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On weekdays, there is one train scheduled to make the trip in 4:00 with a single stop. Other trains stop more and it's more like 4:20 or 4:30. For the exact schedule and tickets, see the East Coast web site.

The plane is unlikely to be any faster in practice. It's about 1:30 airport to airport, but by the time you take the train out to Gatwick or Heathrow, or even LCY if you're not in East London, that's another hour, and from EDI into the city is another half hour. And, of course, you're in a cramped little plane rather than a large comfortable railway carriage.

The fastest trains to Edinburgh take 4 hours 20 minutes. The lowest price tickets are those booked well in advance for specifically timed trains. Hopefully there will be a few cheaper tickets left for next weekend

www.eastcoast.co.uk or the travel centre at Kings Cross Station

Get a further 34% discount with a railcard www.railcard.co.uk

The fastest trains on Saturday are those in the morning, taking from 4 hours 24 minutes to around 5 hours, depending upon stops on route.

Go to National Rail Enquiries - www.nationalrail.co.uk - for full details and fares, or the websites of any Train Operating Company. All other websites are agencies for National Rail and the TOCs, and will be more expensive by the time that they have added on handling charges, credit card fees, delivery charges and so on.

The fastest service seems to be 4h 21m - with at least one an hour doing it it no more than 4h 30m

Flying would be a lot quicker.

Here are some useful site:

http://www.thetrainline.com/buytickets/?href=ppcg_...

http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowTopic-g186338-i17...

http://www.virgintrains.co.uk/