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I'd certainly recommend it for CrossCountry routes, especially on a summer Saturday. Standard gets so full that upgrading to First is often the only way to guarantee getting on the train at all, let alone getting a seat, so it can get pretty busy.

They certainly used to close off the platform used by the NYMR at Whitby until everyone had alighted from an arriving train, before letting departing passengers onto the platform. I haven't been there for about ten years so don't know if that's still the case. I seem to recall the Snowdon...

Chime Whistle Publishing reporting on Twitter that a recent change in policy now requires double Voyager sets to have a Train Manager in both halves, rather than a TM in one and member of catering crew in the other: Is anyone able to shed a bit more light on this change and to why it has come...

I wonder if running it from Birmingham to the NW might be better than to the NE and Newcastle. There are currently no direct trains from Reading/Oxford towards the Crewe/Liverpool/Preston direction (except a very occasional Manchester XC which runs via Crewe) so it'd be harder to argue that...

Adding Didcot (for interchange for Swindon/Bristol) might be worthwhile, but I wouldn't miss out Banbury. It's the Banbury-Oxford section which is suffering heavily from XC's inability to provide a decent service, because there isn't a good quality alternative option (the GWR stopping service...

Like most on this thread, I'm very sceptical that this will ever happen. However, any proposal to improve the capacity on the Birmingham-Oxford-Reading axis is welcome, as the existing XC service is really not fit for purpose. Unfortunately, it sounds like this one would still involve running...

In my experience, if you really want to reduce dwell times, the best option is to remove reservations entirely and just let people park themselves in the first free seat they see, rather than wandering slowly down the aisles, trying to find their booked seat and potentially evicting someone...

If we're talking truly 'money no object', I wonder if there'd be any merit in grade-separating Coventry. Put the WCML Rugby-Birmingham traffic through new tunnelled platforms under the existing station, so they no longer conflict with trains heading south towards Leamington Spa or north towards...

The walk from the country end of Marylebone P5/6 to the country ends of P1 or P2 is about 650m according to Google. Given Chiltern have a habit of stabling empty trains at the buffer stop ends of the platforms, it's not an inconceivable walk if you are changing from an Aylesbury train to a...

I have, in the dim and distant past, received 'Delay Repay' for a cancelled train, where a replacement bus was provided, but I declined to use it and got the next train (2 hours later) instead. My justification for not using the bus was that the person I was travelling with got very travel-sick...

6046 is apparently going to be spending the season on hire to the Chinnor & Princes Risborough Railway. Will be an interesting change from the usual GWR tank engine! https://www.steamlocomotive.info/vlocomotive.cfm?display=23097

Guessing it's either because they can get the stock straight out of the sidings at Stourbridge going east without having to reverse in the platform (so no need for the driver to change ends), and/or because that's the furthest west they can arrange to book on a guard (as a prerequisite to...

Noticed this morning that, as of this week, Chiltern seems to have (re)introduced direct morning peak trains from Rowley Regis to Marylebone at 0650 and 0727, calling at Smethwick Galton Bridge and Snow Hill before picking up the usual path at Moor St. These are the 68-hauled trains which used...

I ended up paying for two sets of tickets as a result of the original ticketing farce. Despite asking for a refund, I ended up with a second set of tickets being issued anyway. I did manage to find a friend-of-a-friend who wanted them, so told Greatest Gathering team that's what I'd done, and I...

Technically speaking, the Chinnor & Princes Risborough railway does/did actually run over a Network Rail line to operate to Princes Risborough station. However, this is a rarely used siding, so presumably there are dispensations to avoid some of the more onerous requirements for running heritage...

Yes, probably doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things, just gives a better idea of who you're dealing with and who to expect the letter from.

Was it definitely a West Midlands Trains staff member that stopped and reported you? Leamington Spa station is managed by Chiltern Railways, and in my experience it's normally their staff manning the gateline, unless WMT were running a specific revenue block there.

From experience (after an XC train has been cancelled but a mobility-impaired passenger would've been able to take an alternative from Moor St), the assistance staff at New St are not willing/allowed to do this. Instead, they've put the passenger in a taxi directly to their final destination!

I'd normally do 2/3 railtours every year with RTC (often taking my wife and sometimes even the in-laws in dining), but didn't go on any last year due to the stock. It just doesn't really appeal not being able to hear and smell the loco. Instead all my railtour spend went to Vintage Trains, who...

Not necessarily a new thing. I've heard historical reports of First Generation DMUs that, if they got too crush loaded, the bodyshell would deform and the (slam) doors physically couldn't close until some people got off!