Just some thoughts on my first trip with Lumo, the 8th & 9th April.
I was quite surprised to see the 0545 KGX-EDB fully booked, I suppose the cheap fares are responsible for this as there was no evidence of the first LNER departure being anywhere near as full - King's Cross was deserted apart from the Lumo crowd.
The poor ride quality on the 80X units is well known, and the 803 was no different, however I found there to be a rather loud humming noise present over about 110mph emanating from the roof area, something which I've not experienced travelling on any of the 800/801/802 units. For reference my unit was 803002, about the centre of Coach B (second from the London End). I'd be interested to hear if anyone else has experienced a similar thing.
IEP seats are notoriously terrible, so I was pleased to see that First had chosen something different. Having said that, I thought the seat base was rather too low to the floor, leading to discomfort in the knees after a few hours, as well as being slightly too short. The pitch was quite acceptable, even despite the seat back having no padding at all. The winged headrest is an excellent idea, especially for a little bit of privacy on a long journey. Another excellent feature is the presence of domestic electricity at the bottom of the seat in front. This is much easier to reach than the 80X standard of placing them forward facing between the seats, and being able to see them, one doesn't have to worry about getting the plug in the right way up. Seat alignment with the windows was not good at all, what few table seats there are are oftem mis-aligned with the windows, so at least two people are adjacant to a pillar. The vast majority of the seats are airline-style and little to no effort is made to align them with the windows. Certainly the seats at the carriage ends (the ones with no window at all) could do with being swapped out for luggage racks, which I found to be in short supply. Overall the seats were good, they're a little too low down and the seat back is very hard but they are quite suitable, especially given the price.
Sadly, we were delayed for 0059 while stationary at Morpeth, this was due to a disruptive passenger which can't be helped. This became 86L at Edinburgh, as we were held up by a slower TPE train that had got past us while stationary. Happily (for me), my connecting train north of Edinburgh was held up behind us with no opportunity to overtake since it left Newcastle behind us (It was the single daily LNER service from Leeds - Abderdeen). The lack of opportunity to overtake and the increased stops on the LNER train meant that I [just] made the connection at Edinburgh.
The journey back down from Edinburgh the next day went without note, although I do wish to mention that the boarding time at London seemed rather short. I know this is rather commonplace at King's Cross, to commence boarding between 10 and 15 minutes prior to departure, however this always seems too short a time to for everyone to comfortably board the train without people rushing to be first to the luggage racks (of which more could be put to good use, the overhead racks were full, coats hanging over, falling off as we go over St Neots south junction). Even on a five-carriage train things are hectic, boarding an LNER 9/10 coach train is positively nightmarish. Oddly enough, this was not the case at Edinburgh, where we boarded the train with quite a lot of time to spare, as a result, the platform was not such a teething swarm as at King's Cross.
This was my first time on Lumo's service, and overall I found their service to be very good. My train north was the service for which advance tickets are sold for £9.80, so any criticism has to be taken with this in mind, however the seats could do with being raised from the floor by an inch or so (highly impractical, I understand, but this would improve comfort in the leg as well as the view from the windows.), and the seat back could do with padding. Aside, this is exceptional value for money, I would highly recomment Lumo for anyone travelling on a budget.
PS. Peversely, the delay incurred by my Lumo train and by extension my LNER connection, meant that advance tickets on the LNER service north of Edinburgh became valid for any train, to compensate for the delay. Open return, Anytime and Off-Peak ticket holders weren't waiting, and thus, I boarded a near-empty train at Edinburgh (I would estimate 60 or so people forward of the restaurant car). What luck!
