Posts Tagged ‘Trains’
Cheshire, England, Macclesfield, National Rail, Northern Rail, Northwich, Stockport, Trains, Virgin
In Journeys, Observations, Trains on March 9, 2010 at 8:12 pm
After having the idea in my head for a while, I finally went out for a cycle that mostly followed quieter lanes as my itinerary took in Gawsworth, Astbury and Goostrey on the way to Northwich. Many of the roads that I followed were new to me as was the town of Northwich itself. The plan was not to overdo it so I had designs on using trains to get home again. However, a missed train allowed an opportunity to check out the countryside on the north side of the town too. Well, the service is two hourly on Sundays.
When another train did come to the down at heel halt that is Northwich’s train station (the local user’s group have posters up regarding giving the thing a spot of TLC), I was glad to find that there were bicycle spaces available, especially with Northern trumpetting about there only being two per train. Eventually, there were three on the train without any protest from the conductor. Even so, there was no trouble with retrieving my mode of transport in Stockport so the next train serving Macclesfield saw me on board.
That was a Virgin so arrangements were more formal than the “help yourself” regime of Northern or CrossCountry. First, you need to get Virgin staff to unlock the compartment where bikes are kept on the train. On the night, a spot of (illegal) smoking was the cause of setting off a row between passengers so the process of loading involved a little wait. Once that little formality is out of the way, you need to find a member of the train crew to ensure that you get the bicycle off again (there are signs to that effect in case you are unaware or have forgotten), a pressing need when you are getting off at the next stop like I was. Saying that, the procedure worked without a hitch and I wasn’t dumped in Stoke or left bereft of anything. Incidentally, storage space didn’t seem to be a problem either.
England, National Rail, Scotland, Timetables, Trains, Wales
In Observations, Suggestions, Timetables, Trains on January 22, 2010 at 7:04 am
After a look at the National Rail Enquiries website, I have noted the appearance of a departure board form on the main page during the recent arctic spell and it’s still there after the restoration of full service. There is one annoyance that has just come to my attention, though. It’s that you cannot plan day return trips without some adjustments because the default behaviour is that the earliest return date is the day after the day of outward travel even if you specify the return date correctly. This is a situation that does annoy me and I hope that they get to removing that restriction. All in all, the new website feels rough underneath its shiny surface. Did they rush things in place of delivering a more polished item?
Arriva, Éire, Bowers, Buses, Cheshire, Derbyshire, England, Ireland, Macclesfield, Road Conditions, Trains, Weather
In Buses, Happenings, Journeys, News, Observations, Timetables, Trains on January 12, 2010 at 10:22 am
Since Sunday, there has been a very noticeable thaw. That’s not to say the snowy blanket is in marked retreat but that any that is lying on Macclesfield pavements is reducing and roads are staying clear or are clearing. The lack of severe frosts over the last few nights only can have helped. Bowers is providing an ever more complete service over its routes (amyone travelling between Macclesfield and Buxton needed to go around by Whaley Bridge when I last looked) and Arriva’s services around Macclesfield seem to be running OK from what I can see. The same statement applies to train services too.
More snow is forecast but this will be of the Atlantic variety so there is a chance that it will not stall what is a slow thaw; there may be disruption like what affected Ireland in recent days (bus services around Cork and Kerry were affected) but that may be part and parcel of things generally warming up. With all the snow that is lying, it is best not have a fast rise in temperature or we will have transport disruption due to flooding. So, it might be better to have a slow clearance than a fast one, especially in hill country where places are heavily plastered with the white stuff. I, for one, will be taking things as they come and it is looking as if places may be slippery on the way to our more usual maritime mix of weather.
