Last train north from London on a Saturday night

[dfurn]

Hi all;

I need to get back to Yorkshire from London late on a Saturday night or early on a Sunday morning. Ideally leaving London about 2330h. So what options do I have? The last East Coast leaves King's Cross at 2200h which is a bit early; then the first on Sunday leaves at 0856h which is a bit late. I've been looking at maybe going to Sheffield from St Pancras, not too good. Or maybe even Manchester; but again last is at 2200h and first on Sunday is 0810h. I was vaguely considering getting the 0015h to Cambridge from St Pancras, but that really does not get me far enough north. It does get me out of London though.

Anyhow I thought I'd ask if any other ideas sprung to anyone's minds?

 

[Gathursty]

Chesham on the tube?

 

[dfurn]

Chesham on the tube?

Hmm that's a thought.

Actually didn't think of looking at Open Train Times until just now. Probably furthest north will be the 0023h from King's Cross to Peterborough. Unless, of course, you know different.

 

[westcoaster]

01:29 ex blackfriars to Bedford http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/G40358/2014/03/09/advanced terminated at luton due to engineering works.

 

[gordonthemoron]

00:15 from Euston to Northampton?

 

[bangor-toad]

For Saturday night trains northbound out of London you're looking at an annoyingly early departure as you've found out.

If you really don't want to stay in London and want to head Yorkshire-wards then your only option I can see for overnight travel is Megabus. They've got a 1am departure on Sunday mornings that arrives in Leeds (travelling via Sheffield) at 5.50am.

OK, it's an overnight coach so it's not a great travel experience but it's normally clean and safe and to me beats hanging around a station overnight between the last and first services.
It's also got the advantage of being quite cheap!

Cheers,
Jason

 

[dfurn]

Thanks all for comments. Northampton is an idea although it's actually further south than Peterborough.

I was thinking there could be a coach option which does sort of fill me with dread. However I suppose it'll be less work than driving and it is quite cheap. Maybe that'll have to be it.

 

[Greenback]

Unfortunately, Saturday evening services finish ludicrously early. This is due to a numbe rof factors, in my view, such as engineering works, the cost of staff working into Sunday, the need for rosters to allow for a change over from late to early turns, lower demand for long distance travel on a Saturday night, and so on.

I think that this issue affects more people than not running trains on certain days of the year.

 

[455driver]

Unfortunately, Saturday evening services finish ludicrously early. This is due to a number of factors, in my view, such as engineering works, the cost of staff working into Sunday, the need for rosters to allow for a change over from late to early turns, lower demand for long distance travel on a Saturday night, and so on.

I think that this issue affects more people than not running trains on certain days of the year.

Not really relevant at most TOCs because some TOCs pay the same for a Sunday as any other day of the week and for the others that do pay an enhanced rate then its only if the shift starts on Sunday that you get the enhanced pay, if the shift starts on Saturday and rolls over into Sunday then all hours are paid at Saturday (flat) rate.

There are probably the odd exceptions to this but it certainly isnt widespread that working past 0001 on a Sunday morning means you get a better pay rate.

 

[Greenback]

You are probably right. There have been a lot of changes to T&C's since I worked on the railway.

 

[455driver]

Most of the terms and conditions went bye bye in various pay awards.
Some companies now seem to have pay & condition (no s on the end) rather than pay and conditions.

I was looking to move TOCs a while ago and was horrified at the (lack of) conditions they had.

Edit-
Any day I work is paid at the same rate whether its a Saturday, Sunday, Bank Holiday or whatever, I also have Sunday as part of the working week, no option to opt out of it, if its my turn to work then I work it.
I am not complaining though, this beats driving buses into a cocked hat!