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I seem to recall that there were some air conditioned Mk 2D coaches with side-corridor compartments. When were the last of these withdrawn? I believe they were the last hauled stock to feature compartments. Of course the 442 units which had a few compartments were mk 3 derived, weren’t they?

Or have more coaches. All standing would be more “efficient” if that’s the only metric!

The Coach D arrangement on the ex-Avanti Voyagers shows just how spacious and comfortable these trains could have been across the board if they had been longer and had a less dense seating layout.

I have seen guards donning retro BR caps in the recent past (again, locations withheld to protect the guilty ) Regarding the Station Ghost theory, I seem to remember someone once telling me that James Street Station in Liverpool (Mersey Railway/ Merseyrail underground) had a ghost. Does anyone...

I distinctly remember Class 142 Pacers on that route from about 1991 until electrification.

Like Cross-Country, this is another very long distance route that should have excellent stock and service like comparable length services on the continent. As it is, it’s a Cinderella service and it’s a wonder the service still exists at all, sadly.

Meanwhile in continents Europe they get nice new long trains with features that long distance trains USED to have here but no longer do…

Moderator note: Split from https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/avanti-class-221s-to-cross-country.276083/page-9#post-7245439 More Crosscountry woes today. 17:39 Oxford-Piccadilly. 4 coaches. People unable to get on. First Class virtually empty. Train staff telling people they can’t get on...

When both services were diesel operated I used to wonder why it wasn’t operated as a through Basingstoke-Newbury via Reading service. Obviously that wouldn’t work now with Newbury being electic…

Thanks! I did wonder if one of the Bidston-Wrexham line stations would be, given that line was an odd LNER outpost.

I could have sworn this service was still running in the early 90s. I’ll have to dig out my 1991 timetable and check!

Some of them survived into LMS days. It’s believed there is only a single known bit of film footage that features them (seen on Merseyside Memories DVD Vol.2 The Loop and Link). Interesting that the L&Y map shows the Exchange-Southport line in blue. This is the colour used for the Merseyrail...

Related but OT… which was the most WESTERLY served by the LNER?

The daily Liverpool-Edinburgh was a two-car 158 in the early days of VT. Express livery but without Express branding. The interior had red-ish pink seats (otherwise original seat type and layout), a small 2+1 First Class, an onboard trolley service, and a pay phone which took phone-cards and...

I I remember seeing one at Harrogate once. It would have been some time around 1999/2000. I should add it was a 142.

That is interesting. I remember seeing a picture of the entrance to Liverpool Central Low Level shortly after nationalisation which said “To Wirral and Mersey Lines”. Presumably the line to Rock Ferry was the “Mersey Line” with the lines to West Kirby and New Brighton being the “Wirral Line”...

That’s one of the most annoying things about the Voyagers. They had the potential to be very comfortable trains. If they had been longer with better leg room, a better mix of tables and airline seats and better window alignment, they could have been brilliant.

Level boarding should be possible with further iterations of this stock. If Stadler can do it, why not? Even if the ramp isn’t “level”, it should still be possible for an automatic ramp to be deployed without having to rely on station or train staff to do it manually. Even if not for “Granny”...

I wonder whether building a straight line right up the centre before forking off to Glasgow and Edinburgh might work? Perhaps just two interchanges (with East-West Rail and the Transpennine Route) would be desirable?

Another vote for 80x stock for XC from me as a daily sufferer travelling to many destinations on the route! May I suggest 7-9 coaches per set, bi-mode with the new Avanti seating and layout? I agree only one First Class end coach is necessary (it’s rare to ever see First Class full in a...