Chiltern - still the alternative to Avanti West Coast?

Part of the impetus for starting the blog back in 2010 was my frustration that friends and colleagues weren't aware that there were alternatives to Virgin's Pendolinos (and Virgin fares) for the journey to London. Thus my blog did tend to highlight the many good things about the Chiltern service from Birmingham Snow Hill and Moor Street to London Marylebone - a tendency which grew with the introduction of the Silver Sets and the demise of the Wrexham and Shropshire service. Yesterday, Chiltern published the timetable for services from Sunday 12th December, though in a very basic format (only the 'print' version has the notes...). Strangely, no Silver Set services are indicated. Is the pattern from the current timetable to be continued (11.10 and 17.14 from Marylebone; 07.53 and 13.55 from Moor Street)? Covid is still having an effect on the service pattern as Snow Hill's xx.12 departures are not consistently hourly across the day. Thus Moor Street continues to be the key departure station for Birmingham with an hourly pattern of xx.55 and xx.15 departures for much of the day Monday-Friday (see below for full list). Journey times tend to be around 110 minutes for the xx.55 departures and 115 minutes for the xx.15 departures. Of course, with Chiltern one is sacrificing speed for lower fares. Chiltern's own peak return fare is £123.10 - and only required from Birmingham - as compared to the Any Permitted peak return fare of £188.80 - either direction Monday-Thursday - whilst the off-peak return fare of £52.80 is without evening time restrictions from London as compared to the Any Permitted £59.80 with its Monday-Thursday evening time restrictions. Don't forget that you can return via Chiltern in the M-Thu evening peak on an Any Permitted off-peak ticket by asking for a Change of Route Excess (to 'via High Wycombe') though when I asked to do this recently I was told not to bother and simply waved onto the train at Marylebone... Super off-peak returns are £33.10 though with time restrictions As ever with fares, don't pay for what you don't need when using a 'peak' ticket (ie a peak single out from Birmingham at £77 could be mixed with a super off-peak single for the return journey), check for railcard and group travel discounts, and look for split ticket options too. All to be covered in future blogs... Finally, Chiltern don't provide on-board refreshments nor is there 'First Class' available. If the Silver Sets are running then the Business Zone carriage is a (small) step up from the standard class carriages but whether the supplement of £15 off-peak or £30 peak is worth the enhanced ambience is a moot point (Seatfrog bidding isn't available for Chiltern). Departures from Birmingham Moor Street (Monday-Friday from 13th December 2021): 0515, 0542, 0610, 0633, 0711, 0753, 0825*, 0855, 0915, 0955**, 1015, 1055, 1115, 1155, 1255, 1315, 1355, 1415, 1455, 1515, 1615, 1654, 1710, 1755, 1835, 1917, 2018, 2118 Departures from London Marylebone (Monday-Friday from 13th December 2021): 0605*, 0711, 0744, 0811, 0910**, 1010, 1037, 1110, 1137, 1210, 1234, 1337, 1410, 1437, 1510, 1537, 1618, 1647, 1714, 1747, 1815, 1847, 1915, 1947, 2010, 2037, 2110, 2210, 2233, 2307 * First off-peak train from Birmingham; All trains are off-peak from Marylebone for outward journeys. NOTE that there are no peak restrictions to / from London Euston on Fridays ** First super-off train - restrictions from Birmingham and restrictions from Marylebone

Taking the long way round - one of the pleasures of retirement...

Four months into retirement and several journeys to London under my belt on the Covid-lite railway, what better way to restart my blog than a journey over the route from Birmingham New Street to London Paddington via Reading... Readers of the Blog since its inception in February 2010 will know that I have always had a soft spot for this CrossCountry / First Great Western route. The current Covid-lite CrossCountry timetable has only an hourly service from New Street to Reading departing at xx.04 starting at 06.04 and runing through to 22.04. Monday to Friday ticket restrictions remain in place on fares to London meaning that the first 'Off-Peak' service is the 10.04 (and you can't return from Paddington between 16.00 and 18.30). Voyagers continue to be the rolling stock - one gain from the Covid-lite timetable is that many services are now two sets running together which would ease overcrowding on this route if passenger levels were normal (they're not). Walk-on Off-Peak return fare is now £59.80 standard class and £174.40 First Class - these are Any Permitted (set by Avanti West Coast) and allow journeys by any 'reasonable' route between Birmingham and London and are of course valid for a month. Naturally, there are ways to reduce the cost which I will cover in later blogs; for now, I want to highlight one of the recent innovations which make life more pleasant: Seatfrog. Seatfrog is an App for Android and iOS phones which allows you to 'bid' for a First Class upgrade prior to travel. Between Birmingham and London, Avanti West Coast services and those on the CrossCountry / First Great Western route are available. CrossCountry in particular have embraced the concept to provide very reasonably priced upgrades whilst First Great Western and Avanti West Coast have not been so generous (though no doubt will argue that their upgrade prices reflect the superior First Class offering on their services). So for my journey south on the 10.04 CrossCountry to Reading and the 20.15 return I was successful in bidding £5 each way. First Great Western would have allowed me to bid £10 for the onward connection to Paddington on the 11.48 and again for the 19.32 return but for a 24 min journey I have my doubts on how worthwhile this is. Also, should you miss the connection, the upgrade isn't transferable and the refund is from the Train Operator not through the App (see the FAQs). Travelling First Class on a Voyager is a 'no-brainer' for £5... Coach 'A' tends to be quiet; the seats are more spacious and compfortable (and aligned with the windows); the First Class hosts are attentive; and the complimentary snacks enjoyable. On both services, the promised Bacon Rolls out and Sandwiches back were available (see the menu). Note that refreshments are not available on the 21.04 and 22.04 from Birmingham and on the 21.15 from Reading. Overall journey times are 128 mins out and up to 134 mins back (including the connection time at Reading).... Why not go along for the ride?