| Catering on trains - lists of operators and what they allow and what they offer Posted by grahame at 20:16, 10th February 2026 |     |
From the Daily Record
Food and drink rules on ScotRail and Avanti West Coast trains
Some railway companies ask travellers to avoid bringing certain items along with them
Some railway companies ask travellers to avoid bringing certain items along with them
Though actually it surveys far wider than Scotland and show a whole lot of different approaches. Will these be evened out once we have full nationalisation?
| Re: Catering on trains - lists of operators and what they allow and what they offer Posted by Kernow Otter at 22:28, 11th February 2026 | |
Levelled down I imagine.
| Re: Catering on trains - lists of operators and what they allow and what they offer Posted by Chris from Nailsea at 23:28, 11th February 2026 | |
It's probably better if Coffee Shop forum member 'broadgage' doesn't read this topic.
CfN.
| Re: Catering on trains - lists of operators and what they allow and what they offer Posted by grahame at 06:14, 12th February 2026 | |
To my mind, the article was simplified to the extend of being misleading. It suggested as I read it that I can get on the train in Melksham and, being GWR operated, that there's going to be catering. I may have skim-read, but I know there won't be.
Last Saturday, I rushed onto the 16:00 Bristol Temple Meads to London ... travelling as far as Chippenham. Had there been a static coffee station (formerly known as a "buffet") I would have grabbed a coffee. However, there was a mobile trolley which offered my a drink somewhere around Box / Corsham by which time it was too late. Oh for the system that I've seen in Sweden, Norway and Denmark (just in 1st on the latter) where hot drinks are available from a machine / flask, not manned all the time and where a coffee can be had even on a short journey.
The whole "joined up for passengers" thing, and experience on that journey, went further - I digress. Public Transport industry information systems suggested I had an hour to wait at Chippenham for the local train home. But actually a bus from the new stations forecourt left for Melksham 10 minutes after my train arrived. It was Saturday afternoon so that worked ... Monday to Friday, the bus connection off the 16:00 from Bristol just fails, and of course the Lacock / Melksham / Semington / Hilperton bus only picks up at Chippenham Station from around 15:30 to 17:45 in the afternoon (and all day Sunday) and at other times of day during the week, it's from the bus station only. You need a PhD or a travel agent to sort these things out.
