London North Eastern Railway (LNER) First Class service

I did the Highland Chieftain last Friday from Newcastle to Inverness, got two meals (the curry shortly after departure from Newcastle, then the canneloni after leaving Edinburgh).
First class very full as usual until Edinburgh, plenty of drinks runs (I had 5 G&T's and had to turn down more offerings) but no Magners on board this time.
Earlier in the day I'd used the 0846 Newark to Newcastle and had the full breakfast which was the expected standard.

Just out of curiosity, how busy was the Highland Chieftain in First Class after Edinburgh?

I used to travel on it both ways in First Class between Edinburgh and Inverness until a few years ago every couple of months and it always seemed busy.

Thanks for the reports on your journeys.

voyagerdude220 said:

Just out of curiosity, how busy was the Highland Chieftain in First Class after Edinburgh?

I used to travel on it both ways in First Class between Edinburgh and Inverness until a few years ago every couple of months and it always seemed busy.

Thanks for the reports on your journeys.

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On my journey it wasn't that busy and continued to thin out as the train went north. Pretty much every group could have had a table to themselves if they'd wanted it.

So far so good on the 0907 from Dundee to Kings Cross.

Bacon roll before we were even on the Tay Bridge, quickly followed by a coffee and juice run.

I have high hopes for the rest of the journey

marks87 said:

So far so good on the 0907 from Dundee to Kings Cross.

Bacon roll before we were even on the Tay Bridge, quickly followed by a coffee and juice run.

I have high hopes for the rest of the journey

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Yes it certainly is a good service on this service today, as I boarded at Aberdeen and got my bacon roll before it even left the station as well as 4 drink runs so far. Looking forward to the service after Edinburgh.

Continued good service from Edinburgh; all-day offer came round soon after leaving. Too early for lunch for me but nabbed some biscuits and crisps from the coffee trolley.

No pressure on the Newcastle crew to keep this up

EDIT: Thumbs up from Newcastle. Quickly round for food orders, and was given two beers (well, OK, Carlsberg but it'll do) because the aircon is knackered in the coach. I'm not finding it overly hot (the end doors are being held open and the droplights are down) but I can see why some might find it uncomfortable.

EDIT: Thumbs up from Newcastle. Quickly round for food orders, and was given two beers (well, OK, Carlsberg but it'll do) because the aircon is knackered in the coach. I'm not finding it overly hot (the end doors are being held open and the droplights are down) but I can see why some might find it uncomfortable.[/QUOTE]
It was a very quick service at Edinburgh and I had my food by Berwick and another drink and cake after Newcastle, they also are coming up and down collecting rubbish frequently today which is good.
At least we're the right way round now as well.

VT 390 said:

At least we're the right way round now as well.

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That caused some confusion in my coach when we left Newcastle the way we came in!

I went for the pork, mushroom and apple dish and it was very nice. Perhaps could have done with a little more apple - I only seemed to have one "chunk" and the acidity helped cut through the sauce a bit (I've obviously been watching too much Masterchef ). It was just the right size portion for lunch as well; not sure it would be enough for an evening meal on a later service, however.

Another prompt drinks run after York. And the aircon is still knackered unfortunately...hic.

I'm connecting onto standard class Eurostar in London. It's going to seem like third class by comparison

Couple of trains for me today with LNER. 0827 from Darlington to London was another good run. Drinks immediately after departure, breakfast orders taken just afterwards and delivered shortly after Northallerton! Another tasty and filling full breakfast and I have to say I think this is my favourite of the complimentary breakfast on offer across the various TOCs:



Only slight complaint would be something of a toast famine as it didn't turn up until somewhere around Retford and well after the breakfast service had finished (fast train from York so they could clear away after York passengers had finished)! I overheard a member of the crew blaming some sort of fault for the delay. Still when it did eventually turn up it was piping hot so that's something at least! Plenty of drink runs rounded out the experience.

