Train travel advice needed, please

[Amanita]

In August, I shall be travelling by train to Oxford and back from well north of Edinburgh, with one change each way ( in York ) and have booked Wheelchair- Assisted Travel ( station's wheelchair - I don't have one)

Have you any experience of this service? I shall be travelling alone, and walk very slowly ( with a hiking pole) so cannot cope with long platforms, stairs, etc, especially when encumbered with luggage. Even standing waiting isn't easy. I have avoided train travel for some years because of these problems, which are now a lot worse,- but the alternative would be a very long coach journey, for which I no longer have the stamina.

A number of years ago I booked Assisted Travel for my husband, but the station staff came to collect him from the wrong end of the long train, and while I was scanning the horizon for the promised wheelchair, fellow passengers helped him down. Apologetic station staff did eventually assist him.

Has this service improved ? I am apprehensive, especially as I shall be travelling alone, and there is only a fairly short time for changing at York.