130, 58, 61, A537, A6, Arriva, Bakewell, Bowers, Buses, Buxton, Cheshire, Derbyshire, England, Journeys, Macclesfield, Manchester, Northern Rail, Road Conditions, Trains, Transpeak, Trent Barton
In Buses, Happenings, Journeys, News, Timetables, Trains on January 10, 2010 at 3:01 pm
Yesterday saw me travel over to Derbyshire to see how things were over there. The hills between Macclesfield and Buxton were thickly plastered with snow but the A537 was clear on the way over though drifting snow was starting to cover it and cut down on visibility at the same time. It must have disimproved after that because the return journey on Bowers service 58 went around by Whaley Bridge on the return journey that evening. It was the 17:05 that I was using and doubts surfaces were surfacing regarding the running of the service and an enquiry of the helpful driver of the inbound service 61 from Glossop set things to rights after she rang the depot for information. That’s not to say that there weren’t confused passengers on board when the bus started to go a different to what was expected. Even so, we all got back to Macclesfield intact and that’s what’s important.
After spending some time enjoying the sunny snowscapes around Buxton, I popped over to Bakewell on the Transpeak service (the return wasn’t cheap at £5.80, it has to be said). Whiteness remained pervasive and the bus stuck to the A6 apart from serving Ashford-in-the-Water. Having come all the way from Manchester, it was running 10 minutes but that can happen on any day.
In general, there was a good supply of buses running in both Buxton and Bakewell but the story doesn’t look so good today. The only Bowers service running is the 61 between Glossop and Buxton so road conditions mustn’t have stayed as they were after more snowfall. Even trains running between Manchester and Buxton have been affected and drifting snow has been the given cause. A combination of more snow and it drifting about cannot be easy conditions within which to be working.
Around Macclesfield, there seem to be signs of a thaw and the 130 was out when I braved the conditions when I tried out my bike (most places were fine but I learned to keep away from steeper cambers and to keep a good tyre footprint on the road; any sliding was arrested by placing a foot on the ground so there was no bump of any kind). As I write this the sky is full of cloud and there has been the occasional flake of snow but tonight and tomorrow may tell tales yet. The cold spell is far from over so it’s a case of taking things day by day.
Arriva Trains Wales, c2c, Chitern Railways, CrossCountry, East Coast, East Midlands Trains, First Capital Connect, First Great Western, Gatwick Express, Grand Central, Heathrow Express, Hull Trains, Island Line, London Midland, London Overground, MerseyRail, National Express East Anglia, National Rail, Northern Rail, Scotrail, South West Trains, Southeastern, Southern, Stansted Express, Timetables, Trains, Transpennine Express, Virgin, Weather, Wrexham and Shropshire
In Journeys, Timetables, Trains on January 8, 2010 at 12:45 pm
When snow came down on us, the frailities of the U.K.’s transport information provision systems was apparent for all to see. It was that which showed the best side of microblogging services like Twitter. In that vein, here are the Twitter areas occupied by the train companies forming part of the Association of Train Operating Companies (ATOC) that itself runs National Rail Enquiries. It we get more snow during this big freeze, then these would be the places to turn for train running information.
Trains, Arriva, Scotland, England, Buses, Weather, National Rail, Wales, Northern Rail, Bowers, Arriva Trains Wales, United Kingdom, Road Conditions, Traveline, Twitter, Facebook, Real-time Web, Updates, Service Running Information, Centrebus
In Buses, Happenings, News, Timetables on January 7, 2010 at 8:45 pm
After its nearly grinding to a halt over the last few Arriva finally changed its website to deliver at a glance service running information in a format that is more server friendly. From the performance point of view, that seems to have done the trick and gives you a sense of what is happening very quickly.
What this reveals is that what is needed is a central repository of general bus running information for challenging weather conditions like those that we are having now. Currently, it’s mainly a case of going to each operator and seeing what they tell you. For Britain, Traveline would be ideal for this role but it now depends on where you are. Scotland, Wales and the North East of England (includes Cumbria for some reason) do well but the English North West and West Midlands are not set up for this at all.
Maybe, it’s something on which they need to work. If they don’t fancy doing all the technical work, then further feeding their Twitter presence might be in order. Bowers/Centrebus are an excellent example of what can be done as is what National Rail Enquiries is doing. Then, there’s Northern Rail and Arriva Trains Wales (perhaps ironic given the experience of the U.K. bus side of the business) too and there may be more out there on the real-time web than this so it’s well worth a look. Short, pithy updates will do so long as we know what’s happening.
