My daughter and I will be traveling from Glasgow to London via rail, in an earlier post it was suggested to go via Settle if at all possible. As I am looking at Virgin Trains and RailEurope I see I have several options that takes me through through the area around Settle and I am looking for suggestions. Route 1 goes from Glasgow to Carlisle to London Euston (all Virgin Trains), Route 2 Glasgow to Carlise to Hellifield to Lancaster to London Euston (Virgin/Northern Railway). Route 3 Glasgow to Carlisle to Leeds to London Kings Cross (Virgin). We are interested in seeing the countryside and not so much worried about getting to London quickly (we do have reservations that night in London). Will route 1 take us through the recommended countryside around Settle or do we need to take one of the other routes? Suggestions????
Posted by
Kelowna, BC, Canada
433 posts
When we did our trip years ago, there were only two general routes. East coast or West. We were told at that time the East one is the more colourful.
Posted by
Oxford, United Kingdom
5326 posts
Route 3 includes the Carlisle to Settle line, if that is your interest. You would be on Virgin West Coast to Carlisle, Northern from Carlisle to Leeds and Virgin East Coast from Leeds to Kings X. A slow route indeed point to point - but that isn't the issue for you it seems.
Posted by
London, United Kingdom
4684 posts
The Settle-Carlisle route is very scenic but as other people have said it will be a much slower route than either of the direct ones. Your Routes 2 and 3 will take you over the Settle-Carlisle one, Route 1 is the normal West Coast main line.
One thing to be warned about is that the trains on the Settle-Carlisle are also not the top level of comfort. If you are really, really unlucky you might end up in a Pacer, which is a really crap 1980s bus on rail wheels and not a nice experience for a long trip. Although they do try to keep them off that route.
Posted by
Northamptonshire, England
32700 posts
If you do draw a Pacer for the trip across the viaduct, only one axle at each end, a class 140 and variants, we call them "nodding donkeys" because of the way they bounce up and down as they go along and every time power is taken (what little power they have) or brakes are applied the front goes up and down - same thing happens a bit as they cross the rail joints.
Fun to laugh at, not quite so much fun to ride.
Only if you are unlucky, though. You'll probably get a slightly more modern train though.