No matter what video Scott makes, I’m guaranteed to like them 😎

My late husband and I loved this journey. From London, now the Highlands, we knew the scenery well. The 1st class meals, seats, curtains, space snd service (plus the endless supply of Beefeater Gin and crisps) made for a very pleasant day. Thanks Scott. I loved this film! 🎉😊

I have to say Kings Cross has certainly smartened itself up since I last used it in the 90's

Great video! And we're so glad you enjoyed your journey in first class with us. Don't worry about the headrests, they won't be around much longer :)

Love that my family and I experienced the trains at Kings Cross and Edinburgh Waverley last week. More relaxing than an airport. (We're from Canada)

It’s slower because the Azuma is weaker than an HST on diesel mode and doesn’t cope as well with inclines. That’s why GWR have the 802. They have a lot of routes with hills.

Kings Cross was my favourite station as a young trainspotter. It still gives me a tingle when I go there. Nice video

1st class lounge at King's Cross has its own designated exit to the platforms. It's very useful when there's a huge stramash at the usual ticket gates

Just so you know - if you were late on an inbound train and missed your last train as a result, the railway company have an obligation to get you there, be it train, coach, or taxi. This doesn't cover you arriving late to the first station (e.g. lost track of time at the pub), but if you have begun your journey, the contract is formed and they have to get you there. Do check out the National Rail Conditions of Carriage. There's some subtleties I've overlooked e.g. minimum connection times, but journey planners factor this stuff in. Cracking video!

I did that route with dad in 1989, it certainly was fast. Because of the ongoing electrification we had a Class 91 at one end and a HST power car the other end acting as DVT. It went like the proverbial poo off a shovel. I was a Bournemouth guard at the time and thanks to a uniform suggestion I put in, Gordon Pettitt, the General Manager for NSE, sent me two free 1st Class tickets for anywhere in the country. We had recently lost my mum so I took him to Inverness.

You got to love the railway line up towards Inverness, very beautiful and scenic.

We took LNER first class Edinburgh to Aberdeen to catch our ferry to Shetland. Loved it. Great food, great service, very clean and with friendly crew. Couldn’t fault it.

If you book through LNER's web site, then once when you've been allocated a reserved seat you can change it, providing there's a suitable one left. Some other train company's like Avanti offer a similar facility, providing you use that company's web site. Home or away, keep up these superb videos.

Went first class to Edinburgh a couple of years ago, great service and 4 bottles of port as well . The head rest went into the overhead bins.

Nice one Scott. I hate having my back to the direction, I want to see where I'm going, not where I've been !

Thank for bringing me along. I loved the time table touch!

Hi Scott I done it a few months ago but from Inverness ' about 8hrs 5 minutes spectacular scenery from Inverness ' I do like named trains 'it gives you a sense of occasional ' GNER was good at it .

Nice journey! And first class sure is the way to do it (especially when you can get 2 meals out of them!)

This was a really awesome train ride and I enjoyed it thank you for the great train ride and tour.🇬🇧🚝🚝🇬🇧

You probably know this, but there is a larger accessible toilet near first class which is significantly bigger than the one you reviewed. Great video!

Having to travel backwards on a train is the worst,but for 8 hours? The food looked good though. Thanks so much for taking us along. Glad you got to Inverness on time with minutes to spare. 😊

Tip for tight connections: As long as you know it’s the right train,GET. ABOARD ANY CARRAIGE! unless it’s coupled. Can’t wait to see you in Aberdeen!

Ah, the HST,the last British passenger train designed for we customers, not the accountants!

Still remember around 1989-1993 I went a few times on interrail and the Thomas Cook timetable was always with me. One of the best books

They are changing the headrests to make them more movable. Good vid as always

When ever i see a video posted from scott i straight away "Like" because you know it`s gonna be a good one. Thanks scott 👍

Agreed about King's Cross station. Beautiful! I remember the old boxy station before redevelopment. Shudder... I never felt very safe there...

Glad you made it Scott. I can use both west coast and east coast trains to London etc, and find that east coast is usually cheaper. I don’t like rear facing seats either! Thanks for travelling the journey. Here’s to the next one.

I must agree Scott, LNER is one of the best train operators in the Uk, always had a pleasant journey with them and on time which is always a bonus, another great vlog 👍🚝

I have had the good fortune to do the 'Highland Chieftain' from Kings Cross to Inverness or vice versa, many times, and always in first class. For me the high spot was most certainly when it was operated by HST's.

Another great video Scott - Thanks! Also just finished reading your book which I really enjoyed. For anyone who enjoys these videos I highly recommend it!!

