Monday 13th September

Up to London Marylebone on the 8.12 Chiltern Clubman from Snow Hill today. This train comes from Kidderminster so is full of commuters to Snow Hill, Moor Street, and Solihull. Nevertheless, tables are to be had, and I got one with working sockets from Moor Street.

Also joining at Moor Street is the trolley service which made its way to my end of the train before Warwick Parkway. Not quite the same as using the Wrexham and Shropshire buffet car but reasonable enough and not too pricy at £3 for a coffee and flapjack.

Reasonably filled by Warwick Parkway customers for London but not so that tables became crowded. Skipped the Leamington Spa stop as a CrossCountry service was stuck in the platform due to a passenger being taken ill - an interesting judgment by Chiltern control as this made sure that Banbury and beyond passengers were not delayed but at the cost of an extra hour's journey for any Leamington Spa passengers...

Returned on the 14.50 Clubman which is a far better service to catch back to Birmingham than the preceding 14.20 Class 165 service (see last Monday's comments). No trolley service on pm Chiltern trains of course but a Spiced Apple drink from Marlyebone's AMT kept me going.

Reasonably quiet so no trouble getting to a table with sockets. Good on-time journey back to Snow Hill. Interestingly, in the light of the Chiltern proposed timetable changes in December, I was one of the few passengers remaining on the train after Moor Street. Clearly, the termination of key off-peak trains at Moor Street is not going to inconvenience many people...

At £31.90 off-peak return with clean trains, working toilets, and friendly staff, Chiltern continue to set the value for money standard from central Birmingham!