Penzance to Aberdeen

oldrocker · Post by **oldrocker** » Wed Apr 11, 2007 9:33 pm

I'm having trouble here.

I fancy a few days away to do this run but I can't find a direct train.

Can anybody help please?

Website · Post by **Easilyconfused** » Wed Apr 11, 2007 10:08 pm

Having searched around various websites there does not appear to be a direct train. There is a sleeper option but that looks very expensive.

Depends what time of day you want the outward and return journeys but it looks like 2 - 5 changes unless you go for the sleeper option. That appears to be a Plymouth - Preston run and then a long overnight segment to Aberdeen (arrives Preston at 22:52 - leaves at 00:44) for an arrival at Aberdeen at 07:37

There appears to be a more or less continuous run from Plymouth to Glasgow on Virgin and then a change to get to Aberdeen.

Good luck trying to figure it out

Kindest regards

John

oldrocker · Post by **oldrocker** » Wed Apr 11, 2007 10:31 pm

Thanks John,

I thought there used to be one (it was featured in The Railway Magazine a while ago).

The sleeper option would ruin the point really, idealist as I am I thought a 7 am departure would enable me to see the country !

Hey Ho !

Looks like I might have to minimise the changes instead.

AlistairW · Post by **AlistairW** » Wed Apr 11, 2007 10:45 pm

Voyager wouldn't get that far.

What is Britains longest train journey (distance wise)? Plymouth - Glasgow?

allypally · Post by **allypally** » Wed Apr 11, 2007 11:10 pm

There's a Penzance to Dundee Voyager. That's as close to Aberdeen as you get overall - the 08.30 Penzance to Dundee, 9S66, arriving at 20.23.

Why you'd wanna spend nearly 12 hours on the same Voyager though!

117305 · Post by **117305** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 1:20 am

allypally wrote:There's a Penzance to Dundee Voyager. That's as close to Aberdeen as you get overall - the 08.30 Penzance to Dundee, 9S66, arriving at 20.23.

Why you'd wanna spend nearly 12 hours on the same Voyager though!

12 mins on one is bad enough!!- badley designed and useless .

Whitemoor · Post by **Whitemoor** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 1:38 am

allypally wrote:There's a Penzance to Dundee Voyager. That's as close to Aberdeen as you get overall - the 08.30 Penzance to Dundee, 9S66, arriving at 20.23.

Why you'd wanna spend nearly 12 hours on the same Voyager though!

thats also a booked 4 car 220, iv done it from PNZ - PLY and swapped, and to our delight, got the MML vice to Doncaster

alisterbetts · Post by **alisterbetts** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 7:34 am

Whatever happened to the 1S71 0730 PZ-Aberdeen then? Used to be load 12 in the days when we had a passenger focused railway.....

spartacus · Post by **spartacus** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 8:50 am

It's now an 0730 Penzance to Glasgow, booked for a 5 car voyager, I think, arrives 1713.

nwallace · Post by **nwallace** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 5:14 pm

The Penzance to Dundee Voyager used to go to Aberdeen. Not sure why it was curtailed at Dundee. This then travels to Edinburgh in the morning.

Dundee isn't the most exciting place to stop off at. Voyagers aren't really designed for a passenger doing a long distance journey, its well known they were designed with the sort of passenger that makes up the majority of peopel using the XC services (Short - medium journeys).

Why anyone would want to travel Penzance to Dundee I don't know, its not like the South West of England is a big hotspot for Dundonians, though I do know someone who travells there every summer to go fishing.

If you want to Do Penzance to Aberdeen then why not go the whole hog and do a LeJog.

Get yourself to Lands End then up to Penzance, take a trip into the Midlands, and head north the next day, go as far as Glasgow or Edinburgh, or maybe St Andrews (Leuchars). From there get your self to either Aberdeen or Perth fopr the train to Inverness, you probably wont' be able to make the North coast and back the same day so stay there over night and get an early train to Wick or Thurso, you should manage to get to John O' Groats from there. Though I would recommend Orkney from Thurso.

Return by roughly the same route.

SYHA (cheaper than YHA) membership and an OAP Railcard would assist in keeping the costs down.

Sample Route:
?: Wolverhamton to Penzance
train: Penzance to Somewghere in the middle
train: Somewhere in the middle to Edinburgh
train: Edinburgh to Perth
train: Perth to inverness
train: inverness to Thurso
Bus: Thurso to Scrabster
Boat: Scrabster to Stromness
Bus: Stromness to Kirkwall
Boat: Kirkwall to Aberdeen
Train: Aberdeen to Somewhere in the middle East
Train: Soemwhere in the middle east to Wolverhampton

Niall

yj03ppv · Post by **yj03ppv** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 6:24 pm

As far as I know, there are no XC diagrammed 220 or 221 services. You just get what's stuck on. This is especially prevalent on XC services using the WC, they are timed for a non tilting 220, but if a 221 is used (as is often the case) and they can/need to tilting is used.

The only Voyager services booked as a 221 are the Euston - Holyhead/Llandudno services.

Having said that, down here most services to Bournemouth run with a 221, and most to Reading only run with a 220, but then its not uncommon to get a 220 down here.

johncard · Post by **johncard** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 6:31 pm

nwallace wrote:Train: Aberdeen to Somewhere in the middle East
Train: Soemwhere in the middle east to Wolverhampton

Niall

Eurostars only go as far as Paris, and even then you'd have to change in London

High on the hill is a lonely goat turd, neeeyyoo neeyoo ney hi hoo!

MoonKid47 · Post by **MoonKid47** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 10:14 pm

yj03ppv wrote:Having said that, down here most services to Bournemouth run with a 221, and most to Reading only run with a 220, but then its not uncommon to get a 220 down here.

Yea, most of the Bournmouth services from here in Warrington run with the 221s. At least they have bigger windows than the 390s.

metromuppet · Post by **metromuppet** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 11:31 pm

yj03ppv wrote:As far as I know, there are no XC diagrammed 220 or 221 services. You just get what's stuck on. This is especially prevalent on XC services using the WC, they are timed for a non tilting 220, but if a 221 is used (as is often the case) and they can/need to tilting is used.

The only Voyager services booked as a 221 are the Euston - Holyhead/Llandudno services.

Having said that, down here most services to Bournemouth run with a 221, and most to Reading only run with a 220, but then its not uncommon to get a 220 down here.

They have week diagrams dependant on the pool of trains in the depot. Usualy it is booked a specific class. The main idea is the trains which run over the WCML longer distance and over the Banbury stretch get the 221s for tilt- so mainly on Bournemouth to the north and reverse. Where as Reading-Manchester/Brighton and Plymouth/Penzanze to the north usualy get 220s, how ever 221s DO run over the route- best thing is to email virgin, they are very helpfull

220389 · Post by **220389** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 11:12 pm

i couldn't stand to be on a voyager for that long 15 mins was bad. but from castle-cary to aviemore an 12 hr journy with 3 or 4 changes