Friday 24 September

Up to London on the 7.53 LondonMidland service to Euston. The Class 350 four carriage set for thsi service starts at Crewe so is fairly full of Birmingham commuters on arrival at New Street. Slightly confusingly, it is announced as a terminating service but that didn't seem to stop a good crowd of passengers joining, mainly, it transpired, for Birmingham International, Coventry and Rugby.

As I had known on Wednesday that I was travelling today, I had booked a £16 First Class Advance Single. Clearly, this fare is not a complete secret as one or two other passengers were with me for the whole of the 2 hour 14 min journey. Otherwise, the compartment complement came and went at various key stations en route. Hardly busy however so I had one side of a table to myself and access to a working socket for my laptop.

The big surprise on leaving New Street was the distribution of a menu card by the on-board caterer tfp followed up by a visit by the catering trolley itself. Apparently this is a trial service following customer feedback and runs on the 7.53 and 8.53 services from New Street and the balancing services back. Food and drink seem reasonably priced - a coffee and a flapjack being £2.85 which is 15p cheaper than Chiltern and certainly less than Virgin - and the trolley appeared regularly throughout the journey. Alas, a First Class ticket doesn't mean its free.

Ticket checked after New Street and again after Northampton; toilets clean and working; on time arrival. Overall, heading towards matching Chiltern for value-for-money...

Had booked back on the 1303 Pendolino. Much to my delight, I had discovered that this service still had £26.50 First Class Advance Singles when I looked on Wednesday. Clearly a bargain as for the extra £10.50 not only do you get a faster service, free food, free Wi-Fi, more room, and a quieter environment but you also get use of the First Class Lounges at both ends of the journey.

First however you need to persuade a ticket machine at Euston to supply the booked ticket... Apparently, machines at the concourse side of the booking hall have had their card readers changed and none would accept my credit card. Fortunately, there are a few 'old' machines at the far side of the booking hall and one of these happily read my credit card. According to the harassed staff, 'management' are well aware of this problem but refuse to do anything about it...

Very disappointed with the main Euston First Class lounge. Naturally, being Friday lunchtime, it was busy but even so it was particularly poorly stocked with only the main area coffee/tea machines and orange juice dispensers in operation and little stock in the fridges. No food or biscuits and few staff to be seen (certainly not on the bar). A great contrast to previous visits, and certainly a huge difference to the New Street Lounge which was generously stocked when I dropped in on arrival.

The 13.03 wasn't particularly busy. The First Class hosts were efficient and friendly though I was surprised to find a dirty mug in the setting for my booked seat. Coffee on departure from Euston followed by a selection of drinks and a choice of Sweet Potato and Falfa Wrap or Ham sandwich and fruit or toffee muffin. Coffee again offered before Rugby.

Though the Pendolinos are fast, their speed does highlight the poor track condition at various points of the journey - surely the dips in the track being hit a speed can't be doing the wheelsets much good...

So by booking in advance I enjoyed two first class journeys for the equivalent of the any permitted standard class off-peak fare, and both ran to time!