very good post, Speedbird96!
In respect of the Nottingham fasts stopping at East Midlands Parkway - I recall that the line speed into Nottingham is really slow, so this stop doesn't add as much as you might have thought. It would be interesting to consider how much investment would be needed to increase the line speed into Nottingham.
You are right about all the investment going onto the Thameslink services. This has actually left very few paths available for the longer distance MML services. Ideally you would have more paths and you'd operate limited stop fast trains to Sheffield, Nottingham and Derby. There are too few paths now for East Midlands Trains, so the "fast trains" have to make too many stops.
I do believe the line-speed into Nottingham was increased following the remodelling of the station and the major re-signalling works. I have just always found it bizarre that the semi-fasts omitted East Midlands Parkway yet the fasts didn't.
It's also forgotten that the MML is days gone by had daily (some regular) trains to Manchester, Bradford, Glasgow and Edinburgh among other destinations. These services gave the East Midlands direct connections to those cities and were a great loss when they were withdrawn. Cinderella indeed.
Those long distance services from London St. Pancras to the destinations you have listed were withdrawn during BR due to the improvements and faster journeys made to the East Coast and West Coast Main Lines. Reiterating that Midland Mainline did operate London St. Pancras to Manchester services between May 2003 until September 2004, but that was only because of the West Coast Modernisation Programme ongoing delays.
As already mentioned, Derby sees regular services to Glasgow and Edinburgh with Cross Country, whilst Nottingham sees regular services to Manchester and soon will see services to Bradford from 2019 when the hourly Leeds service is extended. Leicester granted does not see these services but can change at Derby or Birmingham.
In my opinion there are really 2 problems with the MML service: the first is the peak service - which is obviously geared heavily towards the Northamptonshire towns as that's where a significant amount of the demand is, but at the same time it comes at the expense of journey times from Derby/Nottingham and Sheffield which are very slow - e.g. leaving Sheffield around 06:00 there are quicker options both via Tamworth or Doncaster compared to the direct MML service. Obviously electrification to Corby will help address this, but my 4-car 222 (vice HST) loading to about 65% capacity leaving Leicester on a 08:30 arrival at St Pancras this morning shows there's quite a bit of surpressed demand there. On the whole I don't think there's much wrong with the off peak service, which actually is a pretty good balance of decent journey times for the longer distances and an OK service between the intermediate stations. It's arguably better than either the ECML or WCML in that regard.
The other issue in my view is that journey time improvements have been carried out largely benefiting Sheffield over Nottingham, meaning the service from Nottingham isn't actually that much faster compared to when the HSTs were introduced - the 1 hr 40 journey time on the fast service have been standard since the 1990s, even when MML ran Nottingham to London calling only at Leicester, whilst the 1 hr 55 peak journey times haven't improved in years and remains uncompetitive compared to the ECML via Grantham, which has at least 1 non-stop arrival in London before 09:00. This is despite demand from Nottingham to London actually being stronger than that from Sheffield or Derby. A lot of the issues with EMT aren't necessarily their fault, merely inherited issues which they have neither the money or the resources to properly resolve.
To be honest 6 per hour from St Pancras is probably about right for the route as a whole, it's just a case of where you send them: I don't think sending 2 per hour to Corby achieves very much, so if one of those were to run to Leicester instead you would maintain the direct Leicester - Wellingborough/Bedford/Luton Airport link and perhaps more importantly could remove a Market Harborough call every hour from a fast Nottingham service for instance. It will be interesting to see what level of service is specified in the ITT for the next franchise when it's released. In the peaks the service will always be geared towards Thameslink as that's where the more significant demand is - and quite rightly - but it's just a case of balancing the needs of that with everything further North.
Agree entirely with what you have said; I do believe both Sheffield and Nottingham benefitted equally until the December 2008 timetable changes where Derby and Sheffield benefitted more from journey times and Nottingham saw a decline.
It is anyones guess as to what the ITT will encompass for the future East Midlands franchise... I await with baited breath!
If you'd ever travelled in Mk 1s and Mk2s you'd know you're talking nonsense. As for "stale humans" and "cigarette smoke", designated areas were smoking only while the stench in a cramped, claustrophobic Meridian from being couped up in a poor environment with fellow passengers is one reason why I do not enjoy travelling in "modern" trains.
I've never read such revisionist bilge about BR ticketing. Tickets prices were clearly stated, uncomplicated and, above all, good value for money. You could turn up at the station on the day and know you were going to be paying a reasonable price. There were very few restrictions and prices were set across the national network instead of the current fragmented, privatised mess.
It's not a case of "living in the 1970s" (the 1950s and 60s were preferable anyway) but pointing out that for many people changes on the railway have not been for the better, and that the travelling experience (in my opinion) is far worse than it was years ago. I used to look forward to travelling by train - now I don't. Kindly explain how and when you were appointed as the spokesman for "the majority".
I cannot agree with your sentiment and politely disagree; travelling experience changes over time, sometimes for better and sometimes for worse and that is something we are going to have to get use to. I do not agree with you about the Meridians, they are certainly improved upon the original Voyagers and are a decent travel experience (as I've said, there are far worse trains operating on the National Rail network). I hardly ever notice the smell from them, and will only find them cramped and claustrophobic like any other train during rush hour. For regular passengers, they wouldn't necessarily care about the type of train they board, as long as they get them from A-to-B.
Todays ticketing system is only complicated if passengers don't understand the terms and conditions, for me I do find ticketing today straight forward, but if I am stuck when it comes to certain tickets then I will check National Rail or the TOCs for clarification.
There is an interesting point you have raised though about whether the railways have changed for better or worse, and an argument can be made for both sides either during British Rail or privatisation. As someone who enjoys travelling by train, I still look forward to the journeys irrespective of what type of train I will be travelling on, and most of friends and lecturers at university will share that view. As long as they have a seat and are comfortable, they will have no complaints about their journey.
In the case of the Midland Main Line, the changes have been for the better overall since privatisation.
