Decided to take the train the achnashellach from not sunny Dingwall. The aim being a loop round the Torridons before tea and a bit of forecasted sunshine to boot. Thoughts of the smell of the heather, views into Liathach and a cracking downhill to the station at the end were brought to a screeching halt by a jobsworth.
Sorry son, came those fateful words – can’t let you I have two bikes on already and the other area is full up. So that left me standing on the station with a useless ticket (got my money back from the nice man in the office) and a head full of broken dreams.
I’m not going to moan about the jobsworth as he is simply the frontman for an organisation that can’t get its act together. What I do hate is the fact that our pathetic rail system can’t (or won’t) accommodate cyclists when they should be embracing integrated rail travel. What is British cycling doing about this, where are the protests from leftie Eco warriors, why is my MP not more like Boris.
Let’s rise up and voice our collective displeasure – oh! I can’t, the wife wants me to wash her car this afternoon instead.

If it’s overcast why not make the most of it….. and give her car a polish too.

Entirely agree. If you have the misfortune to need to use Virgin East Coast and their mandatory bike reservation system, it’s only possible, so far as I can tell, to reserve two spots on each train. However, in the guard van there are about 10 street-style bike locks (the large inverted “U”s, so space for 20 bikes) bolted to the ground. The guards, in my experience, won’t let your bike on the train without a reservation, yet there are far more locks / spaces for bikes than reservation spots. It’s completely stupid.

Take the wheels off and wrap a couple of bin bags around everything.
“There’s no room for bikes I’m afraid”
“It’s not a bike…it luggage”
Place in oversize luggage bit.

Madness.

Have you complained to the train operator as well as to us?

Yep,it’s pot luck on the Kyle line. Some train staff are great, others….. It’s really poor that there were 2 bike spaces not being used by bikes, and he wouldn’t let you on.

Bit late now but a photo of you looking miserable at the station and a letter to the local paper and/or tweet/facebook share to the rail companies website ?

This is madness, was the train that full ? Don’t the train company need the money?

As an aside the Swiss are pretty good with bikes in trains with the one caveat that the bike has to have it’s own half price ticket 🙁

Did you need a reservation?

But yes, the capacity problem sucks. Having said that, train companies in most cases need the space for paying passengers, what with privatisation placing profit over everything.

It all seems a bit hit and miss.A few years back going to Aberystwyth-I’d booked the bike on-got on and there were about 4 bikes crammed into the 2 bike places, and then about another 4 of us balancing bikes on the back wheel, with the conductor happily ducking in between us all.
Another trip going to Salisbury, there was more suitcases in the bike bit than Heathrow, conductor said don’t worry, just leave the bike anywhere.

Same on the Settle Carlisle line through the Dales – most of the conductors will do their utmost to cram on extra bikes, but I’ve had a couple of jobsworths who’ve turned me away with barely-disguised pleasure…