Manchester to London 🚆 with a pram?
My in-laws live just outside of London and we live in Manchester. They have been to visit us a handful of times but understandably we would like to go down south so see my husbands extended family with the baby. We are thinking of travelling in August at some point (LO would be 4 months).
I personally think the train would be easier than driving - it’s quick, baby can be held and cuddled, sit or sleep on our laps, be fed easily, walked up and down, changed easily, and entertained. In the car it’s minimum 4 hours in a car seat, possibly more with traffic, and that’s without factoring in all the stops needed for sage car seat usage, changing and feeding. We’d potentially have to set an entire day aside for the car journey.
However my partner has made a valid point - how would we take the pram on the train? He would still be in the bassinet part of the pram, which doesn’t fold down, so realistically where would the pram go? We have a Bugaboo Fox so it’s quite a big pram, and not sure how we’d manage with it on trains and possibly a tube.
Anyone got any experience or advice on this?
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Maybe if you could buy table seats you could put the bassinet part on the table? I might be being stupid here but that’s what I think is probably the only option x
I did London to Lancaster, we folder up buggy and put it in luggage area/by the doors and had her either on our lap or in baby carrier. Had to make sure buggy didnt block the door at eaxh station though cause unfortunately it was packed and not a lot of space cause of trains trikes i think x
Have you thought of using a sling/carrier/wrap? They look very intimidating but honestly it takes me a minute to get the wrap on, baby in and out first floor flat as opposed to dragging pushchair etc etc
Yes we will also be taking our carrier for the journey in terms of going up and down escalators etc, but we want to take our pram anyway to use over the weekend while we are visiting family. Thanks though :)
Can you borrow/rent travel/lightweight pram? I live in London and have a Babyzen Yoyo newborn one that folds up. It’s very light and super compact, perfect for tube, bus, eating out etc.
The train prices are extortionate at the moment even for off-peak. It’s over £200-300 for first class which we can’t justify.
As said we think we’ve found a solution by borrowing my sister in law’s babyzen yo-yo as my niece doesn’t need it too much anymore, and borrowing the newborn lie-flat attachment from a friend. That way the whole thing will fold up really small. Thanks for the suggestion, I didn’t even think of this until you said :)
I’ve done Sheffield to London a few times. I’ve taken our pram on, collapsed it and then just held bubs in my seat. The conductors were super helpful and put the pram in the bike store, another time I didn’t have to collapse the pram at all and just left it in the disabled space as it wasn’t being used. If you do need to collapse it the bassinet can go onto the luggage rack.
Everyone is so helpful and accommodating!
I have the same buggy and have been on the train to Edinburgh from London twice now (4.5 hours). Once when she was 6 weeks and once when she was 12. Try and book the carriage with the wheelchair access. If you can’t get the seats near the wheelchair part, you’ll still be able to park your buggy where it goes and just sit in your seats in the carriage. A wheelchair got on and we had to put the buggy in the bike compartment, but we just asked the conducter for help as they were getting the ramp already for the wheelchair user. Really easy!
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