Visiting UK for 1st time in 2019

[thaitransit]

The reason for the Scotland lines is more to do with interesting views so I have been told. Also it will be the furthest north I will have ever been. Currently that is Taipei in Taiwan.

By The way the Cornwell line will be the furthest west I have ever been. Currently that is Nam Tok terminus in Kanchaburi Province of Thailand.

I will say after much research so far. The UK railway network is vastly superior to the Australian rail system. Also much faster and more frequent. With very minimal long distance coaches required to access major towns past the end of the railway system.

For example between Melbourne and Sydney there are only 2 daily trains one is overnight taking 11.5 hours to complete the trip covering about 900km. Brisbane to Mount Isa is only 2 trains a week! Taking 48 hours to complete the trip with one 3.5 hour connection and a distance of about 2300km.

There are far too many places and train trips to fit into a 2 to 3 week trip. On a separate issue does have any advice about finding reasonable hotels in walking distance of railway stations. Eg Inverness, Fort William etc. But hopefully for under AUD $200 a night.

 

[simonw]

If you wish to travel between Fort William and Inverness, I would suggest you look into hiring a car which is relatively inexpensive to do if booked in advance. It will also allow you to travel to out of town hotels if you can't get accommodation in the town itself. It alss has the advantage over the coach of allowing you to stop and explore places such as the castles on route and at the Inverness end allow you to go to culloden to see the battlefield.

 

[Bletchleyite]

For hotels I tend to use booking.com. There are also the big chains like Premier Inn and Travelodge which are easily booked online and usually quite well priced. Or if you prefer hostels, hostelworld.com and hostelbookers.com.

I think regarding your general rail experience - one thing worth bearing in mind is that the UK system, other than the Sleepers and some rural lines, is basically a giant metro system, as some others have said. It runs high frequencies (minimum hourly on most lines and often much better), clockface timetables (same time each hour) and good coverage, but it isn't designed for comfort or a quality experience as such. It works well being that, but it couldn't be more different from Australia in that regard.

 

[the sniper]

[...]but it isn't designed for comfort or a quality experience as such. It works well being that, but it couldn't be more different from Australia in that regard.

I think that might be rather misleading for this chap. While we might not consider the UK system to offer 'comfort or a quality experience', particularly compared to what we've had in the past, I believe it'd be completely wrong to give the impression that that comfort levels on the UK rail system are compared to what this chap would have experienced on an Australian 'Metro system'. Other than perhaps on a Pacer, even on what we'd consider 'Metro' systems, the seat quality and passenger environment in normally more comfortable in the UK than you'd experience on something like a Melbourne Metro train. On the high frequency longer distance 'Intercity' trains we have, particularly in First Class which the OP intends to use, the passenger environment will be broadly similar to what they'd experience on XPT/Xplorer over there, but without compartments.

On comfort too, it'd imagine that our network on the whole offers a better ride quality/stable permanent way than the OP would be familiar with over there (particularly on their Metro systems) or in Thailand. I've seen some videos of railways over there where the track has been in a staggering poor condition, largely caused by the heat they experience I imagine. In this country NR would never allow a passenger train to run on track in the shape you see over there sometime, let alone allow it as a norm.

 

[thaitransit]

From what little I have seen online. The trains in first class at least are more like NSW trainlink regional services or the Queensland Tilt trains. As for track quality there is far too much poor quality track often under hundreds of km of speed restrictions especially in summer. Single track is by far the norm rather than the exception in Australia so delays are common when crossing other trains. You don't have to go far out of Melbourne to find mainlines that are Single track. Eg Ballarat Line.

Thailand's railway system is not that much worse than Australia's in terms of track conditions. But they are more hamstrung by there meter guage tracks and far too many curves on narrow alinements. In some ways similar problems to Queensland.

I wouldn't discribe the UK regional train network as a metro system but more as a intercity commuter rail network. As for track quality I don't know what its like in the UK. But the drinks in some of the on train review videos online so an excellent smooth ride. One wouldn't dare leave an open cup on a table on a moving train in Australia it will spill.

 

[Greetlander]

Hello everyone - I'm very familiar with UK rail and I now live in Australia. Thaitransit you really can't compare the XPT to a British HST, despite the obvious design link. The XPT's are run down, creaky, dirty and slow. They bounce around for hundreds of kilometres on track not fit for purpose, and even on the major routes the curves and pinch points are so bad that they never achieve high speed status. Any journey you take on a high speed British train will be revelatory.

I'm actually taking the Xplorer with my rail mad son next weekend from Sydney to Maitland (170km, 2 and a half hours). Equivalent express in the UK would be London Kings Cross to Grantham (180km, 1hr10mins). It's like a magic high speed world to him, to me it's like a 158 from Blackpool to York, except slower.

That said, I'm a huge fan of Sydney's suburban network, and I've had great experience navigating Melbourne using train and tram combinations. As city-centric urban rail networks they're very good, despite what the media tell us.

In short, I believe you will find yourself covering shorter distances than you're used to, at much greater speed than you're used to, with a level of comfort and smoothness you're not expecting.

 

[AlterEgo]

The first thing the OP needs to do is familiarise himself with an atlas and the geography of Britain, as well browsing some timetables.

I think it is quite difficult to offer advice to someone whose perceptions of travelling by train in Britain involve asking whether a two hour connection is sufficient, and whether we have monsoon rain or cyclones. Doncaster to London is only 150 miles or so, as the crow flies, so expecting to depart in the morning and arrive in the mid afternoon mean the OP thinks these places are either about three times as far apart as they actually are, or believes our trains travel at 50mph.

Everyone plans and learns in different ways, but as a relatively experienced trip planner, I can offer some advice in how to build up your plan. I often get emails or DMs from people who subscribe to my YouTube channel who ask extremely general questions like "what are trains like in England?" There is no sufficient answer to that question which wouldn't be the subject of a very long essay. It's like building a painting. Work in layers, from the background to the foreground detail.

1) Look at the area on a map. Get a "feel" for the geography if appropriate. And the weather. Have you looked at Britain on a map and seen how small it is? Have you seen how close all the towns and cities are from each other? Have you noted the areas which are sparsely populated?
2) Look up relevant stations/lines on Wikipedia, Seat61, or other general sites. The Wikipedia entry for Doncaster will tell you all the train companies that operate from there, and from there you can find the rolling stock used, and get an idea how how fast the rail network is.
3) Plan some example journeys to get an idea of pricing, timing, and connection options. If you just pop in Doncaster to London on any ticketing site you'll see it takes well under two hours and there are 3-4 trains an hour for most of the day.
4) Make a list of questions which aren't answered and come to forums like this one

Britain has an extraordinarily diverse and varied railway network, and general questions will generate answers which are not likely to be wholly relevant.

Not meant to be snarky, but tl;dr: This is a forum full of specialist knowledge, (people who will fill you in on minute detail) so try to tap that...but only after you've done some basic research elsewhere.