Travel from Heathrow to York

By train/tube, I would suggest taking the Elizabeth Line from Heathrow to Farringdon, and then tube from Farringdon to Kings Cross, which is where you can take the train to York. The operators of the train to York are LNER or Lumo. You can use contactless cards for the Elizabeth Line and tube, but you need to buy a ticket for the Kings Cross to York train separately.

However, that's a lot of carrying luggage, particularly from the Elizabeth Line to the tube and tube to mainline station. You could also consider taking a taxi from Farringdon direct to Kings Cross to avoid the tube element. Or even booking a car from Heathrow, given your limited time frame.

It would be a pretty tiring day, and you arrive in the UK in the afternoon. And the train from Kings Cross to York is 2.5-3h, on top of landing, getting luggage and traveling from Heathrow. Personally I'd stay a night in London before heading to York, just to allow for any delays in your flight.

Take the Piccadilly Line from Heathrow direct to Kings Cross. ( no changes.).

Trains to York leave from Kings Cross.

Lumo don't stop at York, only LNER

Grand Central also stop at York https://www.grandcentralrail.com/

Apologies, Frank and isn31c are both correct. Lumo doesn't stop at York, and tube would be the best route.

The fastest train to York is 1hr 52m not 2.5-3 hours

For my liking the relatively infrequent Grand Central trains (which go to Sunderland) are far more comfortable seating, and overall a much nicer ambience than the LNER trains. If the timings work I would recommend them to York. They run every 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

For my liking the relatively infrequent Grand Central trains (which go
to Sunderland) are far more comfortable seating, and overall a much
nicer ambience than the LNER trains.

The drawback is that their trains are diesel powered. Personally I prefer LNER's electric trains.

LNER also operate diesel trains and thier Azuma's are hybrid/bi-mode and can either run off the catenary or in diesel mode.

Grand Central trains have wider seats, more seat pitch and signicantly more number of table seats per train.

Grand Central are routinely voted the most comfortable trains to travel on in the UK.

https://www.halifaxcourier.co.uk/news/transport/grand-central-voted-best-long-distance-and-value-for-money-train-company-2499105

you don't suppose that a Halifax paper might be a teensy tiny bit biased?

LNER retired their last diesel trains in 2019. Some of their Azumas are bimode that can run on diesel, but unless something has gone wrong they will run on electricity between London and York.

In the end it is a matter personal preference, but I like when the stations don't smell of diesel exhaust.

"you don't suppose that a Halifax paper might be a teensy tiny bit biased?"

No more bias than you show against open access rail operators.

For what its worth I only posted it becuse was at a glance version of the latest National Rail Passenger Survey.

Which is here in all its glory:

https://www.transportfocus.org.uk/publication/national-rail-passenger-survey-nrps-spring-2020-main-report/

Grand Central routinely come out as one of best train companies in the UK over the gamut. Me, on an all things equal basis they beat LNER into a cocked hat and are my train company of choice.

"Some of their Azumas are bimode"

All thier Azuma's are bimode.

They wet lease or borrow a small number class (diesel 67) locos from TfW, in fact I travelled behind one before Christmas.

All thier Azuma's are bimode.

I know wikipedia is not the best authority, but according to them LNER has 65 Azumas, 23 bimodes and 42 electric only.

No more bias than you show against open access rail operators.

this is not the first time that you have accused me of what is not the case.

By what stretch of fantasy do you draw that conclusion?

Whatever gripe you have against me may as well come out in the open. Why do you bear a grudge? I don't think we've ever met.

Personal attacks are not welcome here. If you want to make attacks there is plenty of room at reddit.

Where is the personal attack?

Instead of arguing, let's keep to helping the OP with answers to his question.

The Bi-mode Azumas-

In this case from everything I have read I am certain that Wikipedia are correct. The odd thing is that LNER on their website state that all their trains are bi-mode. You might have reasonably thought they would have it right. The electric only sets (Class 801) I think have an auxiliary diesel engine to get the units out of trouble if they just "sit down" and fail, and provide basic hotel power for lighting and AC to cover for a limited time if the electric supply fails.

