Do I need train reservations?
 

I already have rail passes, but wonder if I need reservations too. The only long trip is from London to Edinburgh. Other trips typically might be Edinburgh to Windermere, or Cardiff to Bath, or York to Shrewsbury. A reservation from London to Edinburgh costs 22 pounds in addition to the pass, so I hope I won't need too many reservations. Thanks for the help.

Oops. That was 22 USD per person rather than pounds. Bad enough though.

A reservation for the London Edinburgh journey would be a good idea. For the rest, it won't likely matter. But, if you are going to be in London for a few days before taking the train, get the reservation there. It will be free. Just go to any station and show the pass.

I am confused about the cost to make a reservation. Where did you get this information? It has always been free for me and I use a rail pass.

The Rail Europe site lists a reservation fee of $11 US for London-Edinburgh. As Ron says, if youll be in London a few days before going to Edinburgh, go to any National Rail station and get a free reservation.

I should have mentioned I got the information from Rail Europe. The form has a box to indicate if I already have a pass, so I assume the price listed is for the reservation only. But how wonderful to find out I can avoid that by going to a National Rail station. Probably, then, I can go to a station prior to other legs of the trip and avoid reservation charges. Thanks for the information!

I'm no expert on trains, but this sounds like you're bumping into another tagged on additional fee from the company Rail Europe, not the cost of making a reservation.

Just so you know.... Your station from London to Edinburgh most likely will be Kings Cross, taking the National Express train, so I would go to that station for reservations.

As noted above, you can make your free reservation at any National Rail station in London (or indeed, anywhere in the UK). The only advantage of doing it at the departure station is that you get to scope out the station before you arrive to catch the train and potentially discovering hundreds of people milling about the concourse and hundreds more commuters racing between the train and the tube station.

Reservations can normally be made up to about 2 hours before the train departs from its start point, or, for early morning trains, up to 1600 the previous evening. If you only want one seat, getting the reservation the previous day is fine. If you are a larger group that wants to sit together, a few days in advance is advised.

I like the idea of scoping out the station beforehand. I think it'll reduce the anxiety of trying to figure things out when there are lots of people.

Make free reservations in London. That way you can be guaranteed a window seat (if you want one). The long-haul trains can be very crowded, esp. over holidays.
If you'd like to watch the scenery from Edinburgh to Windermere, make a window seat reservation for that one too.

If you make your reservation at Kings Cross, try to do it during off peak hours. During peak commuter periods, the lines can be quite long.

Some trains in Europe do have reservation fees, so if it is free in England, that is a good deal.

However, the fee on Raileurope for a reservation is a markup, of course. They are a business, not a charity, they are out to make a profit on things they do. I don't know of anything they do for free. In France, I think the reservation fee is about 4 euro, for example, versus their $11.

I've made this trip many times from Kings Cross to Edinburgh Waverley. No matter what time of the day or evening....the train seems always to be crowded. I think a reservation should be made once you are in London. No charge .....save your 11£.

Thanks for the good advice, everybody. I'll go by King's Cross soon after we arrive. I read on another thread about the importance of getting a window seat on the right side of the train between York and Edinburgh because of the great scenery. So I really want to do that. And now that I know we don't have to pay extra, I'll get reservations for other journeys too, because we really like windows. ;-)