London - Scotland 07/10/23

[adamt958]

Hi there,

I’m at a show in London on the Friday night, need to get up to Edinburgh on the Saturday morning. I am struggling to find any services, from anywhere.

LNER and Avanti showing nothing at all, likewise with Lumo.

Only thing I’m picking up at the moment is Grand Central to Sunderland, then a separate ticket.

I actually live in south wales and I would have left my car at Bristol Parkway, but can’t pick anything up on cross country either. The Friday and Sunday show full availability either side. So I was just wondering if I was missing something.

Cheers all.

 

[Gaelan]

Edit: missed the date in your title and assumed you meant this Friday. Please disregard.

I'm seeing tickets for the 20:27 Lumo on Friday - is that too early?

For the morning, your earliest options seem to be the 05:45 Lumo, which arrives 10:07, or the 06:15 LNER, which arrives 11:09.

The LNER has advance tickets available for £80 (less with a railcard). The Lumo is "sold out", but no trains in Britain (except the sleepers) are truly reservation-only - you can always board with a flexible ticket. There is of course a risk you'd have to stand, or that you'd be denied boarding if the train is especially full. A Lumo anytime single is £75. You can buy a flexible ticket from a ticket office, or online by selecting a different train on the same day - just make sure you're buying an anytime with a suitable time restriction, not an advance.

 

[hexagon789]

There is planned engineering work on the weekend of the 7th and 8th October between Newcastle and Edinburgh. That would affect travelling on the Saturday.

 

[AgeoftheTrain7]

It certainly seems like the engineering works will have an impact, given LNER are running a revised timetable with diversions for that day.
More details at: https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/engineering-works/newcastle-edinburgh-20231007/

Online journey planners state that there may be more details / ticket availability after 14th August if revised timetables have been published, but I would suggest one of the following options:

A) The Caledonian Sleeper is running as planned, departing Euston at 2345 on Friday night, arriving into Edinburgh at 0730 on Saturday morning. A seat on this service is £50 with an Advance ticket - by no means as comfortable as a (much more expensive) sleeper berth, but it would do the job.

B) Wait a good couple of weeks for Avanti West Coast to release their confirmed timetable, and try to select a service departing Euston that travels via the West Coast Main Line to Edinburgh. While it takes a bit longer than the ECML/LNER route, it should run without diversion. Currently, we're hoping that there will be an 0840 service ex. Euston, arr. 1417 in Edinburgh - this may be too late for you?

C) If the above option gets in too late, I would suggest getting an early-morning Avanti service to Glasgow Central (such as the 0603 --> 1059), then finding a fast service from Glasgow to Edinburgh, such as the 11:30 from Glasgow Queen Street (short walk from Central), arriving into Edinburgh at 1222.

D) Wait around a bit longer for LNER and Lumo to confirm their timetables - LNER will probably be the best bet as their website explicitly states they will be running diverted services, whereas Lumo state they will be using replacement buses.
It could be, however, that given LNER are potentially extending journey times by up to 2 hours, that Avanti are the best bet.

If fares seem expensive for Avanti when released, there could be some potential saving also in using an LNWR stopper to Crewe, then changing to an Edinburgh or Glasgow bound train.

Hope that helps... a bit!

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Walk-on tickets (ie Anytime or Off-peak, but not Advance) via the WCML from London to Edinburgh are valid via Glasgow.

 

[adamt958]

Brill, thank you for all the replies. Looks as if I’ll be going with Avanti, I did look at the sleeper but the show doesn’t finish until 22.30 approx, it won’t leave that much time to get across London from the O2 to Euston in time for the sleeper.

 

[Watershed]

It certainly seems like the engineering works will have an impact, given LNER are running a revised timetable with diversions for that day.
More details at: https://www.nationalrail.co.uk/engineering-works/newcastle-edinburgh-20231007/

Online journey planners state that there may be more details / ticket availability after 14th August if revised timetables have been published, but I would suggest one of the following options:

A) The Caledonian Sleeper is running as planned, departing Euston at 2345 on Friday night, arriving into Edinburgh at 0730 on Saturday morning. A seat on this service is £50 with an Advance ticket - by no means as comfortable as a (much more expensive) sleeper berth, but it would do the job.

B) Wait a good couple of weeks for Avanti West Coast to release their confirmed timetable, and try to select a service departing Euston that travels via the West Coast Main Line to Edinburgh. While it takes a bit longer than the ECML/LNER route, it should run without diversion. Currently, we're hoping that there will be an 0840 service ex. Euston, arr. 1417 in Edinburgh - this may be too late for you?

C) If the above option gets in too late, I would suggest getting an early-morning Avanti service to Glasgow Central (such as the 0603 --> 1059), then finding a fast service from Glasgow to Edinburgh, such as the 11:30 from Glasgow Queen Street (short walk from Central), arriving into Edinburgh at 1222.

D) Wait around a bit longer for LNER and Lumo to confirm their timetables - LNER will probably be the best bet as their website explicitly states they will be running diverted services, whereas Lumo state they will be using replacement buses.
It could be, however, that given LNER are potentially extending journey times by up to 2 hours, that Avanti are the best bet.

If fares seem expensive for Avanti when released, there could be some potential saving also in using an LNWR stopper to Crewe, then changing to an Edinburgh or Glasgow bound train.

Hope that helps... a bit!

A quicker version of option C would be to change anywhere between Preston and Carlisle for an Edinburgh-bound service. It would be a same-platform change at Lancaster, Oxenholme or Penrith, though it's important check the calling patterns - most Avanti services call at either Oxenholme or Penrith. All call at Preston, Lancaster and Carlisle, but only Lancaster is (99%) guaranteed to be a same-platform change.

Also worth noting that last year, LNER had public calls at Carlisle on their diverted services, so changing at Carlisle will probably offer the greatest choice of trains - although their trains were very busy as they were only running 1tph vs the normal 2-3tph.

Walk-on tickets (ie Anytime or Off-peak, but not Advance) via the WCML from London to Edinburgh are valid via Glasgow.

...other than those specifically between London Terminals and Edinburgh, which LNER re-routed to "via Newcastle" to allow Avanti to continue charging inflated single fares.

Buying tickets to/from any other station - such as London Terminals to Newcraighall, which costs the same as London Terminals to Edinburgh - means the fares remain routed "Any Permitted" and thus retain validity via the WCML.

 

[AgeoftheTrain7]

A quicker version of option C would be to change anywhere between Preston and Carlisle for an Edinburgh-bound service. It would be a same-platform change at Lancaster, Oxenholme or Penrith, though it's important check the calling patterns - most Avanti services call at either Oxenholme or Penrith. All call at Preston, Lancaster and Carlisle, but only Lancaster is (99%) guaranteed to be a same-platform change.

Also worth noting that last year, LNER had public calls at Carlisle on their diverted services, so changing at Carlisle will probably offer the greatest choice of trains - although their trains were very busy as they were only running 1tph vs the normal 2-3tph.

Good point - thanks!