Train travel with baby (crosscountry trains)

[purpleandblue]

Hi all, after a pretty awful car journey to Reading to see my mum this weekend (from Manchester) I'm thinking of trying the train next time. Just trying to work out logistics though. Has anyone done this journey or similar on crosscountry trains? Did it go ok / advice / tips? Baby is 3 months old. TIA x

We regularly take 3h train trips with DS. The first one was when he was 4 mo I think. It's great. Trains have a babychange (not huge), you can walk around, and I BFed in the seat so he'd fall asleep. It's very relaxing, actually.

Travel at an unpopular time, if you can. Book a seat with a table. Family railcard gets you a discount, so you can buy another seat for the baby very cheaply and spread out a bit. Pack some toys to look at.

Hello. Have travelled by train a lot. Easier if you can avoid buggy and use sling, although buggy doable but you’ll have to ask for help. When travelling to see family, got them to order nappies etc so was taking minimum luggage. Booked a seat that was not a table seat as more room for baby on lap.

And as per PP when baby was older I then got friends and family railcard. Even when they don’t technically need own ticket this brought down cost of adult ticket.

Thanks for the replies - reassuring that know that it's doable! I've just checked re friends and family and it's actually cheaper to get discounted adult + child ticket than normal adult ticket so may as well do that and spread out over 2 seats. Did you find that there was enough space to stash the buggy?

We’ve done long journeys with DS at various ages (2-14 months) by train, car and plane, and we much prefer train. A good carrier is a must (we have an Ergobaby Adapt, I think any soft structured carrier would be good) as it makes it so easy when getting on and off the train.

If you are visiting your parents it really helps for them to have a few bits at their house so you can travel light. YY to getting them to buy some nappies (or order online and get delivered to them). Depending on how often you’ll go it might be worth them getting a cheap pushchair so you don’t have to take one. Ditto a high chair when baby’s a bit older, maybe the Ikea one or a compact travel one (we have the Chico booster seat which is great) so they can store it easily.

After a hellish and positively dangerous drive (horrific traffic due to accidents on A1 so baby in car seat too long) from Essex to Northumberland when DS was 4 months we’ve only ever got the train since. And it’s loads better! I have only just started buying him a ticket at age 3 (he doesn’t need one until 5 but on the East Coast trains there’s rarely free unbooked seats and he’s too big for a lap now) as a baby he just sat on lap, in sling or was usually asleep not long into the journey. I never took a buggy just a sling but if you had one of those umberella fold small buggy’s that would be fine, or enquire before the journey if there’s a way to book a bigger one onto a guards van.

That cross country service has very little luggage space, on a very long route. They usually bleat on about their designated luggage areas, but it’s deeply insufficient. It depends on the buggy. Here is their unhelpful and patronising section on luggage (can you tell I’m not a fan?). www.crosscountrytrains.co.uk/on-board-with-crosscountry/luggage I don’t understand why an intercity service on a long route doesn’t have more luggage space. Ok, I do, it’s to maximise occupancy but it’s ok, you can get a discount on a paid for service to transport your luggage

That said, travel outside peak hours/events and you should be ok.

We used the trains with our 5 month old a few weeks ago. The journey was OK when we were eventually on the train and in answer to your question, there was room to stash the buggy. However the train we were supposed to take originally (and that we had booked online before hand) was very busy. So busy in fact that we were unable to get onto it as there was just not enough room for us even if we were standing. We physically could not fit onto it. A very kind fellow passenger did ask people to please let us on but no-one listened and made room for us.
Subsequently we were forced to spend an hour in a freezing train station with our little one waiting for the next train. This wouldn't have been so bad except she had already used up the 2 spare sets of clothes we brought with us (for an afternoon trip only) and so we had nothing else to wrap her in due to unexpected poonamis.
The staff on the platform were then incredibly unhelpful and left us to completely fend for ourselves and couldn't even tell us when the next train was or what platform it was on.
The entire experience of having a cold, tired baby for the hour wait and then having to get the 2 hour train home was horrific.
Personally I wouldn't want to do it again unless it was very urgent or necessary.

