Hello gents, Im currently on the first leg of my trip. So I thought I'd share my journey so far. Don't worry, tomorrow morning will have my sleeper write up, and maybe some LUL stock 
Finally, here is a picture of the steed that pulled us from Nottingham to London (on the left)
London underground.
During our time on the LUL we managed to rack up the following stock
- 1961 stock
- 1972/3 stock
- 1996 stock
- 2009 stock
- 2011 stock
Saint Pancras Restaraunt
We ate at Carluccios Restaraunt in STP station. I had chicken with Caper and lemon sauce, and Dan had lots of fish. These where quite nice, but when the table next to us had MASSIVE bowls of pasta delivered, we knew we had made a mistake
Also, we found something quite interesting on the menu...
Station Pub crawl. -I have pics of me with a pint at every station, ill get dan to put them on the net, and then link to them
Pint at the first pub you see at every subway stop
Victoria - Victoria spoons.
Your standard spoons, pretty busy. No toilets, so you have to use the Victoria station ones for 30p
Green park - the Clarance
I was pleasantly surprised, from the outside it looks like it will either be a trendy bar, a 'locals only' pub or a place that only does food. However it had a nice atmosphere, with friendly bar staff. Good choice of ale, however it could do with a lick of paint over the next year. Has a painting that looks like David mitchell as a 18th century admiral. Kind of expensive though.
Argyle arms. Once again, friendly staff and kinda expensive (for a midlander anyway) but has brilliant interior decor that wouldn't look out of place in Sherlock Holmes new movie
Prince of wales feathers. Quite nice, however of feels a little odd, like it should be a student bar, but doesn't particularly have student, an old pub wit a modern refurb. Probably good wit friends
The Euston tap. Small cute and friendly, also in one of the buildings outside Euston (that might be the old Euston arch?) pretty cool really, With a f***ing massive selection of ales. Definitely suggested if you have a train from Euston or kgxstp
Caledonian Sleeper
Now we boarded the sleeper at about 11:20 Asking the first person we met on the platform, we where instructed to walk down to the nexy guy. And he would sort us out. When we reached him, we showed him our reservation. He showed us to our cabin, introduced us to our steward, and took our order for tea or coffee.
So here we are, In our cabin. Its pretty small, but you can get everywhere easily. There is a sink under the window (lift the worktop) a tray (think like back the of an airline seat) on the wall above your bed. then on the wall next to the door you have coathangers on one side, and on the other controls for the main light, berth light, and the airconditioning. Behind the door there is a switch that lets you choose if the main light is dim or bright, and something called the 'night light' however we dont know that that does. The sheets where nice and clean, but with quilts rather than the tartan blankets that you see on scotrails website. One thing I did notice is that she sleeper carriages felt a bit worn on the whole, when did they last have refurb? As with a nice refresh they could be made really nice.
Now we went off to the lounge car, where the friendly galswegian attendant greeted us with 'What'll it be boys? Lager or Ale?' To which oibviously the answer was ale. once we got underway, but after being pretty impressed with the ride qualities of this old Mk2. It was time for Haggis Tatties and Neeps. These came in about 10 mins. Now ive never had Haggis before, but I found it quite enjoyable, however having eaten a Meal, nachos, and chips in the last few hours, I couldnt finish it.
Here is the lounge car menu BTW
And me with some Guinness
At about 1:00, it was time to turn in. However once we got to our Carriage, the attendant wasnt there to open our berth. However it turned out he has been in the lounge car, an had followed us down the carriage. He apologiesed, and let us in.
After 5-10 minuites of settling in, we tried to get off to sleep. there was a little squeeking from the springs of the carriage (could be looked at next time they are refurbed?) and the gentle rocking motion of the coach helped us drift off.
At about 5:30, I went to the toilet, however on the way I noticed we where standing at preston.. Now that cant be right can it?? I wonder whats happened?
At 7:55 (our sheduled time into edinburgh) the attendant knocked on the door and explained that the wires had been down, and that since we where running 2.5 hours late, we would terminate at Glasgow and we would be let on a day train to Edinburgh. At this point I made this thread (http://www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=57980) However on the bright side, we had a cup of tea, and some shortbread to pass the time (coupled with a little nap on the way, and me trying to take some landscape photos with my iPhone)
And here is the best landscape I got
A photo of the loco hauling us today
Upon arrival at Glasgow, we where given directions to Queen street. the staff there had been told what was happening, so let us through the barriers. We promptly went to the low level platfroms, to ride my First mainline EMU, and the rack up the newest line in the uk! Unfortunately, the guard didnt seem too convinced at first, but we managed to explain that this is a bargain berth ticket (helped by it saying 'this is an E ticket; on it ) And we made our way to edinburgh.
m going to go now and put pictures in the previous posts for you all
Trip notes
9:32 boarded a ex northern 156. This one is actually quite comfortable, although its graffitied Abd rather worn looking.
10:13. Now we are standing just outside Nottingham station, I've seen some other ex northern 156's. And also I've worked out this trains smells faintly of damp farts, hopefully it won't be long till the refurb. I've decided not to hit the lounge, as with 13 mins there won't be time, and instead I might open and close a hst door
10:19. Boarded the hst, turns out there are no reservationsg next to us on the table of 4, score
10:29. We have just set off, the train is perfectly quiet, apart from the squeak from the corridor connection. We are barely out the station, and I've already got a cup of coffee, a juice, and biscuit. Although it is quite bumpy on the end of the carriage.
10:39Just arrived at east midlands parkway ( with its funny coloured
floor) the orange flavoured biscuit was quite nice. Just browsing the menu now. And since we are on the mml proper, the ride from the train is much smoother. But here is the question, Thai curry, or a premium cheeseburger?
