Midland Pullman to Kyle of Lochalsh
Discussion
Just returned last night from a thoroughly enjoyable 3 day trip on this luxury service. Couldn’t find any reference to it on here, so thought I would post a thread. It was a 5 carriage HST: 2 with fine dining, 2 with First Class and 1 kitchen car with seating for staff. All carriages have been completely upgraded to modern luxury standards. We chose First Class: this gets you limitless tea, coffee and bottled water, a large snack box of crisps, cheese, crackers, nuts, chocolate bars, etc, as well as an alcoholic drink each day. You can also buy a bacon or sausage bap for £3.50. We added a single serving of afternoon tea on the long outbound and return legs. We brought all of our other meals and alcoholic drinks along with us in a cool box. You arrange your own accommodation in Inverness. We opted for Premier Inn Plus with riverside view.
The service started in Ipswich and we boarded in Peterborough. Last pick-up was Retford and then on to Inverness. Next morning was free until 12.45h departure to Kyle of Lochalsh, getting back to Inverness in the evening. Final day was 09.15h from Inverness with 50 minutes break at Edinburgh. Back to Peterborough at 20.00h.
The special livery HST took it all in its stride, hitting 127mph on a couple of occasions Northbound. Plenty of people out to see it. There are actually quite a few service HST sets operating in Scotland. We also saw some other interesting trains en route: Tornado Southbound near York, Royal Scotsman super luxury service at Inverness and Edinburgh and the Flying Scotsman waiting outside York museum.
The standard price for our First Class option was £450 per person, but we added £100 per person for a 2 seat window table. Although £450 seems a lot, I did a comparison with the price of the same journeys by First Class service trains and it came to a similar cost and that’s without a First Class option for the Kyle of Lochalsh leg. The in train service was exemplary and staff very friendly. I cannot speak for the fine dining option, but it did seem to be 3 days of non stop eating! Recommended.
Embarking at Peterborough:
Snack box and complimentary pear cider:
Magical scenery:
https://midlandpullman.com/
The service started in Ipswich and we boarded in Peterborough. Last pick-up was Retford and then on to Inverness. Next morning was free until 12.45h departure to Kyle of Lochalsh, getting back to Inverness in the evening. Final day was 09.15h from Inverness with 50 minutes break at Edinburgh. Back to Peterborough at 20.00h.
The special livery HST took it all in its stride, hitting 127mph on a couple of occasions Northbound. Plenty of people out to see it. There are actually quite a few service HST sets operating in Scotland. We also saw some other interesting trains en route: Tornado Southbound near York, Royal Scotsman super luxury service at Inverness and Edinburgh and the Flying Scotsman waiting outside York museum.
The standard price for our First Class option was £450 per person, but we added £100 per person for a 2 seat window table. Although £450 seems a lot, I did a comparison with the price of the same journeys by First Class service trains and it came to a similar cost and that’s without a First Class option for the Kyle of Lochalsh leg. The in train service was exemplary and staff very friendly. I cannot speak for the fine dining option, but it did seem to be 3 days of non stop eating! Recommended.
Embarking at Peterborough:
Snack box and complimentary pear cider:
Magical scenery:
https://midlandpullman.com/
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