How will I bring my Tandem back to London after LEJOG? Help!

So I'm doing Lands End John O'Groats this summer on a tandem with the girlfriend and my mate on his tourer solidly 3rd (and 4th) wheeling.

Have been looking at train tickets for ages now and been doing the thing I always do and say i'll book them soon and just end up watching as the prices go up.

Now however I'm worrried by a statement on ScotRail's website saying they will not accept Tandems on any of their services (apparently this includes the Inverness to London sleeper and services from Wick or Thurso to Inverness). If this is the case I feel our plans are screwed. How will we get the tandem back? Is this rule really enforced? Surely a tandem takes up no more space than two regular bikes (in fact a bit less lengthways really)?

Please help!

Hmmmm.

Thinking outloud time.......what would i do.....

Can you get back to Inverness ? is there a bike shop in Inverness ?
First plan would be complete the trip, get down to Inverness for the train home, maybe factor in a night in a B&B/Hotel at Inverness.
Pre-trip research for a bike shop or anywhere that might deal in large cardboard boxes. Find a source for packing material and take apart bike to post back to home address, then catch overnight train back to London.

Book a double cabin, take bike apart and attempt to travel with it in cabin.

Or approach the new contractor for the train and see if pre-booking (with possible extra fee for tandem) will suffice.
Been looking at using the overnight service to Fort William but the recent change in contractor has left a void on the website for information, next time i am in the city i intend to go to the station and get the prices direct at the booking office as i haven't been able to get them online since Scot Rail lost the service (could be my PC not compatible with some internets)
It did reccomend booking for a normal bicycle to ensure you can get your bike on the train.

Courier collect from the youth hostel . Send a box up there first full of jaffa cakes.

S&S Couplings?

Also thought of S&S but cost of getting them and then having fitted is way greater than finding a big box and posting bike home.

Could approach Surly as a S&S coupled tandem is uber niche and possibly right up their alley as one of the mountain bike mags has stated that fatbikes are over so a new niche is to be forged, may as well try and cut a deal as test pilot.

The bike areas on the trains from Scotland aren't long enough for two bikes end to end, they have room for four side to side but that's it basically. There's a firm called johnogroatsbiketransport.co.uk who say they'll ship a tandem for £110 though.

Thanks for all the input guys, much appreciated.

Thankfully the crisis has been averted. I managed to finally get hold of the sleeper and scotrail on the phone and after a bit of umming and ahhing from scot rail and a straight up "No worries " from the sleeper I've managed to book space on the train back to London....Phew

Not to put a dampener on things for you but given the experiences I have had getting bikes on trains (in Scotland, I'm in Glasgow) I wouldn't be satisfied with "No worries" over the phone.

Some trains such as the Glasgow - Edinburgh services have, as @h2o says, room for 4 bikes side to side however...(I believe) Scotrail rules are/were* 2 bikes per bike carrying carriage and I've been kicked off/not allowed on trains because the conductor wants to go 'by the book' regardless of what will fit.

Other trains have carriages with hanging space for bikes, 8 I think but again, I've had issues trying to get a booked bike onto one of these trains because the area was being used to store suitcases, prams etc and the conductor couldn't be bothered doing their job/asking people to move their luggage. Also had hassle from jobsworth conductors on these trains for hanging my bike from the wrong wheel!

*Could have changed since First Scotrail became Abellio Scotrail.

Hmm I guess I'm just going to have to take that gamble. when I booked the bike spaces I told them it was a tandem so I haven't tried to cheat them or anything. Also hoping telling them that we're doing it for charity might soften any jobsworth. If not I'll just have to resort to begging them to have mercy.

Had a friend that just did this a month ago or so - blogged about it here so he might have some info, or I could put you in touch with him if helpful.

Great blog, enjoyed reading it. Gets me excited for when I'm doing it. Seeing as I've booked all the tickets now I'm just going to go with the flow. If they let us on with the tandem as they said they will, great. If they won't then I'll deal with that when I have to. But fingers crossed.....

good luck with it - I know my mates had a lot of fun, despite facing some pretty nasty weather and lugging along a fairly old man (their father)!

I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that the sleepers have room for a load of Scottish shellfish for the London restaurant market (apparently one of the last remaining freight runs on normal passenger rail services), so there should be a large luggage space somewhere...

(NB don't rely on this).