Which London station to Edinburgh?
 

Haven't been in London in ages. Is there a station that is preferable, with
destination Edinburgh?

Thanks for any info, pointers, etc.

--

Polar Email copies welcome

Re: Which London station to Edinburgh?
 

On Tue, 30 Jul 2002 00:04:01 -0700, Polar <[email protected]> wrote:

    >
    > Haven't been in London in ages. Is there a station that is preferable, with
    > destination Edinburgh?
    >
    >Thanks for any info, pointers, etc.

Trains to Edinburgh leave from Kings Cross - full timetable info at:

http://www.gner.co.uk/disp_content.a...blDMS_TT_INTRO

Re: Which London station to Edinburgh?
 

Polar wrote:
    >
    > Haven't been in London in ages. Is there a station that is preferable, with
    > destination Edinburgh?
    >

The sleeper trains leave from Euston, the day trains from King's Cross.

The seated sleeper can be quite a bargain, if you book it enough in advance. The
seats are very much like BA's 'cradle' seats. Check the Scotrail website -

www.scotrail.co.uk

Fares range from tens to hundreds of pounds, depending on ticket type, train used,
and time of travel.

Re: Which London station to Edinburgh?
 

Polar wrote
    > Haven't been in London in ages. Is there a station that is preferable, with
    > destination Edinburgh?

London Kings Cross, to Edinburgh, with GNER. However it can be cheaper to travel
London Euston to Glasgow Central with Virgin, and then a ScotRail service from
Glasgow-Edinburgh. Book 14 days in advance for cheaper fares. There are trains from
both Glasgow Central and Glasgow Queen St to Edinburgh (different routes).

ScotRail runs sleeper services. www.scotrail.co.uk also has online timetables and
bookings for all UK services

You can check live departure boards at http://rtti.nationalrail.co.uk/3012/16/16.htm
London Euston http://rtti.nationalrail.co.uk/3016/19/19.htm London King's Cross
http://rtti.nationalrail.co.uk/3020/15/15.htm Glasgow Central
http://rtti.nationalrail.co.uk/3020/16/16.htm Glasgow Queen St
http://rtti.nationalrail.co.uk/3020/12/12.htm Edinburgh Waverley

HTH

Owain

Re: Which London station to Edinburgh?
 

On 30 Jul 2002 07:30:43 -0700, [email protected] (Owain) wrote:

    >Polar wrote
    >> Haven't been in London in ages. Is there a station that is preferable, with
    >> destination Edinburgh?
    >
    >London Kings Cross, to Edinburgh, with GNER. However it can be cheaper to travel
    >London Euston to Glasgow Central with Virgin, and then a ScotRail service from
    >Glasgow-Edinburgh. Book 14 days in advance for cheaper fares. There are trains from
    >both Glasgow Central and Glasgow Queen St to Edinburgh (different routes).
    >
    >ScotRail runs sleeper services. www.scotrail.co.uk also has online timetables and
    >bookings for all UK services
    >
    >You can check live departure boards at http://rtti.nationalrail.co.uk/3012/16/16.htm
    >London Euston http://rtti.nationalrail.co.uk/3016/19/19.htm London King's Cross
    >http://rtti.nationalrail.co.uk/3020/15/15.htm Glasgow Central
    >http://rtti.nationalrail.co.uk/3020/16/16.htm Glasgow Queen St
    >http://rtti.nationalrail.co.uk/3020/12/12.htm Edinburgh Waverley
    >
It's also worth mentioning that the Virgin (West Coast Route) is much more scenic
than the GNER (East Coast) route.

Re: Which London station to Edinburgh?
 

King's Cross

See www.gner.co.uk or www.railtrack.co.uk or www.thetrainline.com PJW

On Tue, 30 Jul 2002 00:04:01 -0700, Polar <[email protected]> wrote:

    >
    > Haven't been in London in ages. Is there a station that is preferable, with
    > destination Edinburgh?
    >
    >Thanks for any info, pointers, etc.
    >
    >--
    >
    >Polar Email copies welcome

Re: Which London station to Edinburgh?
 

no, NO, NO....they are all wrong - you need to get the train at Brixton,
South London....don't be put off by all the black looks you'll get for being
foreign though.

