London Midland stock?

[BrummyBoy]

Hello

Not a particularly important question but does anybody now if LM use 350/1 or 350/2 on services from Birmingham - London and is it true that the 350/2 have 3 + 2 seating instead of 2 + 2

 

[TomJ93]

It should be exclusively /1s but both can turn up.

350/1s and 350/2s are identical apart from the dc shoe fitted to the the /1s and the /2s having 3+2.

 

[MCR247]

Hello

Not a particularly important question but does anybody now if LM use 350/1 or 350/2 on services from Birmingham - London and is it true that the 350/2 have 3 + 2 seating instead of 2 + 2

Unfortunately either. The /2s have a commuter layout with no full tables, and /1s have full tables

 

[IanPooleTrains]

Unfortunately either. The /2s have a commuter layout with no full tables, and /1s have full tables

Well the 350/s do have tables but they are in first class

But MCR, not that we usually agree on stuff because he doesn't agree with the fact that I am a legend , is right with the layout in general

 

[lm321412]

Hello

Not a particularly important question but does anybody now if LM use 350/1 or 350/2 on services from Birmingham - London and is it true that the 350/2 have 3 + 2 seating instead of 2 + 2

You will do well to find a 350/1 on the Birmingham - London service...

 

[MCR247]

Well the 350/s do have tables but they are in first class

But MCR, not that we usually agree on stuff because he doesn't agree with the fact that I am a legend , is right with the layout in general

Well if you want to be awkward, then yes

And I'll have to take your word on that

 

[Pumbaa]

Now the New St - Euston services are inter-diagrammed with Tring stoppers. There is no set rule on where /1 and /2 work, other than New St - Lime St and Euston - Crewe. It could be either.

 

[MCR247]

Might explain why I saw a /1 to Tring! And I'm pretty sure I saw a /2 to Crewe...

 

[Pumbaa]

All the 8 Crewe diagrams are for /1, and 7 of the 8 Liverpool diagrams are /1 also. However this is LM - things are done on a casual basis and never for the benefit of the passenger.

 

[MCR247]

I'm pretty sure it was a /2, but we were passing at speed, I'm just pretty sure I saw the green interior

 

[33056]

I regularly catch the 0415 from Northampton which forms the 0624 back from Euston to Crewe. Mostly it is a /1 but I often see at least one /2 during the week that I catch this train.

On the other hand, was on the 1354 Euston - New Street four days last week - it was a /2 every day bar one though it was advertised as terminating at Northampton most days.

 

[lm321412]

I'm pretty sure it was a /2, but we were passing at speed, I'm just pretty sure I saw the green interior

Yep, 350/2s are very common on the London to Crewe line sadly...

 

[BrummyBoy]

ok thanks, much rather the 350/1s due to the 2+2 seating layout though have not propley travelled on the 350/2s though cant say im keen on 3+2 from birmingham - london

 

[Ibex]

In one shift I will normally see about 6 of the London - Crewe trains, and I can guarantee at least 2 of them are always a /2. I've had the misfortune of travelling from Stoke-on-Trent to Watford on a /2 and it was horrible, my back was rather sore after that journey.

There are no penalties for LM if a 350/2 is in on a 350/1 diagram, and vice versa so I think minimal effort is put into ensuring the diagrams are correct.

 

[387star]

Like SWT 444s/450s then never know which will turn up
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
They could be all /1s though? They were when Central ran them and 321s only went as far north as birmingham?

 

[Ibex]

They could be all /1s though? They were when Central ran them and 321s only went as far north as birmingham?

That would be because 350/2's didn't exist when Central Trains existed. Central Trains and Silverlink became London Midland in November 2007, and the 350/2's were introduced from June 2009 onwards. 321's no longer go north of Northampton, infact they only run 3 passenger services per day (excluding the St Albans Abbey branch).

To be picky, the LM 321's on the mainline diagram actually run more ECS moves per day than passenger services.

 

[Pumbaa]

In one shift I will normally see about 6 of the London - Crewe trains, and I can guarantee at least 2 of them are always a /2. I've had the misfortune of travelling from Stoke-on-Trent to Watford on a /2 and it was horrible, my back was rather sore after that journey.

There are no penalties for LM if a 350/2 is in on a 350/1 diagram, and vice versa so I think minimal effort is put into ensuring the diagrams are correct.

Its a heck of lot better now. When the TV service started, I used it about twice a month Liverpool - Watford or Hemel. And still do very regularly. It took about half a year at one point to get a /1 on a TV service. Nowadays, its rare to get a /2. With my observations, and in particular the ECS moves where possible from Northampton to Crewe on Sundays for the start of the week, LM do manage to get a reasonable number of /1s onto Crewe. The problem arises when there is an issue at Euston, it all goes spanner up.

Also, Sundays are excluded and I know every effort is made to make sure all the diagrams are covered by /2s due to the excessive overcrowding. It is for this reason I've now stopped travelling by LM if I know I'm returning on a Sunday; a) the connections at Stafford are 1hr due to the hourly Liverpool service and bi-hourly TV service, with the TV arriving 5 mins later than usual, b) there's a good chance as has happened twice before now that I won't even make it onto a TV train.

 

[MCR247]

Like SWT 444s/450s then never know which will turn up

No, not at all actually.