In collaboration with Virgin Trains East Coast.
I grew up in a tiny village on the east coast of Canada, a village that was only there because it was an optimum spot to place an Inter-colonial Railway Station way back in 1886 (positively ancient by Canadian standards).
My first summer job, at the tender age of 14, was as a tour guide at that railway station. The sound of the train whistle is a fond memory from my childhood and trains still hold a special place in my heart.
Now I live on an island with no trains. We have to head south to the mainland of Scotland for such things. Would you believe that the first train my youngest two had ever travelled on was a steam train? I don’t think there are many children who can make that claim these days! We were on a family holiday in the Lake District and we took the Lakeside & Haverthwaite Railway for a day trip. They loved it!
But this post isn’t about steam trains. It’s about the Virgin Trains East Coast line that we, as a family, had the pleasure of travelling on this summer. This was the third time our younger two children had ever been on a train.
Virgin Trains East Coast run from Inverness and Aberdeen in Scotland all the way down the picturesque east coast of Britain with a final stop in London. They have invested over £40 million to improve their current fleet with upgrades including new carpets and fittings, luxurious leather seats and mood lighting in First Class and some rather snazzy red cloth seats in Standard.
The train station is Aberdeen is fortunately just a few minutes’ walk from the ferry terminal, so after arriving on the mainland at 7 am after the overnight sailing we caught an early morning train to York, en route to Hull to catch another ferry to the Netherlands, and yet another train to Brussels for a weekend Belgium Chocolate Experience.
It’s a long round about way to get to a place, true, but travelling is not all about the destination. It’s about the journey too, isn’t it. On this particular holiday away we took no fewer than eight different trains, and I have to say that this first Virgin East Coast Train line trip is now the standard we have set to rate all other train journeys by, and not just because the voice of our train guard, Peter Simpson (pictured below, right) had us bursting into laughter each time he spoke over the tannoy. We think he should tell stories or character voice overs for Disney animations – he has a fantastic tannoy voice! If there’s a train award for best tannoy voice he has to be the winner. You’ll have to travel the Scottish leg of this train line to hear his voice though, I’m afraid.
On the outward leg of our journey we had table seating, which we were very thankful for. It takes five hours to get from Aberdeen to York on the train. Five hours of trying to keep the children entertained.
There was a lot of UNO played!
There was plenty of room on the table to eat – the Foodbar is located in one of the train carriages offering rather tasty cheesy toasties and other sandwiches, drinks and treats but at 95 pence for a chocolate bar and £1.95 for a cup of tea it’s rather pricey – and room to play. Our train attendant kindly came with two copies of the Big Book of Fun, a colouring/activity book with crayons with a rather fun Train Window Bingo game. You’ve got to cross off items like tree, church, pylon, etc. when you see them outside.
There is free wifi in Standard for 15 minutes only. After that it’s £5 for 10 hours, but the signal isn’t really strong enough to do anything with it. I ended up switching over to 3G after the 15 minutes was up when we passed through towns and cities so I could reply to work emails and keep up with social media.
There are power sockets by each seat too so you can charge up your device (but not your toaster or hair dryer, the sign says!), if needed.
The views along the east coast of Britain are quite spectacular. There are sea views all the way from Aberdeen to Stonehaven and we spotted castle ruins in Arbroath, a great number of swans outside Dundee, fantastic bridges and coastal ruins crossing into Edinburgh and on the return journey we were wowed by the Angel of the North in the distance just outside Newcastle and the spire on the church in Montrose.
On the outward leg the sun was streaming through the window and we were feeling rather relaxed with the warmth and the gentle rolling of the train.
Our youngest decided to wear the Foodbar bag on his head as a hat. One thing led to another…
10:58 am. That’s when the boredom kicked in. I marked it in my notebook out of amusement. We’d been on the train for three hours already, with another two to go and there’s only so much you can do on a train, to be honest.
The rules of UNO came under question.
As an aside, they serve mojitos on board the Virgin Trains East Coast line.
My husband and I might have had one each after the 12 noon mark, purely medicinal, of course (and constrained by budget as they’re nearly £5 each!)
Disembarking in York to catch our next train, was, for me, instant chaos. I’m sure with experience my family and I will travel via train a bit more calmly but I confess I went into hyper-stressed-Mum mode in York, terrified that my kids were going to fall onto the train line or simply disappear. Life with small children isn’t as relaxed on the mainland as it is in rural Shetland! I’m not used to there being so many people!
Still, this train journey was incredibly pleasant compared to the rest of them. The return leg was on one of the not yet refurbished trains and there was a rather loud (and not very kind to their work colleagues!) hen party on board. They were tame compared to the rowdy stag do we encountered on the train from Brussels to Rotterdam, and no where in the UK did a voice announce over the tannoy that pickpockets were in operation on the train, unlike on the continent. We didn’t have table seating so it was a bit more difficult to manage the kids too. I’d definitely recomment reserving a table if you’re travelling with young children.
All in all it was a pleasant (if long!) train journey and despite a few hiccups (ie: me stressing out) I’d definitely travel on this train again.
Ticket prices for the five of us (three adults 16 years + and two children under 15) from Aberdeen to York, and then York to Doncaster (where the Virgin Trains East Coast line stops) cost approximately £1000, so it’s not a terribly budget friendly way to travel, but it is cheaper than flying and much quicker than taking the bus.