National Rail, Ticketing, Timetables, Trains
In News, Ticketing, Timetables, Trains on December 15, 2009 at 11:19 am
A quick trip to the National Rail website reveals that it has undergone a marked change in appearance. Of course, it’s the algorithm that does the journey planning that really matters and only time will tell on that score. Even with just an initial look, I already have noticed one omission and it’s something that I have used a lot. The feature in question is the ability to find either the first or last journey of a given day by selecting from a drop-down box. It was something that I found very handy when planning day trips. Getting the same information is now going to be less slick so this is a step backwards. It may not have been a feature that many used and there is a workaround so it looks as if I’ll have to get used to a new way of doing things. Even so, it is a pity to have lost it.
Update: The facility is still there, albeit not where I would have expected to have found it. For what it’s worth, it’s in the leaving/arriving menu.
Delays, Derbyshire, Edale, Hope Valley, Manchester, Northern Rail, Sheffield, Timetables, Trains
In Happenings, Observations, Timetables, Trains on December 14, 2009 at 12:41 pm
Not wanting to waste a weekend that promised some decent weather had me out on a Sunday trip to Edale. All was going swimmingly until the driver of the Northern Rail service that was to take me the last stretch of the outbound journey had to tell us that there was a delay due to not having a conductor. For safety reasons, one has to be present and I suppose that it helps with revenue protection too. That delay was to be 15 minutes and all passengers that were on board had to disembark until a train conductor arrived. Overheard conversations revealed that there had been a night out and that someone was feeling rough after it. Was that the reason for the delay? That question remains unanswered but there is another: how do railways staff have lives involving going to live gigs at the same time as having a job that involves weekend working? Well, it doesn’t make getting out to see the Happy Mondays and their like any easier.
Caledonian Sleeper, Cheshire, Crewe, Fort William, Lochaber, Scotland, Scotrail, Trains
In Journeys, Observations, Trains on December 9, 2009 at 12:44 pm
Last weekend saw me take the Caledonian Sleeper from Crewe to Fort William. After a none too restful return from Aviemore in August, I booked a berth to make sure of a better night’s rest (being able to turn off the lights helps). It wasn’t the first time that I travelled by Sleeper to Fort William and a January 2006 escapade saw me arriving in Fort William feeling reasonably refreshed so I knew that my plans had some form, to use an expression from horse racing. Since that 2006 journey, memories have faded a little and I had forgotten how little floor space there is to be found even in a first class berth and the corridor wasn’t very wide either. Yes, I did travel first class on both occasions with the second outing costing less than the first with my getting an advance purchase fare the second time around. That’s never to say that it was cheap at £136 so it has to be a once in while extravagance and the standard single ticket is around £184, which is even more forestalling. Even the standard class fare isn’t cheap either and having two in a berth sounds restrictive.
The reason for the title of this piece is that there was more audible noise than I’d expected though it was nothing like the brake roar of a Mark II carriage like the one(s) on which I was travelling when going to and from Aviemore. The carriage in which I was travelling was immediately behind the locomotive on the way to Edinburgh so that may have been part of the reason for this along with the general turning of wheels that is unavoidable. Even so, I did manage to drop off to sleep even if it was to be interrupted from time to time. In keeping with the general lack of space, the bed wasn’t the widest but I discovered a duvet that either remained unfound or was absent on my 2006 trip. That was a bonus on the cold night and put a stop to any recourse to coverage with an outer jacket.
It was beyond Bridge of Orchy that I arose and opened the window blind to be greeted by the sight of snow-topped summits with the sun struggling from its slumber. That awakening was later than in 2006 when I looked out at Tyndrum Upper station and the tops were devoid of the white stuff too so that was one previsualisation put out of its misery. Breakfast duly arrived within a few minutes of the agreed time (included in the fare for first class and costing extra for standard class), the pull down tray shelf allowed me to down the alloted portions while gawping at what lay outside my window. In fact, I was left wondering when the glorious sights were to ease off to allow for ablutions (you get a covered sink in the berth) and collection of belongings but there was to be time for those necessities too.
