It’s time to book the trains!

kev017 · Post by **kev017** » Sun Mar 30, 2025 6:47 pm

I think those times would work Drew. There is a nice big gap in between.

kev017 · Post by **kev017** » Sun Mar 30, 2025 7:01 pm

I just wanted to offer you another possible solution, @jkbarnes

That is to go Southampton to Birmingham New Street and then Birmingham New Street to Edinburgh Waverley.

The first leg with CrossCountry has departures at 8.15 / 9.15 / 10.15 / 11.15 / 12.15 etc and takes 2h 36m. Assume a 12.15 per your previous thread, arrives Birmingham at 2.51pm.

For the second leg, there is 4.03 departure which arrives 9.04pm.

I appreciate it is a later arrival time. But it saves the faff of a London transfer?

The second leg is with Cross Country as well. You could get an “Anytime” ticket with them and you’d be able to use it on any train that day (so if you arrived to Southampton early you could get an earlier train)

jkbarnes · Post by **jkbarnes** » Sun Mar 30, 2025 7:10 pm

kev017 wrote: ↑Sun Mar 30, 2025 7:01 pm I just wanted to offer you another possible solution, @jkbarnes

That is to go Southampton to Birmingham New Street and then Birmingham New Street to Edinburgh Waverley.

The first leg with CrossCountry has departures at 8.15 / 9.15 / 10.15 / 11.15 / 12.15 etc and takes 2h 36m. Assume a 12.15 per your previous thread, arrives Birmingham at 2.51pm.

For the second leg, there is 4.03 departure which arrives 9.04pm.

I appreciate it is a later arrival time. But it saves the faff of a London transfer?

The second leg is with Cross Country as well. You could get an “Anytime” ticket with them and you’d be able to use it on any train that day (so if you arrived to Southampton early you could get an earlier train)

Thank you! That’s very helpful information.

Post by **Amor Vincit Omnia** » Sun Mar 30, 2025 7:24 pm

It’s an old problem with travelling through some of these big European capitals. Cities like London, Paris and Moscow have a ring of 19th century railway stations 1 or 2 miles from the historic centres of the cities. I don’t do it these days, but I used to hate crossing London or Paris with luggage.

When the stations were first built they were much closer to the edges of the cities, but they have of course been swallowed up by metropolitan expansion.

exHowfener · Post by **exHowfener** » Sun Mar 30, 2025 8:56 pm

I'm assuming that the variation in arrival times is either due to tide times, disembarkation or to manage passenger expectations.

In your last thread I think you were pretty clear that you wanted the East Coast route (Kings Cross) rather than the West Coast (Euston). I don't think you need to be stressed about the rail journey - after all you chose it because you wanted to travel by rail. Easy for me to say, but there are quite a few trains daily from London to Edinburgh:

Depart Southampton at 12:00, arrive at Waterloo at 13:21
transfer via cab to Kings Cross
Depart Kings Cross at 15:00, arrive in Edinburgh at 19:24

Looks very manageable and should be stress-free. I haven't bee to London for years but if it eases your anxiety, as a "fall back" Waterloo to Euston is a direct tube journey (14 minutes) and then you're half a mile from Kings Cross. But you won't need that - you'll be fine. I expect your only issue will be how to spend the time waiting at Kings Cross.

jkbarnes · Post by **jkbarnes** » Sun Mar 30, 2025 9:09 pm

exHowfener wrote: ↑Sun Mar 30, 2025 8:56 pm I'm assuming that the variation in arrival times is either due to tide times, disembarkation or to manage passenger expectations.

That would be my guess.

And the East coast route definitely sounded appealing with the way it was described by many. I think I’ll just spend the money for the flexible tickets all around and take our chances!

RichM · Post by **RichM** » Sun Mar 30, 2025 9:18 pm

exHowfener wrote: ↑Sun Mar 30, 2025 8:56 pm I'm assuming that the variation in arrival times is either due to tide times, disembarkation or to manage passenger expectations.

In your last thread I think you were pretty clear that you wanted the East Coast route (Kings Cross) rather than the West Coast (Euston). I don't think you need to be stressed about the rail journey - after all you chose it because you wanted to travel by rail. Easy for me to say, but there are quite a few trains daily from London to Edinburgh:

Depart Southampton at 12:00, arrive at Waterloo at 13:21
transfer via cab to Kings Cross
Depart Kings Cross at 15:00, arrive in Edinburgh at 19:24
Looks very manageable and should be stress-free. I haven't bee to London for years but if it eases your anxiety, as a "fall back" Waterloo to Euston is a direct tube journey (14 minutes) and then you're half a mile from Kings Cross. But you won't need that - you'll be fine. I expect your only issue will be how to spend the time waiting at Kings Cross.

^^^ Wot he said! Excellent advice.

jkbarnes · Post by **jkbarnes** » Tue Apr 01, 2025 12:03 am

Tickets purchased! I bought a Two Together Railcard, which saved me a considerable amount of money on the flexible 1st class tickets on LNER. With that Railcard in hand, maybe we’ll take advantage of the train while in Edinburgh with a day trip or two.

Thank you everyone for all the advice and reassurances!

Post by **Bahnstormer_vRS** » Tue Apr 01, 2025 1:00 am

^^^^ Top notch, Drew.

Here's trusting your timetabling goes to plan.

I've got a two-together card as well and covered the £30 outlay in savings on a couple of day trips to London; <30 miles / minutes each way.

I hate to think what you have saved on 1st class to Edinburgh!

Guy

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