London Midland - Great Easter Rail Sale!

[mickey]

Indeed, there are only two of them. Normally they are quite quiet but I have seen queues there in the mornings in the past. I don't like leaving getting my tickets until the last minute

There are more now following the redevelopments last year, some inside and some outside the new VT office. I don't know however if this has completely solved the queue issue around departure time for morning peak trains as you're right, they were often bad.

 

[Green Lane]

There are more now following the redevelopments last year, some inside and some outside the new VT office. I don't know however if this has completely solved the queue issue around departure time for morning peak trains as you're right, they were often bad.

Oh yes, of course you are correct I forgot about the ones down that end. One morning whilst waiting for the London train I found myself wondering why people kept walking down there and back a couple of minutes later. I first thought there was a public toilet down there or something as they wern't going into the new waiting room. So I walked down there myself and IIRC I did see those machines you mention.

 

[mickey]

Oh yes, of course you are correct I forgot about the ones down that end. One morning whilst waiting for the London train I found myself wondering why people kept walking down there and back a couple of minutes later. I first thought there was a public toilet down there or something as they wern't going into the new waiting room. So I walked down there myself and IIRC I did see those machines you mention.

That's also where they keep the cash machines now, which is bloody useless if your train leaves from platform 1...

 

[Dreadnought]

I put my card in again and this time I got the option to "collect tickets". I pressed it, and the tickets came out. Didn't need to enter any booking confirmation number this time.

That is odd as I needed to enter the booking reference to collect the tickets I had bought for this promotion. Is there any reason why the booking reference would not need to be entered when collecting tickets bought on line as I have always needed to enter it first?

 

[TsLeng]

I usually find that if you have more than one sets of ticket booked on a card, then you would need to enter the ref.

However, sometimes I am also prompted to enter the ref when there is only one set of ticket booked on the card.

 

[Mojo]

I am the opposite to above; I've never needed to enter the reference, and most people I see using the TVMs dont need it either.

 

[transportphoto]

Often they default to issuing the Transaction in which you selected to collect from XYZ station. I have found when I have tickets booked at ABC & XYZ station's (using machines with systems not needing the code) that the above happens - if you want to try and collect both at once you will have to do it all again.

Also I have found that some machines always need a booking ref and some hardly ever need it. For example:
the ones pictured here when I have used them they have never needed the ref (along with others of the same design / op system)

however

the ones found by clicking here (I have found) have always wanted the code.

 

[Green Lane]

Well, that was a great day out in London for £10 thanks to London Midland.

The way down - got the 07:04 from Liverpool Lime Street. Changed at Stafford. Merely ten minutes after hopping off the train, the LM Euston-bound train rolled in on the same platform.

Hopped onto that one and easily got a seat, although it got to standing room only at Nuneaton. No doubt many people taking advantage of the great Easter sale.

London Midland were good enough to both extend the length of the train from 4 cars to 8 at Northampton and also to allow all passengers to use first class and provide a rebate for those few already holding first class tickets.

The train I was in was coupled onto another waiting train, so subsequent passengers just embarked onto the front four cars after Northampton.

Given this had happened, we still managed to arrive in Euston at the correct time of 10:49, so that was great.

The way back was even more eventful. I walked into Euston station round about 16:15, which was an hour earlier than I'd originally planned. Just as well I did, as all services out of Euston were suspended, due to (what I heard) was someone being killed by a train at or near Harrow & Wealdstone. Obviously if someone was killed (I'm unsure of the offical account), then I'm sure everyone's condolences go out to their family.

I immediately legged it to Euston Square tube station and bought a single to Marylebone for £4. (I didn't have a travelcard because my main hobby is long distance hiking, I always walk around London). I could've easily walked to Marylebone from Euston and in fact have done in the past, but today time was of the essence, as I knew I couldn't hang around if getting back all the way to Liverpool via Marylebone, so tube it was.

I got a Hammersmith & City train to Baker Street, then changed onto the Bakerloo Line to get to Marylebone. I'm no tube expert, perhaps I could've done something similar from Euston tube station itself, but I just knew that Euston Square is "better connected".

Anyway, I made it in time to catch the 16:50 from Marylebone to Birmingham Snow Hill.

Thanks to Chiltern Railways, they were accepting everyone's LM and Virgin tickets.

Naturally I alighted at Birmingham Moor Street (at 18:54) and pegged it like mad through the underpass in Birmingham, just jumping on the LM 19:01 at Birmingham New Street to Liverpool Lime Street about 1 minute before it departed.

Finally, that train terminated short at Crewe. I think trains were out of place due to the aforementioned disruption, there were in total 4 LM trains on platform 12, we all had to alight and then re-embark onto the northenmost train. Finally got into Lime Street actually earlier than originally planned.

