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Edinburgh > Newcastle trains with "flat" bike storage?

(4 posts)
  • Started 4 hours ago by Yodhrin
  • Latest reply from Yodhrin
  • This topic is resolved

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  1. Yodhrin
    Member

    I suspect I know the answer having dug through a few companies' lists of rolling stock, but are there *any* services from Edinburgh to Newcastle that don't use those garbage little 2 bike closets where you have to stand your bike on its back wheel and just hope the train doesn't shoogle too much?

    I'm not even sure my big honkin' ebike would fit, nevermind the potential for damage. It'd be nice to do the sustainable thing and use train & ferry to get myself to Europe, but it's been a right faff and not a small amount of money getting my bike just how I want it so leaving it behind and renting a "good enough" at the destination would sour the whole thing.

    Posted 4 hours ago #

  2. Morningsider
    Member

    As far as I am aware, LNER, Transpennine, and CrossCountry all use rolling stock with bike hangers. Lumo doesn't carry bikes at all.

    I did wonder whether it would be possible to piece something together using ScotRail and Northern services, with a bit of cycling in between. Not really a goer though. You could get a ScotRail service to Dunbar, but the furthest north that "Northern" go is Chathill, which has one service a day. A few more Northern services call at Alnmouth - a 73 mile cycle from Dunbar!

    Posted 3 hours ago #

  3. Arellcat
    Moderator

    Honestly, I think the best bet these days is CrossCountry. Ideally book a service that starts in Edinburgh and not one of the few that start at Glasgow or Aberdeen or Dundee, and aim to get the single bike hanger cubicle, which has more space than the one opposite that takes two bikes.

    Whether or not a big honkin' ebike will be amenable to hoiking onto its back wheel is something you might want to test. But I have carried my little purple recumbent many times on XC – made more tricky because I have to upend the bike on its front wheel and hang it from the back wheel.

    A bungee cord is a simple solution to shoogle.

    Posted 2 hours ago #

  4. Yodhrin
    Member

    Aye I thought so. I'll investigate both options - extending the trip by a few days and going train to Dunbar > ride down to Eyemouth & get a B&B for the night > ride down to Chathill for the evening train and then spend the night in Newcastle before getting the morning ferry(it's infuriating that they refuse to give you the option of travelling overnight without a cabin which triples the price) could work and seems like a mostly nice ride.

    My issue with the ebike is less the weight than the dimensions, I've got the biggest frame size available on my model and 27.5" wheels with chunky tires so it's a bit larger than a typical not-a-cargo-bike.

    Posted 1 hour ago #

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