Recent content by bnsf734

Planning a trip to Swansea from Nuneaton on November 25 and returning home on November 26 2026. I've looked on Uber and found a return ticket of £59.10 with a Senior Railcard. This appears to be a normal return ticket valid by "Reasonable Route". Can I use this ticket on the return journey for a...

The award for the Train Service Agreement to Siemens Mobility raises the interesting question of where they will be based. The award states Siemens will be responsible for maintenance and certain cleaning. Ardwick depot comes to mind, but whether it can cope with a fleet of 37 350/2, or whether...

Has 172331 now got some nice clean windows as opposed to the murky ones on the rest of the fleet?

I was on 810014 yesterday (Wednesday 23 April 2026) heading to Beeston. We left Leicester 2 minutes late after it caught up a late running 170 at Wigston, but then we lost 20 minutes at Loughborough with door issues and a door had to be reset by a travelling fitter in coach A. Door problems...

That would seem very likely, would have gone south to the M25 and thence to Basingstoke. Makes perfect sense. Didn't take long to solve!

I assume this is the best place for this post: On Friday 27 March 2026 I was travelling north on the M1 just south of Northampton and I saw a Reid Freight low loader heading south with a class 455 driving trailer on the back. Not sure of the number, origin or destination but thought it worth a...

According to the latest Modern Railways the refurbished ex Avanti 221s are the last to go through the program. They will need more work than the others to standardise the seat layout.

I was on a reversing Cross Country train on Friday 6 February which was formed of 2 sets (both in use as well!) but even with 2 sets it was crowded and raining so I did not see how the driver did it, but it was outside of the train.

The company at Newport that entered administration was actually Unimetals, who were taking over the UK operations of Sims, but the deal fell through when Unimetals were unable to complete the financing. I would imagine that the leasing company are on the long list of Unimetals creditors.

Thanks to a message from a friend I was able to get 701054 in its first day of service yesterday, whilst on a visit to London. Very disappointing to se the graffitti on one driving vehicle on its first day in traffic. Hopefully this will soon be removed.

I believe it is booked that way so crews can retain competency over the route for when it is needed for diversions. One other example is Chesterfield to Sheffield where odd trains are booked via Beighton and enter Sheffield from the North.

Not a good start to the Trent Valley service today. The 0813 Crewe - Euston service is starting from Rugby at 0927 after the Northampton - Crewe service that forms it was cancelled due to a problem with the train. Presumably said problem was fixed to enable the empties to get to Rugby. The 0913...

They are all unreserved at the moment as the reservation system is not working!

As mentioned above 350254 is on Crewe to Stafford locals all day but 350250 appears to be doing a tour of its old stomping grounds: It started off on Birmingham to Euston which terminated at Northampton. It then finds it way to Rugby where it takes over a Euston to Crewe working starting short...

First day of the new timetable and 2 still out in service on Birmingham - Liverpools - both running as 8 cars with 350/1s 350250 350254