10:47. Another round of tea and the chance to order from the menu, hello premium cheeseburger
10:54. On the slow down to Leicester, I've just seen a lorry with hovis on the side, I wonder if it's full of bread? Shame we didn't slow down for Loughborough, I would have liked to see brush works again
11:05. Another round of tea, at this rate I'll burst. Rides still a bit rough though. Think next time I'll try and get a reservation in the middle of the coach.
11:11. on the approach to Meerkat Harorough, although we do seem to be speeding up :/ so maybe we aren't that close
11:19. Food has arrived whilst we are at a stand in MH. Premium cheeseburger for me, and a Thai curry for dan. Not a bad breakfast
11:28. Although the food is nice, the speed round the corners is causing it to slide around a bit, and the ride quality here is pacerworthy :/
The premium Cheeseburger
The Thai Curry
11:41 the food was pretty delicious, of a tad overlooked, I've been debating putting my head out the window, but at 110 I think I'll give it a miss, I pulled a widow down, and there was a LOT of air coming through it. Maybe I'll try it when we are going slower, and there is less chance of decapitation. On the downside, only half an hour of my journey left. One thing I have noticed, is that HsT's make the walls of the mk3 shake more than meridians...
Finally, here is a picture of the steed that pulled us from Nottingham to London (on the left)
London underground.
During our time on the LUL we managed to rack up the following stock
- 1961 stock
- 1972/3 stock
- 1996 stock
- 2009 stock
- 2011 stock
Saint Pancras Restaraunt
We ate at Carluccios Restaraunt in STP station. I had chicken with Caper and lemon sauce, and Dan had lots of fish. These where quite nice, but when the table next to us had MASSIVE bowls of pasta delivered, we knew we had made a mistake
Also, we found something quite interesting on the menu...
Station Pub crawl. -I have pics of me with a pint at every station, ill get dan to put them on the net, and then link to them
Pint at the first pub you see at every subway stop
Victoria - Victoria spoons.
Your standard spoons, pretty busy. No toilets, so you have to use the Victoria station ones for 30p
Green park - the Clarance
I was pleasantly surprised, from the outside it looks like it will either be a trendy bar, a 'locals only' pub or a place that only does food. However it had a nice atmosphere, with friendly bar staff. Good choice of ale, however it could do with a lick of paint over the next year. Has a painting that looks like David mitchell as a 18th century admiral. Kind of expensive though.
Argyle arms. Once again, friendly staff and kinda expensive (for a midlander anyway) but has brilliant interior decor that wouldn't look out of place in Sherlock Holmes new movie
Prince of wales feathers. Quite nice, however of feels a little odd, like it should be a student bar, but doesn't particularly have student, an old pub wit a modern refurb. Probably good wit friends
The Euston tap. Small cute and friendly, also in one of the buildings outside Euston (that might be the old Euston arch?) pretty cool really, With a f***ing massive selection of ales. Definitely suggested if you have a train from Euston or kgxstp
Caledonian Sleeper
Now we boarded the sleeper at about 11:20 Asking the first person we met on the platform, we where instructed to walk down to the nexy guy. And he would sort us out. When we reached him, we showed him our reservation. He showed us to our cabin, introduced us to our steward, and took our order for tea or coffee.
So here we are, In our cabin. Its pretty small, but you can get everywhere easily. There is a sink under the window (lift the worktop) a tray (think like back the of an airline seat) on the wall above your bed. then on the wall next to the door you have coathangers on one side, and on the other controls for the main light, berth light, and the airconditioning. Behind the door there is a switch that lets you choose if the main light is dim or bright, and something called the 'night light' however we dont know that that does. The sheets where nice and clean, but with quilts rather than the tartan blankets that you see on scotrails website. One thing I did notice is that she sleeper carriages felt a bit worn on the whole, when did they last have refurb? As with a nice refresh they could be made really nice.
Now we went off to the lounge car, where the friendly galswegian attendant greeted us with 'What'll it be boys? Lager or Ale?' To which oibviously the answer was ale. once we got underway, but after being pretty impressed with the ride qualities of this old Mk2. It was time for Haggis Tatties and Neeps. These came in about 10 mins. Now ive never had Haggis before, but I found it quite enjoyable, however having eaten a Meal, nachos, and chips in the last few hours, I couldnt finish it.
Here is the lounge car menu BTW
And me with some Guinness
At about 1:00, it was time to turn in. However once we got to our Carriage, the attendant wasnt there to open our berth. However it turned out he has been in the lounge car, an had followed us down the carriage. He apologiesed, and let us in.
After 5-10 minuites of settling in, we tried to get off to sleep. there was a little squeeking from the springs of the carriage (could be looked at next time they are refurbed?) and the gentle rocking motion of the coach helped us drift off.
At about 5:30, I went to the toilet, however on the way I noticed we where standing at preston.. Now that cant be right can it?? I wonder whats happened?
At 7:55 (our sheduled time into edinburgh) the attendant knocked on the door and explained that the wires had been down, and that since we where running 2.5 hours late, we would terminate at Glasgow and we would be let on a day train to Edinburgh. At this point I made this thread (http://www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=57980) However on the bright side, we had a cup of tea, and some shortbread to pass the time (coupled with a little nap on the way, and me trying to take some landscape photos with my iPhone)
And here is the best landscape I got
A photo of the loco hauling us today
Upon arrival at Glasgow, we where given directions to Queen street. the staff there had been told what was happening, so let us through the barriers. We promptly went to the low level platfroms, to ride my First mainline EMU, and the rack up the newest line in the uk! Unfortunately, the guard didnt seem too convinced at first, but we managed to explain that this is a bargain berth ticket (helped by it saying 'this is an E ticket; on it
) And we made our way to edinburgh.m going to go now and put pictures in the previous posts for you all
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