All-Line Rover, Day 2

Well, yesterday was a fun toe-in-the-water experiment. Now, to jump in with both feet, I'm going to Aberdeen and back. Out by the East Coast Main Line, on National Express East Coast, and back via Glasgow and the Caledonian Sleeper, ending up back in London at 6:47am on Wednesday morning.

0819 New Beckenham to London Bridge, arr 0840
Distance 7.75 miles, walk-up price £2.45

Northern Line (City branch), London Bridge to King's Cross
(I've never seen a Tube train as busy as London Bridge to Bank was. I can understand it, though; the majority of the people on the train got out at Bank to go to work.)

Having bought my sleeper reservation at King's Cross, I boarded the 0930 NXEC train to Newcastle. I decided to break up my journey to Aberdeen with stops at Newcastle (briefly) and Edinburgh, since both are interesting stations. This basically meant I started on the 0930 train, transferred to the 1000 train at Newcastle, and to the 1030 train at Edinburgh.

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0930 London King's Cross to Newcastle, arr 1250
Distance 268.5 miles; walk-up single for London-Aberdeen £81.20
(Headcode 1N04; operated by National Express East Coast using 91115 and Mark 4 stock)

Scenery: 7/10 - Superb views from Durham viaduct and the Tyne bridges were balanced by rather bland countryside south of York.
Punctuality: 7/10 - We lost about three minutes on the run to Stevenage and never really made it back; clearly the ECML isn't quite as tightly run as the WCML.
Speed: 8/10 - Not quite at the line's full potential, though admittedly I was on a train with eight stops.
Comfort: 7/10 - The visibility is very good, but the seats aren't brilliant; the mark 4 stock doesn't seem to be an improvement over the Mark 3.
Staff: 6/10 - Just the one ticket inspection; I was impressed that the trolley came up and down at least four times, and the buffet car was good but lacking in healthy options.

I was eagerly anticipating my first ride on the "Mallard" coaches (as GNER used to call them), otherwise known as Mark 4 stock. These, along with the class 91 locomotives which haul them, were brought in when the East Coast Main Line (ECML) was electrified in the late 1980s. They are capable of 140mph, but are limited to 125mph by the signalling system (just like the Pendolinos on the WCML).

As the name suggests, they are the natural evolution from the Mark 3 stock I sampled yesterday, and they are certainly good coaches. They aren't quite as spacious as the Mark 3s, though the higher headrests are definitely beneficial for sleepy passengers; they are, however, more spacious than the Pendolinos, and much better for it. The seats aren't quite as comfortable as I was hoping - GNER's refurbishment a few years ago brought with it the modern brand of hard seat with the minimum amount of padding. Better than a Sprinter, or a Pendolino, but not as good as a Mark 3.

Going round the bends I did notice the lack of tilt. The Pendolinos on the WCML also travel at 125mph, but they do it in a seemingly effortless manner that means you barely notice the curves. On the ECML, without the tilt, it still feels fast, but not as fluent; the curves do jar you just a little. That said, of course, there's no real need for tilt on the ECML since there aren't actually that many curves.

And it certainly is fast: the fastest leg was the run from Stevenage to Peterborough in just 29 minutes, averaging 100.9mph; the overall run with eight intermediate stops took 3 hours and 20 minutes, at an average speed of 80.6mph. It would be even faster if I hadn't got on the stopping train to Newcastle: the 10:00 that I would join at Newcastle stops at just Peterborough, York and Darlington. But despite my brain telling me that this is just as fast as yesterday's run to Liverpool, it just doesn't feel it.

NXEC have equipped all their trains with free wireless internet - much better than Virgin's offering yesterday. The other thing I appreciated was the plug sockets at pretty much every seat so you can charge your laptop batteries. Well done, NXEC.

I sampled the buffet car (which is in addition to the trolley service) for lunch between Doncaster and York, and had a very nice ham and cheese panini. Being able to have a hot lunch pleased me; not being able to back this up with some fruit, or even any fruit juice, was disappointing: if WHSmith can stock apples and oranges at most major stations, why not train buffet cars? Where's the healthy option?

I had decided to head north since the forecast had predicted rain coming in from the south. Unfortunately it came in rather quicker than I was hoping, meaning most of the journey was spent under a blanket of dreary grey cloud and drizzle. The view south of York isn't much to write about - some nice rolling countryside, but, similar to the WCML yesterday, nothing to write home about.

North of York, the rain eased, and the view opened up. The reason I was on a stopping train was that this excellent book had told me that the view from Durham viaduct is best enjoyed from a stopping train. And it didn't disappoint: you get a fantastic view of Durham cathedral and Durham Castle. Very nice.

Even better was the view from the high-level bridges over the River Tyne: I didn't expect it to be so high, nor did I realise there were so many bridges over the river in such a short stretch. All the more pity that my camera batteries had died by this stage.

