European Railroad Discussion > London to Scotland service

Planning my first trip (from US) to Scotland -- any advise/tips on London to Scotland service would be appreciated.  Looks like Caledonian Sleeper is reasonable for avoiding a night in a London hotel vs. day trip.  Glasgow and Edinburgh departures are almost midnight -- are you allowed to board ealry?   Thanks!
 

When are you visiting? At present the Caledonian Sleeper is disrupted owing to the damage caused by New Year storm Frank to a bridge over the River Clyde at Lamington. Services are not expected to get back to normal until mid-March. Assuming its later than that then, yes, you can board the Lowland Sleeper after 23:00 and stay on board until 08:00

https://www.sleeper.scot/

There are no daylight services from London to Glasgow until the bridge at Lamington has been rebuilt. You have to change at Carlisle and catch a special Virgin train via the Glasgow & South Western route. Normally daytime trains take just overt four and a half hours London to Glasgow (401 miles). On the east coast there's a normal service between King's Cross and Edinburgh, most trains take just under four and a half hours for the 393 miles. Both routes have their plus points, the West Coast climbs to two summits around 1000 feet, at Shap in England and Beattock in Scotland whilst the East Coast has a stretch along the cliffs north of Berwick with great views over the sea, as well as the bridges over the Tyne at Newcastle and over the Tweed at Berwick. In terms of the trains themselves you ride in tilting Pendolinos on the West Coast with gun slit windows, whilst on the East Coast its 25 year old class 91 + Mk 4 cars (they're OK) or 35 year old HSTs, which are preferable from the point of view of looking out of the window.

Great information on the routings and the rolling stock - good to know.  It'll be in May so should be after bridge work.  

My family traveled from Edinburgh to London last July.   We were allowed to board early, but not all that early.   Somewhere in the 10 to 11pm range.    There was a special first class lounge you could wait in, but I chose to wait on the platform and watch trains.    After our trip I saw some indications that there was somewhere in the London station that we should have been able to go and take showers, but we never knew about that when we arrived and had to use a pay bathroom to freshen up.    We couldn't see much scenery in the dark, but it saved an expensive hotel room and got us where we needed to go.

Stephen