On the LNER route 30 miles north of Newcastle is a seaside village of Alnmouth. You always zip pastnot even getting a good panoramic shot of us here., Sometime soon stop get of and have a walk down and round the village. You will love it. I will even make you a coffee!

Good video as always! It really upsets me how expensive rail travel is in the UK. I'd love to be able to hop on a train and visit different places in Scotland or London for the weekend! Its just extortionate unless you're lucky enough to manage to game a complex and confusing system that makes no sense.

Less Horsepower than an HST in Diesel mode. I get the point about the headrests - they end up at shoulder level. Great video.

Hello Scott I always would watch the videos you make and I always enjoy them i myself was born in paisley but was brought up in Johnstone but stay in Ireland now and every time I’m back in paisley always think Id always keep an eye out for you

Hi Scott, great reminder of the classic 8hour journey. I never just accept my seat allocation. I already have a number of favoured seats in first and second class. Full window view and facing direction of travel, selected on the LNER ‘my reservation’ page after purchase. Mind you if I use Seatfrog to gain a first class seat, you lose any choice . Cheers. Perry

Many train journeys were quicker 35 years ago than they are now. British Rail's HST's got the journey time from London King's Cross to Edinburgh Waverley down to less than four hours!

Great journey did it for my 18th in first class was well worth the £72

Another first class video. I love to see you travel on open acess operators Grand Central and Hull Trains.

Thank-you, Scott. I seem to remember a British Rail InterCity poster detailing all the main routes from London, and the journey times to all the outer termini and yes, I believe several of them took less time back in the day than they do now. Presumably, journey times were more critical back then as both the domestic air routes and the aircraft that operated them were still developing at that time. In practice - and as you found with this journey, much of the extra minutes allowed now are in fact recovery time that allows more trains to arrive 'on time' and many to arrive early - which is the kind of news that tends to travel, quite extensively!

Thank you for bringing back a wave of *MEMORIES* for me. In 1998, I made my first trip home to Scotland since 1961. I was booked on the LNER from Kings Cross to Inverness on the 1200 hours train; *THE HIGHLAND CHIEFTAIN*; and at mid day on the dot; the train left, and I was bloody excited to see my Highlands again. The train made it to Inverness at 2000 hours, and as expected; it was *RAINING* when I arrived; typical of a *"Scottish Summer Night,"* except this was now the dead of winter. My second trip home was in 2001, and this time British Rail was a bloody mess. I travelled to Kings Cross from Stanmore Station to catch the 1200 hours Highland Chieftain to Perth, only to be told that the Highland Chieftain had departed at 1100 hours (there had been a change in the time table apparently that I was unaware of hence; I got the 1200 hours train to Edinburgh - Waverley, where I had to change to the Scot Rail train to Perth via Fife and Kircaldy. In all, etched in my mind was the run from Kings Cross to Inverness. I remember getting off the Highland Chieftain at Inverness, and wet ground or not; I got to my knees and kissed the ground of my naitve Scotland *ALBA GU BRATH!* Thank you for sharing this with me.

Scott loving the videos, taking longer now than in 1989 that is progress! At least the LNER first class is top. I use it all the time from Darlington to KGS

Definitely one of the best KZfaq series to watch. Keep safe

Well that was an enjoyable journey from.my seat would love to do it in the world thanks for sharing 👍

As always, another great vlog. Thanks for posting. Happy, safe travels. Cheers. 😎

cool stuff at the end. Did you mention what the cost of all that was? That is what stops me from doing more rail travel in the UK

Very nice. Thank you

Totally agree, you need to face forwards, preferably with the sun (when it shines) on the other side of the train.

Really enjoyed the video , great work

Great video, thanks! A note about rear facing seats. If you’re prone to travel sickness (which I am) they’re much better at preventing it because you’re facing away rather to. Constantly trying to quickly refocus on things coming towards you can make you feel sick sometimes.

Great video Scott short and sweet today u look like you enjoyed that food keep up the great video content

It's amazing the number of people who need to travel for whatever reason. I agree LNER is the best First Class experience these days.

Stumbled across this channel . Love it , easy watching . Hello from Derry 🇮🇪

I've done Dundee KingsX in both directions on LNER first class and also thought the service was excellent, food good and comfortable ride. I also did it during the pandemic between Heathrow and Dundee for my quarantine at home during covid and saw Noone except the staff all the way to Dundee. I've never had issues with the cally sleeper either

Keep up the good work Scott

Good video 👍 - I'll perhaps train it to Inverness rather than Sleazy Jet next time

It's always rainy in Scotland and we love it!

Excellent video, I would love to do that journey some day. You earnt yourself a new subscriber :)

I enjoyed that video - wish they were a bit longer around 30 minutes. 👍👍

The fastest London-Edinburgh trip was 3 hours 59 minutes in the 1990s - surely pride of the British Rail network, and I think 20 minutes faster than now? The London-Glasgow service was slower though then - five or six hours, using old Mk2 coaches.