All in all, it was a good journey and I went out into the frosty Fort William air not feeling the worst for wear after the night’s travelling. If I ever get to doing it again, I’d bring earplugs to make getting to sleep easier but you cannot do anything about awakenings caused by jolts as the train changes tracks at a junction. Even so, you do arrive feeling far better than you would after travelling overnight on a coach. On the surface, there are issues with value for money but a look at daytime fares helps to put that in perspective. Travelling mid-week helps too and there are bargain berths if you book ahead, especially if you are starting from London. Even with the cost issue and the fact that there are no Saturday night services, it probably is the best way to travel overnight to Scotland. While you could always fly and avoid overnight travel altogether, you’d miss out on those early sights of the hills and lochs and that has to be better than worrying about environmental consequences and luggage considerations. That the airborne option is not always cheaper either makes it less sensible to miss out on those visual delights.
Crossrail, DART, Dubai, Dublin, England, HS2, Iarnród Éireann, Ireland, Irish Rail, London, Manchester, Middle East, National Rail, Trains, U.S.A., United Kingdom
In News, Trains on November 23, 2009 at 7:21 pm
It seems that rail engineering projects aren’t being stymied by the downturn that seems to be the case in Éire as much as it is in other places. Today saw the announcement of further efforts towards putting the DART Underground in place for Dublin. It should be remembered that the original above ground DART was constructed in the middle of another recession in the early 1980’s so it looks as if history is set to repeat itself. Naturally anyone living above where the tunnels are to be going will be concerned but tunnel construction has happened in Ireland (and Dublin too) before without any above ground consequences so that should give a little reassurance. That there are forward thinking projects like this in progress in a country in public sector borrowing reduction should be some cause for optimism for the future, especially when there’s always the temptation to scale back these very things in the short-term.
The U.K. still retains a more expansionary approach with all of the excitement surrounding HS2. However, that will won’t be in place for a good while so enhancing what we already have might be a better idea. Thankfully, Manchester’s rail congestion is coming to notice and there’s London’s Crossrail and other such schemes in the offing too. With all of this and what is happening in the Middle East (Dubai) and with high-speed rail in the U.S.A., you have to say that railways are seeing something of a renaissance at the moment. Hindsight nearly always is 20-20 vision but it now very much appears that a transport strategy based around private motorised transport only was going to get us so far and we now have the congestion to prove it. Add the threat of global warming (has it been overplayed even if it’s real?) and the need to cut down on carbon footprints and it seems that we live in an interesting age when the benefits of public transport are there for all to see. Let’s hope that it stays that way.
Trains, Dublin, Ireland, Timetables, Wicklow, Irish Rail, Éire, Rail Engineering, Disruption, Iarnród Éireann, Belfast, Rosslare, Arklow, Eniiscorthy, Gorey, Landslip, Malahide, Viaduct
In Happenings, Incidents, News, Trains on November 18, 2009 at 7:48 am
The railway lines going up and down the east coast of Ireland have been having their share of problems in recent months. For one thing, Dublin-Belfast services were disrupted by the collapse of a viaduct near Malahide in north Dublin. Mercifully, no train was going over it at the time but the inconvenience for passengers cannot have helped the sustainability of the Enterprise service or local commuter services. Thankfully, that is behind everyone now and the hope is that any lessons to be learnt are heeded and that the economic downturn doesn’t slow down investment in the Irish rail network too much.
