anti-pacer
Established Member
Sorry if this has been answered already, but does the catering service on the 0752 Aberdeen-London KX start from Aberdeen, or further down the route? I'm talking about Saturdays by the way.
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London North Eastern Railway (LNER) First Class service
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TheAdelante
Member
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It should start at Aberdeen. The HC starts catering at Inverness on saturdays, so I don’t see why the NL and co should be any different?
Definitely starts at Aberdeen, have been on it on a Saturday a few times in the last year.
Service was somewhat limited this last week. Disruption put crew out of place as usual. On the very delayed 1352 from Newcastle to Edinburgh a Chef was doing the full first class service. Obviously not hot food but he was doing his best going around with sandwiches, the cold drinks trolley and the hot one afterwards. A little disappointing overall but no complaints as he was really working hard to keep some service.
The following day there was only one drink run between Edinburgh and Dundee (service Cancelled at Dundee) abd no hot food again, not sure of the reasons this time.
The following day there was only one drink run between Edinburgh and Dundee (service Cancelled at Dundee) abd no hot food again, not sure of the reasons this time.
It should start from Aberdeen - there are VTEC catering crew based in Aberdeen for these services. I can't recall quite which is which but some of their diagrams work down to Edinburgh and others go as far as Berwick.
DeeGee
Member
Sunday 28th Jan, I'm thinking about a Weekend 1st Upgrade. I have me and the boy, on two tickets INV-EDB and EDB-DON - 2 separate trips.
Am I likely to get anything decent on the INV-EDB? Or should I just wait until EDB-DON for the upgrade?
Am I likely to get anything decent on the INV-EDB? Or should I just wait until EDB-DON for the upgrade?
anti-pacer
Established Member
Slightly off topic, but only slightly. How long has "complimentary" food been able on this route? I ask because way back in 2001 myself and a couple of friends travelled from Aviemore to York in First Class. It was GNER back then, and I remember having a bowl of soup and a toasted sandwich, as well as a few cans of Carlsberg (I had no class back then! 
). None of this was free, but it was table service.
Also, I could be wrong, but I'm sure it was a Sunday we travelled back.
). None of this was free, but it was table service.Also, I could be wrong, but I'm sure it was a Sunday we travelled back.
telstarbox
Established Member
Complimentary meals started in spring 2011 (see post #1 of this thread).
TT-ONR-NRN
Established Member
Food was practically unlimited when I took the HC up there. Fairly generous Darlington to Edinburgh. Extremely generous Edinburgh to Inverness.
47271
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You should be fine, not least because the Inverness to Edinburgh leg is covered by an Inverness crew who'll always try their best.
I haven't used VTEC First Class in a month or so - work's taking my round the NW a lot more at the moment - but I've heard from others that service reliabiity generally has recovered quite a bit. Relevant to the post above, I know some people who travelled Perth-King's Cross-Perth either side of Christmas and gave First Class service full marks, something that I reckon would have been far fetched a couple of months ago.
VTEC delivers adequate service. Awesome!
telstarbox
Established Member
Did you go on a weekday or weekend?
TT-ONR-NRN
Established Member
Weekend
I've mostly been in standard, but the trains I've been on recently have had announcements claiming to be offering the full first class service. All but one even managed a trolley in standard. Seems like the recruitment drive might have sorted some of the issues.
43096
On Moderation
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Not done the Chieftain for many years, but the Inverness crews were always excellent.
East Coast crews are generally very good or very poor, no average. That dates right back to GNER’s time and hasn’t really changed since. Last time I used VTEC FC it was very good.
MG11
Member
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- 4 Nov 2017
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- 638
You could pop to The Food Bar and get a hot meal pot or hot sandwich and bring it back to your seat.
I should probably have posted this a bit earlier to get a response in time, but I'll be on the 1 pm from Kings Cross to Newcastle tomorrow (Thursday 18th) does anyone know what will be available to eat and/or drink? Ditto my return trip at 10 am on Monday 22nd.
GW43125
Established Member
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- 8 Dec 2014
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I travelled VTEC first class Edinburgh to London on Saturday and was impressed with the offerings. Sandwiches were offered after the three crew changes (Edinburgh, Newcastle, York) and the crisps/biscuits/tea/coffee etc was never more than an hour's gap (probably less). Overall I was impressed. Another thing I noticed for use of common sense was that, because the train was very busy (Last train, Newcastle United game) was that the catering crew came through checking first class tickets, making a note of who required upgrades/they were unsure, meaning the train manager only had to check those requiring intervention (we were told standard was wedged). It seemed to work very well. However final drinks run was north of Peterborough.
I have two things to point out:
-No choice of soft drinks, only coke
-Last run north of Peterborough
However neither was a deal breaker and I quite enjoyed the experience. Though six hours on a train in the dark does wear you down eventually.