I did first class once and paid a fortune. They don't give enough drinks, and once I asked for an extra glass of wine, I might as well have asked the guy for a night with his wife, as he was shocked. Suck it up LNER, 3 glasses of wine from Peterborough to Newcastle is ok, especially as they only give tiny amounts, lol :)

That pork and rice is so nice I wish I knew the recipe. I’m so tempted to do Leeds to London and back just to get my fix

8 hours? Wow that's a long journey by train.

LNER are in the process of addressing the headrest issues. It's certainly on their radar so hopefully should see some updates in the coming months.

I've taken the trip on LNER to Inverness many times to see family in Nairn, but never from Kings Cross, I've always joined at York. I've always booked direct with LNER and had some amazingly good value tickets for such a long journey. Over the years, the prices do seem to have risen steadily, even on advance tickets. More often than not I have managed to secure an upgrade on at least one leg by bidding through the Seatfrog app. First class is a big improvement, if only for the seats. In standard class they are rock hard which is noticeable after 7 hours. The food can be a little hit and miss which is why standard class, a cushion and a packed lunch might be a better option ;-) On many occasions I've found the Dine menu advertised for the train to be replaced by the lesser featured Dish menu. Often they'll run out of certain menu items well before the destination, sometimes not long after leaving Inverness. Cut backs I guess, though LNER is still by far better than EMR or Cross Country. The last couple of trips we've taken by car as it worked out cheaper for two of us than the train. It also means we have some flexibility on travel and timing. We still get to take in the wonderful scenario and get to explore a little more than we would on the train. Rail travel seems to be getting ever more expensive. We take the same approach for travel from Sheffield to London, with fuel and running costs for the car, it's a good saving even when you factor in parking on a driveway using JustPark.

Great Trip

I've found LNER to be one of the more reliable operators, delays seem to only happen with them when it's really something beyond their control like someone stealing the cable, which happened the other month near Newark Northgate. They seem to be really professional and the staff even seem proud to work for them, having used a 1st class All Line Rover before, LNER is probably the only 1st class I could see myself using normally. Nice lounges available at a good range of their stations. Great and helpful friendly staff who don't waste time to serve the passengers, decent choice of food and drink at all times of day, free alcohol which includes spirits! Decent legroom, although the Intercity 225 which run to/from Leeds are more comfortable than the Azuma's in my opinion. Glad you made your connection, hopefully the new government delivers on the railways to sort out the strikes, make them more reliable and fix our daft ticket system and integrate them far better with buses. Looking forward to see the lot renationalised, hopefully the positives we can say about LNER can be said about all of them in the future.

Excellent video. I love travelling on this service but I preferred it in the HST days! I used to take the Northbound service one day and then return on the Southbound service the following day! The only reason that I can think of for the journey being longer now than before is that the line up at Aviemore is single and the Northbound train may have to wait at Aviemore for a Southbound service to come off the single line. It seems that there was a Southbound service at Aviemore in the video so this could be the reason.

These Thomas Cook timetables, a facinating read, I found the motorail Santander - Malaga in this and booked travel in 1992, who says life didn't exist before the internet was created! Thanks for the video, a great watch as usual.

It's really great how personal you make the videos, offering your true opinions and ideas (e.g. LNER should branch out into ready meals, other rail companies should look to LNER, and such). We can tell you've done a lot of travelling and you really think about the experience. I will completely trust the ratings you have done, comparing various services. Thanks for all the interesting material!

Another great vid. Our local rail service is slower than in the 1950s when steam trains ruled the earth. I found an old timetable. The service is also half the number of trains it was, even though many more people commute thsn back then. Trains overflowing even off peak.

I look forward to seeing you at the WackyBacky Falls where Sherlock met his end!!!

LNER have mentioned in passing that they're going to change the headrests on the First Class seats. Quite frankly, the first thing I do when I sit down in First is to rip them off and shove them in the overhead luggage racks, as do others as you mention! Hopefully not too long until this happens. They're far too hard and firm to have against your back or neck for hours. I'd much prefer the other IET headrests that GWR and TPE have on their trains.

In Japan the seats are easy to switch the direction of the seats. I got on the front car- front seat, but it was facing backwards. Fortunately- it is easy to switch directions, so I did. I was the odd ball at first, because most of the passengers were looking backwards. I got to Kyoto 30 minutes later and most of the seats had flipped. BTW- front right is the best seat because the engineer sits front left and you've got a view out of the front window.

Whew! Glad you made your connection. Looks like a great journey. Thanks for the fun video!

