The Scottish Adventure (part 1)

Between Thursday 25th of August 2022 and Sunday 28th of August 2022, I made a trip to visit Scotland as a change of scenery, after what happened two years ago, when the world changed due to the pandemic. This would be my first proper trip outside London since then, with a chance to take in what Scotland has to offer. 

Here's Day 1. 

Day 1 - Thursday 25th August 2022.

London King's Cross station architecture.

Arriving into London King's Cross

It was a pretty wet and busy arrival into London King's Cross. 8:45am and pouring down with heavy rain. It's not your normal busy station, it is the actual London Kings Cross. The station is near the edge of Central London, being not too far away from areas like London Euston for example. Being one of the busiest stations in the UK and one of many main London termini, it is easy to see why with people carrying suitcases and bags (no matter what time of day it is, trust me), either to commute locally or travel further afield into areas including: Hertfordshire, Yorkshire, North East and Scotland just to name a few. Next to the main terminus is King's Cross St Pancras (the tube station) and a short walk away is London St Pancras International, where one can get services into Kent, East Midlands or even other countries like France and Netherlands. So yeah, combine them altogether and it's literally a busy transport hub. Of course, whenever we rush through terminus stations like this, you never get to appreciate the amount of work put into the station - especially above us. As seen in the picture above the roof has been done to an excellent standard, the thought put into this design is pretty impressive. Looks futuristic. In my head, I was thinking the refurbishment made to the station was done recently but turns out it happened in 2012 - 10 years ago. Crazy how time files.

My train was the one on the right, with the other being prepped for service having come from the train depot to eventually work a service to Leeds. These trains work all long-distance services for LNER. Ever wondered what Azuma means? It means "East" in Japanese, possibly to represent the East Coast Main Line. I didn't know that either.

While waiting for the train to be prepared, the train was announced and I - among other fellow passengers - made my way towards Platform 3, the 09:30 service to Edinburgh Waverley. We were scheduled to call at 10 stations along the way with a scheduled arrival time of 2:12pm in the afternoon. Our operator for this trip would be LNER (London North Eastern Railway) having gotten two "Advance Single" tickets there and back - with these being purchased online, though you could also purchase them in person via the ticket machines and offices provided. LNER is a fairly recent operator that came into the railway network, having taken over from Virgin Trains East Coast in 2018. Not so long ago, a number of these services were once operated by a fleet of iconic Class 43s (also referred to as HSTs) being highly popular to rail enthusiasts in particular having transformed rail travel around Britain as a whole. They no longer operate with LNER, but other operators that still use them in smaller areas (i.e. Cornwall) contain plug-in doors, instead of pulling down the window then opening the door, which has since disappeared entirely. The trains that replaced them are known as IETs (Intercity Express Train) from the manufacturer known as Hitachi. Those that were or not aware, last year in May 2021 quite a large number of their trains had to be temporarily stood down, due to cracks being found inside their units - certainly not good for the train operators when needing to operate long distance services! As a result, LNER temporarily used Class 91s to cover which are staying a bit longer in the fleet for now. 

A section in Coach C that I had booked inside Standard Class. The reservation works in a traffic light format, with Red meaning the seat is booked from one particular section to another - or the whole journey. Green means that seat is available and you are free to sit in it, as along as it's not occupied or booked.

So here I go onboard the Class 801 or "Azuma" as LNER refers to them. Coach C was my allocated carriage, being near the front and the First Class section being at the rear of this 9-carriage train. I found the interior to be good and welcoming, along with the standard class seating to be..... alright, actually! Although that last sentence I just said is very subjective, depending on how you view these trains as a whole. Offerings on my journey featured WiFi, a buffet car, a good sized table and USB sockets. Something that I found interesting was an on-board at seat service called Let's Eat at your seat. Essentially what you do is scan the QR code, (at your seat) choose the food from the menu offered, and then pay. It is an alternative to not facing that walk to the buffet car, with the food being delivered like Uber Eats or Deliveroo for example. Sounds great, I opted for just a meal deal instead that I bought at the shops. I didn't bother with any of that buffet car stuff. 

The 393 mile journey...

Peterborough station, the first calling point on our journey.

As we departed London Kings Cross on time at 9:30am, the 393 mile (or 632km) journey down to Scotland along the full East Coast Main Line began. The progress was pretty slow upon departure and we came to complete stop at times, the onboard train crew informed us that there managed to be a signal failure at Peterborough - probably the miserable weather had something to do with that... it meant we were on the slow lines for a long while going like a snail. After passing Stevenage station (where some LNER services call at) our first station of Peterborough station was present. Departing 

Peterborough station, nearly half an hour later Newark Northgate station is the second stop and most people alighted here, as I saw shuttle buses outside the station, possibly for a festival that possibly took place at the time. Notably, due the signal failure that occurred on this journey, we are an hour behind schedule and the driver basically had to floor it in order to make up some time. For the first time, we managed to get up to the maximum speed that the train is capable of doing, which is 125 mph. I found this part of the East Coast Main Line to have pretty much the same scenery throughout - still, not complaining.

