Further to my recent blog on the two Chiltern related books I bought last Saturday at Moor Street...
David Postle of KRM Publishing tells me that 'Birmingham Moor Street Station - A Century of Enterprise' is due to hit the shops next week. In the meantime, he is happy to take orders:
Contact details: krm@krm.org.uk Phone number: 01562 825316. If you want a copy posting to you it is £19.95 (not charging postage).
Friday, 17 December 2010
Virgin Pendolinos Wednesday 15th December 2010
Regular readers of this blog will know that I was booked onto Virgin First Class travel today through the Telegraph promotion that ran in November. £18 each way is truly a bargain...
Caught the 10.50 Pendolino from Birmingham New Street. In the new timetable from 12th December, this train is shown as the last having a full breakfast service in the morning. In fact, it and the two previous departures offer hot bacon or sausage rolls in place of the breakfast range available earlier. Certainly an improvement over the cold sandwich snack but not quite what appears to be promised! As ever, two servings of cold drinks and coffee/tea to accompany the food.
Another change, at least until the end of February, is that Virgin are offering Free Wi-Fi for both standard and first-class passengers. The service is still based on T-Mobile's offering but the version for mobile devices such as iPhones now has Google co-branding. One of the downsides of this move is that the speed of connection seesm to be reduced as the bandwidth is presumably being shared even more thinly than before!
Nevertheless, another good run as Virgin prove yet again that a VHF timtable is entirely possible on the WCML...
Returned to Birmingham on the 20.03 from Euston. This service was reasonably busy in First Class being the first to accept the Telegraph promotion tickets and Virgin's own discounted advance first tickets. Interestingly, many were using it only to the first stop at Rugby.
The food selection seems to have improved for the cold snack service. I enjoyed a very tastly stilton and pear roll which was accompanied by a nicely wrapped box of two chocolates. As ever, regular servings of drinks (hot and cold) on offer.
On time arrival into New Street ended a very good, and certainly value for money, Virgin train experience...
Caught the 10.50 Pendolino from Birmingham New Street. In the new timetable from 12th December, this train is shown as the last having a full breakfast service in the morning. In fact, it and the two previous departures offer hot bacon or sausage rolls in place of the breakfast range available earlier. Certainly an improvement over the cold sandwich snack but not quite what appears to be promised! As ever, two servings of cold drinks and coffee/tea to accompany the food.
Another change, at least until the end of February, is that Virgin are offering Free Wi-Fi for both standard and first-class passengers. The service is still based on T-Mobile's offering but the version for mobile devices such as iPhones now has Google co-branding. One of the downsides of this move is that the speed of connection seesm to be reduced as the bandwidth is presumably being shared even more thinly than before!
Nevertheless, another good run as Virgin prove yet again that a VHF timtable is entirely possible on the WCML...
Returned to Birmingham on the 20.03 from Euston. This service was reasonably busy in First Class being the first to accept the Telegraph promotion tickets and Virgin's own discounted advance first tickets. Interestingly, many were using it only to the first stop at Rugby.
The food selection seems to have improved for the cold snack service. I enjoyed a very tastly stilton and pear roll which was accompanied by a nicely wrapped box of two chocolates. As ever, regular servings of drinks (hot and cold) on offer.
On time arrival into New Street ended a very good, and certainly value for money, Virgin train experience...
Saturday, 11 December 2010
New timetable starts 12th December 2010
Don't forget that the new National Rail timetables start tomorrow (Sunday 12th). I have already blogged on the Chiltern changes, so find below the details for the three companies which actually offer First Class travel Monday to Friday.
Of course, the sad news is that the Wrexham and Shropshire service has been heavily pruned Birmingham to London. Now there are only two trains a day from Tame Bridge Parkway, though there remain three return trips. The two trains south are at 06.44 (arr London Marylebone 08.57) and 09.02 (arr London Marylebone 11.15). Trains from Marylebone are at 09.24 (arr Tame Bridge Parkway 11.45), 16.30 (arr Tame Bridge Parkway 18.43), and 18.30 (arr Tame Bridge Parkway 20.43).
