It has been every time I've used it, most recently in May.
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London North Eastern Railway (LNER) First Class service
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chefchenko
Member
As long as they serve after departure from the starting station
Took the 0648am LNER from Glasgow to Newcastle in first recently , brekky was served between Glasgow and Haymarket . Not a fan of tomato and eggs , but that is me being picky , anyone asked for more bacon , blackpudding instead of them?
Crew were a bit abrupt , maybe it was because i look young and not in a suit perhaps ?
On the 0648am from Glasgow , is this Edinburgh crew ?
Crew were a bit abrupt , maybe it was because i look young and not in a suit perhaps ?
On the 0648am from Glasgow , is this Edinburgh crew ?
Butts
Veteran Member
From my experience that would be considered far to radical - "deviation from the script". Anywhere else it probably would have resulted in understandable compliance with the minimum of fuss.
Did you get offered anything else between Edinburgh and Newcastle on the next serving ? - on the table not in your lap !!!
voyagerdude220
Established Member
- Joined
- 13 Oct 2005
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- 3,277
I "dared" to request that I was served scrambled egg instead of fried egg towards the beginning of this year, whilst on a Virgin service and the Service Manager just quite rudely said "it comes with fried egg" and walked off.
What annoys me, is that they even make scrambled egg to go with smoked salmon, so it's not like they wouldn't already have what I requested available. (Occasionally Virgin have happily given me scrambled egg though)
Butts
Veteran Member
Be interesting to find out if they were allowed to "double up" on each visit to make up for the inconvenience of having to collect said complimentary tipples !!!
I should of asked , will the next time ! Only do these on cheap advances . Tea/Coffee was offered straight after Edinburgh . They had juice/water on a trolley passing through but never offered them to me . I had to ask .
I'm not 100% sure but I think there is still some Glasgow catering crew around. I'll probably be on it at some point this week if I remember I will ask them. I'm sure they are Glasgow based though.
Don't know about the guard but unless things have changed recently an Edinburgh driver picks up the northbound in the evening and takes it to Glasgow then sits with the set until the early hours when another Edinburgh driver taxis over to take the set south with the evening driver taking a taxi back to Edinburgh.
From experience on this service it's usually the crew who have been on since Glasgow that takes the Edinburgh orders rather than extra relief who board at Edinburgh and they are pretty sharp at remembering who's had and who hasn't.
Yeah they certainly are sharp , kinda almost feels like your being ignored . i know its not really .
The catering crew had Glasgow accents , kinda suprised they still have crew , i had it that they would get an early train or taxi from Edinburgh .
Not sure how it works at XC , but not seen XC staff at Glasgow .
The first train in the morning and last train at night come from or go back to Craigentinny rather than stabling in Glasgow so any crew involved would be able to get back to Edinburgh. To be honest I'm always quite surprised that LNER don't do the same thing rather than stabling in Polmadie.
Yeah , the last few services go to Edinburgh , Weekdays one goes to Newcastle .
Surprised LNER still go to Glasgow . Was looking at an old GNER timetable and there was GNER Glasgow to London Trains at 8am and 9am !
We're going slightly off-topic so probably should open another thread if people want to keep going but, as a final comment, GNER, NXEC and then EC all provided a significantly greater service to Glasgow than now until, I think, the May 2011 timetable change when Eureka was introduced. Effectively if you wanted to go to Glasgow from the ECML then the ICEC operator was your main choice (unless you wanted to change) it was also wasn't that much slower from London to Glasgow going via the ECML than via the WCML. It took around five and half hours from Kings Cross to Glasgow and around five hours or so from Euston to Glasgow. Now it's about four and a half hours to Glasgow.
Because of that Eureka focused EC back on their core Anglo-Scot route and deleted the majority of services other than the token one per day each way with CrossCountry picking up the slack by extending some of their Edinburgh terminators to maintain links between the North East and Glasgow (effectively they swapped from XC having a token one per day each way service to East Coast having the token service).
However we're getting off-topic at this point so if people want to discuss the intricacies of Glasgow's ECML service it's past and future further then let me know and I'll split out the relevant posts
Currently on the 9.07 from Dundee (7.52 ex Aberdeen).
A reduced breakfast service, with only the choice of toast or a croissant, and a slice of cake. Croissant was tasty enough - although a bacon roll would have been nicer!
Can't complain though; I only paid £19 to excess a work-bough ticket. The single seat and extra leg room is worth that alone
EDIT: just been told over the tannoy the reduced service is due to a problem with the refrigeration on the train, so a full service won't be available till Edinburgh (I'm only going as far as Haymarket...).
