Tuesday 30th November

Up to London on Tuesday at the start of what turns out to be a big freeze.. However, no problems for me on the Birmingham to London run nor on its return.

Having a few days notice of the timings for my meetings, I was pleasantly surprised to find that Virgin were offering a £44 Advance First Class Single fare on the 9.10 out of New Street. As this was £3 cheaper than the Advance Standard Class Fare, there was no contest (writing today Friday 3rd I see that this applies for trains on the 14th so its is always worth checking the First Class panel on the virgintrains.co.uk site).

Spent a productive hour in Virgin's First Class lounge at New Street - free Wi-Fi, coffee, cereal, snacks and loo - before heading to Platform 2.

The trouble with the 9.10 is that it comes from Wolverhampton and, although presumably Network Rail know that a Pendolino takes up the whole of the platform, it is shown as arriving and departing from 2B. The Indicator on Platform 2A - the Firts Class end of the train - resolutely claimed that the next train was the local to Walsall; hardly helpful.

Once on the train, all was well apart from a lack of Wi-Fi. As ever, the train crew couldn't help and, as Hotline seems to have ceased publication, there was no help number to ring to find out what the problem was. One would have thought by now that Virgin would have trained their First Class hosts to at least know the basics of what to do if Wi-Fi is not working...

Coffee / tea offered after Birmingham International, and a full English breakfast served after Coventry. Good run too until the approach to Euston when slight congestion caused a 5 min delay on arrival.

Overall, good value for money but one feels that Virgin could do so much better in both publicising and delivering its First Class service...

Returned on the 1900 Clubman from Marylebone. As Chiltern do not operate Peak Fares from the London end of the journey, a walk-on return was £31.90 - truly value for money. The Clubman was relatively quiet so able to work at a table with socket.

Slightly slow journey but an almost on time arrival at Snow Hill (those additional minutes between Moor Street and Snow Hill really do help Chiltern's punctuality figures). So, as ever, well done Chiltern...