I have two things to point out:
-No choice of soft drinks, only coke
-Last run north of Peterborough
However neither was a deal breaker and I quite enjoyed the experience. Though six hours on a train in the dark does wear you down eventually.
ChiefPlanner
Established Member
Paid the "staff discount priv far" for the food option on the 0935 Kings Cross to Edinburgh on Monday - travelling to York - which was the full breakfast service. Very decent in all respects and the so called toast famine was non existant (they came round twice) , one could argue that the bacon was a bit leathery , but all in all a decent product, served by the ever friendly crews.
trainophile
Established Member
On 0935 KGX-LDS (boarded at Grantham). Apparently there’s no crew at all except driver and guard. Wish I’d booked Standard now. Don’t suppose any point in sending off ticket for some sort of refund? Dying for cup of tea!
trainophile
Established Member
And I’ve just discovered I’m going to miss my connection to Liverpool from Leeds unless I can get from p6 to 16a in one minute, unlikely as I’m in M, so will be an hour late. Do I claim from VTEC or from TPE who I booked through? Can I claim for both legs of the journey as I will be an hour late at my destination? Both tickets are Advances.
While it still won't help, you could walk through to B before arrival at Leeds.
trainophile
Established Member
Still wouldn’t have made it as we got in at 12:13, now on 13:09. Nightmare at Leeds, I put my ticket in the barrier to go to the Lounge for a cuppa and it kept it! Had to plead with the gate guy to open the machine and retrieve it so I can claim back. He wasn’t very happy but agreed eventually and we did find it after about 15 minutes!
I make a habit of taking a photograph of all my tickets where a delay is happening. I generally take a photo of any longer distance ones anyway incase they get lost or eaten by barriers along the way if there are multiple changes. Whilst it’s in no way a guarantee that you’ll be allowed to travel if it goes wrong it can’t hurt.
dcsprior
Member
The email I received about this said they appreciated this wasn't ideal for me as a regular quiet coach user - even though I think I only ever booked quiet coach in Std, preferring coach L in 1st.
One thing I thought was off was that they're doing it with 4 month's notice, but sell tickets 6 months ahead - so some people will have paid for a journey in a quiet coach that no longer exists.
I occasionally book the 1st quiet coach although like yourself my first choice is usually L63/L65 depending on whether it’s an HST or an electric. If that one isn’t available I normally look towards the quiet coach.
Implementing it in six months would make sense reservation wise. I’m assuming it’s being done due to the five car Azumas only having one first class carriage. It’s proably easier to remove it rather than have it on some sets and not the other. The Azumas won’t be in service until almost the end of the year so they could have gave the full six months notice.
First class service wise at the moment I’d say on the whole since early December I’ve noticed an improvement personally. There have only been two occasions since then that I haven’t been able to order my first choice. I know some are still having some issues further south but I think there has been a bit of an improvement.
Which will hopefully teach you that you never, ever, put a ticket that you may need later through a gateline once you've reached the destination on the ticket
trainophile
Established Member
Which will hopefully teach you that you never, ever, put a ticket that you may need later through a gateline once you've reached the destination on the ticket
I know, learned my lesson there. And after all the kerfufflle to get it back I realised later that I can’t actually claim anything, as my journey was two separate Advance bookings and I was only 23 minutes late at Leeds, which was long enough to miss my connection (I’d allowed 19 minutes) but not long enough for delay repay
. Luckily the TM on the train I eventually got was quite happy even though I should have been on the previous one.Sorry, back to topic...
I know, learned my lesson there. And after all the kerfufflle to get it back I realised later that I can’t actually claim anything, as my journey was two separate Advance bookings and I was only 23 minutes late at Leeds, which was long enough to miss my connection (I’d allowed 19 minutes) but not long enough for delay repay
Were you not an hour late at Liverpool? As you allowed at least 10 minutes at Leeds you should be fine to claim.
trainophile
Established Member
Well yes, I was an hour late arriving at Liverpool South Parkway, but the train that the second leg of my journey was booked on, i.e. the 1209 LDS-LPY, ran on time, so I can hardly claim from TPE, and Virgin would say that they got me to the destination on my first ticket, i.e. Leeds, only 23 minutes late. If I had bought a ticket for a through journey Grantham to Liverpool I would maybe have had a justifiable claim, but as two completely separate (in the railway's view) journeys then I'm not sure whether they would consider the overall hour's lateness anyone's actual fault.
Had my TPE ticket been to Lime Street I could probably have got on the 1244 instead of waiting for the 1309, but I really wanted to go to South Parkway as per my ticket so decided to wait, and also I must admit that this was partly because at that stage I thought arriving an hour late would get me a refund. It only dawned on me that I was on shaky ground when I went through it in my mind in the small hours of this morning!
It wasn't my best Virgin journey ever, also due to the total lack of refreshments as there were no catering crew on board, but luckier than some folk who must have had a total nightmare travelling yesterday, so I'm tending to count my blessings, and put it down to another experience on the ever-exciting British railways!