TRAIN QQK-GLA 1 FEB 14 (1ST)

So, with four months until my next holiday year commenced I decided to squeeze a short break in at the end of January.

I had pals in Glasgow that I hadn't seen for a year so decided to put that right.

Air fares on the route to Glasgow remained stubbingly untempting, and then East Coast Trains came through with an amazing January sale.

First Class to Edinburgh for £30. Bingo!

My journey started from the new Kings Cross Station, which is simply stunning. For years it was the poor relation to the revived St. Pancras, but that has changed and the whole area is looking amazing, and it's not finished yet...

King's Cross at 7.45am


I picked the 0800hrs departure as it had fewest stops, including a non stop run to York.



East Coast are owned by the government, who stepped in after the two previous incumbents, GNER and National Express, couldn't make it work.

The cleanliness of the trains has been transformed since East Coast took over, and they've also introduced enhanced at-seat dining, even at weekends.



This was breakfast today. During the week, a cooked breakfast would be offered.



I had been out the night before until 3am so slept most of the journey. It's a route I have travelled on a lot, but the scenery is still lovely.

Then around 11am a second run from the trolley, with sandwiches and crisps and cake offered.



The sandwich was alright if a tad dry.

An uneventful journey and arrival in Edinburgh exactly on time.

Edinburgh has has some work done and is looking well.





There is a plethera of trains from Edinburgh to both Glasgow Queen Street and Glasgow Central.

I discovered that Cross Country Trains have a reasonably fast service and their first class fare is the same as ScotRail's standard class version.

There are only a few services a day, however I only had to wait 30 minute for mine.



These trains still have issues with pervasive smells which is a shame.

With an hour journey time, they were still offering hot food which was unusual, but I wasn't feeling hungry...



Arrival in Glasgow was on time, and I stayed in a little hotel called Grasshopper, on the sixth floor of Central Station.

It was nice but I wasn't happy with the price I paid, although the view was excellent. If you like glass...





So, London to Glasgow Central, in the relative comfort of First Class, for £42.30. Result!

Thank you for posting this - I love reading about your train journeys and £30 to Edinburgh is amazing.

Thanks for the TR.

East Coast has become a good line again, and when we do the Edinburgh Festival a First Class Return makes the journey to and from Peterborough something to be enjoyed rather than endured. Some great scenery too; the Tyne bridges, the Northumberland coast and Berwick in particular.

We find the food service a bit odd though in terms of what you can have, depending on where you joined and what you have already had. The solution appeared to be to do what an adjacent traveller did, which was simply to tell an enormous fib about it each time they saw the food service being run by a member of the crew they hadn't seen before.

Having had 20+ years of commuting via Kings Cross I can say the station and the surrounding area have improved enormously. The only downside is the way they have resigned the routes down to the underground lines, but presumably that was done to manage the flows...


Paul

Ps how can a railway station have an 'airport' code?

Thanks for this TR Sealink, a good read and an great deal on the price.

Question is... do you like glass

Ps how can a railway station have an 'airport' code?

There are a few IATA-indexed railway stations out there.

They are provided to allow pax on thru-bookings involving 'Rail-Fly' travel to check in through to their end destination without the need to reclaim bags and check in again for every portion of their trip.

You'll find a list of them on wiki... mostly stations in Europe, although there are a few Canadian and US stations peppered in there too.

Ps how can a railway station have an 'airport' code?

There are a few IATA-indexed railway stations out there.

They are provided to allow pax on thru-bookings involving 'Rail-Fly' travel to check in through to their end destination without the need to reclaim bags and check in again for every portion of their trip.

Not really noticed any baggage transfer capabilities at Kings Cross, save for pick it up and carry it yourself.

Not really noticed any baggage transfer capabilities at Kings Cross, save for pick it up and carry it yourself.

... and if you get lost and forget where you are going, you will be able to look at the tags and follow the route by IATA code should you wish.

They were probably allocated in the times of luggage cars.. or when in town check-in facilities were available.

It has been a few years since I have been on Eurostar, but isn't there a porter service for luggage? Perhaps Flight-Eurostar packages could make use of such a coding system.

It's because some rail companies are or were featured on travel agency GDS, so you could book tickets for rail travel like they could for air travel.

A really good TR Billy, really enjoyed it. Felt I was travelling with you. I do like East Coast, as a regular commuter to the big smoke, I do use them and they are consistent.

The fare you found, a real smasher. Well done you...need to keep a closer eye out for fares like that myself....

Jon

Joeyc - I do like glass!

HorburyFlyer - the secret is to sign up to every railway newsletter going. East Coast also do "East Coast Rewards" so you get points for every ticket, and they to tend to give members 'advance warning' or seat sales.