In Liverpool Lime Street on the way back, I noticed, the Vigin pendolino was running at least 20 mins late.

Even, on the Wirral Line on the way home, people were talking of today's disruption, obviously this £10 deal had attracted people to do a London daytrip from as far afield as Merseyside.

Overall I think the London Midland and Chiltern Railways provide an excellent service given what happened today was totally out of their control. All staff concerned were very friendly and helpful.

Now, could I possibly get my £4 tube ticket to Marlyebone reimbursed?
No, seriously I'm not bothered about it. I'm just glad to get back home given the fact that apparently no trains at all were running out of Euston during the late afternoon today.

 

[jon0844]

London Underground might have been accepting tickets, saving you from buying it in the first place, but I guess it's not worth bothering about over £4! Sounds like you had a great day, although I suspect anyone not quite so into rail travel would have some differing opinions.

No doubt the same TOCs that did so well for you will be getting slagged off by others today.

 

[Green Lane]

London Underground might have been accepting tickets, saving you from buying it in the first place, but I guess it's not worth bothering about over £4!

Thanks, I didn't think about that. If it ever happens to me again, I will certainly ask.

Sounds like you had a great day, although I suspect anyone not quite so into rail travel would have some differing opinions.

No doubt the same TOCs that did so well for you will be getting slagged off by others today.

Yes, just as well I like travelling by train for the sake of it. That was a total of 9 trains for me today (including the 2 tube trains).

 

[mickey]

No doubt the same TOCs that did so well for you will be getting slagged off by others today.

And you were very lucky - in the past when I've been caught up in similar situations it's been specifically announced at Euston that TOC-specific tickets will not be accepted by other operators (only open ones), presumably as it doesn't usually take more than a couple of hours to sort out. I don't know about this particular event, but I agree the other operators deserve credit for helping people as they did. Chiltern especially as there was a football match at Wembley that day and their services were busy enough as it was (Moor St was packed with southbound passengers late morning and I only worked out why when I saw row after row of identical shirts!).

Funny what happened to you at Crewe - I was on the 20.01 New St-Liverpool train and it sailed through Crewe completely as normal with no trains stacked in any of the platforms. If it hadn't been for discussions other people had with the guard I'd have had no idea there were any problems at all!

ETA: Incidentally, I've since learnt that 3 pendos arrived at Lime St within 5 minutes of each other on Saturday night - now that's a sight I'd like to see!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Incidentally, please keep posting any journey examples that don't give the £10 return option. We're hoping to get them sorted for any future promotion.

OK...

Liverpool-Hereford
Liverpool-Great Malvern
Liverpool-Malvern Link
Liverpool-Ledbury
Liverpool-Colwall

Liverpool-Telford (via Wolverhampton, which funnily enough is usually a permitted route anyway!)

Out of interest, if I wanted to go to a station in the first group, would I be allowed to buy a ticket to Worcester and just stay on the train, given that the (promotional) fare would theoretically be the same, were one to exist?

 

[London_Midland]

I'm glad you had a good time on Saturday, notwithstanding the problems relating to the fatality.

I reckon you made the best choice by heading over to Marylebone since northbound services re-started at the same time as the match finished at Wembley Stadium. Bearing in mind Aston Villa were one of the teams, there was huge demand for Birmingham trains from around 7pm.

Regarding the issue of ticket acceptance, LUL do normally accept tickets during disruption, but more importantly we have recently agreed new policies with EMT, Chiltern and VT regarding reciprocal ticket acceptance during disruption. This means that in most circumstances all tickets are accepted, not just 'any permitted operator' ones when things go wrong.

David
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

OK...

Liverpool-Hereford
Liverpool-Great Malvern
Liverpool-Malvern Link
Liverpool-Ledbury
Liverpool-Colwall

Liverpool-Telford (via Wolverhampton, which funnily enough is usually a permitted route anyway!)

Out of interest, if I wanted to go to a station in the first group, would I be allowed to buy a ticket to Worcester and just stay on the train, given that the (promotional) fare would theoretically be the same, were one to exist?

Thanks for this Mickey.

Those Worcester to Hereford destinations are all ATW fares, which is the issue. However, we are hopefully setting an LM fare for any future promotions. The Telford one is a complete mystery and we're trying to find out why it doesn't seem to work. It's fine from Shifnal!

Regarding the question of travelling beyond the destination on your ticket, this would be treated as travelling without a valid ticket, I'm afraid. Currently, the cheapest option is to 'cobble together' a £5 and £10 fare.

David.

 

[Green Lane]

I'm glad you had a good time on Saturday, notwithstanding the problems relating to the fatality.

