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Sleeper Trains to Scotland

silverfish said:
Hurrah, I'm booked London-edinburgh this weekend!! any decent boozers round euston to kick off in :)
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The Doric Arch (formerly the Head of Steam) between the bus station and the station forecourt serves a decent range of ale.

(Although there are a lot of steps to get into the pub - which makes it a bugger if you are carrying more than one bag for your journey.)
 
*bump*

inspired by this thread i'm planning to book the london-fort william option soon. can anyone recommend me somewhere nice to stay in fort william...?

cheers! :)
 
nicksonic said:
*bump*

inspired by this thread i'm planning to book the london-fort william option soon. can anyone recommend me somewhere nice to stay in fort william...?

cheers! :)
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Pass on any recommendations you get because I want to do this trip too!
 
nicksonic said:
*bump*

inspired by this thread i'm planning to book the london-fort william option soon. can anyone recommend me somewhere nice to stay in fort william...?

cheers! :)
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Fort William isn't hugely exciting in itself. Consider continuing a little further, along the Mallaig line, and staying somewhere like Morar or Arisaig. Some beautiful coastline along there.
 
thanks for the tip. my initial plan was to base myself around FW but on reflection it makes sense to go a bit further since i'm up there.
 
teuchter said:
To do what and at what time of year?
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Sooner rather than later really. We'll just stay overnight and won't have transport so anywhere where there's train stations or museums or activities that you can do with a small child really. I guess we could go to Edinburgh or Glasgow but was thinking somewhere I haven't been before would be nice.

ETA: It's more about the actual train journey than the being in Scotland bit. The foal is a bit train-obsessed
 
nicksonic said:
thanks for the tip. my initial plan was to base myself around FW but on reflection it makes sense to go a bit further since i'm up there.
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How long will you be there for? You could also stay on one of the islands if you have enough time (ferry timetables are kind of complicated).

Alternatively, if you fancy staying in the middle of nowhere, there is the SYHA hostel at Loch Ossian (you can pretty much only get there by train - you'd get off the train before it gets to Fort William) and there is also a bunkhouse at Tulloch also before you get to Fort William.

Or... beyond Fort William, at Glenfinnan, you can stay in a converted railway carriage near the station.

(You'd need to check all those places for opening seasons if you're going before March though)
 
trashpony said:
Sooner rather than later really. We'll just stay overnight and won't have transport so anywhere where there's train stations or museums or activities that you can do with a small child really. I guess we could go to Edinburgh or Glasgow but was thinking somewhere I haven't been before would be nice.

ETA: It's more about the actual train journey than the being in Scotland bit. The foal is a bit train-obsessed
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That's a rather open brief...

If you can't get a cheap ticket to Fort William on the sleeper (have you checked the "bargain berths" bit of the Scotrail website?) you could always see if you can get the Glasgow/Edinburgh sleeper, and then continue on a day train from there up towards Fort William.

You can also get the sleeper to Inverness; there is stuff to do in Inverness and I guess you could get a bus to Loch Ness and go monster spotting or something. If there's snow (not guaranteed) you could go to Aviemore and do sledging and stuff; there is also a preserved steam railway there but I'm not sure how much it would be running in the winter.

The rail line to Inverness is not quite as scenic as the Fort William one but it's still good. The only thing is that at this time of year, it will be dark for pretty much all of the journey, in both directions, on the sleeper.

I'm afraid I'm not much good at thinking of things that kids would want to do...
 
Ive done a lot of sleeper trains around Europe, the quality of which varies. But Id love to do the Caledonian Sleeper. I've heard its like a lock in on wheels. Sounds brilliant.:D
 
teuchter said:
That's a rather open brief...

If you can't get a cheap ticket to Fort William on the sleeper (have you checked the "bargain berths" bit of the Scotrail website?) you could always see if you can get the Glasgow/Edinburgh sleeper, and then continue on a day train from there up towards Fort William.

