With the time restrictions on not arriving into Kings Cross before 10am on weekdays, this day could be quite tight.
If you get the lunchtime train from Paddington (13:03) as far as Newton Abbott then it’s perfectly feasible to be back in Durham that evening using Cross Country. The dining service is normally full done by Exeter so you only miss out on the South Devon banks which are quite dull on an IET v historic traction. It does also mean 6 hours on Voyagers so might be worth looking at a return via London.
Possible timings are...
0709 Durham - Kings Cross 1002
1303 Paddington - Plymouth 1612
1727 Plymouth - Doncaster 2259
2354 Doncaster - Durham 0121
Funnily enough I don't mind Voyagers in 1st class.
It would depend on the date you're travelling due to Ffestiniog Railway timetables (or willingness to go by bus instead), but maybe
Durham 04:37 - 07:38 Newton-le-Willows
Newton-le-Willows 08:05 - 09:55 Deganwy
Deganwy 10:17 - 11:27 Blaenau Ffestiniog
This summer, a Blaenau Ffestiniog 12:45 - 13:55 Porthmadog service ran more or less every day, at least between June and October.
Porthmadog 16:01 - 17:57 Machynlleth
Machynlleth 18:06 - 19:19 Shrewsbury
Shrewsbury 19:53 - 21:13 Manchester Piccadilly
Manchester Victoria 21:45 - 00:27 Durham
It's also possible to spend just under an hour in Oban.
Durham 07:14 - 09:05 Edinburgh
Edinburgh 09:30 - 10:21 Glasgow Queen Street
Glasgow Queen Street 10:36 - 13:49
Oban 14:47 - 18:03 Glasgow Queen Street
Glasgow Queen Street 18:30 - 19:22 Edinburgh
Edinburgh 19:37 - 21:27 Durham
The Ffestiniog Railway is still very big on my to-do list so will look into that.
I've been to Oban a couple of times in the last year or so probably not for this one.
It would be useful to know what your objectives are: max mileage, different rolling stock, routes etc...?
As suggestions for Sunday's (and possibly Saturday) would be down to engineering works a seven day itinerary is hard to plan. However for the Saturday I would suggest making the most of there being no time restriction and heading for Kings Cross and then visit some southern lines.
I think for this one the goal is the max milage and try as many TOCs 1st class offerings as possible.
There's no rail service between Northallerton and Newcastle via Durham for five or six weekends in February and March, and I think between Leeds and Manchester; I don't think there's any engineering works between Newcastle and Edinburgh coming up.
Thanks that's handy to know.
Durham - Newcastle - Carlisle - Hellifield* - Carnforth** - Barrow - Carlisle - Newcastle - Durham
* or Skipton
** or Lancaster
Great trip, but a bit of a waste of a 1st class ticket
This one is being saved for a North Country Rover.
£604.70 (1st Class) vs £398.25 (Standard) for a 7 day All Line Rover if a valid railcard such as a Senior is also held.
Sadly I still have 10 years to wait to be eligible for a railcard of any sort (except Two Together). I'm going to check out Scotrail's Club 50 offering though since I'm now eligible.
Given that Durham's the starting point, I'd say the cost difference is probably worth it. Even two first class journeys per day of an hour (because of the LNER limit) works out at under £15 per first class journey extra, which would probably be less than the value of refreshments obtained on LNER / TPE (/ XC) services and in lounges.
Basically the whole point of this trip would be to maximise 1st Class mileage.
You state that you want to return home every night, but if you were able to manage one overnight then you could take the Riviera Sleeper to Penzance to/from Paddington? It would mean napping in a seat or stumping up for a cabin supplement. However, since your planned itinery doesn't allow for much more than about 5 hours sleep at home per night, it might be a nice refreshing option! That should open up a whole swathe of routes to try
I did the Night Riveria (and the Caledonian Sleeper) on my last ALR.
Why do you need to return home every night? Most people who did ALRs 'back in the day', myself included would stay out for the whole week to get the best value out of the ticket. Returning to Durham every night rather limits the scope of how far you can travel each day.
This is what I did on my previous two ALRs and managed to cover massive parts of the network. This time I want to keep the costs down (no hotels) and stick to 1st class only (as much as possible).
One for the OP to reply to, but Durham is, IMHO, a fairly decent start/end point on the GB network, in order to make good use, each day, of a 7 day 1st class ALR.
Yes I agree as my first & last trains of the day will either be LNER or TPE (With usually decent 1st class offerings - although I've never managed to get a meal on TPE yet!) or Cross Country.
And thank you to everyone for all the replies so far.