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We arrived in Newcastle just half a minute late, having been three minutes late most of the way (again, thanks to padding at the terminal station). I managed to buy a newspaper and some fruit and still make my seven-minute connection to:

1257 Newcastle to Edinburgh Waverley, arr 1425
Distance 124.5 miles; walk-up price for London-Aberdeen listed above
(Headcode 1S11, operated by National Express East Coast using 91120 and Mark 4 stock)

Scenery: 9/10 - Superb views of the Tweed bridges, Alnmouth, Lindisfarne, and the cliffs on the North Sea.
Punctuality: 7/10 - Three minutes late into Newcastle (probably because it was following the train I had been on), and only arrived early at Edinburgh thanks to five minutes' padding.
Speed: 9/10 - Not as fast as some sections of line, but exactly the right speed to appreciate the superb scenery.
Comfort: 7/10 - Same as the previous train.
Staff: 3/10 - I saw one litter-picker, and no ticket inspectors.

Another train of the same kind, I transferred from the 09:30 (ex-London) semi-fast service to Newcastle to the 10:00 (ex-London) fast service to Edinburgh. I won't say anything about the train itself, since I've pretty much covered all the bases above. The service was, however, significantly busier; the previous train was perhaps half-full, but this one was at least three-quarters full, it being the main morning express to Edinburgh, named (as it has been since 1862) the Flying Scotsman.

There are basically three route to Scotland: the WCML, which runs parallel to the M6 up through Shap in the Lake District; the Settle and Carlisle, which runs literally through the Pennines, and has some very steep gradients (16 miles at 1 in 100!), and our route, the ECML. Unlike the WCML, which touches the west coast of Britain for perhaps a mile in Lancashire, the ECML does actually run along the east coast north of Newcastle.

And it makes for quite a view: Alnmouth is particularly pretty, as is the holy island of Lindisfarne. The pièce de resistance, however, is the view at Berwick-upon-Tweed: first you see the three bridges over the Tweed, the railway bridge being by far the tallest, before you curve gently to the right and soar like an eagle over the Royal Border Bridge of Robert Stephenson, with great views of the town and the other two bridges far below you to your right.

Once you cross the border you get spectacular views of the cliffs down to the North Sea, before turning slightly inland to play leapfrog with the A1, both of us intent on the prize of Edinburgh, which we duly reached on time.

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I arrived into Edinburgh Waverley on platform 9, one of the two new platforms installed in the upgrades which finished early in 2008, which are at the south side of the station and not under the main roof. The main station is a very odd affair. Imagine, if you will, a traditional terminus station, with shops and a concourse leading on to seven or so platforms. Now, put two of these terminus stations back to back, and connect the tracks up with four tracks round the outside from one end to the other, two on each side.

To add to the confusion, the four (now six) long platforms round the outside are numbered as if they were two separate terminal platforms. So the northermost platform face is half platform 1, and half platform 20, and the next is 2 and 19. Towards the east, you have just two terminal platforms remaining, numbered 3 and 4, and to the west there are seven, numbered 12-18. On the south side, platform 7 and 11 again make up a through platform, and 8, 9 and 10 are all shorter through platforms which don't deserve two numbers.

If you're not confused by now, you're not trying hard enough.

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1500 Edinburgh Waverley to Aberdeen, arr 1737
Distance 130.5 miles; walk-up price for London-Aberdeen listed above
(Headcode 1S12, operated by National Express East Coast using a High Speed Train of Mark 3 stock topped by 43302 and tailed by 43299)

Scenery: 6/10 - Could have been great, but the Forth and Tay Bridges were clouded in mist.
Punctuality: 1/10 - "Signalling problems" delayed us by half an hour, which I think is unacceptable.
Speed: 6/10 - Reasonably fast - had there been a view it would have been the perfect speed to enjoy it at - but pretty slow compared to the previous two journeys
Comfort: 6/10 - The coaches had been refurbished to look like the Mark 4 stock, turning great Mark 3 trains into merely good ones.
Staff: 5/10 - Prompt and thorough ticket checks, but overly vague and apologetic announcements of the delays and no catering service.

The East Coast Main Line continues north from Edinburgh to Aberdeen, but the electric wires stop at Edinburgh, so NXEC have a small fleet of diesel High Speed Trains (HSTs) to use for their three daily London-Aberdeen services, as well as the daily London-Inverness, London-Hull and London-Skipton services.

The High-Speed Train began life in 1976, conceived as a stop-gap before the supposedly all-conquering Advanced Passenger Train, complete with tilting, was rolled out across the network. As is usual in British engineering, the APT was a failure and the stopgap became the workhorse; in fact, I think it's fair to say the HST, also known as the "InterCity 125" for its 125mph top speed, was (and perhaps still is) the best-loved train in the country.

Even though it was conceived as a stopgap, it was still very advanced for its day: to get a diesel train to go at 125mph was no mean feat, especially given that it had to be able to brake in the same distance as a train capable of 100mph.

All but three of the 197 Class 43 engines (which "top and tail" an HST) are still in service after 30 years, the other three having been written off in the Southall, Ladbroke Grove and Ufton Nervet crashes.

