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Is it greener than a bus? I’d be really interested to see a comparison between a modern Euro 6 or higher coach, vs a 222, per passenger mile.

It’s a shame Arriva’s pockets were not deep enough to sustain this through Covid. It would almost certainly have been a profitable operation now.

Great read, thanks for sharing. You inspire me to be a little more adventurous!

Whatever happened to the Renfe Trenhotel stock, which was running until Covid?

I’d had a number of rides from Lancaster - Leeds via the Bentham Line on a 144. A bit bouncy and noisy, but pleasant in the daytime with the lovely views out of their large windows. I generally preferred the experience to a cramped 150. Generally speaking, I found any journey over an hour a...

That seems like an incredibly small battery capacity. Many mid sized EVs have a larger battery than that. I’d have thought something several times the size would have been possible, and created a much more useful product.

There’s been at least one GC 180 going about it’s business with the lower front panels adjacent to the coupler wrapped in maintenance tape for a number of months now. Is this one and the same or are there multiple examples? Literally being held together with tape. The 221s can’t come soon enough.

The voice of TPE, Hull Trains and Lumo is a former radio presenter who is now a driver. And very good (at both) he is, too.

Liverpool - Hull might have some merit. Not a lot of residential accommodations near Paragon. I’m less familiar with Lime Street, but I recall it’s largely commercial space around it so the 68s may be better tolerated there. Whatever happens, these trains need to be better deployed, releasing...

The story of Nova 3 is nothing short of a debacle. It’s of the kind that deserves a write up in Private Eye or similar.

Here’s an example of why, despite all the opportunistic politicking, I’m glad First have lost this contract. The knock on effects of not running a service have cost real people their livelihoods: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0fmp3lg

Thank you for this. Those stabling locations sound much more sensible, and hopefully will impact fewer local residents than they did/do at Scarborough

Frankly, it’s good to see anything at all running all the way from Cleethorpes to Liverpool. Is there now enough space at Cleethorpes to stable 68/mk5 rakes overnight? I understand this was an issue in the past.

Just to add: there’s been a rake sat at Gascgoine wood for a number of weeks now. It’s powered. It’s incredible just how much time these mk5s have spent sitting around since construction. It must be one of the lowest utilised fleets, currently.

I understood lack of crew training was an issue - but is there something fundamentally wrong with the trains themselves?

Hull Trains found themselves in a similar situation with their 180s a couple of years ago - So much so that they even temporarily hired in a couple of HST sets ex GWR. It sounds like where GC are with their 180s now. What really needs to happen is a follow on order of 802s - for so many...

You must be exhausted after that - did you catch 40 winks at any point during the trip?

Disappointing! It’s a shame there isn’t a suitable substitute available, or perhaps a 47 on the back to provide more power. Perhaps, reading between the lines, some of these tours haven’t sold as well as anticipated?

I’d be grateful that catering is still available: Post covid, Hull Trains still have no catering whatsoever in standard. It’s disappointing to me that they haven’t chosen to restore it, but the economics of it obviously stacks up for the business

Have Northern published their timetables for the days either side of the strikes yet?