Travelling with kids: A clever train of thought on a British rail journey

The wisdom of taking a 14-month-old child on a journey from Glasgow to London via train not plane.

While on a summer trip to our hometown of Glasgow, Scotland, my wife and I decided to factor in a trip to London for a few days. In contrast with previous journeys to the capital, we opted to take the train instead of flying. Oh, and there was one other little difference – this time our 14-month-old daughter Charlotte would be accompanying us.

With a toddler in our ranks, it might seem odd that we would voluntarily choose a five-hour trip ahead of a one-hour trip, but there was sense in the madness, even if I was the only one who could see it.

Ticket prices were much the same, and I figured that, despite the difference in journey times, when taking into consideration the extra time that would be spent waiting at airports and then the onward journey into central London, there wouldn’t be much difference between the two modes of transport.

As good a choice as the train turned out to be, it wasn’t a flawless idea, as I made a schoolboy error while booking online. I opted to place the three of us in the “quiet carriage”, the thinking being that it would be handy for getting Charlotte to sleep.

When boarding the quiet carriage with a toddler in my arms, the faces of the other passengers said it all. It quickly became clear that while others were eager to adhere to the quiet carriage ethos, we would be the ­exception.

We promptly decided to give up our booked table seats and headed for the unreserved carriage, where we found two tableless seats; quite a sacrifice when it comes to British train ­etiquette.

All was not lost, however, as sitting behind us were three hugely overpacked teenage girls heading to their first music festival.

Our daughter is 14 months going on 14 years, so she immediately wanted to interact with the girls and launched into a game of peekaboo between the seats.

The festivalgoers and Charlotte were equally smitten, which meant that we parents could relax a bit and watch the little one serve up some cute entertainment to the teenagers, while also taking in the splendid greenery of the British ­countryside.

They got on so well that tears were shed when it came to the trio leaving the train, but my wife and I quickly pulled ourselves together and resumed our parental duties.

They weren’t the only ones to leave the train, which freed up a few seats for us to expand our empire to four seats, two either side of the aisle on the same row. This gave us the opportunity, using two seats, to attempt to get the now-tired Charlotte to sleep, which is no mean feat at the best of times. This, however, is where the train came into its own; its monotonous, subtle movement had her drifting off in no time – and that’s how she remained for the rest of the journey.

After much eyebrow-raising, I felt vindicated for the train decision, as we pulled into London Euston having had a far more entertaining journey than we would have had in the air.

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