The carriages which run between the two engines (one at the front and one at the rear) are Mark 3 stock. Unfortunately, unlike the NXEA train I was on yesterday, the carriages in NXEC's HSTs have been refurbished to look pretty well identical to their Mark 4 stock, so the seats aren't particularly comfortable. As an odd consequence, the seats don't always line up with the windows any more, and I had trouble finding a seat with a decent view. The train was quite full, with maybe half the passengers getting off at Edinburgh, and a similar number getting on for stations to Aberdeen.

As luck would have it, there wasn't much point worrying about the view: by this stage of the day the weather had closed in somewhat, so while I got some nice views from the Forth and Tay Bridges, I could barely get a view of the bridges. It was a nice run, but the Newcastle-Edinburgh run was better on the day.

To add insult to injury, this journey was blighted by our first significant delay. We came to an unscheduled stop at Carnoustie station, between Dundee and Arbroath, for about ten minutes; eventually we made it to Arbroath where we sat for another ten minutes, and then we were delayed outside Montrose waiting for the single-track viaduct over the river Esk to be clear. From being on time at Dundee we slipped to half an hour late into Aberdeen.

I believe - though I cannot prove - that this is because the signalbox between Arbroath and Montrose (at Inverkeilor) was closed, for reasons unknown. This meant that only one train per track was permitted between Arbroath and Montrose, a distance of 16 miles. This basically forced trains to be about 20 minutes apart, instead of the usual 5 or 10. Whose fault exactly the problem is isn't clear, but I'm confident it's not National Express East Coast; it sounds very likely that the problem lies with Network Rail.

The journey was scheduled at 2 hours and 37 minutes for 130.5 miles, a very similar distance to Newcastle-Edinburgh, which we did in 1 hour 23 minutes. We were scheduled to average just 50mph (it was actually 43mph owing to the delays), which on the main route between the Scottish capital and its two biggest cities after Edinburgh and Glasgow is really not very good.

The only redeeming feature of the train was the free wireless internet: I whiled away the long, unscheduled stops by catching up on what was going on in the world.

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We arrived into Aberdeen station at 1803, 26 minutes late. I was very disappointed with Aberdeen station, principally because there was nowhere of any kind to get a decent meal. I had hoped ideally to get dinner in Aberdeen, or at least buy something to eat on the train; in the end I lumped for a (cold!) Ginsters Ham and Cheese Slice from WHSmith. Had I had more time I would almost certainly have headed out of the station and wandered in search of a decent meal. As it was, I cut my losses and headed for Glasgow.

1835 Aberdeen to Glasgow Queen Street, arr 2114
Distance 154.5 miles, walk-up price: £26.75
(Headcode 1T44, operated by First ScotRail using Turbostar 170425)

Scenery: 3/10 - Low cloud reduced visibility to pretty low levels for most of the journey.
Punctuality: 8/10 - The inbound service was 18 minutes late into Aberdeen, but a five minute turnaround and speedy work had us on time at Perth, impressively.
Speed: 6/10 - Another key service between major Scottish cities, another low-speed wonder.
Comfort: 8/10 - A pleasant surprise: I was expecting the seats to be tough as old boots, but I actually found them more comfortable than any of the other trains I'd been on all day.
Staff: 8/10 - Impressively efficient platform work was what got us back on time, and the trolley even came through the train twice; pity about the automated announcements.

The signalling problems which had blighted my train into Aberdeen threatened to hit once more: the inbound train which ran the 1833 was due in from Glasgow at 1815, but didn't arrive until 1833. An impressive five-minute turnaround ensured we left just three minutes late at 1838, and by Perth we had made up the deficit and were back on time.

This time I was on not a grand intercity train, but a lowly three-carriage "Turbostar" (class 170), basically a mid-1990s update of the ubiquitous "Sprinters". Fortunately, unlike the Class 158 Sprinter I endured yesterday from Liverpool to Norwich, the seats on the Turbostar were remarkably comfortable, enough so that I even dozed off briefly.

The train was pretty quiet throughout its journey, this being effectively a peak-hour train in the wrong direction. There wasn't much view at all: the cloud had closed right in and denied us any interesting sights. The cloud did lift slightly south of Stirling to give me my first glimpse of blue sky all day. Still, this journey was principally a means to an end.

Having wandered round Glasgow to find something to eat (milk and cereal bars, in the end), I am sat here at Glasgow Central finishing off this blog before I join my first ever sleeper train, the 2340 Caledonian Sleeper to London Euston, arrive 0647 tomorrow.

So, not a bad day, some fantastic views and good trains, but blighed by poor weather and bad luck with the signalling problems. For the sake of getting this blog up tonight, I'll count the sleeper as part of tomorrow's journeys (against my instinct), so here are today's overall statistics:

Total time on trains: 10 hours, 53 minutes (inc. 26 minutes delay).
Distance covered: 685.75 miles.
Walk-up price: £110.40.

Now, to cover 400 miles while getting a (hopefully) good night's sleep!