Your Last Train Journey?

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Re: Your Last Train Journey?

Post by Pilot »

So, for the third week in a row, I went out travelling again, this time round the West Midlands.

Yesterday (Saturday):
0603 Sale Water Park to Manchester Airport on M5000 3083, the first Tram of the day, though they should operate early trams down to the Airport IMO.
0711 Manchester Airport to Crewe on 323227
0749 Crewe to Smethick Galton Bridge on 350110
0852 Smethick Galton Bridge to Stourbridge Junction on 172331

One of Chiltern's Loco-Hauled sets was in the Yard of Stourbridge whilst I got onto the other one.

0920 Stourbridge Junction to Leamington Spa propelled by 67014, the rest of the set was (DVT) 82303, (Mk3's) 10274, 12604, 12619, 12618, 12617 and 12623. I was quite impressed by the interior of these, the best I have seen in a long-while.
1012 Leamington Spa to Birmingham New Street on 220014, departed Leamington 55 minutes late and arrived at Birmingham 62 minutes late due to Signalling Issues around Didcot and the Aynho Jn areas. Screwed up some plans, and meant we were now Chasing a HST.
1208 Birmingham New Street to Smethick Galton Bridge on 323213
1222 Smethick Galton Bridge to Worcester Forgate Street on 172211 and 172337, lost time and meant a missed opportunity to Catch the already delayed HST at Forgate Street.
1332 Worcester Forgate Street to Hereford on 170635, held-up between Great Malvern and Hereford as we were waiting for the late-running services to clear off of the Single Track sections.
1513 Hereford to Worcester Shrub Hill powered by 43192 and 43094, the rest of the set was 41132, 40802, 42272, 42575, 42073, 42071, 42273 and 44033. Finally managed to catch the HST.
1614 Worcester Shrub Hill to Worcester Forgate Street, departing 13 minutes late due to being held up by a Railtour hauled by A4 60009 (Union of South Africa)
1624 Worcester Forgate Street to Birmingham New Street departing 20 minutes late.
1736 Birmingham New Street to Stafford on 350106
1827 Stafford to Crewe on 390009, departing 10 minutes late.
1911 Crewe to Wilmslow on 390131, departing 13 minutes late.
1956 Wilmslow to Manchester Airport on 323231
2008 Manchester Airport to Sale Water Park on M5000 3051

Does anyone know what events were going on in Birmingham yesterday that meant the trains were all overcrowded?
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Re: Your Last Train Journey?

Post by Dave »

West Brom were playing at home around the time you were in the area (Smethwick)
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Re: Your Last Train Journey?

Post by Pilot »

I had a bigger issue around the Worcester Area heading back to Birmingham, all the trains to Birmingham were full, had no issue because of West Brom fortunately (they're only a small team anyway :wink: )
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Re: Your Last Train Journey?

Post by Fleashosio »

Back from NYC, but I take the subway just about everywhere.
Someone wanted a picture of the ice skating rink in Central Park, and there happens to be multiple. Seeing as its incredibly cold outside and a little bit rainy (Bear with me, i'm from Texas, so niether the rain nor cold are things I am used to), I picked the closest rink so I could get a picture and quickly go back to the apartment and play OpenTTD. (I'm not joking. that was my freetime. c: )
Took the 2 train down from 72nd to 42nd street/Times Square (thank god for express trains). Transferred over to the N-Q-R line, and took the R train uptown because it was the first to show up. (Actually, I think I skipped a Q train because the map shows a random Q terminal in the middle of the route and didn't want to risk accidentally turning around and having to transfer again). Got off at 5th Avenue/59th because that corner was the closest to where I wanted to go.
I've noticed that lines like the N-Q-R and such, which have trains spending more time in the east side of the island, or other boroughs, seem to be much older models, and are much less comfortable to be in for a variety of reasons, whether that be AC, extra bumps on the journey, or more erratic acceleration/braking; and lines generally more in the west of the island have more up-to-date models, and are much more enjoyable. I'm talking about N-Q-R vs the 1-2-3, if that means anything to anyone. The R-line is running (I think) R46s, and the 1-2-3 line is running R62s and R142s. The 142s are only for the 2 line, and the 62s are for 1 and 3. I never ended up going far into an area where 1, 2, and 3 trains deviated from each other. I don't know why, but the 62s and 142s feel less cramped, regardless that they are actually roughly two feet narrower. Of course, I could be completely insane and they're all actually fine...

Oh, and a lot of the adverts on the walls seem to be mimicking recently popular memes. Not sure what to make of that.
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Re: Your Last Train Journey?

Post by Pilot »

Back out again as a bit of boredom-busting, so

Today (Sunday):
1153 Northern Moor to Manchester Airport on M5000 3065
1229 Manchester Airport to Manchester Piccadilly on 185113
1244 Manchester Piccadilly to Stockport on 158858
1258 Stockport to Manchester Piccadilly on 158832, departing 31 minutes late.
1356 Manchester Piccadilly to Manchester Oxford Road on 175102
1407 Manchester Oxford Road to Manchester Piccadilly on 185102, departing 3 minutes late.
1416 Manchester Piccadilly to Wigan North Western on 350403 and 350410
1459 Wigan North Western to Manchester Piccadilly on 350404 and 350408, departing 3 minutes late.
1535 Manchester Piccadilly to Stockport on 390045
1558 Stockport to Manchester Piccadilly on 175001
1629 Manchester Piccadilly to Manchester Airport on 350409
1649 Manchester Airport to Northern Moor on M5000 3086
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Re: Your Last Train Journey?

Post by EXTspotter »

Yesterday; Salisbury - Sherborne and back for work Christmas gathering at boss' house. 158 and 159 combo down and a single 159 back. Nothing quite like sinking into a deeply cushiony seat like on a 159 when you've had a couple... I may have snoozed the whole way back - lightweight!
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Re: Your Last Train Journey?

