Scottish Grand Tour travel pass?

The Scottish Grand Tour is outstanding value. It means you are not tied to booking specific trains, so getting good value advance fares.

It actually gets better, because you can use National Railcard Discounts of 1/3. The children are adults for fare purposes. So if you buy 2 x Two Together Railcards for £30 each (total cost £60) you get £30.25 off each pass (total of £121). The fly in the ointment is you can't get the 0821 to Mallaig with a 2T, only the 1222 or 1823 trains.

The other problem is that the bus service from Armadale is very thin, the service #51 mentioned on the website no longer exists. It is now the #52 from Armadale to Broadford.

On a Schoolday that runs at 1235 (only) arriving at Broadford at 1302 for a connection to the Kyle on #55 at 1443, arrive 1500 . There is a 1705 but that has no connection at Broadford
On a Saturday that bus is at 1405 bus to Broadford, arrives 1432 and on a School Holiday it is at 1505, arrives at 1530.
On a Saturday or School Holiday you would connect to the Kyle on Scottish Citylink #916 (NOT included on your pass) at 1620, arriving at the Kyle at 1641 (that bus is bound for Glasgow).

Plenty of time for the last train to Inverness at 1713.

For 4 of you you may find Armadale to the Kyle easier by pre-booked taxi.

The pass is also no longer valid on the ferry.

It would be best to purchase digitally ahead of time, but it can be purchased at Glasgow Queen Street on the day of travel as a physical ticket.

This is so helpful, thank you! We don't plan to leave for Mallaig until afternoon so the 1222 train works perfectly. Based on your info about the lack of consistent buses from Armadale, do you think it might be worthwhile to go back to Mallaig and catch a train/bus to Inverness from there?

**Edited to add I think I answered my own question, seems the train from Mallaig to Inverness is not part of the Grand Tour travel pass.

Really appreciate your insight - thanks again!
Susanne

You have answered your own question. You can't, you have to keep going round the circle in the same direction, no backtracking, and not valid anyway on the Fort William to Inverness coach service.

Can't seem to figure out how to get the discount on the travel pass with the railcard. Is this something I can do online?

Yes-

On the opening page of the opening page- https://www.scotrail.co.uk/tickets/combined-tickets-travel-passes/scottish-grand-tour

Click the big purple 'Buy your Travel Pass' button, then enter 4 people and their ages then click 'Book Online now'

On the next page you will be offered two options-
Scottish Grand Tour £356, and Scottish Grand Tour with railcard £235. Click the little shopping cart on the latter option and then proceed through the buying stages.

I just hope your US credit card works.

You will then need to get your Two Together Railcards on this website
https://www.twotogether-railcard.co.uk/
(again as a digital product). If the website doesn't work for US users don't worry get them at Glasgow Queen Street. As long as you have them when on your first train it doesn't matter.
Take selfies if the website works, if not just bring along passport style (but not passport quality) photographs for the ticket clerk. They will only take 5 to 10 minutes to issue at the station.
Sometimes the railcard website works a dream for North Americans, sometimes it just plays awkward cuss.

Ugh - it's not giving me the railcard option. I have to enter my country of residence and it's not an option for me when I enter United States. I entered United Kingdom instead and then I did see the option. Doesn't make sense since there is nothing that says you must be a UK resident to use the railcard discount. I've sent an email to ScotRail to hopefully get it sorted out.

Thanks again for all the help!
Susanne

I'm sorry about that. I agree it doesn't make sense as I too can see nothing in the T and C's to say that overseas residents can't get the railcard discount.
In person I don't think you would have a problem.

Given that it is an M ticket and nothing is being mailed to you (it is an M pass) I wonder what would happen if you just said you were a UK resident and gave the address of your Glasgow, Inverness or Edinburgh accommodation.

I have done 2 checks this morning at my local stations in the North of England- where Northern Rail have the best TVM's [Ticket Vending Machines] in the UK-
a. The TVM at my local unstaffed station will happily issue 4 railcard discounted SGT passes. The only 'problem' is that they can't be post dated at a TVM [unlike any other kind of ticket it can issue, which can be post dated]. But I can easily get to Glasgow by 12 noon, so for anyone local that would not be a problem;
b. So I went to the next station down the line- which is staffed. I asked the direct question relating to your case, and the duty senior clerk said no problem- and was a bit surprised that there was even a question to ask.

So the issue, as far as I am concerned, is a website problem, not a rules problem.

Thank you so much for your diligence in helping me figure this out!!

I tried purchasing with a UK address but it won't work as it auto fills your credit card billing country to the one you selected and it's unchangeable. I did email them and am waiting to hear back.

Sounds like if this does not get resolved before we leave in a few weeks, we can buy the Grand Tour passes at the train station in Glasgow. I've already purchased the Two Together railcards for us.

Anyone travelling in the next few days on the Malaig to Armadale route should check with Cal Mac. The timetable is substantially revised due to one of the route vessels being redeployed to the Isle of Mull owing to a technical issue down there.