A reduced breakfast service, with only the choice of toast or a croissant, and a slice of cake. Croissant was tasty enough - although a bacon roll would have been nicer!
Can't complain though; I only paid £19 to excess a work-bough ticket. The single seat and extra leg room is worth that alone
EDIT: just been told over the tannoy the reduced service is due to a problem with the refrigeration on the train, so a full service won't be available till Edinburgh (I'm only going as far as Haymarket...).
Iskra
Established Member
I’ve had two good breakfasts on the 0710 Leeds-Edinburgh (Aberdeen) and 1000 London Kings Cross-York (Aberdeen).
Both improvements on the catering nadir under VTEC. All items hot, tasty and well cooked. I even got given extra items on today’s breakfast. The crews seem much happier too and are delivering a better service.
Both improvements on the catering nadir under VTEC. All items hot, tasty and well cooked. I even got given extra items on today’s breakfast. The crews seem much happier too and are delivering a better service.
Butts
Veteran Member
Most importantly is Black Pudding still part of the package ?
Iskra
Established Member
Yes, hence my praise. Anything to report on booze watch on the evening services?
Butts
Veteran Member
Stuck in South Wales so no - last trip in October plentiful replenishment between Edinburgh and Aberdeen.
Moving back to Scotland soon - so watch this space !!
Need to chance the next time to swap items , like no tomato or mushrooms for black pudding .
What was offered between Edinburgh and Aberdeen?
Butts
Veteran Member
Unfortunately they had run out out of Sandwiches /Hot Food so it was just loads of cake,crisps etc plus about 5 or 6 Miniatures (far more important).
leightonbd
Member
I think the service has been good this year. I was able to enjoy chicken chasseur for dinner southbound the other day, which is an improvement on the usual southbound ‘all day’ offering - I must have eaten about 50 of those sausage rolls over the last few years. Staff are still great.
On a five-year view: meals and portion sizes seem to be smaller and less elaborate - but I don’t mind that and can accept it as a sensible economy. The quality of the hot food is just as good; it’s just a simpler offering.
Booze offering is much the same as ever in terms of trolley frequency. Quality of the white wine offered has descended miserably though - anaemic and practically without flavour. IMHO at any rate.
I was also able to do a west Coast southbound (via Manchester) earlier in January, and the food offering on the Manchester-London leg was way below LNER standard.
Edit: just wanted to add that the booking system seems to have made it impossible to book single seats in F.C.; would anyone else agree?
On a five-year view: meals and portion sizes seem to be smaller and less elaborate - but I don’t mind that and can accept it as a sensible economy. The quality of the hot food is just as good; it’s just a simpler offering.
Booze offering is much the same as ever in terms of trolley frequency. Quality of the white wine offered has descended miserably though - anaemic and practically without flavour. IMHO at any rate.
I was also able to do a west Coast southbound (via Manchester) earlier in January, and the food offering on the Manchester-London leg was way below LNER standard.
Edit: just wanted to add that the booking system seems to have made it impossible to book single seats in F.C.; would anyone else agree?
Last edited:
Andy Pacer
Established Member
https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/lner-to-darlington-the-final-pacer.177555/
A bit of LNER first class included in my trip report quoted above.
A bit of LNER first class included in my trip report quoted above.
Agree with what? Surely you just chose a ticket, then select which ever seat you want, just like you have always done.....?
leightonbd
Member
My point is that the single seats appear to be blocked out and unbookable - I suspect some always have been (marked ‘priority seats’ in the coach itself). I just wondered if LNER had increased the number of seats treated this way.
xotGD
Established Member
- Joined
- 4 Feb 2017
- Messages
- 6,080
I write this from a First Class seat, en-route from KX to Leeds. Two complimentary G&Ts and some food has set me up nicely for the evening!
leightonbd
Member
Two lovely journeys in the last two days, south on Monday, north on Tuesday, good and generous service both ways, though Pasta Puttanesca was a bit underwhelming. They do brew a nice strong cup of tea. Even the wine tasted better ...
On my point on single seats: despite being unable to book one either way, on boarding I found numerous singles in both L and M marked Available.
On my point on single seats: despite being unable to book one either way, on boarding I found numerous singles in both L and M marked Available.
Currently an hour into the journey on the 1233 out of London to Leeds. Drinks and sandwich trolleys have been round, but no mention of hot meals - either offers or reasons for non-availability. The menus are on the tables.