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We were on the 1110 departure from Crewe (1030 from Manchester) which was 153327 and 153913 and very busy! Chose to ride in the latter, first time for many years and could be the last.
On Friday I joined a queue of 50+ people for the 0947 from Blackpool North which must surely make it worthwhile to operate. I agree this is not necessarily typical but there are obviously passengers from Cheshire and the Midlands who do use these trains, as you have said.
The toilet issue seems to happen frequently on both 195s and 331s. I had to change to another unit last night when the train got delayed by a faulty train in front, but obviously this is not possible in a single unit. How we miss the back up of a simple toilet a la Pacer!
The problem of loading distribution on Liverpool to Norwich trains was made worse, I think, when reservations as far as Nottingham were all applied to the through coaches rather than the Nottingham turn backs.
There are several very helpful staff on the barriers at Blackpool North but at busy times some of them do get annoyed by the harassment dished out by those who don’t want to show their tickets on arrival. I have been actively encouraged by one staff member, who I hadn’t previously met, to go...
Blackpool isn’t exactly dead at any time of year nowadays. Perhaps it could be regarded as overkill, but after the second operator pulled out it makes some sense. There are also several instances of the train not making it to Blackpool when running late, which makes it very convenient to turf...
My personal preference is for the 156s, especially when they are well looked after. I agree that the 158s have some pluses but they are best avoided in hot weather especially if you need to wear a mask.
Quite often the departure boards show platforms for trains which have not yet arrived, some of which could be heavily loaded at this time of year because of Illuminations visitors.I am not sure there is really enough space for both arriving and departing passengers at the same time without...
Our recent experience of travelling from BPN recently is that passengers are allowed onto the trains much earlier than previously. The change of Fireworks Displays from Fridays to Saturdays this year has caused mayhem to all public transport in the town on Saturday nights. It is interesting that...
I agree that 150s should be further down the list, probably after Pacers if we still had any, but I find 319s preferable to 195s and several other units
We travelled from Blackpool North to Nottingham and back direct several times in the mid to late 80s on the loco-hauled Harwich Boat Train, that was superseded by the Super Sprinter service which went direct to Cambridge or Stansted on alternate departures.