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I think the root problem here, as so often, will be lack of consistent communication from those in control rooms to those on the ground. I think that's far more likely than any planned tactics. I was once on a late-running Sunday evening train from Inverness to Glasgow, held at Inverness for...

Thanks for the replies: I hadn't thought of route knowledge as a possible explanation. Annoying as it is, this does make sense: better an odd 11 minutes on a regular basis than a long delay (or even a termination) in the event of a problem on the main line. Presumably the odd routing ties in...

Earlier today I was following the progress of the 1T98 0845 Inverness - Glasgow QS (because someone I knew was travelling on it) and I was intrigued to see that from Stirling, instead of taking what I would regard as the "normal" route (via Croy, Lenzie and Bishopbriggs), it took an alternative...

In answer to the immediately preceding post, I had to read Blue Penguin's post twice, but in fact he is quoting "sorry ... but I had to get to work" as an example of what NOT to say.

I might print off the itinerary from the national rail site - perhaps useful to be able to show that you have done your homework correctly.

It's good to hear some positives for a change. Personally I believe in giving praise where it's due as well as criticism - on my last but one VTEC journey I sent two emails to their customer service team, one praising a member of the onboard crew and a second criticising another. If we could...

Have fun! Plockton is wonderful, but so is the section of line between there and Kyle. Maybe consider going to Kyle, straight back to Plockton and then waiting for the next train (or local bus/taxi)?

Your travel date is in the period of the Scottish schools' "October Week" (varies by region) so demand for seats is likely to be higher than average. Worth checking out the option of split ticketing at Edinburgh. If you have an extra half hour to spare, you can sometimes save by getting the...

The railcard "exception" to the above list of exceptions and byzantine rules is that a Disabled Person's Railcard does discount peak fares and caps, but, unlike on national rail where a companion can travel at the same rate, the discount is given only to the card holder him/herself.

I wasn't impressed a week ago when my late-running 0755 train from Inverness was held for half an hour at Edinburgh to run in the path of the also-delayed 0952 service from Aberdeen, and inherited its "dry train" status. So already an hour late with the lunch service, we weren't then able to be...

What bright spark came up with the idea of putting the quiet coach in the middle of the train where everyone will be tramping through? At least as coach B (thinking of the HST sets) it's a dead end, with no passing footfall.

I didn't get a survey to complete, but I did hear a headline result that "only x% of people want a quiet coach". I can't remember exactly what x was, but I do remember thinking that (on an HST anyway, which is the unit that serves my route) only 27 out of (27 + 48 + 48) first class seats are in...

Passed a set outside Haymarket depot earlier tonight, along with a pair of power cars. Two of the power cars in the new livery, I think, the rest in "de-branded" FGW. Also passed the Perth/Inverness training set at Dunkeld.

Well, after the train emptied a bit today, I took a walk through to coach B, the standard quiet coach at the front of the train. A real oasis of calm, with a couple of dozen people sitting quietly, mostly reading books. The seats felt firm but comfortable (I can live without the leather...

I haven't tried this myself, but if you use the Firefox browser there is an addon called Tab Auto Refresh, which will reload a tab at specified intervals.

It actually amazes me the amount of confidential information people broadcast to fellow passengers. Earlier on we had a firm's business plans being discussed, and the woman in the seat behind me has just given the entire coach her credit card details, including the security code.

I suspected the decision might have something to do with the new fleet. Do you think they will keep a quiet coach in standard? Might find myself sacrificing seat comfort in favour of quietness.

No, but if it's going to be noisy anyway, let's get it over with quickly!

The title says it all, really. Just an hour into a seven hour journey, and surrounded by people who cannot possibly be out of contact with their office for ten minutes. Wonder if there's any chance of the VTEC decision to remove first class quiet coach provision being reversed by the new...

The maps feature of open train times does automatically update.