Something of a surprise was that the lounge has had a refresh with new decorations and new furniture. Personally I think it's a big improvement on what went before. I prefer the colour scheme and it feels like there's more seats and better options as well for people who want to lounge and those that want to work. Also loads of sockets. No change in the nibbles offered however. Still biscuits and crisps with juices, hot drinks, coke and water to drink. A nice and indeed unexpected improvement:





Finally then the 1600 home for me today. Not a full evening meal service but the usual rest of the day. Another good service. Food orders taken directly on departure from Kings Cross and delivered not long afterwards I had the pork in a nice mustard and creamy sauce served with rice. Very tasty and a decent portion size. Cold drink followed not long after the food orders were taken and hot drinks somewhere around passing through Peterborough. Plenty of cold and hot drink runs all the way through to Darlington:



I've been very impressed with my last few trips out. I would say that LNER have got back to where East Coast were by the time they got to the end of their period in charge of the ECML in terms of service quality. The nosedive that occurred during VTECs tenure appears to be well behind us now and the only thing left that I'd do to improve the service would be to go back to four rotations like EC used to run. But it's hardly the end of the world only having two!

I've made a short film of four LNER first class journeys that I have taken on Intercity 125 / Intercity 225 / Azuma. If you're interested, here they are...

This was very interesting actually. Thank you for filming it. You should do more reviews!

Funny you should say that BluePenguin, I filmed Aberdeen to York yesterday, and am about to upload XC Edinburgh to Glasgow in first class. I have also filmed Prague to Usti nad Labem on the International Train in the restaurant car. If you follow my YouTube: stuartmoss you'll see when they're uploaded.

ainsworth74 said:

I've been very impressed with my last few trips out. I would say that LNER have got back to where East Coast were by the time they got to the end of their period in charge of the ECML in terms of service quality. The nosedive that occurred during VTECs tenure appears to be well behind us now and the only thing left that I'd do to improve the service would be to go back to four rotations like EC used to run. But it's hardly the end of the world only having two!

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I agree with this summary.

Four trips last week; two weekend and two weekday and overall my assessment is ‘very positive’. The catering we sampled has definitely improved in quality, and the service on three out of the four sectors was absolutely lovely. Properly First Class.

Marks down for the service on one sector being embarrassingly bad. The greater concern being that this was from a whole ‘team’ of staff, not one rogue. Management should not let that happen, and if they don’t know about it, that’s just as bad.

Marks also down, still, for trying to pump out tea and coffee immediately before taking food orders. Find me any other food and beverage establishment that does that. Presentation remains sloppy - the chicken dish that I had tasted lovely but looked like tipped out puke.

And, as others have alluded to, portion quantities don’t match the realities of what passengers need or expect at different times of day.

‘It’s free’ isn’t a good enough excuse; folks spend a lot of money on convenience food day in, day out. If you can’t meet expectations within the constraints of ‘complimentary’ then you need to reassess your options and opportunities for additional revenue.

First time for a while I've travelled 1st class and the first time I have been 1st class on an Azuma. I see the child plates are still used for meals.
Interesting to note that they advertise that you can have your meal later if you want it but I didn't try this out.

westv said:

Interesting to note that they advertise that you can have your meal later if you want it but I didn't try this out.

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Definitely an option; on the 0900 out of Kings Cross recently I was offered breakfast now, or lunch after York. I took the fish cakes ...

Had the salmon dish on the 1900 northbound earlier this week. Lovely salmon, a quality offering but let down a bit by leathery (precooked and reheated?) spuds and watery broccoli.

1st class again this morning after restarting yesterday's abandoned journey back to Hull from Kings X.
Got on the 08:03 to Leeds unsure of what I'd get for breakfast. I would have liked the full English but unfortunately it wasn't available to staff problems.
There were about 5 or so items available. Two being bacon roll or crushed avocado and poached egg on a muffin. My experience of bacon rolls on trains is that they are often more fat then bacon so I went for the muffin. It was quite pleasant apart from the poached egg looking like it must have come from a starling and not having a runny yoke.
Coffee was as expected.

Yesterday 0700 Leeds-London Kings Cross- the West Riding Limited.
The full LNER breakfast was prompt and was nice, well cooked and hot. Toast came after breakfast. Drinks trolley only came around a couple of times despite the journey being elongated by 40mins and the crew weren't exactly friendly. The crew from the cancelled 071X off Leeds spent the entire 2+ hour journey stood in the little staff area at the back of the coach moaning about their jobs. Even with the door closed, you can hear every word that gets said in that area.

1803 London Kings Cross-Leeds (Skipton). My first trip on an Azuma. Evening dinner service, so went for the chicken which was well-cooked and the accompanying sauce was tasty. Really enjoyed the cheeseboard afterwards too. Staff much friendlier Northbound and the drinks trolley made a few more appearances and they were pretty liberal too.

