Aberdeen to Penzance

[TT-ONR-NRN]

Split from May 2025 Timetable Changes thread

Glad I’m trying the Aberdeen Penzance service in full before it goes
A good way to use up a voucher for one free First Class journey on XC!

 

[tram21]

A good way to use up a voucher for one free First Class journey on XC!

The best way I'd say! How'd you get one of them!

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

The best way I'd say! How'd you get one of them!

Complaining strongly about a train host in July who refused to let me board in the first class door as he simply did not believe I had a first class ticket due to being a 21 year old in a tracksuit, and them taking until November to reply.

It's very meanly clever of them to offer me a SINGLE ticket only, even if it is for anywhere on the network, because it means in general the more of a good use of it one makes (aka the longer the journey), the more money it costs as one has to pay for a longer return journey.

However, I've beaten this. I need to get from Manchester to Reading for work anyway, and indeed my dad is contributing £25 to that. It's £16 advance with TPE and LNER from Manchester the day before, I have a friend to stay with in Aberdeen (though I fancied a hotel so have booked one, but the free option is there), and the sleeper back to Reading was £28 in the seat which I've done before and is fine.

£28+£16, takeaway the £25 my dad is paying, means I'm doing it all for £19.

Anyway, it's a shame this novelty is going in May, but at least that's a tick on my bucket list and a few free biscuits while doing it

 

[Bletchleyite]

Complaining strongly about a train host in July who refused to let me board in the first class door as he simply did not believe I had a first class ticket due to being a 21 year old in a tracksuit, and them taking until November to reply.

I used to get that. Waving said ticket at them was quite fun.

My Dad used to get free first class travel to school because my grandfather was quite senior on the railways. He absolutely loved winding up inspectors over it.

There's nothing new in the world...

 

[The exile]

And if I miss the 14 minute connection from XC to Night Riviera at Penzance, which I'm actually hoping I do, it'll be a hotel on the railway's expense, and an IET up in the morning after a very good night's sleep

Would it?
If travelling from Plymouth (or east thereof) to Penzance and the back again counts as a “single continuous journey” then surely in the case of late running you would be expected to change at the previous station both trains stop at - unless of course the delay was incurred after that penultimate stop. If it’s not a single continuous journey, then wouldn’t delay repay for a (say) 16 minute late arrival be the most you could expect.

 

[Zerothebrake!]

A 14L arrival is nothing for that train. You'll be following FGW trains originating from Cardiff & Paddington and they are often late too. (5)V60 ran ECS to Long Rock from Plymouth last night due to no available Train Manager. I can't see a hotel being offered either if you choose to travel through to Penzance so good luck in your endeavours.

 

[xotGD]

Glad I’m trying the Aberdeen Penzance service in full before it goes
A good way to use up a voucher for one free First Class journey on XC!

The old joke springs to mind:

First prize: One free trip on Cross Country.
Second prize: Two free trips on Cross Country.

Enjoy the trip!

 

[duffield]

Complaining strongly about a train host in July who refused to let me board in the first class door as he simply did not believe I had a first class ticket due to being a 21 year old in a tracksuit, and them taking until November to reply.

It's very meanly clever of them to offer me a SINGLE ticket only, even if it is for anywhere on the network, because it means in general the more of a good use of it one makes (aka the longer the journey), the more money it costs as one has to pay for a longer return journey.

However, I've beaten this. I need to get from Manchester to Reading for work anyway, and indeed my dad is contributing £25 to that. It's £16 advance with TPE and LNER from Manchester the day before, I have a friend to stay with in Aberdeen (though I fancied a hotel so have booked one, but the free option is there), and the sleeper back to Reading was £28 in the seat which I've done before and is fine.

£28+£16, takeaway the £25 my dad is paying, means I'm doing it all for £19.
And if I miss the 14 minute connection from XC to Night Riviera at Penzance, which I'm actually hoping I do, it'll be a hotel on the railway's expense, and an IET up in the morning after a very good night's sleep.

Anyway, it's a shame this novelty is going in May, but at least that's a tick on my bucket list and a few free biscuits while doing it

In general this trip should be fine, starting from Aberdeen with a reserved seat in 1st...unless you want to get to the toilet after the train has left Leeds. Sometimes the overcrowding in the vestibule outside 1st makes this nearly impossible, or at best very awkward.

That's when it might get a bit tricky, particularly if you've had several complementary drinks.

According to XC's busy trains checker, Tuesday and Thursdays look OK, Wednesday middling, but Monday and Friday are solid red (full & standing typically) from Leeds. No data available for Saturday.

Depending on which day of the week you're travelling you may want to adjust your fluid intake and keep an eye on the vestibule situation.

 

[mlumsden]

Hi
I hope someone will be able to answer this question. I have booked to travel from Aberdeen to Penzance before the cancellation of the Aberdeen to Edinburgh section in May.
Does anyone know which way the coaches are set up. Is coach A at the front or rear of the train when heading south?

