Having not been to Glasgow for a while up the WCMl, I thought it about time to visit up there and risk going on Avanti West Coast, so on Sat 3rd Feb I did a day return to Glasgow, here the trip report:
Sat 3rd Feb
I set off at 11.45pm for the 40 mins drive to Exeter, to catch the 01.10 Flixbus, to London Hammersmith, which operated by Berry’s Coaches, , I arrived in good time, so went to Subway and got my usual Meatball‘s bowl, then the coach arrived just after 1am, with it being one of their usual 21 plate Vanhool‘s, we got delayed around Taunton Jct 25 by suspected bridge jumper, which delayed us by about 55 mins, we missed out ‘Bridgwater, which saved us about 20 mins, and with good run and no Motorway closures arrived Hammersmith about 06.12.
I had 2 minute walk to the Hammersmith and City line, which caught to Euston Square, didn’t record the unit number, where to save time going booking office, I purchased my tickets via the Avanti West Coast website on my phone, arrived at Euston in good time, so headed to Platform 4, which was showing on Real time Trains, as the platform, and 390131 being my ride to Glasgow Central, I boarded soon as was allowed to, and headed to coach G, which was un reserved, and got myself a table of 4, as the train was fairly quiet the whole journey, pretty much kept it to myself for the whole journey, which was good, I got my iPad out and headphones, to settle down for the journey, and used Real time Trains so could see our progress.
I haven‘t been on a Pendolino since their refurbishment, and some of the things I liked and others not, the seats look nice enough, and like the higher backs, but they have gone for more hard ironing board seats again, which not great, the old seats were more comfy, the wireless charging was good, better than plugging in charger etc, and the whole ambience was good. We left pretty much on time, within seconds, and ran well up to about Bushey, where at Watford Junction area the Slow lines were shut for works, so we slowed down, and the running beyond was good for a short while, then slow then good again, until Rugeley area, where a London-Crewe 350 unit, was allowed out in front of us, and followed to Crewe, and at Crewe we got bit more held up, as the 350 did it Crewe terminate, and the 06.04 Euston-Edinburgh was ahead of us, sat in platform 11, which we overtook, putting us back us back in right path, so we were running 11.5 mins late now.
We carried on ok to Warrington, where we had 7 mins stop at platform, for trespassers between there and Wigan, so now were 16 mins late, and we carried on like this to pretty much all the way to Lockerbie area, where a freight briefly held us up and then further slowings on approach to Glasgow, made us 19 mins late, which overall not too bad, and didn’t affect my day. The run up had been reasonable, with just a few small delays.
Once arrived Glasgow, i headed into town, to get some food and look around, ended up at place called Bar Soba, which did Asian Street food, and had Steamed Pork Dumplings and Singapore Noodles, which were both really delicious, and the bar was cool and trendy, then i had wander around, looked in few shops, but no money to spend, then I headed back to Glasgow central as was bit bored wandering around, and waited for train back to London.
I caught the 15.38 Glasgow-Euston, which was Pendolino 390148, and boarded in good time, again getting myself a table of 4, which as was quiet train again, kept to myself for whole journey, we departed on time, and ran well to Stafford area, where there was a bit of a palava, as when we had passed through Crewe, there had been a Liverpool-Euston and a Manchester Euston, both there same time, the Liverpool due first and the Manchester next, but for some reason the Liverpool had 15 min wait at platform, so the Manchester went first, then the Liverpool, but the Manchester had next stop Stafford and the Liverpool next stop Watford Junction, so to get correct paths, they had Liverpool overtake the Manchester at Stafford, and by the time the Manchester got released we were right on its tail, but fortunately we then all ran well to respective next stops, where we arrived just under 2 mins late, which not bad at all, then with slack timings for engineering works and good run, we arrived Euston just over 13 mins early.
Then I caught Victoria Line train to Victoria, where I then popped into Sainsbury’s to get bit of food for journey home, ended up getting couple packets sweets, Wine Pastels and skittles, know bit weird but hey ho, then waited for 22.20 Nat EX 406 to Exeter, which was 68 Plate Levante Mk11, for good and uneventful run to Exeter, arriving 2 mins late, at 03.02am, then 35 mins drive home, arriving back about 03.40am.
It had been a good day out, and good to have been on a high speed tilting blast up the West coast, Avanti had in my opinion been good, and through luck etc, i had avoided major delays and any cancellations, so i would use them again. The Pendolino’s refurb was good, but i did notice some rough-weird riding at times, like a sort of shaking on straight track when accelerating etc, just bit weird, think maybe the track and the tilting mechanisms are getting bit old now, so prone to rough riding.
