Unable to get clean data from RAK8212 connected to ESP8266 over Serial1

Hi all, I am very much a novice at both IoT devices and JS, I force myself to learn.
I have come up with 2 problems I am not able to work out tho.

I have Espruino 2.03 on the RAK8212 and for testing I am using AT commands easily over Web IDE over BLE and very happy with the way GPS and LTE CAT-M1 connections work. Great!
I then bought an ESP8266 ESP-01 into the mix, running native AT firmware "ESP8266_AT_Bin_V1.6.2_0".

I connected the TX/RX of the ESP to RAK D28/D29 (SENS_DOUT1 and SENS_DOUT2) which is the TX/RX for when the FTTI is connected to PC and I am now stuck with 2 issues.
1) I am getting only gargabe data over the serial once I reset the ESP8266 and I have no idea why, due to my inexperience I hope.
2) I am unable to send my own AT command to the ESP8266 over the WebIDE through the RAK it seems.
I only get the output back from the ESP8266 once I perform a reset on the ESP8266 (See 1 and below).
I have tried Serial1.print("AT"), Serial1.write("AT\r"), Serial1.write("AT\r\n") but I only get local echo using the same upload to the RAK as per number 1, it never goes to the ESP, as I can not see the ESP light flashing indicating activity.

My upload looks like this

Serial1.setup(115200, {rx:D28, tx:D29});
Serial1.on('data', function (data) { print(" "+data); });
Serial1.println("AT");

And my output looks like this, after pushing reset button on the ESP8266

I am able to connect the ESP8266 over FTTI and using "Termite" connect to the serial console and issue AT commands no problems, and get results returned. Using same baud rate of 115200.

I have searched the forum as well as the documentation, where I have gotten the Serial commands to test with.
I am unsure where I am going wrong, is someone kindly able to give me a hand please?
Thanks muchly.