I would also recommend going on the East Coast route, if time permits, even with the recent 'enhancements'. I find the journey more interesting, as it gives a real slice of England: classic inner and outer London through Finsbury Park and Barnet, the commuterland of Hertfordshire, including the second planned town, Welwyn Garden City (look for the 1930s Shredded Wheat factor), and shortly after, the Digswell Viaduct giving you panoramic views of the area. This shortly gives way to the uglier 60s planning of Stevenage, and then through to the almost impossibly flat, fertile soil of North Beds and Cambridgeshire. Look out for the diminutive cathedral on the right (where Catharine of Aragon is buried) as you trundle over the Nene into Peterborough. The next section is through the equally flat, equally fertile vegetable-growing parts of Lincolnshire, slowly giving way to the wolds in the North, as you pass through the edge of its market towns. A quick stop at Doncaster (a favourite spot for 'trainspotters' - they are legion, and on the end of each platform), and you're shortly in York - a wonderful old station, with great views of York Minster and the city walls from the railway line.

From York, you head North through the Vale of York, properly in the North of England now, with hints of the hills on either side of the farmland around the tracks. Through Darlington, home of the world's first railway, and into the former coal-mining heartlands of County Durham. Durham City sweeps past too, with a fantastic, panoramic view of the World Heritage Site: the castle and cathedral perched precariously on a vertiginous bank of the river Wear. Then on over the impressive Chester-le-Street viaduct into Gateshead, and slowly over the Tyne into Newcastle, with a magnificent view of the sweep of the Tyne bridges on the right, just before you get into Newcastle Central (another rather impressive station). As you leave, look left, and you'll see the Black Gate, right and you'll see the castle keep - the Victorians drove the railway right through the castle...

Heading North, you're into Northumberland, and it's a shame you can't see the coast at this point. Keep an eye out on your right for hints of the castles (and the monastery on Holy Island) that line this coastline. You'll sweep round left over the Tweed into Berwick (again, great views of this border town as you cross the river), and then the coastal scenery starts now you're over the border in Berwickshire (confusingly, Berwick is in England, but Berwickshire in Scotland). The train gets quite close to the edge of the cliffs here. You then pass the small coastal towns of East Lothian, and arrive into Edinburgh Waverley.

As you leave, look up and left as Edinburgh castle looms above you. Usually, the tea trolley finishes at this point ("You'll Have Had Your Tea, Then"). The train line then heads out of the city, down through moorland and lonely Carstairs Junction, through the former industrial centres of Lanarkshire (not the most scenic spot now...) Shortly, though, you're heading over the Clyde and into the beautiful old Glasgow Central station, all dark wood and sandstone. Welcome to Glasgow!

The West Coast can't hold a candle to this journey.