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The bus from Kingussie usually arrives at Fort William 35-40 minutes earlier than the sleeper so sadly no delay repay is due in such a situation; however, it is evidently not the experience which the sleeper customer has been sold (as long as they booked before they knew that such an alteration...

I would not rely on it at all I’m afraid. If you definitely want to catch the morning Jacobite, and this is an essential part of your trip, you’re better off travelling up the previous day and staying overnight in Fort William.

It is plated, I believe, and served in the lounge car only. The ingredients are very probably prepacked (as I believe all the hot meals are). From the ones I saw the other day, it looked like sausage, bacon, an omelette, a tattie scone, a tomato and some mushrooms. Probably not as good as the...

I see. That makes a lot of sense.

Yes - you need to choose one hot drink, one juice (orange or apple) and one breakfast out of the five. Note that the Highland breakfast and smoked salmon with poached eggs cannot be delivered to rooms and can only be served in the lounge car. 1629217417 Possibly, although I rather think that...

The Lowlander must be different, because I was on the Highlander to Fort William last night in a club room and was given a menu card to fill out with five choices (porridge, smoothie, bacon roll, Highland breakfast, smoked salmon) - I went for the smoked salmon and poached eggs which was nicely...

Are you serious? Fort William is an extremely popular destination, especially between March and October; the Fort William portion is full most nights during the season. There is no way that a coach from Dalwhinnie would be sufficient in the present time (and the Fort William passengers, if...

Interestingly, if you look at the ‘sleeper experience’ section and look at the club car page it still suggests that the club car is closed, and does not show any menus. It all seems a little slipshod. Does anyone have a current (as of Aug 2021) club car menu?

It’s very unusual for any of the crew on the Fort William route to behave like that - they’re normally a very helpful and laid-back bunch. I think that staff member needs to be retrained as his attitude is bang out of order - to be challenging someone for being exempt from wearing a mask is...

As the club car/lounge car is now open, can anyone confirm what the protocol is? Do you need to book a table/slot in the evening or morning, and what the rule is regarding masks? I’m travelling on the northbound Highlander next Monday night so it would be good to know from anyone who’s been on...

Yes, it was, 1S25 out of Kings Cross (due to Lamington viaduct blockade) on 19/2/16 if I remember rightly. Thankfully he returned to his berth somewhere north of Peterborough and we never saw him again (one of the staff said he got off at Stirling, so goodness only knows what he would have been...

Me too, although the last few times I was in a lounge car pre-Covid, things seemed fairly sober. I did once (in about November 2017) sit next to a retired army officer in the northbound Aberdeen lounge who became so drunk that he walked to the toilet and returned with his trousers halfway down...

You’re right. I don’t think, at present, that there are ever enough passengers to justify more than two sleeping cars to Aberdeen, regardless of whether it is January or July. It is simply not a major tourist destination and the local population are well served by flights and day trains...

For the passenger, yes, but the A82 is a difficult and often frustrating road to drive - particularly in summer with campervans/tourist traffic/heavy lorries trundling along at 40mph and relatively few good overtaking opportunities. On a crisp, dry autumn/winter day with little traffic I will...

That’s very strange, as I messaged CS to ask about the lounge and they suggested that it would still be room service only for the next few weeks. Clearly whoever answered the query had false or out-of-date information! Scotrail/CS must dread having to cough up those taxi fares! Going slightly...

On a completely unrelated note, is the on-board catering offering changing any time soon in the light of the easing of restrictions in Scotland? Will we see a lounge car within the next couple of weeks?

It’s generally reliable but when something goes wrong, it goes very, very wrong. On Saturday 23 July (the day of the overhead wire problems in Edinburgh), the Fort William portion finally arrived at its destination 4 hours 50 minutes late at 14.45. I felt sorry for the poor on-board crew, some...

I thought alcohol was banned from all trains in Scotland during the pandemic? It is certainly still banned on all Scotrail services currently (and LNER too I think). I believe that CS have also currently banned it in the seated coach - although this may change.

Presumably the alcohol ban will also apply then, meaning that it will be ‘dry’ (at least initially)? Or is that being ended?

I thought that might be the case. I wonder if it might be restricted to first class passengers, at least initially?