Train travel around UK

We've done something similar. Flew into London, then train up to Edinburgh with an overnight stop along the way for sightseeing. A few days in Edinburgh. Then train up to Inverness for a couple days (had to see Nessie and do a boat tour on the Loch) with a side train trip to Kyle of Localsh (my ancestral home), then train back to London for some theatre before flying home. I don't recall that we found the passes to be worthwhile and just bought tickets for the individual trains.

By the way, the trains in the UK are abysmally slow compared to the ones in the mainland.

125 mph is abysmally slow?

Some local trains with lots of stops are quite slow, but so are the local French and German trains I was on last week.

At least most of our track is double tracked or better so that trains can pass each other between stations.

Unlike some of the lines I was on in France, Germany and Switzerland, and Austria previously.

It all has to do with frequency and relative importance of different trains - in most European countries.

As said in a different thread by a different person recently - "Don't diss Nigel's trains".

For the original poster, cldehaven, for such a small amount of train riding, a pass is unlikely to come close to paying for itself.

You don't say when you are traveling, nor from what part of London, so I don't know if you will benefit from "Advance" tickets which restrict you to a particular train on a particular day and must be purchased in advance, against a quota, and are non refundable and not officially changeable, or for the Isle of Wight you would do better with an "Off Peak Day Return" or a "Day Return".

Do you know that there are ancient London Underground tube trains providing a train service on the Isle of Wight?

If you are going for the day, you might want the faster Southwest Trains from Waterloo to Portsmouth rather than the slower yet cheaper Southern Trains from Victoria.

For York and onwards to Edinburgh you will probably want the faster Virgin Trains East Coast service from Kings Cross, unless you are starting from somewhere else in the country.

Advance Singles are probably the way to go. Singles are the equivalent of one way.

Is it just you traveling or are there more than one of you?

Trains in the UK carried more people last year than any time after the aftermath of the First World War.

As a relatively small but densely populated country, the trains in England overall resemble more closely the type services in Belgium or the Netherlands than more sparsely populated countries with more distance to cover, which tends to mean more frequent trains with a greater stopping pattern. Even after the cutbacks of the 1950-70s the network is much more wide reaching into rural areas than say that of France.

The lack of capacity is becoming the issue.

As regards the OPs question regarding the Isle of Wight the best route will depend on exactly where you want to go on the island.

Cldehaven - The rail system in Great Britain is quite easy to use. One way ticket to York from London can be as little as £20.90 and takes a little over 2 hours. Train travel From York to Edinburgh can be as little as £34.00 and take about 2 1/2 hours. You should see some savings, if you can commit to your travel early enough.

Here is a link to www.nationalrail.co.uk. Go to the web site and make test journeys to familiarize with the ticket purchase process.

I forgot about Virgin trains. Here is the link to there web site. www.virgintrainseastcoast.com

The BritRail Pass that would fit the trip plan is a Flexi-style of pass for 3 days of travel within a month at $281. On those 3 days, the pass allows you to hop on any train. But you could spend less by committing to dates and times for Advance (discount) tickets for your specific routes. The cheapest rates go on sale a couple of months ahead, with limited seats at each price, but lesser discounts can be available up to a day ahead, as well as roundtrip discounts. See also http://www.ricksteves.com/travel-tips/transportation/trains/britain-rail-passes.

My comment on slowness of trains was probably due to two factors. First, it was a long time ago - maybe 10-15 years. Second, as I recall, we were making short hops and therefore mostly weren't taking the lines with the faster trains.

I didn't mean to impugn British Rail. We had a good time and saw lots of interesting territory when we did it.