Saying that, they have offers on all the time so it’s worth checking out their website and booking well in advance.
For more information visit the Virgin Trains East Coast website.
Elizabeth’s Kitchen Diary (and family) were guests of Virgin Trains East Coast. This is not a paid post and all thoughts and opinions expressed are our own.
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Going to university on train its great fun, everyday traveling 50 minutes on small train with friends kind of pleasure, hopefully soon some long journey where I can get the experience about virgin trains too.
I’ve been on the Virgin Trains once and I must say it was a pretty good experience. Can’t complain about anything.
Awww sadly where I live we only really have one option for train journeys… I remember as a kid I use to love going on train journeys will have to try and make an effort to take my little ones on one like this at some point. Looks like it was a wonderful experience for you all x
It looks as though you all had a great tme. I am a huge fan of travelling with Virgin and when they get it right, they get it so very right.
It’s so nice to see that they are refurbishing the old trains because long journeys on a non updated carriage with stained seats and dingey looking interior in general isn’t nice to look at for hours on end. When I was around 9 years old we travelled from oxford to Glasgow on a train and it was horrible but I can imagine being very comfortable on one of these virgin trains. Thanks for sharing and I’ll be sure to book with them if I head way up north!
Love how relaxing train journeys can be. Virgin trains are always so comfortable compared to some other services
As a child who grew up without a car trains was the way my family got us around for holidays etc! I still love a train journey, as much as the excited child I used to be 🙂
Living in West Wales I use the train quite a lot – especially to Cardiff and London. Our service is a little more, erm rural and limited than this fab Virgin one! Great post. Kaz x
I have to say I have always been really impressed with Virgin and I was really sad when they lost the contact down South as I love their trains and I love long trips even when it means finding creative ways to entertain the kids 🙂
Laura x
Sounds like a really lovely train ride. I really think trains take away the stress of driving and you can all relax and enjoy time together as a family. Living at the bottom of Cornwall, we always rely on trains to go to places further afield like London. The journey is always so beautiful and relaxing. x
I’ve never been in a Virginia train but if like to travel on one some day because they look really comfy. My little guy loves trains aortic he would just adore riding about on them. Great post!
Jordanne || Thelifeofaglasgowgirl.co.uk
I really love travelling by train, as daft as this sounds, its my favourite mode of transport because it doesnt make me travel sick! xxx
I haven’t used their trains before but they look nicer than the last one I used x
I do like Virgin Trains but try to book them well in advance as they are so expensive.
Some people can have fun anywhere. I need to start enjoying the amenities.
I take a Virgin train to Manchester each year and it’s so much nicer than the London overground ones!
I enjoy travelling by train but I’ve never been to Scotland.
What a great journey, some great sights and that cocktail looks especially yum!
We travelled as guest of Virgin East Coast trains a couple of months ago from Newcastle to York. Such a handy way to travel, we loved travelling with them too although it was a bit stressful as we did not have pre-booked seats so we had to stand all the way home with a 1 and 2 year old, deffintly recommend prebooking table seats xx
I have never been on a virgin train come to think of it – only the planes!
I didn’t know it was allowed to have so much fun on a train. Virgin trains are very good and I like how clean they keep them too 🙂
I’m in Manchester so lot’s of options for trains but only tend to ever get the train down to London, we just drive everywhere. It would be nice to just sit & relax though so maybe we should consider the train next time we go long distance
I have not taken Virgin trains for a while now but the last time I did I booked in advance and loved the experience. It was Manchester to London
Never been on a Virgin train before but I’ve always like their airlines.
I always travel on Virgin Trains down to London (there is no other option), but the service is great and they have such a great sense of humour too.
I have travelled on virgin trains and I do think they are much nicer to travel on than some other trains. Your adventure sounds great,
Looks like you guys made the most of your time on the train ride 🙂 Looks comfy too.
I am travelling by Virgin this week and I am hoping this journey better than my last because it was so appalling x
15 minutes of wifi is not a lot but the rest of the virgin coast experience looks amazing. The views are beautiful.
This sounded so much better than some of the trains I’ve been on. It seems like they put a lot of effort into making you comfortable.
I have never been on a Virgin train but it does look lovely. The coastly route looks great too. Well done on surviving the journey, I’d have been stressed too!
As I love in Newcastle I often use Virgin East Coast and I’ve always been happy – love your pic of the Tyne Bridge 😀
I’ve never been on a virgin train before (mostly because of the prices) but they really look like a luxury train. Might treat myself to a train ride for the fellas Birthday, I’d like to go up north for a long weekend 🙂
I took one of these trains from Edinburgh back to London last weekend and they’re so comfortable x
I’ve just travelled to Manchester with Virgin trains and I have to say I’m impressed. If you time your journey carefully the first price tickets are no more than standard – and come with a decent amount of free food, tea, coffee, water and even wine at lunchtime!
Your kids look like they managed pretty well too!
That’s a long time to be on a train! I think the longest journey we’ve done is 2.5 hours. Virgin Trains look nice and clean though. My mummy would have problems entertaining me xx
It sounds like you had a great time, there is something relaxing about being on a train.x
We went on a virgin train recently but wasn’t lucky like you to have table seating which made it a bit tricky with a 19 month old on an hour and a half journey on our laps.
Looks like an amazing adventure! I rarely use these trains but they look like a great ride for the kids 🙂