Prices remain very competitive (£120 Flexible First Return) and, of course, the service is superb in all respects apart from the length of journey...
LondonMidland now have an additional through train at 17.46 from Euston to New Street though it does take 2 hours 17 mins (Don't forget that the 17.13, 18.13, and 21.13 trains from Euston take only 2 hours 3 or 4 mins). Other than this addition, the service is as before.
The Virgin Pendolino service remains unchanged. Given that Virgin have said they'll be bidding for the new 2012-2027 franchise, it will be interesting to see how they up their game in relation to the use being made of First Class carriages during most of the day...
Of course, the sad news is that the Wrexham and Shropshire service has been heavily pruned Birmingham to London. Now there are only two trains a day from Tame Bridge Parkway, though there remain three return trips. The two trains south are at 06.44 (arr London Marylebone 08.57) and 09.02 (arr London Marylebone 11.15). Trains from Marylebone are at 09.24 (arr Tame Bridge Parkway 11.45), 16.30 (arr Tame Bridge Parkway 18.43), and 18.30 (arr Tame Bridge Parkway 20.43).
Prices remain very competitive (£120 Flexible First Return) and, of course, the service is superb in all respects apart from the length of journey...
LondonMidland now have an additional through train at 17.46 from Euston to New Street though it does take 2 hours 17 mins (Don't forget that the 17.13, 18.13, and 21.13 trains from Euston take only 2 hours 3 or 4 mins). Other than this addition, the service is as before.
The Virgin Pendolino service remains unchanged. Given that Virgin have said they'll be bidding for the new 2012-2027 franchise, it will be interesting to see how they up their game in relation to the use being made of First Class carriages during most of the day...
For Chiltern die-hards...
Two books were being sold at Moor Street during today's celebrations, and I was fortunate to get a copy of each signed by the respective authors...
The Chiltern Railways Story
by Hugh Jones tells "the story of the most successful of Britain's new private railway companies". I know Hugh from days in Banbury and can vouch for the meticulous work that has gone into producing this definitive history, and for the support of his long-suffering wife Rosemary who entertained many Chiltern personnel to dinner so that Hugh could get first-hand accounts...
Better still, Hugh is donating 50% of the royalties from the book to the Railway Children charity!
Birmingham Moor Street Station - a century of enterprise by Ian Baxter and Richard Harper details the story of the Building, Heyday, Decline and Closure, and Re-Opening and Re-Birth of this amazing station. Fascinatiing photos accompany a text which is detailed and informative. Published by KRM Publishing, it costs £19.95 (ISBN 978 0 9534775 9 3)
The Chiltern Railways Story
by Hugh Jones tells "the story of the most successful of Britain's new private railway companies". I know Hugh from days in Banbury and can vouch for the meticulous work that has gone into producing this definitive history, and for the support of his long-suffering wife Rosemary who entertained many Chiltern personnel to dinner so that Hugh could get first-hand accounts...Better still, Hugh is donating 50% of the royalties from the book to the Railway Children charity!
Birmingham Moor Street Station - a century of enterprise by Ian Baxter and Richard Harper details the story of the Building, Heyday, Decline and Closure, and Re-Opening and Re-Birth of this amazing station. Fascinatiing photos accompany a text which is detailed and informative. Published by KRM Publishing, it costs £19.95 (ISBN 978 0 9534775 9 3)
Going First Class with Chiltern - well almost...
Great celebrations at Birmingham Moor Street station today as Chiltern prepared to launch its new timetable for the services from tomorrow (Sunday 12th December).
Of course, the big news is the move of 1 off-peak service an hour away from Birmingham Snow Hill to start at Moor Street on the 55 mins past the hour (from 9.55)with an improved journey time of 2 hours. (Coming back, the equivalent 20 minutes past the hour - from 9.20 manages the journey in 118 mins).