Oh another thing to consider is whether you will take baby in PILs car when you’re there, do PILs have a car seat? We bought a car seat to keep at PILs house, we made sure it’s one that will last ages so we get the value out of it.

And yes my mum had Ikea highchair, a travel cot and a cheap fold up buggy from Aldi so we didn’t need to take anything but clothes etc and then she’d get some nappies in.

Oh sorry it’s your Mum not PILs, but same advice applies!

Aldi is a good shout for bargain pushchair and maybe travel cot as well.

If you are likely to travel a bit it might be an option to get a decent rucksack rather than a hold-all or suitcase. Easier to push a buggy or keep hands free for doors etc. I also found it kinder on my back than trying to push a buggy with one hand and pull a heavy bag along.

Second the idea of having some essentials at your parents' house - nappies, wipes, couple of changes of clothes, bath stuff etc.

I used to do 200+ mile trips on the train with a baby to see my parents regularly. It was really easy. I didn't take a pushchair. I used a sling at for a baby that age and had a rucksack to put stuff in so you have your hands free. Even when I had a toddler and a baby I would still travel by train - I still used the sling for the baby and had a buggy for the toddler - though we didn't always use that - and my parents would meet me at the other end. We also had a buggy and car seat that we kept at their house. It was less boring for children as they weren't restrained in a car seat.

Cross Country trains have really high steep steps - much harder to get onto them on your own with a buggy and luggage than other trains. I used to get the train a lot with DC when young, and was pretty adept at travelling on my own with them, but I would say that Cross Country ones it is actually dangerous trying to push the buggy on or off on your own. My bad experiences were actually at Reading station, but it was before they had improved it, so maybe the platforms are a bit higher now, not sure.

I would suggest getting a sling/baby carrier for the journey and maybe buying a cheap/second hand buggy to keep at your mum's house (along with as much other kit as you can - I second travelling light!) It is hard to store buggies in the overhead racks and there isn't that much other space they can fit into. I would avoid taking one if you can possibly get away with it.

Once you are on it's fine - make sure you book a seat though.

Watching with interest as I have a relative at the other end of the country (12 hours on about 4 trains....). So far I've flown but once I have to pay for two children it will get v expensive so will probably have to use the train. The main thing that worries me with my journey is that if one of the early trains is delayed we would miss our connection and then be vv delayed. Also with an all day journey I worry about how to get child to nap if they are too big for the sling. We have virgin trains here which I think are similar to cross country and I agree anything other than very cheap small umbrella buggy would be a nightmare (even these you would def have to fold). I regularly go on shorter trips on the train and that's always been fine with some planning.

We've done several longish trips with 7 months old DD, since she was about 4 months. I second using the sling rather than pram, rucksack rather than handbag, book a seat with table, remember to have a car seat lined up at the other end. Even with the best planning it can be difficult of course, we've mostly found it OK but on one journey DD did have an off day and was really unsettled, we just paced up and down the train until she fell asleep.

I've travelled a few times with my little one in the train - yes yes yes to suggestions about stashing things at mums house if your going to be visiting on a regular basis (toys, books, baby wipes, nappies, spare bottles, travel cot, cheep buggy, car seat) If you have any friends with slightly older babies they may let you borrow things for this purpose - I've borrowed a Moses basket and a baby bouncer to keep at my mums before. Otherwise look in Aldi, Asda and so on for good value baby bits. I always try to plan it so that I get on the train around feeding time so that baby has a feed and then off to sleep for a nap. I've always found that other passengers are generally helpful with regards to getting on and off the train - just smile nicely and ask for help if they don't offer - mums / dads of slightly older children are usually a safe bet as they have been there and done that! I've also found other passengers are great at distracting little one with smiles and so on!