I hope this report was good as last, and if there are things people like me include and advice, ill happily accept it.
Sat 3rd Feb
I set off at 11.45pm for the 40 mins drive to Exeter, to catch the 01.10 Flixbus, to London Hammersmith, which operated by Berry’s Coaches, , I arrived in good time, so went to Subway and got my usual Meatball‘s bowl, then the coach arrived just after 1am, with it being one of their usual 21 plate Vanhool‘s, we got delayed around Taunton Jct 25 by suspected bridge jumper, which delayed us by about 55 mins, we missed out ‘Bridgwater, which saved us about 20 mins, and with good run and no Motorway closures arrived Hammersmith about 06.12.
I had 2 minute walk to the Hammersmith and City line, which caught to Euston Square, didn’t record the unit number, where to save time going booking office, I purchased my tickets via the Avanti West Coast website on my phone, arrived at Euston in good time, so headed to Platform 4, which was showing on Real time Trains, as the platform, and 390131 being my ride to Glasgow Central, I boarded soon as was allowed to, and headed to coach G, which was un reserved, and got myself a table of 4, as the train was fairly quiet the whole journey, pretty much kept it to myself for the whole journey, which was good, I got my iPad out and headphones, to settle down for the journey, and used Real time Trains so could see our progress.
I haven‘t been on a Pendolino since their refurbishment, and some of the things I liked and others not, the seats look nice enough, and like the higher backs, but they have gone for more hard ironing board seats again, which not great, the old seats were more comfy, the wireless charging was good, better than plugging in charger etc, and the whole ambience was good. We left pretty much on time, within seconds, and ran well up to about Bushey, where at Watford Junction area the Slow lines were shut for works, so we slowed down, and the running beyond was good for a short while, then slow then good again, until Rugeley area, where a London-Crewe 350 unit, was allowed out in front of us, and followed to Crewe, and at Crewe we got bit more held up, as the 350 did it Crewe terminate, and the 06.04 Euston-Edinburgh was ahead of us, sat in platform 11, which we overtook, putting us back us back in right path, so we were running 11.5 mins late now.
We carried on ok to Warrington, where we had 7 mins stop at platform, for trespassers between there and Wigan, so now were 16 mins late, and we carried on like this to pretty much all the way to Lockerbie area, where a freight briefly held us up and then further slowings on approach to Glasgow, made us 19 mins late, which overall not too bad, and didn’t affect my day. The run up had been reasonable, with just a few small delays.
Once arrived Glasgow, i headed into town, to get some food and look around, ended up at place called Bar Soba, which did Asian Street food, and had Steamed Pork Dumplings and Singapore Noodles, which were both really delicious, and the bar was cool and trendy, then i had wander around, looked in few shops, but no money to spend, then I headed back to Glasgow central as was bit bored wandering around, and waited for train back to London.
I caught the 15.38 Glasgow-Euston, which was Pendolino 390148, and boarded in good time, again getting myself a table of 4, which as was quiet train again, kept to myself for whole journey, we departed on time, and ran well to Stafford area, where there was a bit of a palava, as when we had passed through Crewe, there had been a Liverpool-Euston and a Manchester Euston, both there same time, the Liverpool due first and the Manchester next, but for some reason the Liverpool had 15 min wait at platform, so the Manchester went first, then the Liverpool, but the Manchester had next stop Stafford and the Liverpool next stop Watford Junction, so to get correct paths, they had Liverpool overtake the Manchester at Stafford, and by the time the Manchester got released we were right on its tail, but fortunately we then all ran well to respective next stops, where we arrived just under 2 mins late, which not bad at all, then with slack timings for engineering works and good run, we arrived Euston just over 13 mins early.
Then I caught Victoria Line train to Victoria, where I then popped into Sainsbury’s to get bit of food for journey home, ended up getting couple packets sweets, Wine Pastels and skittles, know bit weird but hey ho, then waited for 22.20 Nat EX 406 to Exeter, which was 68 Plate Levante Mk11, for good and uneventful run to Exeter, arriving 2 mins late, at 03.02am, then 35 mins drive home, arriving back about 03.40am.
It had been a good day out, and good to have been on a high speed tilting blast up the West coast, Avanti had in my opinion been good, and through luck etc, i had avoided major delays and any cancellations, so i would use them again. The Pendolino’s refurb was good, but i did notice some rough-weird riding at times, like a sort of shaking on straight track when accelerating etc, just bit weird, think maybe the track and the tilting mechanisms are getting bit old now, so prone to rough riding.
I hope this report was good as last, and if there are things people like me include and advice, ill happily accept it.
