First Class leisure travel

Retired, I holiday in the UK by train. I look for space and comfort on a budget.

Up to a point, I’ll pay for First Class. Avanti West Coast fares are prohibitive, so we drive to the North West.

LNER and Great Western Railway have fares I can manage, and I’ve made several trips on each this year.

With GWR, First Class is spacious and comfortable. Fringe benefits of snacks and drinks are welcome, but even sandwiches have disappeared. On a ‘staff shortage train’ (2x5-car), the food was in the other section. We didn’t bother moving, not wanting to lose our seats. Incidentally, reservations aren’t policed.

On another GWR journey, a minor delay translated into missed connections and a £90 trip became

£45 with Delay Repay. Surely this is an area the railway champions over road travel.

LNER First Class is even better. On board, I’ve had one hot meal in four journeys, but decent sandwiches and hard-working stewards deliver regular drinks. First Class lounges are an oasis of quiet, and with generally cleaner toilets. It all creates a sense of arriving refreshed, not stressed.

However, we were caught up in the June 27 East Coast Main Line cable theft delays. Catering disappeared completely, to be replaced by people standing in all carriages. Our train to Harrogate was cancelled, but I found LNER Twitter staff prompt and helpful in booking to York.

We were fortunate to get our re-booked seats. King’s Cross lounge affords a good view of Platform 8, and with experience, apps and the confirmation of a helpful LNER supervisor we stood by the right doors and boarded pre-announcement.

Some others like us had ascended this ‘in-the-know’ steep railway learning curve. Most hadn’t and rushed en masse for the scrabble for standing room. The seat reservation system was then disabled.

The fight for seats quickly settled down, as people began to realise that some very elderly frail people needed to be seated. There was almost a Dunkirk spirit, with one 80-year-old leading the banter and initially refusing a seat offered, although he did relent.

I’ve learned always to bring a bottle of water, as there was none available for two and a half hours. Getting from A to B, the train did its job, but for many it would have been a heavily delayed, cramped and arduous journey.

Each time, LNER has been fully booked in First Class. Theoretically, there are some unreserved seats in coach M, but I wouldn’t risk it - particularly if I’d paid the enormous anytime fares.

The very fullness of these trains reduces the sense of quiet (almost library-like) calm you can still get on the quieter GWR services I experienced. But the catering and more numerous lounges tops it on LNER.

Steve Lewis, Guildford