However, no sooner has one problem been sorted but another has surfaced. In fact, it turns out to have echoes of a one that had an impact on journeys between down the Wicklow coast earlier this year with the DART on other trains being unable to operate between Bray and Greystones because of line stability problems. Apparently, the cause of the latest round of disruption is all the rain that we have been getting in recent weeks and the result is a landslip south of Wicklow that was struck by a train running light at the time and instability south of Arklow. For passengers, travel between Wicklow and either Gorey or Enniscorthy will be by rail replacement buses until the end of the month (2009-11-30) with trains running the rest of the way. In a way, sorting the problem in a matter of weeks doesn’t sound so bad but that’s coming from someone who had to contend with a non-existant summer weekend train service for a few years because of the West Coast Mainline upgrade here in the U.K. Even so, let’s hope that nothing else afflicts east coast train services in Ireland for the forseeable future.
CrossCountry, England, Manchester, Northern Rail, Timetables, Trains, Virgin
In News, Observations, Suggestions, Timetables, Trains on November 17, 2009 at 7:26 am
After last year’s big timetable change, I highlighted on here an inconsistency whereby northbound Virgin and CrossCountry services ran so close together within the hour that we virtually had an hourly service from Macclesfield on Sundays. Well, that seems to have been sorted with a more sensible half-hourly spacing but southbound services would seem to suffer the same affliction on the same day of the week. After the December timetable changeover, things are set to look better but they lapse again in February. All in all, It makes you wonder if these companies speak to each other with the aim of improving customer service. Perhaps, we need to voice our concerns.
Éire, Bicycles, Cheshire, Dublin, England, Heuston, Leeds, Macclesfield, Northern Spirit, Rail Engineering, Rail Replacement, Railways, Skipton, Taxi, Trains, Virgin, Wilmslow, Yorkshire
In Observations, Trains on November 5, 2009 at 5:47 pm
Yesterday, I set down my observations and thoughts regarding carriage of bikes on buses. Perhaps naturally, my thinking has taken me into the area of carrying bikes on trains. On paper, that’s an easier proposition because most trains have some space set aside for bicycle storage. You may need to pay extra for carriage with a long distance express operator (Virgin Trains, for example) but it is included in the walk-on ticket price for most operators. The exceptions to this usual level of provision are some commuter services in the south-east of England where you have to sneak on folding bikes as luggage, a draconian state of affairs in my opinion.
Mind you, carrying any bike on a busy train is not the easiest thing to be doing. That’s what I faced when I needed to convey one from Skipton to Macclesfield in 2000. Thankfully, an obliging Northern Spirit train conductor allowed me carry it on even when there were bikes already on board and the DMU, like many, had only two spaces. Then, there was getting around Leeds station. There are lifts there now but this was before the major refurbishment that gave us what we see today and you needed a helpful station attendant to take you around use goods lifts and shop workers neglected to close the doors after them and the lift at platform level with us on the bridge! That made an already involved exploit a little more anxious than was needed. Saying that, I still caught my train to Manchester and another to Wilmslow due to rail engineering works. The Manchester changeover must have passed off with no trouble because I have no memory of it but getting from Wilmslow to Macclesfield involved a man with a very large taxi, a Ford Granada/Scorpio estate. If that wasn’t there, things would have been far more tricky.
That whole episode captures quite a few of the challenges that you have to overcome to get anywhere on the railways with a bike in tow. If there are engineering works, then you could be facing the obstacle that is the non-carriage of bicycles on buses or coaches. Even if there aren’t, there’s getting around train stations and Leeds is now both brighter and easier to get around than it use to be. Nevertheless, ticket barriers have been added and they are a new obstacle to be overcome that isn’t exclusive to Leeds since their use is spreading in the U.K. and beyond with Dublin’s Heuston Station now having them in Éire; thankfully, a certain amount of presence of mind has given us wide gates for those carrying wide articles with us. Finding space on a train is an ever enduring issue and may be one that is never resolved completely. In fact, modern trains have been getting less good at conveying luggage anyway, so much so that Virgin try to encourage you not to bring along too much; it is best not to attempt moving house by train then unless your worldly goods are none too numerous, not a situation in which I find myself anymore.
