Long rail journey with 15 month old - advice?

[LoobyLou33]

We're going from London to Edinburgh in August with DS, though we'll first get the train into London so all in we'll be on the road for about 7 hours (uch).

I've seen a couple of posts on here with good ideas for occupying toddlers on long journeys, though he's a bit on the young side for colouring in etc. He loves books so we'll be armed with those, but want to travel pretty light (ha! with a baby!) so don't want to be weighed down with loads of toys.

Any tips would be welcome ... he's just learned to walk so can be difficult to keep still if he's in a GO! mood...

Also DH and I both have a seat booked, but haven't booked one for DS as it's an extra £60. We are currently either side of a table on what sounds like a fairly booked up train (though we're travelling midweek). Any advice on where might be best to sit? I wondered about trying the seats at the end by the wheelchair space, so that if it's not being used we could put DS in the buggy. But then we wouldn't have a table.

Lastly How do you keep other passengers happy especially if they're on the same table?!

Thanks...I suddenly realised I hadn't given this journey any real thought and had a panic this morning!

I think if you have booked seats you will have to sit in the correct carriage number on the seats numbered on your ticket. I don't think you can decide to sit somewhere else without rebooking. Remember also that even if a seat next to you is vacant, it's passenger may board the train at a later stop.

I guess other passengers will just have to cope. You will have to get up at some point to go to the loo yourselves and change a nappy. You can have a walk about through the carriages with DS. Hopefully he will nod off at some point. Assuming your connection won't be very tight for time, I'd put reins on DS and walk him around the mainline station for a good while before boarding the Edinburgh train, so that he'll be pleasantly tired. It can be a long walk down the platform too, to reach your carriage.

For future trips it might be worth getting a family and friends railcard. You would have to buy a ticket for your toddler (at 60% off) but you would get a reserved seat for him and 1/3 off your adult tickets. Often works out a lot cheaper than the two full price adult tickets.

Head straight for the carriage right beside the buffet car. There are 2 sets of 2 seats on either side of the aisle with a table each that never get reserved on that route. There is space for a wheelchair opposite - or a buggy if the space is not taken.

I do this journey all the time with dd.

It's a hard haul, ime. Just plan for a lot of everything people advise you to do & bring. Bring his pushchair for when he needs a nap?

Get to the train early and ask if there are any unreserved tables in another coach - for some reason they cram all reservations together, often leaving the next car practically empty! With luck you'll get a set of 4 seats to yourselves.

Failing that, take it in turns to go to the vestibule and toddlei about. And lots of small toys and snacks to pull out every half hour or so, and blankies etc to encourage a nap.

Still much easier than driving - if you're lucky ds will spend three hours looking out the window shouting 'sheep!' every few mins...

hf phew, thanks! Good to hear you manage that journey with dd (how old is she?) and brilliant tips about the seats next to the buffet car.

Obviously we'll try to arrive with plenty of time in order to look out any available seats. We booked it online so you're really limited as to the level of preferance you can give about your seats.

Nanny, wish I'd thought about a railcard, I didn't even realise that existed. We're unlikely to train it all that often but it could still be worth it for the odd long journey. Thank you.

DH doesn't drive and there's no way I'm driving all that way by myself! DS would get grumpy after a couple of hours anyway, he rarely sleeps more than an hour in the car. Plus we're trying to cut our carbon use so choosing the train...here's hoping it goes OK!!

yeah. don't sit in your seats, try to sit by the wheelchair space (if it is not reserved obviously). there is a table there, & you can keep the buggy there unfolded for DS to hang out in. or look for a table of 4. because you have reserved seats you can take the risk of looking for something better iyswim because you have those to fall back upon.

i recently did an 8 hour, 4 train journey with my 4yo & 9 mo, single handed. snacks are your answer.

illogically, changing trains is also good because it breaks the journey up a bit more & gives them a change of scene!

oh - we used to do london to scotland a fair bit & would sometimes upgrade ourselves to first class. think its £15 each. you just get that bit more space for ds wrangling as the seats are bigger.

Take messy snacks and noisey toys... I guarantee you will have all 4 seats to yourselves for the entire journey

Railcards are good for savings as long as you can cope with the restrictions such as not travelling at peak commuter times. We live 30 miles from London, and with our railcard had to wait to travel after 10am during the week and either return from Kings Cross before 4pm or wait until after 7pm which became too restricting for us.

That's interesting girlywhirly, I thought railcards exempted you from off peak restrictions? Certainly if I travel with my railcard I can catch a peak train in & out of London using an off peak return....

Posted too soon - maybe that restriction you came across applies because you were on a commuter route whereas I am always travelling further out of London?