I reckon you made the best choice by heading over to Marylebone since northbound services re-started at the same time as the match finished at Wembley Stadium. Bearing in mind Aston Villa were one of the teams, there was huge demand for Birmingham trains from around 7pm.

Thanks, yes, it worked out well for me because I'd wanted to travel on the Chiltern Main Line as I'd never been on it before. The train I understand was much busier than usual, but everyone boarding at Marylebone got a seat. Just think it's good that there are two rail links from London into the West Midlands which gives more resilliance in the event of disruptions. I find that I'm more likely to travel to destinations where there are viable alternatives. In fact I'd pre-planned alternatives for all stretches of my route.

I even would've used Birmingham New Street -> Shrewsbury -> Wrexham General. Then either Wrexham-> Upton via the Borderlands Line or Chester -> Birkenhead via the Wirral Line if I really had to, avoiding the WCML alltogether. But Birmingham -> Crewe -> Liverpool was clearly up and running so in the event, there was no need for me to use any further contingencies.

As for the football fans, yes I saw fans from both teams warming up. Loads of Chelsea fans were gathered around the Baker Street area. Also, lots of Villa fans came out of the Marylebone platforms just as I was going in.

Regarding the issue of ticket acceptance, LUL do normally accept tickets during disruption, but more importantly we have recently agreed new policies with EMT, Chiltern and VT regarding reciprocal ticket acceptance during disruption. This means that in most circumstances all tickets are accepted, not just 'any permitted operator' ones when things go wrong.

David

Thanks for the info, that's useful to know next time I'm in London. I'm still not sure if I got to Marylebone the quickest way. I note I could've taken the Victoria Line from Euston to Oxford Circus, then from there straight onto the Bakerloo to Marylebone. It's two stations more than the Euston Square route, but maybe changing is easier, as when I changed at Baker Street I had to make my way through about three other lines which were reasonably busy, so that's probably not the best place to change. On the other hand, I wanted to avoid Oxford Circus, as being a late Saturday afternoon, would've been extremely busy no doubt. Would be good to know the quickest way for future reference though. Marylebone doesn't enjoy as good connections to the Underground as some of the other terminals.

In any event, it's good to learn about the reciprocal agreements, certainly good for traveller confidence anyway.

 

[mickey]

Thanks for the info, that's useful to know next time I'm in London. I'm still not sure if I got to Marylebone the quickest way.

I travel this route regularly and have tried all the options... Walking is ok if you've got the time, otherwise the bus is best - there is a very frequent service along the Euston Road and it's faster and cheaper than the tube. If you've got a through ticket or are a die-hard tuber, it's much easier to use Euston Square as you did than to go via Oxford Circus (or anywhere else for that matter). I always walk from Baker Street rather than connect to Marylebone - it's only a 5-minute walk and it's down a straight road so you can't get lost. Baker St is an official tube exit station for through rail tickets so there's no problem with ticket validity. That said, even the connection through to Marylebone is better than going via Oxford Circus.

On a related note, however, why are through rail tickets not valid for bus connections where, as in this case, they're much better than the Tube?
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Those Worcester to Hereford destinations are all ATW fares, which is the issue. However, we are hopefully setting an LM fare for any future promotions. The Telford one is a complete mystery and we're trying to find out why it doesn't seem to work. It's fine from Shifnal!

Regarding the question of travelling beyond the destination on your ticket, this would be treated as travelling without a valid ticket, I'm afraid. Currently, the cheapest option is to 'cobble together' a £5 and £10 fare.

Thanks again, David. I'm tentatively planning a trip to Hereford at the weekend so I'll follow your advice and just get two tickets. It's annoying having to pay more but at under £10 (with a railcard) for the whole journey I can't really complain! Hope you manage to get everything sorted for next time.

 

[Green Lane]

I travel this route regularly and have tried all the options... Walking is ok if you've got the time, otherwise the bus is best - there is a very frequent service along the Euston Road and it's faster and cheaper than the tube. If you've got a through ticket or are a die-hard tuber, it's much easier to use Euston Square as you did than to go via Oxford Circus (or anywhere else for that matter). I always walk from Baker Street rather than connect to Marylebone - it's only a 5-minute walk and it's down a straight road so you can't get lost. Baker St is an official tube exit station for through rail tickets so there's no problem with ticket validity. That said, even the connection through to Marylebone is better than going via Oxford Circus.

On a related note, however, why are through rail tickets not valid for bus connections where, as in this case, they're much better than the Tube?

Thanks for the info mickey. What you are saying seems sensible. Ironically I'd already been standing at the junction of Baker Street and Marylebone Road before heading back to Euston.
I must admit after getting the tube back towards Marylebone I realised I could've walked it not much slower. Yes, indeed Baker Street is reasonably close to the Marylebone terminal.