Scott loved the liner first class trip , you have made me put it on my bucket list …fantastic

av done that journey lots up to Thurso, but always been picked up at inverness, be nice to do the train from inverness to thurso, scot rail is mint at least it was 30yr ago, first time I ever seen a pay phone on a train and used it, my mobile was out of charge, the further av ever been by train is Dingwall, Elgin, and also Aberdeen back to newcastle during my working days

Fantastic Vlog as always Scott I really enjoyed watching your experience of the LNER Highland Chieftain and the main thing is you made your connection to Glasgow keep up the good work take care and stay safe

Speaking of the 80s and speed. You could jump on an InterCity 125 at Woking, Surrey, one of the trains coming up from the coast into Waterloo. That journey, Woking to Waterloo, used to take between 20 and 25 minutes. Flat out. Packed and people hanging on for dear life! Mid 1980s. Now, you would be lucky to do it in less than 35 minutes. Great channel by the way.

Thanks Scott that was an excellent video 👍

Good video - I enjoyed it. I've travelled on the Chieftain to Inverness twice, but only from York. This was back in Virgin East Coast days, and on an HST. The first journey was perfect.The second, a year later, went very wrong - the train failed just north of York. Both power cars, we were told, and in the event they could only get the rear car working and there was no communication between them. So back to York we went, eventually arriving in Inverness at nearly midnight after an incoming HST set from Kings Cross to York was hi-jacked for our service. The train crew were being very generous with snacks and drinks, for standard class as well as first. I've read that back in the day before privatisation but after sectorisation, this was the only long-distance train run by the then (BR) ScotRail - all other trains between Scotland and London were run by the Inter City sector. ScotRail had two HST sets painted in their colours (blue stripe instead of red), a Scottish crew (at least to/from Newcastle) and apparently Polmadie depot made a point of turning the sets out in tip-top condition. That would have been a good journey.

I enjoy these videos a lot. As a younger man I travelled a lot in Italy by train, so particularly like those ones. They're all enjoyable though. I have illness now, so these videos are a decent substitute for the real thing. I can see the vibe and scenery. Cheers!

Great vlog as usual Scott. My wife and I travelled to London via LNER last week, having the same menu as you. We loved it

My mum was in the travel business & had a Thos Cook train timetable. The other thing she had was an airport directory. It had ALL the airports (big & small) and all the flights to all the other airports around the world. It was great for planning trips around Europe or the world.

Loved this video as i really want to do this journey one day. Thank you matey!!!!

Really enjoyed the video! Could I ask in future if you could add captions for each station you show, only, on some stations I saw the name board but on others they did not appear. It would help to track your journey. Many thanks Harry

Hi Scott, thanks for the video! I visited the UK back in August 2022 (from Canada) and had a ticket for that same train, also 1st Class and I was so looking forward to it, my first time over there. Unfortunately I was a victim of the rail strikes and my train was cancelled, resulting in me booking a flight with Easyjet, which ended up being cancelled and rescheduled multiple times and spending the night at Gatwick…good times haha Thanks again for the great video!

Thanks

Amazing what nationalising a service can do! Lets get on to the water boards now! 😂

Great video, Scott. I have used LNER from KGX to Leeds and have found that first class accommodation out of London is always at the rear of the train. I have travelled in coach L and can confirm that *all* the solo seats have always been backwards facing.

Hi Scott I loved the train it looks fantastic great way to travel & you can sit back & relax as someone else is doing driving.. Keep up the brilliant videos 👃

Another great video xx

Yet again another smashing video Scott not watched for a while been busy glad top be back mate!

Hi Scott, great video again, keep up the good work. I have my own little trip planned in mid July - Harrogate to Wemyss Bay and back in a day! Up the West Coast down the East Coast with change times as low as 12 minutes, and as high as 36 minutes, part standard class part first class, looking forward in trepidation. Thanks for all the ideas.

Thoroughly enjoyed this trip scott..thank goodness you made your train home...strange that they should serve the same meal? Look forward to your next video scott.🍺

I do love a good train journey 😊

My wife and did LNER London - Edinburgh return last May - great journey way more pleasant than flying.

Loved this video. We live on the south coast but are planning this trip shortly - up to Inverness on the Friday, stay over then down to Newcastle on the Saturday morning to see our footy team play at Gateshead, then home to the south coast after the match - it’s got to be done! Just waiting for fixtures to be released!

brilliant journey all the way down north to Inverness Scott great video

That was a great video. Really enjoyed it. Sadly have to say that my station (Darlington) looks a bit shabby compared to the rest. I hope the investment and improvements it’s getting actually do improve it. As for rear facing, that’s my favourite, hate sitting forward. Horses for courses there tho. Take care and safe travels.