Oh I wish...
I'll edit that. Also I might add a stop at Nunthorpe. It could be a Bi-mode IEP, in which case it would be 10-car, and divide at Middlesborough, and the other portion could go to Redcar Central, Redcar East and Saltburn.
Selling loads of dirt cheap advance tickets probably didn't help their business plan much either.
Though to be fair, I probably wouldn't have used W&S as often as I did, as a lowly student at the time, if those advances hadn't been available!57s, to split hairs, but given that Virgin have discontinued any regular Pendolino "drags" in passenger service due to the unreliability of the process, I see that re-introducing the practice could be a problem.
As well as all the problems of service reliability brought about by operating over the long (and slow) single line to Whitby: Very easy for a comparatively small delay on the East Coast to cause the train to miss its' path on the Esk Valley line, and vice versa when starting from the Whitby end.
This is the proposal I would support, rather than any more complex ideas about alternating destinations, and I would like to see it happen come the 2016 timetable recast. 1tph Birmingham - Liverpool, 1tph Birmingham - Preston and 1tph Euston - Crewe - Liverpool. Liverpool technically gets a second train per hour to London (albeit slower, but at least the LM Crewe services are 110mph and avoid Northampton now) without requiring any input from the seemingly recalcitrant or unwilling Virgin, and you also introduce a direct service between the potteries area, Stoke et al, and Liverpool.
Well that should be one east coast HST tied up for an entire day doing very little. I also wonder if any other train would be able to pass at any of the "loops" at Nunthorpe, Battersby or Glaisdale
It might also be fun getting off at some of those stations - they are tiny! I wonder what the journey time would be like from Northallerton to Whitby and back. Surely this is more suited to an excursion type of train than a service train!
Now, lets see if we can rustle up a driver with both route and traction knowledge
Selling loads of dirt cheap advance tickets probably didn't help their business plan much either.
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57s, to split hairs, but given that Virgin have discontinued any regular Pendolino "drags" in passenger service due to the unreliability of the process, I see that re-introducing the practice could be a problem.
It's also worth noting that Virgin no longer lease their own class 57s, they hire them in from DRS for "thunderbird" duties.
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As well as all the problems of service reliability brought about by operating over the long (and slow) single line to Whitby: Very easy for a comparatively small delay on the East Coast to cause the train to miss its' path on the Esk Valley line, and vice versa when starting from the Whitby end.
I am very much in favour of giving Middlesbrough a direct service to London as part of the East Coast franchise, but a through train to Whitby strikes me as a none starter. A more regular local service over the Esk Valley line, and better connections at Middlesbrough, would be a greater boon to the communities that it serves in my opinion.
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This is the proposal I would support, rather than any more complex ideas about alternating destinations, and I would like to see it happen come the 2016 timetable recast. 1tph Birmingham - Liverpool, 1tph Birmingham - Preston and 1tph Euston - Crewe - Liverpool. Liverpool technically gets a second train per hour to London (albeit slower, but at least the LM Crewe services are 110mph and avoid Northampton now) without requiring any input from the seemingly recalcitrant or unwilling Virgin, and you also introduce a direct service between the potteries area, Stoke et al, and Liverpool.
What about the route knowledge then?
Alternatively it could be Dundee, Haymarket (to provide a quick service between Dundee and Edinburgh), Edinburgh Waverley, Newcastle, Durham, Darlington, York, Doncaster, Lincoln (reverse), Newark Castle, Nottingham, Leicester, St Pancras, Ebbsfleet International, Gravesend, Margate, Ramsgate, Dover Priory, Folkestone Central, Ashford International, Tonbridge, Redhill (reverse), Gatwick Airport, Chichester, Fareham, Havant, Southampton Central, Salisbury, Yeovil Junction, Axminster, Exeter St Davids (reverse), Newton Abbot, Totnes, Plymouth, Liskeard, Par, Truro, St Erth, and Penzance.
Never mind, it's all been swept under the carpet remarkably quietly...!I doubt there is going to be a better troll post all year.
You have done well young boy.
I know perfectly the ECML and on the way to Middlesborough. I then know the route from Middlesborough to Nunthorpe and Battersby to Whitby.
To what standard of knowledge? Could you, for example, tell us what route indications would be acceptable for a train booked to run south along the ECML from the signal at the south end of platform 3b* at Doncaster, or state the method of signalling between Glaisdale and Whitby? What's the speed over the Down Stamford to Down Slow connection at Helpston Junction? What would be the first indication of a wrong route (i.e. Stamford instead of Tallington) at the latter?
