Train travel in the UK

"Darby Jo" wrote in message
...

"I had some questions about train travel in GB, so I called my
travel agent, and here is what she told me. They NEVER recommend
that you check your luggage on a train, because chances are good
you may never see it again.

OK, stop here. Change your travel agent, they are obviously without clue!
You don't check your luggage in seperately on trains, there may be the odd
facility for this but on my travels up and down the country I have never
seen it, nor been offered it.

What you do is take it on with you,
and then you have to lift it to the overhead compartment.

The long distance trains have areas where you can put large items of
luggage, as well as overhead compartments for smaller items.

Also,
unless you are taking a train from a major city and returning to
that major city, the trains are like metros--they arrive on time,
and leave on time, and if you aren't at the head of the line you
may not get on. There are no boarding calls. This would be like
the metro in Paris, and we had to wait several times for the next
one*. We might not have the option of another train coming along
in a smaller town."

*That was an occasion where it was rush hour and the line was
under construction, so there were delays.

At rush hours you may find commuter trains to be 'wedged' (i.e. full)
however it's extremely unusual to not be able to get onto a train at all.

I'm not sure what you mean by a "boarding call", perhaps you can explain? I
recall in New York we had to hang around away from the platform until the
train arrived and then we all rushed there. However the situation in Britain
is that several minutes (usually around 20-30 minutes, at non-terminals)
before the train arrives the platform number will appear on the main screens
in the station, you can then make your way to the platform and wait for the
train, (you will be kept up to date by screens on that platform). When the
train arrives, you get on. There isn't really a concept of a queue (line) or
a 'boarding call'.

How do I convince her that it's really not so difficult, that we
can manage just fine taking a train on our own and really don't
need a bus tour? I don't know what to say to make her see that
trains are perfectly manageable, even with luggage.

As long as you only have one large item of luggage each then taking the
train is an excellent way to get about and see places. The biggest advantage
being that if you buy a flexible ticket, you are not tied down to specific
times like you would be with a bus tour, you like the place you are at and
want to see more? Well just get the next train, no big deal.

A bus tour would be horrible horrible horrible compared with getting around
on the railways.

On Tue, 21 Oct 2003 10:35:09 +0100, "Mark Hewitt"
wrote:


"Darby Jo" wrote in message
.. .

"I had some questions about train travel in GB, so I called my
travel agent, and here is what she told me. They NEVER recommend
that you check your luggage on a train, because chances are good
you may never see it again.

[...]

What you do is take it on with you,
and then you have to lift it to the overhead compartment.

The long distance trains have areas where you can put large items of
luggage, as well as overhead compartments for smaller items.

For various values of "smaller". The overhead racks are huge
compared to, say, aircraft overheads. I've put full-sized
suitcases on the overheads of trains. In fact, in the older
six-person compartments on the continent we've stowed some very
large suitcases overhead.

By the by, if one is a bit nervous about putting one's
possessions down in the racks at the end of the car where they
are out of sight, we've decided that a simple cable-type bicycle
lock strung through the handles of our bags should deter theft.

[...]


************* DAVE HATUNEN ) *************
* Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow *
* My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps *

For various values of "smaller". The overhead racks are huge
compared to, say, aircraft overheads. I've put full-sized
suitcases on the overheads of trains. In fact, in the older
six-person compartments on the continent we've stowed some very
large suitcases overhead.

Yes and no. On the HST and 225 sets the overhead space is quite generous and
you can put reasonably big bags in there. On the Virgin Voyagers however the
overhead space is quite small and I wouldn't attempt anything bulkier than a
backpack.

In all cases I can't say I've seen anything which is significantly larger
than an aircraft locker.

"Hatunen" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 21 Oct 2003 10:35:09 +0100, "Mark Hewitt"
wrote:


"Darby Jo" wrote in message
.. .

"I had some questions about train travel in GB, so I called my
travel agent, and here is what she told me. They NEVER recommend
that you check your luggage on a train, because chances are good
you may never see it again.

[...]

What you do is take it on with you,
and then you have to lift it to the overhead compartment.

The long distance trains have areas where you can put large items of
luggage, as well as overhead compartments for smaller items.

For various values of "smaller". The overhead racks are huge
compared to, say, aircraft overheads. I've put full-sized
suitcases on the overheads of trains. In fact, in the older
six-person compartments on the continent we've stowed some very
large suitcases overhead.

By the by, if one is a bit nervous about putting one's
possessions down in the racks at the end of the car where they
are out of sight, we've decided that a simple cable-type bicycle
lock strung through the handles of our bags should deter theft.

[...]


************* DAVE HATUNEN ) *************
* Tucson Arizona, out where the cacti grow *
* My typos & mispellings are intentional copyright traps *

We use a small lock with a 42" retractable cable for this purpose. They
have them at www.magellans.com .
GG

GG wrote:

"Hatunen" wrote in message
By the by, if one is a bit nervous about putting one's
possessions down in the racks at the end of the car where they
are out of sight, we've decided that a simple cable-type bicycle
lock strung through the handles of our bags should deter theft.


We use a small lock with a 42" retractable cable for this purpose. They
have them at www.magellans.com .

I use the same one - very useful.