British Rail: Leeds - London (Inside Story '91)

[Jones]

Saw this last night and found it both interesting and depressing at the same time.
From the lack of motivation to the missing morale was it this bad in 1991?


InterCity Leeds to London 1991.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bRnMGQQFkME

[youtube]bRnMGQQFkME[/youtube]

 

[AntoniC]

Thanks for that !

I found it really interesting.

 

[westv]

I wonder what the woman with the £8k season ticket would pay now!

 

[ainsworth74]

Where was it from/to?

 

[Jones]

Didn't say how far she went (fnarr) but what would be the price from Leeds to London.

 

[YorkshireRider]

Wakefield to London

 

[Jones]

According to National Rail Enquires £22,460.00


:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

 

[gordonthemoron]

When I had my last Leicester-St Pancras season in 1997, it cost a bit ove £5k, cost now is £8,540 so not increased that much really (only 70%)

 

[yorksrob]

From the lack of motivation

The staff all seem very dedicated and professional to me. They have some gripes about working conditions but I don't think that represents a lack of motivation.

Everyone having to look deliriously happy all of the time seems to be a twenty-first century fixation.

Lots of nostalgia - particularly seeing the "old" Leeds station (and now the "old" Kings Cross) and the "old" interior of the InterCity 225.

Comparing this to the current crop of documentaries it's striking how little has changed. Fare dodging, suicides on the line, things grinding to a halt in the snow.......

 

[ChiefPlanner]

It was not that bad - as ever , railway people keeping the job going in very bad weather etc.

 

[CHESHIRECAT]

Bet that Cheif Stewards' made a ££ or two over the 40 years !!!

 

[scarby]

I watched a similar programme uploaded by the same user, about railways in the south-east in 1993.

I was quite shocked how "old-fashioned" it all felt - the stock, the fashions, the people. It all looked rather grey.

I wondered how the current years will be viewed another 20 years down the line?

 

[yorkie]

Here's what I said last time this thread cropped up:

The inspector who caught the woman travelling from Grantham, Peter Kirton, sadly died last year, there is some info here.

The guard who he was inspecting (Kevin) is still on the railway but works for XC and has almost every connection memorised. If you have a ticket to a random station that hardly anyone has heard of, the chances are he will not only know where it is but be able to tell you the times & even platform of the next train to catch to get there!:grin:

I doubt many of those drivers are around, some of them looked on the verge of retirement then. But some of the on-board staff may still be there?

Anyone had Kevin as their guard recently? Not seen him for ages (I generally avoid XC) but someone assured me he is still about.

I watched a similar programme uploaded by the same user, about railways in the south-east in 1993.

We had a thread on that too: NSE "Inside Story"

 

[Darren R]

Wasn't this the winter of "the wrong kind of snow"? I remember a nightmarish return journey from London to Leeds on the then-new 225s, and I'm sure that documentary was being filmed at around the same time before being broadcast soon afterwards.

I don't recall how late the train was by the time we finally arrived in Leeds, but I do quite distinctly remember crawling quite literally at walking-pace at what felt like (at the time) most of the way from Doncaster to Wakefield Westgate.

I was on the evening 'down' Yorkshire Pullman service, and I was fortunate enough to have partaken of dinner in the restaurant car: salmon en croute with fresh vegetables. And believe it or not, to this day it still remains one of the best meals I've ever eaten! (Under BR - they of the sandwiches with the curled-up edges!)

Much as I enjoy train journeys, and much though I like snow, the novelty of watching the snow-covered landscape crawl by as the snow beat against the window soon began to dwindle! And to make matters worse, the table-service ended at Doncaster!