To/from Dundee - interesting route(s) - from Milton Keynes in August?

[WolvertonWorks]

I'd welcome any suggestion or advice for a train trip we will be making in August so I know what routes I am looking for when Advances become available.

We have done Milton Keynes (MKC) to Glasgow before and MKC to Edinburgh, and also Edinburgh to Inverness.

We will be travelling from MKC to Dundee on a Thursday, arriving by late afternoon.

On our return from Dundee on a Friday a couple of weeks later we then want to go via Glasgow for a couple of nights, so we can take advantage of being in the locality of a day trip I've wanted to do for a while*, before returning on the Sunday to MKC.

Looking at current timetables the return Dundee to Glasgow QS is straightforward as is Glasgow back to MKC down the WCML.

It's the outward MKC to Dundee trip that I'd like to take an interesting route, but we will have luggage so don't want to be making too many changes of train.

It looks like there are at least three possible routes - MKC-via Crewe-Edinburgh-Dundee, MKC-Manchester-Glasgow change between Glasgow Central and Queen Street and the Glasgow QS to Dundee and MKC-Manchester-Haymarket-Dundee.

Thoughts, suggestions, advice very welcome - thanks in advance.

* Day trip out to Wemyss Bay on the train and the ferry across to Rothesay and back.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

@WolvertonWorks. If you are travelling using advances, you'll likely have to travel strictly in accordance with the stated itineraries when you book the tickets. If you were instead to use route "Not via London" Off Peak Returns, might that not open up some additional route options? For example, Carlisle to Glasgow Central via Dumfries/Kilmarnock? Can anyone confirm validity?

 

[jfollows]

Routeing guide maps (see https://rgpp.iblocks.co.uk/maps)

• LM + FD
• LM + GA

so Kilmarnock-Glasgow-Edinburgh-Dundee is allowed by the first combination, but not Kilmarnock-Glasgow-Stirling-Dundee, although probably nobody would know or care about the latter.

 

[anothertyke]

How about MK--Tamworth (or Birmingham)-Edinburgh--Dundee? 2 changes.

You get to see York, Durham, Newcastle, the stretch from Alnmouth to Berwick past Holy Island, the Forth and Tay Bridges. Aim to sit on the right.

But the main leg is Cross-Country.

 

[D1511]

How about MK--Tamworth (or Birmingham)-Edinburgh--Dundee? 2 changes.

You get to see York, Durham, Newcastle, the stretch from Alnmouth to Berwick past Holy Island, the Forth and Tay Bridges. Aim to sit on the right.

But the main leg is Cross-Country.

I was going to suggest something similar, to create a rough anti clockwise circular route of sorts, and as you say, you get the coastal pleasantness of Northumberland and Berwickshire and the bridges and then the hills of Perthshire and Cumbria on the way back. However, I suspect it will bump up the ticket costs considerably.

Anyway, you'll certainly enjoy your day trip to Rothesay, because Wemyss Bay station is an absolute joy.

 

[WolvertonWorks]

Just been on the forum's ticketing site to see how close to my 6th August departure for Dundee advance tickets are now on sale - so I know when to look for real - and see that by then in theory I should be able to do MKC-Stirling on Lumo and then ScotRail Stirling to Dundee. An early start leaving MKC at 06:44 but a chance to try the new Lumo service.
(I do need to check the size of the suitcases we plan to take though to check they will fit Lumo's specification).

However when I look on the Lumo site it says:

Limited Stirling to London Euston services are on sale from 22nd June with a full timetable available on 27th July. Earlier dates will continue to be added, please check our journey planner to see which services are running.
What are people's views on whether the full Lumo service to/from Stirling will be running by 6th August as that is only a few days after 27th July and I don't want to book a good advance price on Lumo in the next few weeks to only find out closer to August that the trains aren't going to be running and having to buy a more expensive ticket.