I just travel on the trains- I am not hugely interested in the technical details. Similarly I am not that fussed if it is diesel or electric if it gets me there right time at the right price and comfortably (possibly not in that order).

Diesel vs Electric is a whole different debate, in cars as much as in trains, in as much as could the world go wholly electric- emphatically not an invitation to debate here. A very complex topic!!
On Environmental grounds (as well as simple hassle) I would almost never fly domestically in the UK or UK to the island of Ireland, and any kind of train is far better for the environment than driving. Indeed I would be very loath to fly to most of continental Europe unless forced to. There are usually, in my opinion, better options.

Similarly I am not that fussed if it is diesel or electric if it gets
me there right time at the right price and comfortably (possibly not
in that order).

This thread really did derail a bit (pun intended), and as I mentioned earlier in the end it is down to personal preference. And for me I can do without the smell and the noise of diesel trains, but then again I live in a country where almost all passenger trains are electric.

In the end, I think the OP has enough information on how to get to York, and if he doesn't I hope he post additional questions.

What Frank said.

LNER would I think, give you more options than Grand Central.

Notable lack of steam hauled services (I know there are some but not regular scheduled services and, Jeez, you could travel to York in a palanquin cheaper!).

I'll second what Frank said too. There's a couple of y'all getting too hung up with the unimportant minutiae, that it just become padantry. Y'all should have provided guidance on how to get to Kings Cross, by using the Piccadilly Line Elizabeth Line or Heathrow Express. Could have provided guidance on time allowance traveling from LHR to Kings Cross; buying train tickets and insight on travel to York. Instead some of you have dominated the thread arguing about franchise vs open access, or yammering about train sets which have nothing to do with the OP's original question.

In the spirit of the last post, but maybe not in the way intended, the best way to get from the US to York is to fly into an airport that is both a lot closer to York than Heathrow and also has a train station attached to it and not an hour away. That would be Manchester.

Sorry I caused so much trouble with my simple question. We have an overnight non stop flight to Heathrow so hopefully we won't be to wiped out from jet lag. We have already booked lodging in York. Looks like a direct connection to Kings Cross then to York after switching trains. We have experienced Kings Cross in the past. Thanks for the help.

Yes, that is the answer. You get a train to York from Kings Cross. The rest is irrelevant unless you are very interested in trains.

OP/Ken, no need to apologize for anything.

London to York is pretty simple. Easiest option is travel on LNER service from London Kings Cross to York. LNER's website is at -- https://www.lner.co.uk/

I'd suggest setting up accounts and creating ticket alerts for your day of travel. LNER tends to offer their tickets for sale earlier than the usual 8-12 weeks prior to travel that the other TOCs will offer. Right now LNER has tickets available out to May 20, at 15 weeks out from today. The cheapest advanced fares are about £22.50-£25.20. These can go quickly once offered. There's also the LNER perks program if you download and use the app. The main benefit is the £5 credit that can be used on ticket purchases. There's usually two trains an hour and travel times are about in as little as 1 hour 49 minutes to 2 hours 24 minutes.

It's the getting from LHR to King Cross, where you'll have several options. Direct, lowest cost and with about an hour to hour five minutes travel, is the Piccadilly line from LHR to Kings Cross.

There is the Heathrow Express which can take you from LHR to Paddington, where you'd transfer to the tube to complete the journey to Kings Cross. Heathrow Express is about 15 minutes to Paddington, but the total time to Kings Cross may be about 50 minutes.

Finally there's the Elizabeth line, though it doesn't stop at Kings Cross. I've not used Elizabeth line yet. But an option might be LHR to Bond Street transfer to Victoria line to finish the journey to Kings Cross. Or LHR to Farringdon or Paddington change to tube to Kings Cross. Figure about an hour journey time for this journey as well.

You will need to figure your time allowance and what you're comfortable with and how much risk, getting from LHR to Kings Cross on to York.

Hi Ken -

No apology required or necessary.

These threads sometimes take off at tangents and that’s half the fun. Even if it’s not especially informative for the OP! If anything, we need to apologise to you for being tempted into digression. We should resist, but where’s the fun in that?!

Ian