Thanks in advance

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

Hi
I hope someone will be able to answer this question. I have booked to travel from Aberdeen to Penzance before the cancellation of the Aberdeen to Edinburgh section in May.
Does anyone know which way the coaches are set up. Is coach A at the front or rear of the train when heading south?

Thanks in advance

It's completely random.
I myself am doing it at the end of the month! Hoping for a generous first class offering.

 

[Jan Mayen]

What are you likely to get on First Class? (Assuming everything advertised is available). And what becomes the longest daytime journey when this does get cut back to Edinburgh?

 

[mlumsden]

It's been a nightmare booking this and trying to select seats. The website keeps allocating seats where my wife and I can't sit together.
Cross country customer service advised us to just purchase the tickets and the try and sort it out onboard. I think not!!!
At least buying the tickets via LNER allowed us to see the seat allocation before buying.

I don't know the exact date but I believe it's sometime in May.

 

[swt_passenger]

Just to add an explanation on direction of travel. The main long distance XC Network includes a number of places where trains reverse intentionally on their normal route, eg at Reading, and Birmingham New St, and on some routes reversals are an option for the signaller on an as required basis. There are also depots such as at Eastleigh where trains have two access routes and can get turned to meet signaller‘s priorities on the day. The Voyager fleet is also interworked across all the routes, and the overall effect is that it is impossible to keep trains a certain way round.

 

[Willie Bee]

It's been a nightmare booking this and trying to select seats. The website keeps allocating seats where my wife and I can't sit together.
Cross country customer service advised us to just purchase the tickets and the try and sort it out onboard. I think not!!!

I had a similar experience with TransPenine Express.

Trying to book two seats together was impossible. Customer Services eventually said .. just book anywhere, then phone them to get the seats changed.

It worked .. but just a lot of faff

Why can't every company be like LNER .. show a layout diagram and let you select seat(s) as required .. EASY !

 

[Halish Railway]

Why can't every company be like LNER .. show a layout diagram and let you select seat(s) as required .. EASY !

Because with LNER a seat is most likely to be reserved once on the journey as an overwhelming majority of people will be travelling to London.

With XC, a seat will be reserved multiple times along the journey, so the booking engine allocates a seat to try and ensure that enough seats are left entirely unreserved for people to do long journeys like Aberdeen to Penzance and walk up passengers. Say if you’re travelling from Leeds to Birmingham, the booking engine will try and put you in a seat that has already been reserved for other journeys like Newcastle to Leeds or Birmingham to Plymouth.

 

[A S Leib]

Because with LNER a seat is most likely to be reserved once on the journey as an overwhelming majority of people will be travelling to London.

With XC, a seat will be reserved multiple times along the journey, so the booking engine allocates a seat to try and ensure that enough seats are left entirely unreserved for people to do long journeys like Aberdeen to Penzance and walk up passengers. Say if you’re travelling from Leeds to Birmingham, the booking engine will try and put you in a seat that has already been reserved for other journeys like Newcastle to Leeds or Birmingham to Plymouth.

Would a seat selector which only shows seats which have been reserved and left before you get on be better (so, for example, if seat B65 is reserved from Plymouth to Bristol and Chesterfield to Edinburgh and B66 isn't reserved at any point, a booking from Bristol to Derby would just show B65 as reservable)?

 

[Snex]

Because with LNER a seat is most likely to be reserved once on the journey as an overwhelming majority of people will be travelling to London.

With XC, a seat will be reserved multiple times along the journey, so the booking engine allocates a seat to try and ensure that enough seats are left entirely unreserved for people to do long journeys like Aberdeen to Penzance and walk up passengers. Say if you’re travelling from Leeds to Birmingham, the booking engine will try and put you in a seat that has already been reserved for other journeys like Newcastle to Leeds or Birmingham to Plymouth.

Not sure it's good enough personally not to offer any form of seat picker in 2025. DB in Germany on their intercity trains offer seat selection, albeit for a cost. Maybe that could be a better option? Otherwise your seats are just allocated randomly and with eTickets etc, you could make the case for allocating seats at a later date and getting more optimised loadings rather than trying to force it in 2 months in advance.

 

[Willie Bee]

Because with LNER a seat is most likely to be reserved once on the journey as an overwhelming majority of people will be travelling to London.

With XC, a seat will be reserved multiple times along the journey, so the booking engine allocates a seat to try and ensure that enough seats are left entirely unreserved for people to do long journeys like Aberdeen to Penzance and walk up passengers. Say if you’re travelling from Leeds to Birmingham, the booking engine will try and put you in a seat that has already been reserved for other journeys like Newcastle to Leeds or Birmingham to Plymouth.

Good answer .. I never thought about that way

 

[MrJeeves]

Why can't every company be like LNER .. show a layout diagram and let you select seat(s) as required .. EASY !

Or use a third party retailer, such as the forum, who offer a seat selector for any journey and train operator.