However, the more intriguing development is the use of Wrexham and Shropshire stock and crew for the 05.46 from Moor Street and the 16.33 return. This locomotive hauled train is timed to take 126 mins to London and 122 minutes back.
In the strangely titled leaflet 'Important information for regular sevice users', Chiltern state the First Class carriage of this stock will be available to all Chiltern Railways ticket holders (ie standard class) and that there will be a full catering service offering breakfast on the way up to London and dinner on the way back. What it doesn't say is whether the Wi-Fi will be available...
Given that Wrexham and Shropshire staff are superb, the stock is the best loco-hauled stock on the network, and the meals are simply deliciously good value, one wonders why Chiltern are downplaying this brilliant move on their part... After all, at £35 advance or £49.50 walk-on plus £12.50 for the meal (presuming it follows W&S pricing) from Birmingham AND £30.90 walk-on back from London plus £12.50 for a meal, it knocks spots off Virgin's early morning / early evening offering!
By the way DON'T pay Chiltern's peak return fare from Birmingham as there are NO peak fares from London Marylebone. See my blog post of June for full details.
Of course, the big news is the move of 1 off-peak service an hour away from Birmingham Snow Hill to start at Moor Street on the 55 mins past the hour (from 9.55)with an improved journey time of 2 hours. (Coming back, the equivalent 20 minutes past the hour - from 9.20 manages the journey in 118 mins).
However, the more intriguing development is the use of Wrexham and Shropshire stock and crew for the 05.46 from Moor Street and the 16.33 return. This locomotive hauled train is timed to take 126 mins to London and 122 minutes back.
In the strangely titled leaflet 'Important information for regular sevice users', Chiltern state the First Class carriage of this stock will be available to all Chiltern Railways ticket holders (ie standard class) and that there will be a full catering service offering breakfast on the way up to London and dinner on the way back. What it doesn't say is whether the Wi-Fi will be available...
Given that Wrexham and Shropshire staff are superb, the stock is the best loco-hauled stock on the network, and the meals are simply deliciously good value, one wonders why Chiltern are downplaying this brilliant move on their part... After all, at £35 advance or £49.50 walk-on plus £12.50 for the meal (presuming it follows W&S pricing) from Birmingham AND £30.90 walk-on back from London plus £12.50 for a meal, it knocks spots off Virgin's early morning / early evening offering!
By the way DON'T pay Chiltern's peak return fare from Birmingham as there are NO peak fares from London Marylebone. See my blog post of June for full details.
Friday, 3 December 2010
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...
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...
Wednesday, 1 December 2010
Virgin First Class fares
Just as in the summer (see my posts in June and July 2010), Virgin has followed up the Telegraph promotion with one of its own... Basically, off-peak single First Class tickets to/from Birmingham and London are available for £19 between Saturday 11th December and Sunday 23rd January if booked by the 5th December through the Virgin trains site.
When I checked for Monday 13th December, trains available from Birmingham New Street were those departing between 10.50 and 14.10, and 18.50 through to 21.10. Trains from London Euston were the 6.03, 10.23 through to 14.23, and 20.03 through to 23.30. Note that meals are included on the 18.50 and 19.10 from Birmingham, and the 6.03 from London making those trains a particularly good choice!
Given that First Class travel includes access to the excellent First Class lounges and gives Free Wi-Fi, this offer is brilliant value for money...
When I checked for Monday 13th December, trains available from Birmingham New Street were those departing between 10.50 and 14.10, and 18.50 through to 21.10. Trains from London Euston were the 6.03, 10.23 through to 14.23, and 20.03 through to 23.30. Note that meals are included on the 18.50 and 19.10 from Birmingham, and the 6.03 from London making those trains a particularly good choice!
Given that First Class travel includes access to the excellent First Class lounges and gives Free Wi-Fi, this offer is brilliant value for money...
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