Should be a fun journey home.

[Griff]

Got my tickets through today for my journey home on wednesday for the Summer holidays. (15 weeks, get in!)
Ordered off national express east coast website, so it only came to about 18 pounds, which is not bad at all, I believe as well as railcard discount, I got a discount for one leg of my journey as it was with NatEx.

Mind you, It means I have to travel on specific trains *fingers crossed nothing goes wrong*

Mossley Hill: 9:04
Warrington Central: 9:33

Warrington Central: 9:44
Manchester Piccadilly: 10:09

Manchester Piccadilly: 10:20
Doncaster: 11:40

Doncaster: 12:00
Peterborough: 12:46

---

Mind you, I have to carry back a fair bit of stuff so getting on and off the trains and around the stations is going to be an annoyance but...but should be a fun ride. Last time I went home I got the train from Mossley Hill into Liverpool Lime Street and then out..when it came down to it I ended up on the same 10:20 out of Manchester Piccadilly as I will when I go this way..so I decided on the slightly different way.

[Dave]

Wow. 11 minutes is optimistic at Man.

[Kevo00]

With all that faff, you'd have been as well going down to London and back up!

[Griff]

Aye, though not as cheap mind.

[welshdragon]

Wow. 11 minutes is optimistic at Man.

I can go P3 - P13 in 3 minutes, go figure

[Dave]

Wow. 11 minutes is optimistic at Man.

I can go P3 - P13 in 3 minutes, go figure

Er, f*** off.

Besides, Griff's got bags and cases, and is going the OTHER way, where there is frequent congestion to get off 13/14.

I'd struggle with luggage.

[Badger]

Yep, Man Picc will be a bit of a s***!
Plenty of time to stroll through the underpass at Donny though.

[Gord]

I remember only having 10 minutes to get from one end of Chicago o'Hare airport to the other once. Somehow...and i'm still not sure how....i just made it. Almost died though...never ran so fast in my life with no time to apoligise to the people who i knocked out of the way!

My luggage never made it though....that arrived into Birmingham airport 3 days after me!

[welshdragon]

3rd edit:
You can still do piccadilly in 5-7 minutes, even with bags, you just need to be the first man off the train....
Ask the conductor if he knows what platform your train leaves from, saves idling... (they are both transpennine trains, so he can find out)

[Dave]

actually, you will probably be arriving / departing platform 13/14 anyway, i'll have a looksee...

No he won't. Cleethorpes trains start from Manchester Airport and call at Picc before reversing. That won't be at 13 or 14 as that buggers up one of the lines for ten minutes.

[welshdragon]

Yeah, realised that, hence the edit.

[Dave]

I'm sorry to say that a conductor is less likely to help an able-bodied person than someone with a disability. If i told the conductor that i had a connection to make, he'd tell me to f*** off and wait with the 50 others who also had a connection to make.

11 minutes is a close one - be said about it, and when you use Picc a bit more, you can comment.

[EXTspotter]

I remember only having 10 minutes to get from one end of Chicago o'Hare airport to the other once. Somehow...and i'm still not sure how....i just made it. Almost died though...never ran so fast in my life with no time to apoligise to the people who i knocked out of the way!

My luggage never made it though....that arrived into Birmingham airport 3 days after me!

Lucky bugger. On the way back from Punta Cana, Dominican Rep. to Exeter via Manchester, the original flight was 1hr 30 late, and we would have had 1hr 40 to make it from Terminal 2 at Manchester to Terminal 3 (the furthest apart), so we had 10 minutes to make it, but even though we got let off the plane first, we had to go through customs, and we arrived just after a 747 full of people from Orlando. We didn't make it, and instead had to take the train back. On august bank holiday saturday. Standing next to the toilet in a voyager for 5 hours after not sleeping for 30 and being on a plane for 8. Not fun!

[welshdragon]

Was that last bit aimed at me Dave?
I have to go through Piccadilly all the time to get to my mum's, and I have made plenty of 10 minute connections, as quite often my train is either starting or terminating there. Yes, at peak times it can be a b****, but I went through on Bank Holiday Monday without any problems, and made a connection within Griff's time limit (this included getting a ticket).
It can be a burden when you have bags, hence why if i know i have a lot of luggage i will give myself 30 minutes to connect at Manchester.
I also wasn't saying that the conductor should help. i was saying that the conductor can find out what platform the train is leaving from, The Transpennine conductors are nice chaps and are very resourceful, whether i have my cane out or not.
And yes, i do agree with you Dave that 11 minutes is a bit close, but it's doable.
Just avoid the main concourse (the bit where the shops are) and stick to either the footbridge or platform edges.