Re: Which London station to Edinburgh?
 

We just completed a tour this past summer from London Euston to Edinburgh Waverly via
Virgin for a ridiculously low fare (somewhere around 15 bucks each ). It was great,
very scenic, and bang on time! Highly recommend it

Cheers Steve

"Polar" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    >
    > Haven't been in London in ages. Is there a station that is preferable, with
    > destination Edinburgh?
    >
    > Thanks for any info, pointers, etc.
    >
    > --
    >
    > Polar Email copies welcome

Re: Which London station to Edinburgh?
 

Between getting to and from the station at each end, it takes pretty much a whole day to take the train. I know that someone will tell you that it takes x hours, but believe me, it does take most of the day. Therefore you should fly - and if you look to the discount airlines you should be able to fly more cheaply than taking the train.

Re: Which London station to Edinburgh?
 

Kings Cross. "Polar" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
    >
    > Haven't been in London in ages. Is there a station that is preferable, with
    > destination Edinburgh?
    >
    > Thanks for any info, pointers, etc.
    >
    > --
    >
    > Polar Email copies welcome

Re: Which London station to Edinburgh?
 

Pulaski wrote:
    >
    > Between getting to and from the station at each end, it takes pretty much a whole
    > day to take the train. I know that someone will tell you that it takes x hours, but
    > believe me, it does take most of the day. Therefore you should fly - and if you
    > look to the discount airlines you should be able to fly more cheaply than taking
    > the train.
    >
    > --
The problem with this suggestion is that getting to the airport, checking in, and so
on, will atke a great deal longer than getting to the station. Yes, it can now be
cheaper to fly, but it has no significant time advantage over the train.

Alan Harrison

Re: Which London station to Edinburgh?
 

On Wed, 31 Jul 2002 12:49:10 +0100, Alan Thomas Harrison
<[email protected]> wrote:

    >Pulaski wrote:
    >>
    >> Between getting to and from the station at each end, it takes pretty much a whole
    >> day to take the train. I know that someone will tell you that it takes x hours,
    >> but believe me, it does take most of the day. Therefore you should fly - and if
    >> you look to the discount airlines you should be able to fly more cheaply than
    >> taking the train.
    >>
    >> --
    >The problem with this suggestion is that getting to the airport, checking in, and so
    >on, will atke a great deal longer than getting to the station. Yes, it can now be
    >cheaper to fly, but it has no significant time advantage over the train.

Why are you assuming that getting to the station is quicker than getting to the
airport and checking in? LHR is 25 minutes, Lon Paddington is 1:30mins at best for
me, as always it depends on where you are as much as the method - a plane has a
significant time advantage for me in getting to Scotland from London.

Jim.

Re: Which London station to Edinburgh?
 

Jim Ley <[email protected]> wrote:

    > Why are you assuming that getting to the station is quicker than getting to the
    > airport and checking in? LHR is 25 minutes, Lon Paddington is 1:30mins at best for
    > me, as always it depends on where you are as much as the method - a plane has a
    > significant time advantage for me in getting to Scotland from London.

Unless you live very close to both airports, it's not that much of a time savings
actually. I forget where I read this, but the average passenger to Heathrow takes
more than 2 hours to reach the airport from home. I live in south London, and it
takes 1 and a half hours by public transport if I'm lucky- but takes about 40 minutes
to get to KX on the tube.

Then you have to figure on at _least_ an hour check-in time, and debarkation time at
the other end. Then, if you're going to the city centre, you have to allow for extra
time for that.

So, let's say on average-

2 hours getting to the airport 1 hour check in 1 hour flight 15 minutes getting off
flight and collecting luggage 30 minutes getting to Glasgow or Edinburgh centre

for me taking the train to Edinburgh?

40 mins- tube to KX 4 h 30 to Edinburgh city centre

So, it's not much more time, and I'd argue potentially less hassle-free.

HOWEVER.... UK long distance trains are frequently rubbish, chronically late and
overpriced. My last two train trips to Scotland this month were at least 40 minutes
late- in one case 90 minutes. I've really had it with them, and when I can get a
cheaper plane ticket, that's how I'm going to do it until things get better- to hell
with the trains.