Some Class 91s in a siding near Doncaster.

The green and yellow fields that appear for miles and miles, told me that we are now properly in the countryside alongside the occasional wind turbine and pylon appearing, as the distances between stops become longer and longer. Before Doncaster station, there was a sliding which contained purely just

Class 91s not attached to any carriages. More green fields carried on into York station, another major stopping point home to the National Railway Museum containing various locomotives and other history. The 40C heatwave that happened in July certainly had an effect on the fields, as they looked like burnt toast. Still, it wasn't getting any better for the schedule - nothing had changed and, for the rest of the services behind us the knock on effect truly meant they were screwed too. 

The National Railway Museum, departing York station.

Durham station.

View out of Durham station.

The view of the River Tyne in Newcastle.

Arrival into Newcastle station, around 55 minutes late at 1:33pm.

The arrival into Darlington station reminded me of the previous station York, both containing the arched roofs vibe of a terminus station. Moreover, they are well served by operators like CrossCountry, Grand Central, Northern and TransPennine Express. Durham station truly meant we are now in the North East of England. It seemed like one of those pass by stations similar to Newark Northgate - being situated on the viaduct was nice though! However, the impressive sight of the River Tyne into Newcastle station was certainly the best view I have seen - so far, at least. Over halfway there, 4 hours in and not in Scotland for our 2:12pm arrival, you can already tell how this is going to go. 

View of the scenery near Cramlington. 

Morpeth station, 15 minutes later.

The sky opening up in the county of Northumberland, departing Morpeth station.

Morpeth station and the views I saw are picturesque, as the panoramas felt like we are proper North and no longer near areas like London or Hertfordshire. Departing away, the number of trains seen along this section decreased significantly as mainly LNER trains (that zoomed really fast towards London) appeared along with some other operators from time to time - had the views to myself mostly. The next bit I saw however was an

absolute sight. At Alnmouth, the penultimate station, a glimpse of the sea made itself known in the distance. The North Sea! Unfortunately for me, I was sitting on the opposite side (on the left and the view was on the right) to properly take it in - pity the train is busy as I would have gotten a photo!

 

Passing over the River Tweed just after Berwick-upon-Tweed station, the most northerly station in England and not too far away from crossing the border between Scotland and England.

Picturesque view seen near Wallyford as we enter Scotland.

For next hour or so as we entered Scotland, the sun broke out and clouds moved as we travelled 125mph, admiring the hills and amazing scenery (with the North Sea playing hide and seek appearing in and out, while we passed through the hills of Scotland). Arguably in my opinion, one of the best sections of the East Coast Main Line I experienced, and thankfully the weather was now cheerful than it was down in London, so on a really good sunny day or sunset, this section is honestly one worth staring out of the train window, whether you seen it many times or none at all. At long last, despite what happened on my journey with the Peterborough signal failure, we arrived into Edinburgh at 3:03pm and it was time to step off the Azuma. 53 minutes late! As a result, I received a refund for half the money back paid for the ticket (going to Edinburgh), since it only over 30 minutes late, not an hour. 

Welcome to Edinburgh Waverley station.

Summary of the journey

Start: London Kings Cross (departure time: 09:30am) - departed on time at 9:30am.

Peterborough (departure time: 10:18am)  - departed 52 minutes late at 11:11am.

Newark Northgate (departure time: 10:46am) - departed 59 minutes late at 11:45am.

Doncaster (departure time: 11:10am) - departed an hour late at 12:11pm.

York (departure time: 11:35am) - departed an hour late at 12:35pm.

Darlington (departure time: 12:06pm) - departed 58 minutes late at 1:04pm.

Durham (departure time: 12:23pm) - departed 57 minutes late at 1:21pm.

Newcastle (departure time: 12:40pm) - departed 55 minutes late at 1:35pm.

Morpeth (departure time: 12:54pm) - departed 55 minutes late at 1:50pm.

Alnmouth for Alnwick (departure time: 1:09pm) - departed 55 minutes late at 2:05pm.

End: Edinburgh Waverley (arrival time: 2:12pm) - arrived 53 minutes late at 3:03pm. 

Total journey undertaken: 4hrs 40 minutes.

And so with that it is time to end part 1 of this post. So far, my impressions of LNER are good (ignoring the delay, but that's inevitable anyways); the onboard crew/staff are friendly and managed to provide a suitable service for other passengers. The train. To be honest, I was comfortable for most of the journey  and acceleration of the train is quick on its feet. I will give my overall conclusion on the company and train, when I get to that part later. I didn't do much on the first day, just wanted to get settled in after undertaking a 4 hour journey. 

Thank you for reading and happy riding!