Reasons for an enthusiast to go out of their way to use Hull Trains?

[Egg Centric]

I'm just sorting out a journey where I had an opportunity to use Hull Trains for the Doncaster-Kings Cross portion. Having looked at a couple of reviews they seem completely pointless for this if you are not doing it for cost, time, or bashing reasons - that is to say that on the ECML bit there doesn't seem to be anything unique about them other than price, the colour of their seats or perhaps their timing specifically suiting. So for most enthusiasts except bashers there wouldn't be a reason to use them unless turning right at Doncaster if heading south and vice versa.


Indeed they looked like basically exactly the same interior as LNER (down to the font!) other than the colour, and everything else about them strictly inferior. This is opposed to say Grand Central where you get different stock for example.

Am I missing something that means I should give them a go next time? If this thread isn't clear, I'm not interested in:

• Price
• Timing
• Taking another operator purely for the sake of it / collecting stock (this is a reason for an enthusiast who likes to "collect" stock or train operating companies but doesn't apply to me personally)

I am interested in:

• Different stock (that isn't basically identical from passenger expereince - i.e. a different IET is fine but not if the cabin is copied and pasted)
• Interesting catering experience
• Interesting seats / cabin layouts
• Lounges or weird wifi freebies
• Unusual routing that wouldn't be experienced with another operator.
• Extreme eccentricities amongst staff (e.g. I would be interested if there was a guard who was either especially malicious or wonderful, singing to you and things like that)
• You get the idea. Hopefully?

Now I didn't expect any of these other than the first. But the reviews have made it clear that that one isn't happening. So I see no reason to make any special effort to take them. Is this fair or are there other reasons I'm missing?

I'm not sure how clear this question is, it's Friday night and I've had a few.

 

[rg177]

They do offer some individual Airline-style seats in Coach A (?) - basically the Standard Class coach at the cab-end. There's only one wheelchair space there - so a couple of the seats adjacent are singular just to keep aisle space free. The Avanti Evero trains appear to do this as well - but no other operator on the ECML has such a layout.

 

[Doctor Fegg]

I think the USP of Hull Trains is that they offer direct trains from Hull?

That seems more likely than basing their business model on "PSUL type stuff". But I may have misunderstood.

 

[Egg Centric]

I think the USP of Hull Trains is that they offer direct trains from Hull?

That seems more likely than basing their business model on "PSUL type stuff". But I may have misunderstood.

I've reworded to hopefully provide more clarity.

 

[Ghostbus]

I'd say it's a fair bet that any open access operator, but especially one that serves Hull, is going to have it's own special character/culture.

 

[Harpo]

For rare routing, pick a weekend when Hull divert to St Pancras.

The old road avoiding Sheffield isn’t that rare but the route via Toton is rarer and its connection to the south particularly unusual as it’s only used by charter trains and diverted Hulls.

25/26 Jan & 1/2 Feb look to be the only instances in the current timetable according to PSUL, linked below.

https://www.branchline.uk/rail_chronology/PSUL/2025.pdf

 

[eastwestdivide]

The old road avoiding Sheffield isn’t that rare…

That’s true for the southern part of the Old Road, but passenger trains over the Rotherham-Beighton section are pretty much limited to those occasional Hull Trains diversions, plus charters.