Clarification for non-reservable Cross London connection

[DeeGee]

I'm travelling from Grimsby Town to Ashford International on Friday night, arriving at Kings X at 19.33, then crossing the road to get HS1 onwards. I have an Advance ticket.

Obvs, HS1 is not reservable.

I have an itinerary which takes me out of St Pancras at 20:12 and arrives at a sensible time.

I'm wondering of two other possibilities, though.

1) Is it worth me positioning myself in the buffet car on arrival to KGX to make a belt for it? Is it possible even in my wildest dreams to catch the 19:42 out of STP?

2) If I were to take a more leisurely walk between the stations via station facilities, would it be reasonable for me to catch the 20:42? Or would that be too long to spend having a "wee" in the Parcel Yard/grabbing dinner at Waitrose?

 

[bb21]

Either is acceptable. Using station facilities is not breaking your journey FWIW.

If you arrive at the cross on time you can easily get to the 1942 if you position yourself well. No need to run but do try and make a beeline for it in case you get stopped by the barriers at the SouthEastern gateline and have to use the manual ones.

 

[Lad Brookes]

19:42 is very doable.

Your train is booked into platform 4 at KGX, so get yourself in position by a door on the left hand side, as far forward as you can on the train.

Hopefully the barriers are open (they always seem to be when I travel through) to save an extra 15 seconds, and you can go out the exit by Boots to Pancras Road, across the road and in the entrance by the escalator to the Southeastern platforms.

Good luck!

(Include a contingency for a 2 minute delay for explaining to the barrier staff at STP where Grimsby and Ashford are, and why your ticket is valid on HS1...)

 

[DeeGee]

19:42 is very doable.

Your train is booked into platform 4 at KGX, so get yourself in position by a door on the left hand side, as far forward as you can on the train.

Hopefully the barriers are open (they always seem to be when I travel through) to save an extra 15 seconds, and you can go out the exit by Boots to Pancras Road, across the road and in the entrance by the escalator to the Southeastern platforms.

Good luck!

Thanks for this.

(Include a contingency for a 2 minute delay for explaining to the barrier staff at STP where Grimsby and Ashford are, and why your ticket is valid on HS1...)

Seriously? I can print out the original itinerary, I suppose, which was valid via HS1, but then that's for a different train. The restriction code GD's on NRE and merely says on which HS1 trains it isn't valid.

 

[Hadders]

I'd get off as close to the lifts as possible, go up onto the bridge, past the first class lounge down the escalator and exit Kings Cross adjacent to platforms 9,10,11.

I've done this in the other direction (from the Thameslink platforms to platform 6 in under 4 minutes - and after a night on the beer too!)

 

[yorkie]

Seriously? I can print out the original itinerary, I suppose, which was valid via HS1, but then that's for a different train. The restriction code GD's on NRE and merely says on which HS1 trains it isn't valid.

It'll probably be fine, but I have experienced and witnessed incidents of staff incorrectly asserting that valid tickets are not valid for the gold-plated special route of theirs. They're not as bad as they were, but then that's not hard as they were absolutely awful.

Southeastern gateline staff are not adequately trained, and by Southeastern's own admission never will be, so they're still incorrectly charging people, see Travelcard validity for an example from today.

You could be in for a shock after traveling on East Coast. You can go from a valued customer to a potential criminal who is a huge inconvenience to the running of their railway, in just a few footsteps!

 

[Lad Brookes]

I'd get off as close to the lifts as possible, go up onto the bridge, past the first class lounge down the escalator and exit Kings Cross adjacent to platforms 9,10,11.

I've done this in the other direction (from the Thameslink platforms to platform 6 in under 4 minutes - and after a night on the beer too!)

Easier in the other direction- aren't the escalators down only?
Not sure I've ever used them- always come through the front of the station, as not sure I've ever seen the barriers in operation!

 

[Hadders]

The escalators between the platform and bridge are down only which is why you need to use the lift.

 

[button_boxer]

If it's raining I'd be tempted to go out the barriers at Kings Cross, down the Underground entrance just outside, turn right and take the underpass to St Pancras. Follow the signs for Southeastern when you reach the St Pancras end and it brings you up right at the HS platform escalators.

 

[mm333]

If I were to take a more leisurely walk between the stations via station facilities, would it be reasonable for me to catch the 20:42? Or would that be too long to spend having a "wee" in the Parcel Yard/grabbing dinner at Waitrose?

I've been doing Leeds-Canterbury on advance tickets at least once a month for the last six years (both via St Pancras and Victoria) and have never been asked for my into-Kings-Cross reservation on the London-Kent train. They couldn't care less what train you got into London. You could happily get the last train of the night if you wanted.

 

[DeeGee]

Cheers mm333.

Are they equally easy-going on the way home? I wouldn't mind leaving Ashford a little earlier on Sunday than my itinerary would suggest.

 

[yorkie]

The rule is you should take "appropriate" connecting services.

It cannot be guaranteed that all staff will consider it "appropriate" to travel much earlier, or much later, than the suggested service.

 

[mm333]

Are they equally easy-going on the way home? I wouldn't mind leaving Ashford a little earlier on Sunday than my itinerary would suggest.

Yes, I've never been asked for my north-of-London reservation in either direction on Southeastern to of from Kent.