Operator: LNER
Headcode: 1E18
Route: EDB-PBO
Class: 1st Class
Seat: N/A
Date: Monday 30th January 2023
Having enjoyed a weekend in Glasgow, including a day exploring the railways around the city (read about that here), we had made our way back over in Edinburgh ready for our journey back south with LNER in first class.
Having arrived at Edinburgh with about 90 minutes until our train, we made our way to the LNER first class lounge which is located upstairs next to platforms 4 and 5. As with the Kings Cross lounge that I’ve written about before, the lounge at Edinburgh is comfortable but fairly basic. There’s a choice of hot drinks or bottles of water along with biscuits and crisps, but that’s about it. However, this is as much as any other lounges in the UK have, so it’s probably above par overall.
Our departure from Edinburgh was from platform 9, one of the two former ‘Suburban’ platforms located outside of the main station canopy. These platforms historically served services on the Edinburgh Suburban line, originally a circular route from Edinburgh to Edinburgh via Criaglockhart, Morningside Road & Duddingston in the south side of the city centre. Whilst services on the Suburban Line ended in September 1962, the line is still open as a diversionary route and for freight.
Our ride for the journey south was 801229, a nine-car electric unit which departed on time at 1400. As with most leisure rail services this was a fairly busy train, including in 1st class, with our carriage being about 75% full. Our calling pattern heading south was the reverse of our northbound journey with stops at Alnmouth, Morpeth, Newcastle, Durham, Darlington, York, Doncaster and Newark Northgate before Peterborough.
Just after departing Edinburgh we passed Craigentinny depot, run by Hitachi on behalf of LNER to maintain their fleet when in Scotland. In addition to looking after the Azumas of LNER, some ScotRail units also stable at Craigentinny, whilst the depot also maintains GBRf’s class 73s used on Caledonian Sleeper services. Passing the depot, there was a pair of ScotRail’s class 385s stabled on the far side, along with another LNER Azuma, 802215.
As we continued south towards the border, the onboard staff came through offering drinks and food. Unfortunately, owing to the crew being a person short, the onboard chef had stepped in to assist with the service and this meant there was no hot food available until Newcastle when there was a booked crew change. Despite this additional challenge, the crew were great, especially the chef who was brilliant at engaging with us and other passengers.
Shortly after Drem and the junction for the branch to North Berwick, we passed through the almost completed but not yet open new station at East Linton. East Linton is in a similar situation to Reston, where the original 19th century station was closed in the 1960s and a new station is now being constructed to serve the growing community. East Linton station is currently scheduled to open in Spring 2024, but looking at it as we passed through, it might well be before this.
If you miss the famous sign marking the border of Scotland and England on the East Coast Mainline (ECML), the first noticeable feature will be Berwick station and then the stunning view from the Royal Border Bridge over the river Tweed and the town of Berwick itself. Berwick station sits within the remains of the walls of the town’s castle, which was largely destroyed to allow for the arrival of the railway.
Given the promise of hot food being available after Newcastle, we opted to wait for our onboard meal, however I did make sure to grab a flapjack as a snack to tide me over until then. Just under an hour into our journey we slowed down for the first stop at Alnmouth, and we soon after treated to the view out over the Aln estuary towards Alnmouth itself.
After Alnmouth we had a short stop at Morpeth and were soon making our way through the suburbs of Newcastle. Heaton depot in the east of the city was empty other than a single Azuma and we passed Manors station on the avoiding line, overtaking a Northern unit that was stopping there. Newcastle itself saw us have a four-minute stop to allow for a crew change, with a London based crew joining us for the rest of the journey south.
Unfortunately, the promise of hot food that came with the crew change was not delivered, with the replacement crew also being a person short and therefore only able to provide the cold offering. Whilst I understand short staffing and the challenges being faced to fully crew all services, my disappointment came from us being told something specific “there will be hot food from Newcastle” and this not being delivered.
The rest of the journey south was fairly unremarkable, with me opting for a chicken sub in lieu of the curry I had been hoping for. As we passed the National Railway Museum on the approach into York, 55002 (formerly D9002) ‘The King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry’ was poking its nose out of the maintenance shed, presumably in preparation for it to set off for a rail tour.
I always used to refer to the ECML between York and Peterborough as ‘home turf’ owing to the amount of times I had travelled over it. With the number of trips I’ve made to Newcastle and Scotland recently (I’ve made another 5 since this one), the entirety of the ECML is becoming more and more familiar. Doncaster and Newark Northgate are now very recognisable, although the West Coast Railways Class 57 ‘Thunderbird’ was a new addition at Newark.
As we arrived into Peterborough 1 minute early, I reflected on this journey with LNER compared to others. Whilst still good overall, I was disappointed with the lack of hot food and the slightly poor service in over promising to make up for it. As I said above, if we’d been told from the start there would be no hot food throughout, or even just advised that there would ‘hopefully’ be some from Newcastle, I wouldn’t have been as bothered. All in all though still a relatively good journey with LNER.
Lounge 4*
Seat/Facilities 4*
Food 2*
Service 4*
Punctuality 5*
Overall Rating 19/25 (read about my rating system here!)
Flights & Times 