All in all, you can take a bike around with you on next parts of Britain’s railway network though there’s a spot of extra effort needed. It isn’t simply a matter of grabbing your bike and jumping on a train for a day out in the country. After a busy week of work, that may be sufficient to make you go for a walk instead and that’s partly how I got into hillwalking; the fear of punctures and mechanical failure hasn’t helped either. For a longer trip away or moving home to take up a new job like I was doing in the story above, the effort is worth it and does work. It just needs planning and patience rather than spontaneity. Saying that, the temptations of car use of bicycle hire are ever present too.
Arriva, Bicycles, Bus Éireann, Buses, Charleville, Cork, Edinburgh, England, Fort William, Gwynedd, Ireland, LUAS, National Express, Scotland, Scottish Citylink, Trains, Wales, X94, Yorkshire, Yorkshire Dales
In Buses, Coaches, Observations, Trains on November 4, 2009 at 12:12 pm
I remember making a return journey between Charleville and Cork in Ireland when a passenger just popped a bicycle into one of the coach’s side lockers and it was carried without further ado. When I had the idea of doing the same on an outing from Edinburgh to Fort William, I was thwarted because carriage of bicycles on buses and coaches is not the norm. The phrase that lingers in my memory, regardless of whether it actually was said that way or not was “This is not a train”. Undeterred, I secured my bicycle and left it after me to enjoy a wonderful day out. The change of plan was no spoiler though the it did alter how I spent the day.
There are some who might say that the above contrast between Irish easygoing helpfulness, the same type that allows the carriage of forgotten luggage on a service coach from Galway to Dublin without charge or facilitating the retrieval of a case left on Dublin’s LUAS tram system by myself and I half-asleep after an early morning flight from Manchester, and British adherence to process and procedure. While I cannot doubt Irish helpfulness, I am more inclined to attribute the differences in outcome to differences in legal systems.
Whatever the cause, non-carriage of bikes by buses and the paucity of accommodation for them on trains (a story for another time) has fostered the growth of my interest in hillwalking at the expense of cycling. Ironically, it is in the types of places where I go walking that there have been innovations when it comes to carriage of bicycles by buses. In the Yorkshire Dales, trailers have been attached to Dennis Darts for the purpose. In other places, you see the use of racks mounted on the back for the same purpose and the X94 that goes between Chester/Wrexham and Barmouth comes to mind but there are others. Having bicycle pens within the buses themselves is another way of achieving the same and I have vague recollections of this being done in Snowdonia and the northwest of Scotland. On the subject of vague recollections, I have another one of seeing a photo in Buses magazine where seats have been replaced by a place to put bikes on what appeared to be a double-decker.
Though none of those ways to carry bikes on buses are widely available, there is an argument in favour of making that happen. After all, having a bicycle in a wheelchair or buggy space on a low floor bus is likely to cause a nuisance and you couldn’t even get one on the older step entrance vehicles. Then, there’s the prospect of breaking up a bike to carry it on a National Express coach service and that sounds like something that you would do if you were carrying one on an airplane. Of course, there are those folding bikes that people sneak onto commuter trains at peak times as luggage but is that really ideal for that day out in the countryside exploring its quieter roads? All in all, it’s a state of affairs that encourages car use but remains a tough nut to crack whichever way you go about it.
History, Ingleton, Sedbergh, Settle-Carlisle Line, Thornton-in-Lonsdale, Trains, Yorkshire, Yorkshire Dales
In Observations, Trains on October 20, 2009 at 11:54 am
There are times when we get to wondering how much better things might be if history had turned out differently. Of course, it always could have turned out worse too so we need to be careful with our wishful thinking. In that vein, sticking with change the present for the better rather than wishing that the past was different is the better path to be taking.
What has taken me down this train of thought is the sight of an unused viaduct in Ingleton over the weekend. Until 1954, there was a railway line that served places like Ingleton and Sedbergh and the path that it took eerily shadowed the Settle-Carisle (Ribblesdale) line. In fact, that should never have needed to be built but for a dispute between two railway companies disrupting passenger travel arrangements and Ingleton’s viaduct was at the heart of the dispute, so much so that passengers needed to walk from Ingleton to Thornton-in-Lonsdale and there a railway connection between them! Just imagine if you will what the uproar this would generate today.