[jvassie]

I have the joys of getting across London every time I go home or come back up to York, that I can tell you is so much fun

Edit: Also, despite FGWs massive failings in cases, theyre staff at Exeter St. Davids were quite helpful, despite the fact the FGW train had been cancelled, and everyone was ferried onto a XC train, he still had the time to tell people which platform at Bristol TM the train to London was etc, I;d say thats more likely to be the general case, no?

[JamieLei]

Virgin trains can be dirt cheap if you travel at the right times. I frequently get the 1943 from London Euston to Birmingham. Price: £3.30

Looking at the 27th June for an example, you could go LIV-EUS for £7.25 (quite a few of those in the late afternoon/evening) and then KGX-PBO for £9.70 (the reverse direction for as little as £6.75) giving a total of £16.95 for LIV - KGX. If you really wanted to use the tube, add an extra £1.50 for the Oyster single, which is money well spent as knowing Griff, he'd go from Euston Square to Kings Cross via Paddington, Victoria and Liverpool Street!

Anyway the point is, Virgin evening fares can be dirt cheap.

Personally I think 11 mins is tight. I've done Birmingham to Paddington three times, splitting advance tickets at Oxford before and even I thought that 18 mins for a same-platform connection was risky (but that was mainly due to FGW's then-abysmal punctuality record).

[Griff]

Virgin trains can be dirt cheap if you travel at the right times. I frequently get the 1943 from London Euston to Birmingham. Price: £3.30

Looking at the 27th June for an example, you could go LIV-EUS for £7.25 (quite a few of those in the late afternoon/evening) and then KGX-PBO for £9.70 (the reverse direction for as little as £6.75) giving a total of £16.95 for LIV - KGX. If you really wanted to use the tube, add an extra £1.50 for the Oyster single, which is money well spent as knowing Griff, he'd go from Euston Square to Kings Cross via Paddington, Victoria and Liverpool Street!

Anyway the point is, Virgin evening fares can be dirt cheap.

Personally I think 11 mins is tight. I've done Birmingham to Paddington three times, splitting advance tickets at Oxford before and even I thought that 18 mins for a same-platform connection was risky (but that was mainly due to FGW's then-abysmal punctuality record).

£16.95 is pretty darn good for going that way and I do like the Pendolino. I'm happy with the way I'm going and it's not that much more expensive, its a nice route to take methinks and, though I agree that the connection time at Manchester is tight, I do like the station.

Ordinarily, if I were going that way and have little to no luggage I probably would go from Euston to King's Cross on the underground in the most longwinded way possible (and I'd enjoy every second of it) but with the luggage I have to bring back the underground would just be a unnecessary burden.

Transpennine are generally punctual, as are NatEx, no? and Northern Rail can't really cock up as their train starts only 9 minutes away in Lime Street, so I should be fine.

[Dave]

Train could easily start late due to a previous delay. If you're one of the last off the train at Picc it can take almost 10 minutes just to get to the platform 13 concourse.

[welshdragon]

There is always the slack time at termini. the train that you are getting from Mossley Hill will have been sat at lime street a good 30+ minutes, plenty of time to minimise a delay (unless it's over the 30 minute mark). Plus, if a train is delayed, the driver will drive at permissible line speed as much as possible, to try to catch up on the time he has lost.
TPE are known to be very punctual, and remember that the doors will close a good 30 seconds before departure, unless the conductor's in a good mood (and sees you), then he will wait.

[Dave]

There is always the slack time at termini. the train that you are getting from Mossley Hill will have been sat at lime street a good 30+ minutes, plenty of time to minimise a delay (unless it's over the 30 minute mark). Plus, if a train is delayed, the driver will drive at permissible line speed as much as possible, to try to catch up on the time he has lost.

That makes no difference.

If the train has a 20 minute turnaround (as standard for Northern) and the train is delayed by 20+ minutes, it's not going to happen is it?

Further, if the train is delayed by ten minutes, and the driver is due a PNB then the train is departing late - regardless of what the passengers want.

The driver drives at line speed anyway, that's how it's meant to work.