You can also get the sleeper to Inverness; there is stuff to do in Inverness and I guess you could get a bus to Loch Ness and go monster spotting or something. If there's snow (not guaranteed) you could go to Aviemore and do sledging and stuff; there is also a preserved steam railway there but I'm not sure how much it would be running in the winter.

I'm afraid I'm not much good at thinking of things that kids would want to do...
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That's very helpful actually (yes have checked the bargain berths bit - only available on a Monday to FW and I can't afford to take that much holiday). I shall look into Aviemore and Inverness - steam railways are good (the first train I could find on a Thursday to Edinburgh was early May so won't exactly be winter, more spring)
 
trashpony said:
That's very helpful actually (yes have checked the bargain berths bit - only available on a Monday to FW and I can't afford to take that much holiday). I shall look into Aviemore and Inverness - steam railways are good (the first train I could find on a Thursday to Edinburgh was early May so won't exactly be winter, more spring)
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The bargain berths are seldom available on a Friday or Sunday night because that's when the trains tend to be busiest, I think.

There are also steam trains running from Fort William to Mallaig (on the main line) and that journey is absolutely worth doing - that's summer only but it looks like they start from mid May:
http://www.westcoastrailways.co.uk/Jacobite_Home.cfm

The timings connect with the arrival/departure of the sleeper as far as I know.
 
Another possibility, by the way, is to do a circular trip, going to FW and returning from Inverness, or vice versa. There are fairly frequent buses from FW to Inverness, takes about an hour and a half I think. That's a nice enough journey in itself, along the length of the Great Glen including Loch Ness.
 
teuchter said:
The bargain berths are seldom available on a Friday or Sunday night because that's when the trains tend to be busiest, I think.

There are also steam trains running from Fort William to Mallaig (on the main line) and that journey is absolutely worth doing - that's summer only but it looks like they start from mid May:
http://www.westcoastrailways.co.uk/Jacobite_Home.cfm

The timings connect with the arrival/departure of the sleeper as far as I know.
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Ooh that would be fab! Perhaps we should make a proper mini holiday of it then ... :hmm: I shall have to do some calculations
 
trashpony said:
Ooh that would be fab! Perhaps we should make a proper mini holiday of it then ... :hmm: I shall have to do some calculations
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If someone asked what the best rail journey in the UK was, I would tell them, sleeper to Fort William followed by steam to Mallaig.

May can be a great time of year up there too - not too many tourists yet, no midges, long days/short nights, and if you're lucky the weather can be very bright, sunny and fresh.

And like I suggested to Niksonic, if you're going Mallaig way it can be well worth considering a trip out to one of the islands. I can give you more advice about that if you decide you want to consider it seriously.
 
teuchter said:
If someone asked what the best rail journey in the UK was, I would tell them, sleeper to Fort William followed by steam to Mallaig.

May can be a great time of year up there too - not too many tourists yet, no midges, long days/short nights, and if you're lucky the weather can be very bright, sunny and fresh.

And like I suggested to Niksonic, if you're going Mallaig way it can be well worth considering a trip out to one of the islands. I can give you more advice about that if you decide you want to consider it seriously.
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That sounds amazing! I will definitely look into it a bit further. Finances are a bit tight this year so we might be looking at later on or next year.

Also:
Please note that children under the age of five cannot travel free with holders of Bargain Berth tickets, unless two adults are travelling together and have sole occupancy of the berth.
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which is a bit of a bummer as it means I'd have to buy the whole berth. I wonder if I can persuade someone to come with us :D
 
Some time I want to take the train from London to somewhere in the south of Spain. It would be great, I think, to just watch the world rolling by. I also want to do Miami to NY on what used to be called the Orange Blossom Special. I don't know what it is called now.
 
Its a clever scam a new train costs £8 million, the government underwrite that loan to a bank that then charges the operator £1.8 Million a year over the 35 year life of that vehicle, the vehicle will have 4-5 interior refits at around £600,000 a time, again paid for by a state subsidy underwritten by Tax Payers money...
 
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