dvboy
Established Member
This follows on from my SailRail to & from Belfast at the weekend. Coming back was a bit of an adventure, although I knew it would be, I think I ended up on Plan D or E in the end. I was coming back via Stranraer, on the Stena Voyager's penultimate sailing.
Engineering works meant there were no train services from Stranraer to Ayr, so a coach took us to meet the 21:25 from Ayr to Glasgow, which on arriving at Ayr had become a train to Paisley, and was also cancelled. We were informed that this was due to engineering works as the train should have been the one coming from Stranraer (I assume this was an oversight by Scotrail that they couldn't supply a train at this time but it had apparently been the same situation the previous weekend), so instead we were on another bus this time direct to Glasgow.
My initial plan had been to then head for Westerton to get the sleeper but having rang Scotrail earlier in the week I knew there were no seats available on the sleeper from Westerton to Crewe, and had prepared for a long wait at Glasgow, where a friend who lives locally, while he could not put me up for the night, had agreed to keep me company for at least some of the time. When he text to say he wouldn't be able to make it, I started looking for options to try to get home quicker than waiting for the 4:28 to Preston on which I had a seat reserved.
By shooting up the M77, we actually got into Glasgow earlier than we would have had the train ran. National Rail Enquiries (PDA version) suggested a 23:30 train from Glasgow Queen Street to Edinburgh and to join the sleeper there and change at Crewe, so I checked with the ticket office at Glasgow Queen Street (showing them my phone); the woman there agreed that was my best option. I was warned about reservations being required and would be relying on good will, and thought I'd take the risk as I'd rather spend 4 hours stranded in Edinburgh than in Glasgow. I actually took the 22:30 from Glasgow Queen Street so I wouldn't be hanging round there any longer than necessary.
Not being familiar with Sleepers and ScotRail, I got to Edinburgh to find it wasn't on the departures board at all, as you are not supposed to join the service there. The man in the East Coast ticket office told me he was aware it shows up as a connection on NRE, and to have a word with Scotrail staff, who advised me to ask the guard on its arrival; the duty manager even later came to find me to tell me which platform it would come in on.
The guard of the Fort William portion of the train which came in first said there would probably not be a problem as his seated coach had been empty all the way down, but I would have to check with the guard of the other half of the train. I did this, and the guard was happy to carry me as there were a few seats available, so I got to ride on the Sleeper to Crewe and get a bit of shut-eye.
Incidentally I was surprised that my ticket was valid via Edinburgh, and that although I was asked if I had one, and explained what it was, it was only actually ever checked on the 5:47 Crewe-Birmingham XC service, the last leg of my journey.
The three questions I have are:
Why do they not allow you to book or join the Highland sleeper at Edinburgh, since it stops there for a while anyway, if you only want to go as far as Preston or Crewe?
Why did ScotRail Telesales tell me there were no seats available to book from Westerton-Crewe (as discussed in this thread) when clearly there were?
I notice the same journey option does not appear in NRE if I try to query it for next Sunday, so has someone today perhaps made sure this doesn't show up in the future?
Engineering works meant there were no train services from Stranraer to Ayr, so a coach took us to meet the 21:25 from Ayr to Glasgow, which on arriving at Ayr had become a train to Paisley, and was also cancelled. We were informed that this was due to engineering works as the train should have been the one coming from Stranraer (I assume this was an oversight by Scotrail that they couldn't supply a train at this time but it had apparently been the same situation the previous weekend), so instead we were on another bus this time direct to Glasgow.
My initial plan had been to then head for Westerton to get the sleeper but having rang Scotrail earlier in the week I knew there were no seats available on the sleeper from Westerton to Crewe, and had prepared for a long wait at Glasgow, where a friend who lives locally, while he could not put me up for the night, had agreed to keep me company for at least some of the time. When he text to say he wouldn't be able to make it, I started looking for options to try to get home quicker than waiting for the 4:28 to Preston on which I had a seat reserved.
By shooting up the M77, we actually got into Glasgow earlier than we would have had the train ran. National Rail Enquiries (PDA version) suggested a 23:30 train from Glasgow Queen Street to Edinburgh and to join the sleeper there and change at Crewe, so I checked with the ticket office at Glasgow Queen Street (showing them my phone); the woman there agreed that was my best option. I was warned about reservations being required and would be relying on good will, and thought I'd take the risk as I'd rather spend 4 hours stranded in Edinburgh than in Glasgow. I actually took the 22:30 from Glasgow Queen Street so I wouldn't be hanging round there any longer than necessary.
Not being familiar with Sleepers and ScotRail, I got to Edinburgh to find it wasn't on the departures board at all, as you are not supposed to join the service there. The man in the East Coast ticket office told me he was aware it shows up as a connection on NRE, and to have a word with Scotrail staff, who advised me to ask the guard on its arrival; the duty manager even later came to find me to tell me which platform it would come in on.
The guard of the Fort William portion of the train which came in first said there would probably not be a problem as his seated coach had been empty all the way down, but I would have to check with the guard of the other half of the train. I did this, and the guard was happy to carry me as there were a few seats available, so I got to ride on the Sleeper to Crewe and get a bit of shut-eye.
Incidentally I was surprised that my ticket was valid via Edinburgh, and that although I was asked if I had one, and explained what it was, it was only actually ever checked on the 5:47 Crewe-Birmingham XC service, the last leg of my journey.
The three questions I have are:
Why do they not allow you to book or join the Highland sleeper at Edinburgh, since it stops there for a while anyway, if you only want to go as far as Preston or Crewe?
Why did ScotRail Telesales tell me there were no seats available to book from Westerton-Crewe (as discussed in this thread) when clearly there were?
I notice the same journey option does not appear in NRE if I try to query it for next Sunday, so has someone today perhaps made sure this doesn't show up in the future?