Booking Bikes on Virgin - Easy

There was a thread a while back, IIRC, describing real problems with
making a bike reservation with Virgin. So it was with some trepidation
that I picked up the phone to book tickets from the sunny South Coast
to the Peak District. Being shy in the face of bureaucracy (actually,
probably not true, really) I fully expected my next call to be to
Dahon; I even had the number ready.

It was all incredibly easy. The call centre Scotsman found the trains
I wanted and when I said "I'll be taking a bike", he replied "fine;
it's booked". As I'll have a connection at each end of the Virgin leg,
he went and checked the SWT and FGN bike policies for these unbookable
parts of the trip. So 9/10 to Virgin for easy bike booking (the final
point will be awarded when you can do it online, as in the past).

I reckon the SWT and FGN components could still bugger things up so
I'll use the brass neck principle of dealing with rail companies. I've
found a train for the first leg that doesn't stop between my joining
and alighting stations. I'll simply get on at the last minute and if
they want to chuck me off at the next stop, I won't complain.

Some rail related Q's:

Are bike compartments indicated on the doors of trains (I recall some
discussion of this point)?

On a Voyager (if that's what VT run between Southampton & Sheffield),
can I expect a sort of bike rack that needs the bike to be lifted into
place? Can I walk from the bike rack to my seat or do I need to exit
the train and reboard as in the days of guards' vans? What do people
do about security (I assume you're not allowed to lock the bike to the
train); I intend to lock my panniers to the bike and they won't have
much of value in them anyway.

Final rail Q: Having not travelled with VT before, can I expect to get
grub? The web site is incredibly vague and I can't work out (a) if
food is available and (b) if it is, how I get hold of it. I think I
can assume there isn't a dining car.

A cycling Q: what's this Winnat's Pass like? I have no intention of
riding across all those contour lines but it might be on the agenda
for those of the stag party who are not nursing injuries. I'll have
almost doubled my in year mileage if I make the 5 miles from home to
the station.