Buying tickets independantly for Trans-Siberian

OK, in a nutshell, what is the best way to buy train tickets for trips outside of Russia not through an agent?

I am buying my internal tickets for the Russian legs of the Trans-siberian through rzd.ru but they don't allow purchase for trains going outside of Russia, so how do I do this?

Can I buy tickets at Irkutsk station for Irkutsk-Ulanbator and then can I buy a ticket at Ulan-Bator onto Beijing? Or are there agents online for these legs that just charge a small amount?

Can I buy tickets at Irkutsk station for Irkutsk-Ulanbator and then can I buy a ticket at Ulan-Bator onto Beijing?

Sure you can! What did you think how the locals buy the tickets if not locally? ;-)

Or you could buy the tickets already at a Moscow station for Irkutsk-Ulanbator if you're certain about your travel dates.

:) Haha yes I know it seems like an obvious answer, but I grew up in the UK where red tape and bureaucracy grows on trees!! I thought with being a non-Russian I may not be able to for some reason. However, more to the point, I just thought there must be a catch as I don't understand why it is so easy to do this and why people still pay so much more and go through agencies!!

So in terms of price for example, if I rolled into Irkutsk I'd be able to buy a 1st/2nd class ticket for the next day from the station and this would be as cheap an option as possible? Instead of buying weeks in advance? And the same in Ulan-Bator for Beijing?

It all depends what season are you going to be there. Surely you can buy the train ticket at the Irkutsk station IF it's not sold out in summer. Summer is a busy season for this leg (Irkutsk to Ulan-Bator, Ulan-Ude to Ulan-Bator), simply because it's international transfer and it get busy only a couple of months a year, so this train leg has low capacity daily (a couple of carriages every day).

I meet a lot of people who decided not to buy the tickets through the agencies. Mostly there is availability for them and they take train Irk-UB. But if it's not there, there is no drama; people catch train from Irkutsk to Ulan-Ude (about 900 roubles) and then they take an international bus from Ulan-Ude to Ulan-Bator(about 1700 roubles).
The bus leaves in the morning everyday. Takes 10 hours.

Denis Sobnakov

One more thing.

If you buy train ticket "Irkutsk to UlanBator" at Moscow train station, you can't change it for another date or get any refund.

Safe travels,
Denis

Buying a ticket at any station for any train is of course possible, but what can be more difficult is the queues in busy season (Irkutsk in summer....) and a possible lack of language skills...Better to have some russian in that case. And don't forget your passport when booking.
Of course you can do it online.

Thanks, I'm actually travelling in January so hopefully should be much easier to get tickets on the go rather than peak season.
So my plan will be to book the tickets for trains within russia on the rzd.ru site then just buy the tickets for train to Ulan-Bator then to Beijing at the stations themselves.

Would you all expect the prices to be the same whether buying weeks before or on the day/day before at the stations?

Prices will not change a lot. But rzd does special prices promo sometimes, but you can't really predict

Thanks Denis, I'll hope the prices don't change much then, an if anyone has any further info it would be great to know, cheers...

But rzd does special prices promo sometimes, but you can't really predict

But only for domestic routes, not?

I think international fares are fixed.

I second Denis's suggestion about taking the bus UU-UB it's a real time saver plus you can spend some time with the Lenin Head! If you decide to stay in UU I highly suggest the UU hostel.
Cheers
Howie