David

--
David Horne- www.davidhorne.co.uk Composer in Association- RLPO david (at) davidhorne
(dot) co (dot) uk

Re: Which London station to Edinburgh?
 

On Wed, 31 Jul 2002 14:13:34 +0100, [email protected] (David Horne) wrote:

    >Jim Ley <[email protected]> wrote:
    >
    >> Why are you assuming that getting to the station is quicker than getting to the
    >> airport and checking in? LHR is 25 minutes, Lon Paddington is 1:30mins at best for
    >> me, as always it depends on where you are as much as the method - a plane has a
    >> significant time advantage for me in getting to Scotland from London.
    >
    >Unless you live very close to both airports, it's not that much of a time savings
    >actually. I forget where I read this, but the average passenger to Heathrow takes
    >more than 2 hours to reach the airport from home.

Given that a large number of LHR passengers are not from London their times to a
London Airport would be even higher, the 2 figures aren't comparable, if you're
travelling to almost any place outside Europe from the UK, there's a good chance
you'll be doing it from LHR - so the travel time to LHR includes Penzance people. The
journey time to your nearest airport from London is not an average of 2 hours.

    > I live in south London, and it takes 1 and a half hours by public transport if
    > I'm lucky
    >- but takes about 40 minutes to get to KX on the tube.

So for you getting to KX is easier than getting to LHR, how about Gatwick
instead of LHR?

    >Then you have to figure on at _least_ an hour check-in time,

erm, no, I've never had an hours checkin on a domestic uk flight, so an hour seems
reasonable, but not at _least_ an hour.

    > Then, if you're going to the city centre, you have to allow for extra time
    > for that.

You always have to include the time to your destination, and unless you are going to
the station itself it's not 0 from the station and 30 by the airport root, it may be
10 and 40 or 20 and 20, or whatever, it's only relevant to your journey, not averages
or anything else, so there's no point giving blanket advice saying X is faster than
Y, unless it always is.

    >So, let's say on average-

Average is completely irrelevant, it doesn't matter to me, how long it takes anyone
else to get to the airport what matters is how it long it takes _me_. So it's
pointless giving advice on the average.

Jim.

Re: Which London station to Edinburgh?
 

On Wed, 31 Jul 2002 14:13:34 +0100, [email protected] (David Horne) wrote:

    >Jim Ley <[email protected]> wrote:
    >
    >> Why are you assuming that getting to the station is quicker than getting to the
    >> airport and checking in? LHR is 25 minutes, Lon Paddington is 1:30mins at best for
    >> me, as always it depends on where you are as much as the method - a plane has a
    >> significant time advantage for me in getting to Scotland from London.
    >
    >Unless you live very close to both airports, it's not that much of a time savings
    >actually. I forget where I read this, but the average passenger to Heathrow takes
    >more than 2 hours to reach the airport from home. I live in south London, and it
    >takes 1 and a half hours by public transport if I'm lucky- but takes about 40
    >minutes to get to KX on the tube.
    >
    >Then you have to figure on at _least_ an hour check-in time, and debarkation time at
    >the other end. Then, if you're going to the city centre, you have to allow for extra
    >time for that.
    >
    >So, let's say on average-
    >
    >2 hours getting to the airport 1 hour check in 1 hour flight 15 minutes getting off
    >flight and collecting luggage 30 minutes getting to Glasgow or Edinburgh centre
    >
    >for me taking the train to Edinburgh?
    >
    >40 mins- tube to KX 4 h 30 to Edinburgh city centre
    >
    >So, it's not much more time, and I'd argue potentially less hassle-free.
    >
    >HOWEVER.... UK long distance trains are frequently rubbish, chronically late and
    >overpriced. My last two train trips to Scotland this month were at least 40 minutes
    >late- in one case 90 minutes. I've really had it with them, and when I can get a
    >cheaper plane ticket, that's how I'm going to do it until things get better- to hell
    >with the trains.
    >
(and people ain't allowed to use mobiles on planes - tee-hee!!) :)