"Roland Perry" wrote

The 10am northbound currently seems to be called the "Northern Lights" and
goes to Aberdeen. So will be an HST, most of which probably have 7
passenger cars. But these days there are many more other trains between
London and Scotland to catch; not just the 10am.

HSTs on East Coast are 2+9, i.e. 9 passenger cars, with only a small part of
the TGS taken up by a guard's and luggage compartment. Mk4 sets are 91+9
Mk4s + DVT. In Mk1 days a lot of the second class accommodation on the ECML
was in 48-seater SKs - very comfortable for those who like compartment
stock, but two Mk4s have more seats than 3 Mk1 SKs.

Peter