That weekend I was in Glasgow and used an Any Permitted off peak return > KGX > GLC > KGX. According to National Rail, my ticket was only valid on the ECML via Newcastle, but Virgin Trains were publishing other potential routes on their engineering site;
http://www.virgintrains.co.uk/updates/route-improvements/spanner/
(specifically
http://www.virgintrains.co.uk/asset...improvements-easter-2015-lon-car-scot-map.pdf )
Would be interesting in knowing if you have any success.
Sorry - just saw this. I think this is absolutely ridiculous.
"From Carlisle, there are two routes. The faster route is to
Newcastle and down to Kings Cross but will require you to
pay an excess fare. A slower route is direct to Leeds and
then to Kings Cross. This route will not cost any extra but
will add to your journey time considerably and has a very
limited service in operation."
So they know it is 'very limited' and 'slower' yet they don't get rid of the excess fare requirement?
Would this route be valid? STP->SHF->MAN->CAR?
Does anyone know why there is a separate 'via newcastle' fare for this in the first place? apart from engineering work you'd have to be on crack to want to go that way, considering it takes 2hrs more and you're on a crappy northern rail all stops service for 1h40 of that.