West Highland Railway extra bike space

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cpedw
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West Highland Railway extra bike space

Post by cpedw »

I spotted 2 of these in Oban station. They were there testing the route. Information from the ticket office was that, starting 19 July, there will be 1 train per day with the new coach but she didn't know which train it would be or whether a tandem would be allowed. Does anyone know the answer or how to find the answer? Scotrail seem to be very coy about the details.
Derek
Mr.Benton
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Re: West Highland Railway extra bike space

Post by Mr.Benton »

This page https://www.scotrail.co.uk/scotrail-highland-explorer gives all the details of times. There are two trains a day in each direction apart from Sunday when there is only one.
Tandems are allowed but only if booked via the customer care call centre.
Jdsk
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Re: Scotrail introduce carriages with spaces for 20 bikes

Post by Jdsk »

... or whether a tandem would be allowed. Does anyone know the answer or how to find the answer? Scotrail seem to be very coy about the details.
Tandems and maximum dimensions in the FAQs:
https://www.scotrail.co.uk/scotrail-highland-explorer

Jonathan
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Re: Scotrail introduce carriages with spaces for 20 bikes

Post by Paulatic »

Scotrail haven’t yet replied to any questions concerning the price. I don’t know where the £10 has been plucked from.
Bmblbzzz wrote: 25 Oct 2020, 3:20pm The question was asked if these carriages can take trikes. I know they can take tandems and although I don't know official policy re trikes, in practice it looks as if there's plenty of room. It's very good to see these carriages IMO.
The official policy is NO trikes.
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cpedw
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Re: West Highland Railway extra bike space

Post by cpedw »

Thanks for that comprehensive response. I couldn't find that web page through Google!
Bmblbzzz
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Re: Scotrail introduce carriages with spaces for 20 bikes

Post by Bmblbzzz »

That is a shame (and I wonder if there might be grounds for challenging it on the basis of disabled access?).
ambodach
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Re: Scotrail introduce carriages with spaces for 20 bikes

Post by ambodach »

Mikeymo at the moment South Uist [Lochboisdale] is served from Mallaig.
If travelling on foot or with bike you have to book due to reduced carrying capacity.
From Oban you would have to go to Castlebay and then on to S.Uist. Not very handy.
Vehicle bookings last I heard are virtually impossible for weeks tho' it may be possible to chance it and get on as standby.
roberts8
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Re: Scotrail introduce carriages with spaces for 20 bikes

Post by roberts8 »

Glasgow to London yesterday and thought the bike facility looked good and free so mentally planned a trip or two looking out of the train. Galloway may be an option but need to look at maps. Oban has now made me think again. Maybe naturally defaulting to France I have missing some great cycling areas, lesson learnt
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Re: West Highland Railway extra bike space

Post by Vorpal »

related topics merged
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LollyKat
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Re: West Highland Railway extra bike space

Post by LollyKat »

The Oban train comes through my local station, though it doesn't stop. Yesterday morning I thought I pop down to see it in the flesh - it looked splendid as it whizzed through and I was sorry I hadn't taken a camera. This morning therefore I returned to the station fully prepared, with camera prefocussed and set to continuous shooting, and guess what - the train came through on time but NO special coach. According to the Scotrail site it should be on the 10.34 from Queen Street every weekday. Hmmmm.....

On the plus side the original two coaches will still have space for 6 bikes, hanging from hooks, so if/when the special Explorer coach is attached the train will accommodate 26 bikes in total.

Full details here (apart from random cancellations): https://www.scotrail.co.uk/scotrail-highland-explorer
LollyKat
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Re: West Highland Railway extra bike space

Post by LollyKat »

Just had a thought.... remember Percy, the little green tank engine in the Thomas books? I'm sure that he was in such a hurry once that he set off without his coaches! :D
Jdsk
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Re: West Highland Railway extra bike space

Post by Jdsk »

ScotRail's page on the Highland Explorer with booking process and lots of FAQs:
https://www.scotrail.co.uk/scotrail-highland-explorer

Jonathan
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Re: West Highland Railway extra bike space

Post by mjr »

The £10 seat supplement price is given by people in another forum interpreting the fares database: https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/sc ... ce.221022/
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Jdsk
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Bikes on ScotRail

Post by Jdsk »

Paulatic wrote: 24 Oct 2020, 4:55pm When the decision was made to use class 153 that’s all they had available. If the decision was made today I’m sure it would be a lot different with so much younger stock now sitting idle.
New announcement on additional space for bikes:

Class 153 – 100 (N/A in 2015).
Class 156 – 258 (288 in 2015 when we operated five more Class 156 units).
Class 158 – 320 (336 in 2015 when we operated eight more Class 158 units).
Class 170 – 132 (232 in 2015 when we operated 50 more Class 170 units).
Class 318 – 42 (0 in 2015).
Class 320 – 68 (0 in 2015).
Class 334 – 80 (0 in 2015).
Class 380 – 76 (76 in 2015).
Class 385 – 280 (N/A in 2015).
Inter7City – 150 – from August 2022 (N/A in 2015 / 50 in 2018).


https://www.scotrail.co.uk/about-scotra ... -customers
includes videos.

Jonathan
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Paulatic
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Re: Bikes on ScotRail

Post by Paulatic »

Jdsk wrote: 14 Apr 2022, 8:25am [
New announcement on additional space for bikes:

Jonathan
viewtopic.php?t=150626

Didn’t post it here as I felt it relevant to whole network not just WHL.
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