a FCC train at East Croydon
involve
much in the way of stairs?

It might be same-platform, but if it isn't I recall that there are
(long) ramps but no stairs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:E...and_-_Thamesli
nk_train_exits_south_-_Evening_-_270404.jpg
might show what I mean.

Cheers for that - they'd probably be fine with stairs anyway, but those
ramps would make things a bit easier.

--
"For want of the price of tea and a slice, the old man died."