Can you beat the train???

[castex]

Yes. Yes I can.

[jamesh764]

I've beaten the train. The year was 1994. The train was the last train of the evening from Basingstoke to Exeter. The car was an 11 year old beige Triumph Acclaim 1.3.

My (very demanding) girlfriend at the time wanted cherry pancakes from the Little Chef before catching the train back to her parents. The service at Little Chef was so slow, she missed the last train home. I think we drove to two or three stations on the way down, missing the train by minutes each time. We eventually caught up with the train at Honiton (one stop away from Exeter), she got the train and her dad met her at Exeter none the wiser.

I then turned the car around and drove back to Reading. I was knackered by the time I got back, as was the car.

[alangla]

S. Gonzales Esq. said:

I was very interested when this thread first appeared as at the time I was in the process of planning something similar.

A friend and I spent last Friday night and Saturday morning trying to beat the overnight sleeper from Euston to Glasgow, and I'm very sorry to report that in the end the train beat us. After over 400 miles of driving we arrived at Glasgow Central seven minutes after the train.

We could have taken the obvious option and travelled by Motorway, but that would have been too easy. Instead we'd decided to stick to A and B-roads only, which meant finding a route that didn't use the A1(M) or the A74(M).

It's a bit annoying that our average speed would have been enough to get us there comfortably, if it hadn't been for an overnight closure on the A1 that cost us at least twenty minutes. The diversion was six miles longer, went through lots of villages and was absolutely full of trucks.

If anyone is planning something similar I'd advise considering carefully just how much of a challenge you want it to be - make it too easy and there's not much sense of achievement. Make it too hard and a single problem can cost you success. So, do I try again...?

You could always try beating the Fort William sleeper from Euston - basically follow your A1 route until you reach Edinburgh, then either head for Ft William via a route of your choice or, if you fancy a real challenge, try matching its route via Bathgate, Airdrie, Glasgow City Centre (try to pass through George Square by 5:45am, the sleeper will be under your feet at that time), the West End, Clydebank, Dumbarton, Garelochead, Crianlarich then up onto Rannoch Moor. You have to get to Fort William by 9:55 am, having left Euston at 9:15 the previous night.

[Who me ?]

For a more unfair challenge- try leaving Fort William at the scheduled time of departure of the Glasgow/Fort William train , go to Queens street and return to Fort William before the train arrives. To make things fairer-do it in a small family saloon.