Post by JamieLei »

EXTspotter wrote:Yesterday; Salisbury - Sherborne and back for work Christmas gathering at boss' house. 158 and 159 combo down and a single 159 back. Nothing quite like sinking into a deeply cushiony seat like on a 159 when you've had a couple... I may have snoozed the whole way back - lightweight!
Those seats are indeed well comfy!
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Re: Your Last Train Journey?

Post by Redirect Left »

Yesterday, I got the train home, due to the bus being cancelled - heavy winds knocked down a tree blocking a road.

19:59 Northern service from Huddersfield to Batley, with no more than ten others on it.

First time I've got a train to my new flat, a minor improvement from the Penistone Line I used to frequent, a 155 instead of the Pacers there!
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Re: Your Last Train Journey?

Post by JamieLei »

Southwark to Kings Cross St Pancras, then onwards to Stratford International.

No services running through the Thameslink core, so it was Tubes for everyone valid on their normal ticket.

GTR were operating an emergency timetable, which consisted of a 10 minute frequency all stations from St Pancras to Bedford. Excellent crowd control at St Pancras, but then it is much easier to create holding pens at St P than Finsbury Park!
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Re: Your Last Train Journey?

Post by Geo Ghost »

I feel sorry for the TL. Something is always breaking for them and they never get much of a break :P
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Re: Your Last Train Journey?

Post by Redirect Left »

Just enjoyed a sprinter with a dead engine limping to Leeds.
Fun times.
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Re: Your Last Train Journey?

Post by Badger »

Recently lots of Adwick - Leeds (Northern321/322) and Leeds - York (TPE 185/Northern 158), and return.

Tuesday -

Adwick - Leeds. Northern 322.
Leeds - Skipton. Northern 333.
Skipton - Morecambe. Northern 150/2.
Morecambe - Leeds. Northern 150/2.
Leeds - Moorthorpe. Northern 2x144.

Today -

Adwick - Leeds. Northern 322.
Leeds - Manchester Victoria. Northern 158.
A stroll across the city...
Manchester Piccadilly - Hadfield. Northern 323.
Hadfield - Manchester Piccadilly. Northern 323.
Manchester Piccadilly - Sheffield. Northern 142.
Sheffield - Doncaster. Northern 142 + 144.

Not been needed in the office so I've had the opportunity to visit some places I've never been to before.
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Re: Your Last Train Journey?

Post by Pilot »

Whilst in Berlin

Monday:
RB14 from Schonefeld to Fredrichstrasse
M5 Alexanderplatz to Hauptbahnhof
U55 Brandenburg Tor to Hauptbahnhof
M5 Hauptbahnhof to Oranienburger Strasse

Wednesday:
RB14 Fredrichstrasse to Schonefeld
RB14 Schonefeld to Fredrichstrasse
U55 Bundestag to Hauptbahnhof
M5 Hauptbahnhof to Oranienburger Strasse

Thursday:
U6 Oranienburger Tor to Tempelhof
U6 Platz der Luftbrucke to Oranienburger Tor
RE7 Fredrichstrasse to Schonefeld
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Re: Your Last Train Journey?

Post by AlexFili »

Bit of a let down. Was meant to get on the 4:41pm service from Manchester Oxford Road to Warrington Central. The train pulled out of the station at 4:40! This meant that I missed it.
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Re: Your Last Train Journey?

Post by Redirect Left »

AlexFili wrote:Bit of a let down. Was meant to get on the 4:41pm service from Manchester Oxford Road to Warrington Central. The train pulled out of the station at 4:40! This meant that I missed it.
There is a reason timetables and posters generally say you should get there 5-10 minutes before departure ;)
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Re: Your Last Train Journey?

Post by audigex »

Barrow to Manchester Airport

Direct on the way down, but 2 and a half hours on a train with no working toilet (both being out of order), combined with musical chairs since they came down the train placing the reserved tickets AFTER everyone had boarded, meant it wasn't the best experience ever.

Then on the way back the most overcrowded 185 I've ever seen to Preston, and another much less busy one home.

All in all, not an advert for First TPE.
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Re: Your Last Train Journey?

Post by Dave »

They'd probably argue that they DID want that fourth carriage in them...!
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Re: Your Last Train Journey?

Post by audigex »

Yeah I don't particularly blame them for the overcrowding, they did want 4 cars on the 185s (although with it being a Sunday, and a Manchester-Glasgow train, what were all those shiny new 4 car class 350's doing? Sat in a depot presumably)
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Re: Your Last Train Journey?

Post by Redirect Left »

Shame the 185s will seemingly never be updated to more correctly match the passenger loads they face. For the route near me, between Manchester (Piccadilly) & York they're generally awful (MAN->(SYB)->HUD->(DEW)->LDS->YRK). Thins out after York to no standing though, no matter where the train is destined for after that, Scarborough, Newcastle or Middlesbrough. After York, the Middlesbrough train is almost empty the 5-6 times i've caught it
TPE recently introduced more trains on certain routes, although it seems to have done nothing, as from the journies I've done, they're still often as overcrowded as before.

Yesterday I saw a friend in Newcastle for a few hours.
11:43 TPE service to Newcastle. All on time, and actually somewhat not crowded!
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Re: Your Last Train Journey?

Post by Dave »

The Manchester-Leeds corridor is probably the poorest served intercity line. You could fill HSTs on it. It is somewhat down to the intercity layout of the 185s but that's exactly what they are for - again, the dept for transport have a lot to answer for.

Doubling up would be convenient, but until Preston-Manchester is wired there just isn't the capacity as 185s are still plodding through Bolton.
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