Recent content by jzw95

[10:30] That never even occurred to me – I'm so used to it being impossible to get a timeous and helpful response from these companies! But it's a good idea, so I just phoned ScotRail and spoke with a helpful man who wasn't reading from a script, and actually listened to and understood the...

Hmmm, thanks, disappointing that they can just decide not to offer Advances. I saw there was engineering work in places, but thought I'd be ok since nothing on the line between Inverness and Edinburgh. Maybe they're expecting spillover of people who would otherwise use the service to Aberdeen...

I've been waiting for several weeks to book a (single) journey from Kyle of Lochalsh to Edinburgh on Sat, 22 Oct. Last week, advance fares from Kyle to Inverness were released, but I was still only finding Anytime Day Singles from Inverness to Edinburgh. Booking horizons on NRE indicated that...

Does anyone know why the two tables with facing seats on the upper deck were removed from the Airlink setup? This happened either when the current fleet came into operation, or with the one before. But previously there always used to be a couple of tables up top which were fun with a group.

Or at a future date, Virgin Group could sell some of its shareholding in Virgin Rail Group to SNCF and Alstom. They’ve done this with other companies they used to have a majority shareholding in (eg selling some of their 51% in Virgin Atlantic to Air France-KLM).

Except that with the paper labels, you can easily glance down the carriage to see which seats have no labels and are completely free. This can even be done through the windows from outside the carriage, making it a quick way to choose a less busy carriage. But there definitely is functionality...

This makes me very happy, thanks for the confirmation!

Thanks very much! Interesting, though unfortunately they don't show the window positioning like the current LNER seat maps do (and have since at least the East Coast days). The Twitter photos linked to by 385001 put my mind at ease, as it seems there is decent window alignment on at least one...

Is there anywhere I can see the seat layouts for the LNER Azumas? I haven't been able to find anything either on this forum, or the wider internet. From the promotional video/VR on LNER's site, it looks like the few tables in standard class coaches will all have a big pillar in the middle. I was...

Hi all, thanks so much for all the advice, it's very helpful. To confirm, I'm not trying to evade a higher fare, it would be ~£1 less if I'd bought my ticket from Ashford-London instead of Rye-London. @paul1609 thanks for the local experience, I will probably chance it and hope the ticket lets...

I have bought an advance ticket from Rye (Sussex) to London St Pancras. However, for various reasons I'm now thinking of hiring a car in Ashford and would obviously need to return it there as well. Will I be able to use my ticket to get through the barriers at Ashford and join the train I'm...

Thanks, BMIFlyer, much appreciated. I'm pleasantly surprised! Your photo is a lot more appealing than the Scot.gov one of the floor. :) Overall, seems to have kept the light, airy feel, and great window alignment with plenty of tables. The seat backs are higher, which will obscure the panoramic...

Would be interesting to see some photos from head height. The current 156s might be a bit noisy, but they have lovely open views (low seat backs) with lots of tables aligned with the windows. The transparent luggage racks add to the feeling of openness. It's difficult to make out in the photo in...

Really interesting responses, thanks all. Good food for thought more generally when carrying out tasks with potential risks.

I read an interesting article about the "Point & Call" procedures used on Japanese railways for safety reasons. Basically, staff have to point and say what they're doing when carrying out all checks...