 

[Willie Bee]

Or use a third party retailer, such as the forum, who offer a seat selector for any journey and train operator.

I have bought quite a few tickets on the forum's site .. TPE seat allocation works well

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Glad I’m trying the Aberdeen Penzance service in full before it goes
A good way to use up a voucher for one free First Class journey on XC!

However, I've beaten this. I need to get from Manchester to Reading for work anyway, and indeed my dad is contributing £25 to that. It's £16 advance with TPE and LNER from Manchester the day before, I have a friend to stay with in Aberdeen (though I fancied a hotel so have booked one, but the free option is there), and the sleeper back to Reading was £28 in the seat which I've done before and is fine.

£28+£16, takeaway the £25 my dad is paying, means I'm doing it all for £19.

Sounds like a great score to me.

 

[D1537]

Because with LNER a seat is most likely to be reserved once on the journey as an overwhelming majority of people will be travelling to London.

Well, two things here;
That may possibly be true with trains from further south, but it isn't on the Anglo-Scottish services which may be reserved multiple times. Only around a third of Edinburgh LNER customers are travelling to London.
Secondly, of course, there's the 50% of services travelling out of London!

 

[Mainliner]

Three cancellations in the past week (albeit for different reasons) is not encouraging for those like myself who are planning to do this trip before the service ends in May… Hoping things improve!

 

[Zerothebrake!]

The Driver Rest Day Working agreement has been extended to 21/03/26 (which will help your cause) but the RMT staff are still in discussions..

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

Three cancellations in the past week (albeit for different reasons) is not encouraging for those like myself who are planning to do this trip before the service ends in May… Hoping things improve!

I’m doing it on Friday. Fingers are crossed.

 

[Mainliner]

I’m doing it on Thursday. Fingers are crossed.

Good luck! Going to report progress?

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

Good luck! Going to report progress?

Sorry that should say Friday, and yes.

 

[bleeder4]

Sorry that should say Friday, and yes.

Looks to be running on time at the moment. Hopefully you're having a good trip!

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

Looks to be running on time at the moment. Hopefully you're having a good trip!

Really enjoying the trip so far, thank you, and by chance I'm not the only Aberzancer! Two men in their thirties or so are doing it, and as it happens, I wasn't very happy with my seat and they weren't happy with theirs.

I'd requested a table for two, but my seat ended up facing the vestibule door a metre in front. I hate being right in front of the door as I really enjoy a view down the carriage. I'd also found out the four carriage Voyager was fully booked, and I'd forgotten just how limited the legroom is on those tables for two so regretted not getting a single. It was looking like fourteen hours of playing footsie! The other two guys had also requested a table for two, but ended up with two forward facing individual single seats, one in front of the other, so decided to ignore their reservations and take a table for four.

Well, one of their booked single seats (A12) had a perfect window, ridiculously generous legroom, and a great view down the carriage. We did a little swap, I took that seat off of them, they took my table for two, and everyone was happy! Next stop is York. It's a four carriage 220 when it's been the booked 221 most of the week, but in first class that makes no difference to capacity so the short formation doesn't affect me. I'm also happier with an XC original Voyager than an ex-Avanti one, as while I'd rather the latter for standard class, I'm not a fan of pleather. The Antolin-Laire seating fitted to first in Pendolinos and Voyagers is, in my opinion, the most comfortable train seat in the UK, so I'm very comfy and I've got bags of legroom.

 

[bleeder4]

Really enjoying the trip so far, thank you, and by chance I'm not the only Aberzancer! Two men in their thirties or so are doing it, and as it happens, I wasn't very happy with my seat and they weren't happy with theirs.

I'd requested a table for two, but my seat ended up facing the vestibule door a metre in front. I hate being right in front of the door as I really enjoy a view down the carriage. I'd also found out the four carriage Voyager was fully booked, and I'd forgotten just how limited the legroom is on those tables for two so regretted not getting a single. It was looking like fourteen hours of playing footsie! The other two guys had also requested a table for two, but ended up with two forward facing individual single seats, one in front of the other, so decided to ignore their reservations and take a table for four.

Well, one of their booked single seats (A12) had a perfect window, ridiculously generous legroom, and a great view down the carriage. We did a little swap, I took that seat off of them, they took my table for two, and everyone was happy! Next stop is York. It's a four carriage 220 when it's been the booked 221 most of the week, but in first class that makes no difference to capacity so the short formation doesn't affect me. I'm also happier with an XC original Voyager than an ex-Avanti one, as while I'd rather the latter for standard class, I'm not a fan of pleather. The Antolin-Laire seating fitted to first in Pendolinos and Voyagers is, in my opinion, the most comfortable train seat in the UK, so I'm very comfy and I've got bags of legroom.

That's great to hear. Enjoy the rest of the trip. I think it's very rare to meet anyone else going the whole way. I did it last year and, to my knowledge, was the only one doing the whole journey. I slummed it in Standard though!