• Our new ticketing site is now live! Using either this or the original site (both powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!

Search results

  1. C

    Derailment at Wickford - Friday 14th August 2026

    While I have no railway experience I am interested in the similarities between the derailments at Wickford and Lewes. The derailment was of the rear coaches - I am assuming possibly incorrectly that the rear coach at Lewes derailed first and pulled the other coaches off the track. This to me...
  2. C

    Oddball Journeys (Trivia)

    I remember fondly using the Alphaline service from Manchester to London Waterloo - via SHrewsbury, Newport (Wales) and Bath spa
  3. C

    West Midlands Trains "Destination Manchester" - will it happen?

    I used the service twice and on both occasions it was 90% full from the Airport and luggage space was a problem. I think the load depended entirely on the timing - with peak loads depending on popular aircraft arrival times. From my recollection most of the passengers from the airport were...
  4. C

    West Midlands Trains "Destination Manchester" - will it happen?

    Sorry just picked this thread up. When the Airport south link was opened there was a second hourly service to Crewe. This was an extension of the East Midlands Crewe to Nottingham service with a single stop at Wilmslow and also provided a direct connection from Stoke on Trent to the airport...
  5. C

    Bee Network livery spotted in Manchester Piccadilly

    I wonder what they will look look like after operating for 15 hours in slush.
  6. C

    Is there a better way to deal with WCML disruption north of Preston?

    The M6 closures are weekends only - with Northbound traffic being diverted between Shap and Penrith onto the A6 and Southbound from Penrith via the A66 to Brough and then the A685 to Tebay. So Lancaster is not involved...
  7. C

    Is there a better way to deal with WCML disruption north of Preston?

    On services to Lancaster and Oxenholme and Windermere, in evenings and weekends TPE terminate some Manchester Airport services at Oxenholme. Depending on the status of the OLE, they could presumably do this again to maintain an hourly schedule at those stations as they should have the rolling...
  8. C

    Is there a better way to deal with WCML disruption north of Preston?

    For the early January block at Penrith, Avanti are apparently running a shuttle between Preston and Carlisle using the Settle to Carlisle line and presumably their Evero units. I wonder if route familiarisation has been completed and units are available to introduce this early?
  9. C

    TPE seat reservation displays

    I agree the display will show the origin and destination shown on the ticket. Where there are multiple journeys booked on the same seat (say in your example Glasgow to Carlisle and then Penrith to Liverpool) on the old paper reservation system they used to list them both on the seat reserved...
  10. C

    Royal Mail to cease using trains

    I wonder how many road hauled containers a 325 would replace? I suspect the pressure to convert to electric powered rail freight comes from the eventual customer (such as Marks and Spencer) who have to report on both their current carbon intensity and their plans to move towards "net zero" in...
  11. C

    Cross Country 'Ten Minute Reservations' by SMS - have they stopped?

    Although if people would rather stand in the front 4-car because they're too lazy to walk down the back then more fool them... You can't walk down the back on a 8 car voyager - they are two separate units (hence the lockout of there is a TM/Guard in both units). In Virgin days, the shop in one...
  12. C

    Storm Gerrit related disruptions-27/12/23

    Does anyone know how long the flooding between Lockerbie and Carstairs is likely to keep the WCML blocked? I seem to recall it happens at least once a year. I am due to travel to Edinburgh tomorrow p.m.
  13. C

    Dangerous boarding procedures at Euston

    While I totally agree with all the negative comments about Euston's passenger handling procedures being wanting and dangerous, I am reminded of an epithet from the aviation industry which is to describe passengers as "self-loading cargo"!
  14. C

    Transpennine Express first class - No complementary refreshments offered

    Just to correct any impression, I did MIA - EDB, EDB - MAN this week and received good service and reasonable snacks (hot snacks were a sausage roll on one journey and a chicken balti pitta on the other) plus two services on each journey of hot and cold drinks (including one alcohol offering -...
  15. C

    Avanti West Coast: Standard Premium

    I think Covid will completely invalidate any effective market testing of the product until at least 2022 (my virologist friends say it is likely to take up to a year to suppress Covid even with a full scale vaccination program). During this period and for some time after it is likely that any...
  16. C

    Carmont (near Stonehaven) derailment - 12 August 2020

    If the train was being reversed back to Aberdeen, it must have already passed over the line section where the derailment occurred. I am sure all our thoughts are with all those involved.
  17. C

    Which trains have no toilet provision?

    On long distance journeys without access to a toilet - has the Voyager fleet improved? I have numerous friends who will not use Cross-Country because of past bad experiences where all toilets were locked out with journey times up to say 4 hours. Even though occasionally additional stop time...
  18. C

    Kidsgrove to crewe line

    The real problem the single section causes is when the WCML is diverted via Stoke. Has happened to me quite a number of times. The capacity to cope with two way diversions on top of the 2tph each way creates backlogs stretching south of Nuneaton and north to Liverpool and Wigan. I would like...
  19. C

    What swings the balance for you between a direct service and one where you change?

    For me the main issues considered when making a decision are journey length: For journeys under say 90 minutes - frequency of connecting trains is the over-riding criteria (if either service is less than 4tph then slower direct services preferred). For journeys over 90 minutes - the key issues...
  20. C

    Avanti West Coast - Three classes of travel to be introduced

    I used Virgin to travel to London fairly frequently but irregularly. Invariably I booked an Advance First on an offpeak service, often going out the day before my appointment as the difference in price paid for a London Hotel for the night and I also return in the late evening. Although the...

Top