Iskra said:

1803 London Kings Cross-Leeds (Skipton). My first trip on an Azuma. Evening dinner service, so went for the chicken which was well-cooked and the accompanying sauce was tasty. Really enjoyed the cheeseboard afterwards too. Staff much friendlier Northbound and the drinks trolley made a few more appearances and they were pretty liberal too.

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How on earth did you get the 18:03 Kings X to Skipton yesterday?!

westv said:

How on earth did you get the 18:03 Kings X to Skipton yesterday?!

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Sorry, I meant Wednesday. A 14 hour shift at work Thursday has scrambled my brain.

A review of Aberdeen to York that I filmed earlier this month. This is quite detailed with subtitled commentary.


Great journey, great experience, made even better by getting the full ticket price refunded by Northern after they cancelled my connecting train from York. I can suffer an hour in the York Tap for £73.50 - cheers!

Iskra said:

Sorry, I meant Wednesday. A 14 hour shift at work Thursday has scrambled my brain.

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And it wasnt too late leaving!
Was on the 1833 which was HST vice Mk4 and formed of the (right time) 1859 arrival ex York. 50 late throughout which was a pretty impressive turnround. Decidedly restricted main courses (no doubt due to the set swap) - the dinner menu but no chicken or veggie. Aircon worked, pork was nice, cheese very good, and service excellent.

My first trip on an Azuma this morning. The train arrived at Stevenage 5 minutes early. Breakfast orders were taken before we left Stevenage and the food arrived shortly after Hitchin so very quick service today.
Breakfast was very good though I noticed that there isn’t any tomato served which I would prefer instead of the hash brown.


It appears that you now have to ask for toast when the breakfast order is taken. ( though this was not mentioned at the time!). Anyway, I later got 2 slices of hot toast. I was told there isn’t room to provide that on the trolley as before so it is now done to order.

Design fault in the luggage racks - the lower shelf is too low so my medium sized suitcase does not stand upright on the floor. Had to put it in sideways.not a problem but takes a bit more time when others are also boarding the train.

No hot water in the kitchen so no hot food on this evening's service to Hull.

westv said:

No hot water in the kitchen so no hot food on this evening's service to Hull.

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Were hot drinks available?

trainophile said:

Were hot drinks available?

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No.

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westv said:

No.

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I'd want my money back!

This evening's mango tart desert was very tasty. I could have eaten another.

trainophile said:

I'd want my money back!

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I complained to VWC when something similar happened recently and they sent me a code for 20% off my next ticket.

Goldfish62 said:

I complained to VWC when something similar happened recently and they sent me a code for 20% off my next ticket.

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The last time I complained about that (to LNER) I got palmed off as they claimed it was only ever complimentary and did not have to be provided.

Very good First Class trip on Tuesday (September 3rd) on the 18:30 from London Kings Cross - Newcastle. This is one of 10 services each weekday that serves the 2 course Chef's Signature Menu. Prior to this trip, I seem to have had a run of bad luck with first class catering due to problems such as no hot water, lack of crew and overcrowding. The catering on this trip was of large importance to me and is the main reason why I chose to upgrade. Therefore I was very pleased everything went to plan, especially as this was my first experience of the signature menu.

I was sat in coach K, as I always do, due to this being closest to the kitchen and therefore you will be served quicker and will be more likely to get popular food options before they run out. My favourite seats are K1, K3 or K5, these are individual seats which are forward facing northbound. Of these 3 seats, only K5 is reservable so I was there. In my experience coach K is always quieter than L or M too which I think is due to a large part of K being non reservable. It will be a shame to see the MK4's go as the seats are wide and I find the leather very comfortable. I also prefer curtains to blinds.

The crew was a Newcastle based crew. Food orders were taken straight away followed by cold drinks and snacks. I opted for the Chicken Supreme which is served with butter beans, chorizo and green beans. This is the dish only found on the signature menu and so was my first time trying it. I was very impressed with this dish. Portion size was good, the chicken was tasty and I think the other parts of the dish provide a good variety of flavours.

Next was the choice of either cheese plate of mango mousse. I chose the mango mousse as I am not a huge fan of cheese however the cheese plate is clearly a very popular choice for most people. I also enjoyed the mousse.


After this, there was another round of cold drinks followed by the hot drink and chocolate truffle to finish off the main menu. Another round of both hot and cold drinks were then served on departure from York.

I've always had positive experiences with the crew in first class and today was the same. Service was quick, friendly and efficient. The crew today were also quick to clear up plates and rubbish which does not always happen.

Overall a very positive experience.