London to Crewe

[Ian99]

Hi

Looking at buying 2 tickets London to Crewe departing Satuturday morning 8 May and returning the next day at lunchtime ish.

I can see £22 Super Off Peak return tickets limited to London Midland trains but these take a fair bit longer to get there. I can also see special offers on Virgin trains but the total of 2 singles seem to be pretty close to a £60.10 normal Off Peak Return price.

Does anybody have any thoughts on a better approach or a cheaper approach or maybe just a comment on the comfort levels of LM trains ....

Thanks in anticpation!

 

[Multiple Unit]

With Lm I would immagine it depends weter its a MK1 or Mk2 350 set you may be more comfortable with a table seat but I have noticed on the Mk1s a few times now that the toilets have been out of use but LM will do Toilet Stops.

Id Look at seeing if there was any cheap returns or singles from Birmingham to London and Just pay from Crewe to Birmingham.

 

[Geezertronic]

With Lm I would immagine it depends weter its a MK1 or Mk2 350 set

Mk1 or Mk2 350 set?? You mean 350/1 or 350/2 ?

 

[Ian99]

........I have noticed on the Mk1s a few times now that the toilets have been out of use but LM will do Toilet Stops.....

Thanks for that - it makes it sound as though they actually stop the train just so people can use the toilet! Is that true and has anyone else found the toilets to be regularly out of order?

 

[Green Lane]

Thanks for that - it makes it sound as though they actually stop the train just so people can use the toilet! Is that true and has anyone else found the toilets to be regularly out of order?

Well, I'm not exactly a regular traveller on LM services. I mean I don't commute with them or anything, but I have travelled on about a dozen of their trains in the last few weeks, on the route in question, mainly on Saturdays.

I've possibly been fortunate in that all of the toilets have worked on the trains I have been on, although I have to admit I've mainly used the toilet facilities in the early mornings, before anyone's had a chance to stuff them up or generally wreck things.

Going from Euston to Crewe as I did last Saturday (en-route to Liverpool), I changed at Stafford (as was rightly recommended by the very helpful guard).
The reason being, the train I was on had a planned twenty minute wait at Stafford, plus it was going on via the Stoke loop, stopping at intermediate stations. At that particular time it was actually quicker to change trains if proceeding to Crewe.

So, you could go the toilet during the wait at Stafford if the on-board facilities are out of order. In fact I did at Stafford station, but to put it politely, the urinals had overspilled or something. So, Like me, all other passengers decided to use the cubicles instead.

There was also a previous toilet opportunity at Rugby as the train did stand there for 15 minutes, but this was only because the train was diverted to avoid the Northampton loop due to engineering works, meaning we'd arrived 15 mins earlier than timetabled.

The main thing that prevented me going to the toilet on one or two of the services was that I could lose my seat when the train was totally rammed or even on one service, it was so packed, I couldn't physically get to the toilet without really doing some sort of body gymnastics to squeeze through the crowds. But to be fair I think that was on a 4-car service that was meant to be an 8-car service. Thankfully, generally it has not been quite that packed.

 

[Ian99]

I did the journey above and paid about a third of the price of a non-TOC specific ticket. Bearing in mind the price, I thought the comfort levels, toilets and train were excellent. No catering on board mind you and if the guard had announced that there would be a 10mins stop at one station, I'd have got off and bought something from a platform cafe.

 

[Pumbaa]

But to be fair I think that was on a 4-car service that was meant to be an 8-car service. Thankfully, generally it has not been quite that packed.

No Crewe services are 8-car beyond Northampton; they all divide there. Platforms are too short up the Trent Valley at Atherstone, Rugeley, Stone, Kidsgrove and Alsager.

And I don't think any BHM>LIV services are 8-car either, although open to correction.

 

[Green Lane]

No Crewe services are 8-car beyond Northampton; they all divide there. Platforms are too short up the Trent Valley at Atherstone, Rugeley, Stone, Kidsgrove and Alsager.

And I don't think any BHM>LIV services are 8-car either, although open to correction.

Yes, that's correct, the journey I mentioned where the train got really packed happened to be southbound, sorry I wasn't clear on that point. I think the train I was on was meant to join onto the train from Birmingham at Northampton, although I could be mistaken. As it happens, it remained 4-car to Euston and it was between Northampton and Euston that it got really packed. On a previous journey a couple of weeks earlier it did join onto another 4-car train at Northampton and that did help a lot.

 

[Pumbaa]

Yes - on Saturdays the BHM and CRE trains join at NMP. The BHM comes in first, the CRE behind it. When the BHM portion is late (often) and the CRE portion ends up at the front, it results in the 350/1 being sent back to BHM and the 350/2 from BHM to CRE. Bit of a problem really.

During the week, most Crewe services that aren't between 11 and 3 have another 4 carriages added at NMP to cope.

Sundays anything can happen - including terminating the CRE at NMP in the bay platforms. LM love doing that, and then making everyone traipse to P3...

 

[transportphoto]

Yes - on Saturdays the BHM and CRE trains join at NMP. The BHM comes in first, the CRE behind it. When the BHM portion is late (often) and the CRE portion ends up at the front, it results in the 350/1 being sent back to BHM and the 350/2 from BHM to CRE. Bit of a problem really.

During the week, most Crewe services that aren't between 11 and 3 have another 4 carriages added at NMP to cope.

Sundays anything can happen - including terminating the CRE at NMP in the bay platforms. LM love doing that, and then making everyone traipse to P3...

Just to Clarify those Abbreviations for those who don't know

• BHM - Birmngham New Street
• NMP - Northampton
• CRE - Crewe

I had to look them up as (some) didn't spring to Mind!

 

[eddygrim]

i would personally pay the extra 4 the vigin train because
1-they have toilets in use
2-you get a express train not a communter
3-quicker
4-you can go first class
5-a shop on board
6-a better journey all together

 

[Pumbaa]

Oh god...