Me neither, I only really use the west highland or lowland sleepers but it is nearly always possible to get a berth at short notice. The west highland is sometimes sold out for 1st but the alternative to/from Glasgow Central is pretty lightly loaded in my experiences.
If you've been on an oil rig for 3 weeks you want to get home as quickly as possible, a night on a sleeper dumping you in Central London at 7 in the morning is far from ideal.
Why would the sleeper be running from Eastbourne?
That may be so, and likewise for oil workers inbound to ABZ, I'd do the same myself if I were them, but it's very much a matter of choice depending on when and where you're going on arrival in the London area, how you perceive your costs, and convenience.
I only mention it because Garelochead (depart at a very convenient 2310 or so!) is an unexpected place to actively avoid the sleeper from, I suspect that it's because you work there and live down south well away from central London?
Conversely, few of us with home lives in Strathspey or Perthshire, or up and down the Highland Main Line generally and working in the middle of London regularly would waste time with flying. Messing around with driving miles to an airport at stupid o'clock, whether Edinburgh, Inverness or Glasgow, shelling out for parking, queuing at security, barging onto Easyjet before dawn with 130 miserable sociopaths, and then enduring whatever overpriced 'Express' takes us in from a horrible airport outside the M25. It's a dismal experience and not as cheap as it looks once you've totted up all of the peripheral costs.
Instead boarding the sleeper at what would be bedtime anyway, a quick Glenfiddich, breakfast at 7, be up and be at The Strand at 8am for £140 on Flexipass is a no brainer.
Different priorities, and maybe this strong demand from intermediate stations is partly why the Inverness section does so well. Each to their own.
That may be so, and likewise for oil workers inbound to ABZ, I'd do the same myself if I were them, but it's very much a matter of choice depending on when and where you're going on arrival in the London area, how you perceive your costs, and convenience.
I only mention it because Garelochead (depart at a very convenient 2310 or so!) is an unexpected place to actively avoid the sleeper from, I suspect that it's because you work there and live down south well away from central London?
Conversely, few of us with home lives in Strathspey or Perthshire, or up and down the Highland Main Line generally and working in the middle of London regularly would waste time with flying. Messing around with driving miles to an airport at stupid o'clock, whether Edinburgh, Inverness or Glasgow, shelling out for parking, queuing at security, barging onto Easyjet before dawn with 130 miserable sociopaths, and then enduring whatever overpriced 'Express' takes us in from a horrible airport outside the M25. It's a dismal experience and not as cheap as it looks once you've totted up all of the peripheral costs.
Instead boarding the sleeper at what would be bedtime anyway, a quick Glenfiddich, breakfast at 7, be up and be at The Strand at 8am for £140 on Flexipass is a no brainer.
Different priorities, and maybe this strong demand from intermediate stations is partly why the Inverness section does so well. Each to their own.
Whats the ETA on the new MK5 fleet?
I dying to try one out
That may be so, and likewise for oil workers inbound to ABZ, I'd do the same myself if I were them, but it's very much a matter of choice depending on when and where you're going on arrival in the London area, how you perceive your costs, and convenience.
I only mention it because Garelochead (depart at a very convenient 2310 or so!) is an unexpected place to actively avoid the sleeper from, I suspect that it's because you work there and live down south well away from central London?
Conversely, few of us with home lives in Strathspey or Perthshire, or up and down the Highland Main Line generally and working in the middle of London regularly would waste time with flying. Messing around with driving miles to an airport at stupid o'clock, whether Edinburgh, Inverness or Glasgow, shelling out for parking, queuing at security, barging onto Easyjet before dawn with 130 miserable sociopaths, and then enduring whatever overpriced 'Express' takes us in from a horrible airport outside the M25. It's a dismal experience and not as cheap as it looks once you've totted up all of the peripheral costs.
Instead boarding the sleeper at what would be bedtime anyway, a quick Glenfiddich, breakfast at 7, be up and be at The Strand at 8am for £140 on Flexipass is a no brainer.
Different priorities, and maybe this strong demand from intermediate stations is partly why the Inverness section does so well. Each to their own.
