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I’m going on the train

alanbeeb said:
We are thinking of a trip sometime this year on Eurostar to Amsterdam then overnight train to Vienna..... package deals with decent hotels available. However if I'm going to train it through the entire length of Germany then I want to be awake to see it!
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Back in the pre-Cambrian, when I did a stint in a patent attorney's office in Geneva, there were things called Trans-Europe Expresses, a network exclusively first-class express trains. One of them, TEE Rheingold, did exactly that, ran the length of Germany, from Geneva to the Hoek van Holland to meet the ferry to Harwich. A long, but wonderful, trip. Best of all, Rheingold had this observation car, free for use by everyone:

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Bit of a greenhouse on a hot day, but marvellous views, especially through the Rhine Gorge.
 
twotone said:
Probably but she had to be back for work so maybe that's why the wen't the Naples route, they said Naples is an absolute shit hole, loved Sicily though, think they're going back this summer.
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It's a three and a half hour train ride from Messina to Lamezia airport. How long did it take her to get to Naples?
 
We went by Eurostar on one occasion into Paris. We missed the train we were booked on due to delays on the train from York to Kings Cross.
 
we love the eurostar . however our trip home this last summer was a nightmare when they cancelled a train and we spent many hours queuing in temperatures of at least 30 degrees which has dampened our enthusiasm

we caught the trains to a little village in switzerland and back
 
Thorn said:
For those of us living in the north Eurostar is a poor option. I've used it a few times, with reluctance. It's more time consuming and more expensive than flying to Paris or Amsterdam from Leeds/Bradford.
Also, if my train leaves before the early afternoon I need to stay in London the previous night to be sure of catching it, so that puts it on a par with leaving from Gatwick or Heathrow, and way less convenient than Manchester.
Add to that, at both ends the waiting area is more crowded and uncomfortable than at any airport I've flown from with the possible exception of Stansted.
On the plus side the seats are comfortable and the food on the train isn't bad.and as someone will be sure to mention if I don't, it's less polluting than flying.
When the idea Eurostar was floated we were told that the line would extend to Doncaster so that the whole of England could use it conveniently. That suggestion was dropped quickly and quietly.
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We’ve done it from York to Lille a few times with work, felt OK overall, not a full fan of flying, so good option for me personally, oh, and work paid :).
 
I did the full Eurostar return to Amsterdam for the Marathon last October.
Of note:
  • St. Pancras has nowhere near enough seating to sit and wait. Still. It's a scrum. Especially when they want you to leave extra time.
  • Eurostars are high speed trains, but this route ain't. The bit between Brussels and Amsterdam has some high speed sections, but not many. We were multiplexed in and out of standard tracks and it felt really slow on occasion. For all the techies, our seats were above the 25kV transformer. When switching out of the DC lines in Belgium and NL the thing would come to life with a massive hum and we knew we were about to go a lot faster.
  • It took 4 hours, and was a pleasant journey both ways, which was the timetabled duration.
  • Amsterdam Centraal now has customs and passport facilities but the terminal is small. Buy your own food and drink from the Albert Hein supermarket in the station as it's a lot cheaper than the train.
  • We parked cheaply at Luton Airport Parkway and got the train to St. Pancras. This is by far the best use of Luton Airport.
All in - it compared well to getting up early to go to LHR and wait, then fly 45 mins and try to get to the centre of Amsterdam. We live in Milton Keynes but this would probably be true for most of the SE UK.
 
Bob McC said:
Eurostar was given the franchise for the service on the promise of sleeper trains from Newcastle.
The servicing sheds were built in Longsight, Manchester. I worked in a school next door and we worked with the kids planting up the street side of them.
As soon as they got the franchise the sleeper cars were cancelled as was travel from anywhere but London.
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I worked on the railway at Longsight and Piccadilly and millions was wasted replacing platforms that were too wide for the incoming Eurostar. Hence the announcements of ‘please mind the gap’on all services, as the non Eurostar stock is slightly narrower. Just as the high speed line is just for the south.
 
I've used Eurostar for a few trips, Brussels, Paris & Lille and always enjoyed the experience. Sadly with the cost & unreliability of the WCML down from Liverpool it's not longer an option for a quick weekend break. I'd still consider it for longer, train based trips. I'm retiring in March & quite fancy getting one of the Interrail passes and doing a bit of travel that way. https://www.seat61.com/how-to-use-an-interrail-pass.htm My multi coloured Portillo outfit is being assembled!
 
Andrewxyz said:
I'm retiring in March & quite fancy getting one of the Interrail passes and doing a bit of travel that way. https://www.seat61.com/how-to-use-an-interrail-pass.htm My multi coloured Portillo outfit is being assembled!
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We went Interrailing as poor students living off 30p a day Tory MP stylee and sleeping on the trains. It was a brilliant adventure but doing it again a few years later being able to afford hotels and stuff was even better : )
 
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