LondonMidland up to London - Virgin trains back to Birmingham

Regular readers of the blog will know that LondonMidland tempted me to give the Desiro First Class experience another go by offering 25% off advance fares. So it was that I pitched up at Birmingham New Street yesterday to take the 10.13 service to London for a fare of £12.

There were three of us in the First Class compartment on departure so getting one of the two tables on which to work wasn't a problem. In fact, the compartment stayed quiet until Northampton after which it slowly filled as we stopped at the remaining three stations en route to London Euston. As there were ticket checks yesterday after Northampton, it would seem that there is an off-peak First Class market in this area.

As I had a major piece of work to finish, the 2hr 14 min travelling time was well used. In fact, although I would like to see WiFi fitted to these units, the lack of Internet access was a great aid to concentration. So, £12 for two hours travelling office space - not too bad!

Coming back, I actually traveled Standard Class on a Virgin Trains Pendolino - something that I hadn't done for some time. My train of choice was the 19.23 service to Wolverhampton which, after a Watford Junction pick-up stop, is fast to Coventry. Yesterday, one of the extended Pendolinos was forming the service so there was plenty of standard class seating available: I ended up in Coach C (the Shop coach) with a table seat on which to work.

Have to admit to being pleasantly surprised by the experience. There were barrier checks before boarding; the reservation system was working, and arrival was almost to time at New Street. WiFi was good though it narks to have to pay £4 for an hour's usage. Of course, being Virgin, not everything was working... the Shop couldn't offer hot drinks nor could it take cards. My main grouse, however, is that as Virgin is the preferred route for Students and Families, Coach C was rather noisy: two young female students spent the journey bemoaning loudly the failings of their parents, whilst a family with teenage girls relived the  show they had been to see. Perhaps I'm getting old!

Overall, although I had two good journeys yesterday, I still experienced nothing to persuade me that Chiltern's £25 Super Off-peak ticket on a Silver Set / Clubman isn't still my preferred choice for most Birmingham to London journeys...