The outcome of all this was that the Ingleton-Sedbergh (Lonsdale) line became diminished in status with the Ribblesdale one taking over and surviving all attempts to close it (there were a few but it looks secure for now). In the former’s heyday, 6,000 folk descended on Ingleton of a day to wandering by its waterfalls. Mercifully, it’s a much quieter spot now and provides generous respite from the madness of modern life. If the Ribblesdale line never existed, the Lonsdale line might have survived and become the way to get to Yorkshire’s Three Peaks. You only can imagine how isolated places like Horton would feel with occasional bus services being the sole means of getting there; it could have made the Pennine Way feel so much more wild than it does. The Wensleydale line might still be there to allow trains to travel between Leeds and Carlisle via the East Coast Mainline.
All of this theorising might seem pie in the sky thinking but it’s decent fun to do stuff like this without taking it seriously and it allows an escape from the strictures of modern living for a little while too. It all goes to show how the non-existence of something bequeathed to us by history, even a single train line, can cause things to be so different. Taking out the Settle-Carlisle railway would have us going around by Lonsdale or Wensleydale rather the routes that we actually do take to get to immerse ourselves in peaceful countryside.
England, History, HS2, Improvements, Lancaster, Manchester, Northern Rail, Preston, Stations, Trains, Transpennine Express, West Coast
In Incidents, Observations, Suggestions, Trains on October 19, 2009 at 2:08 pm
A Saturday outing to the western end of the Yorkshire Dales had me travelling around by Lancaster and that meant my train journey was set to take in the striking bottleneck that is the Manchester Piccadilly-Oxford Road-Deansgate-Salford line. While I had admit that it may be a difficult and expensive thing to do but the restrictive approach to Manchester Piccadilly always amazes me. It is, I think, a consequence of history in that it is a hangover from a time when Manchester had more termini than it does now. For instance, what is now the Museum of Science and Technology was once the terminus for the Manchester and Liverpool railway right back at the start of the railway revolution. Then, there was Manchester Central and that train shed has become G-Mex. Manchester Victoria was the terminus of choice of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway company, a map of whose network still adorns its walls. These days it seems underused with its better western connections but it is a mile away from Piccadilly so I suppose that makes it less convenient for some though its situation next to the Arndale Centre is more central than that of Piccadilly.
What reminded me of all of this was a 20-30 minute delay that afflicted the 07:54 Northern stopping service to Preston. My plan was to use the 08:15 Transpennine Express departure that was to follow it but I tend to use what is at hand rather than sticking rigidly to plans; in fact, my train was retarded so as not to delay the progress of that 08:15. The cause of the disruption was a fright train in difficulty, not a good thing to have on the line between Piccadilly and Oxford Road. Though it may prove expensive and disruptive, I would like to see quadrification of the through line from Piccadilly. In reality, we are probably more likely to get an HS2 rather than this kind of meaningful advance. Small changes that don’t arouse much in the way of excitement are less likely when there is cash about than the shiny one.
Cheshire, Edinburgh, England, Gwynedd, Harlech, Lockerbie, Macclesfield, Machynlleth, Manchester, National Rail, Timetables, Trains, Wales, Wilmslow, Wolverhampton
In Observations, Timetables, Trains on October 14, 2009 at 11:45 am
With a fine weekend in prospect, the mind turns to getting out and enjoying what’s on offer. In that vein, I tried looking up train times for a return journey between Macclesfield and Harlech, all on the same day with one change in Wolverhampton and maybe another in Machynlleth, only for the National Rail Enquiries website to tell me that it was impossible. The workaround was to look for a single outbound journey and a single return journey, not ideal but I got the information that I needed. While this was a case of curiosity more than anything else, I might be nonplussed if I was after a bargain fare in preference to the standard Off-Peak Return; knowing that such a search would prove fruitless anyway would have meant sticking with a walk on fare so I wasn’t bothered.
While it has come a way since its original incarnation, the episode illustrates that creases still need to be knocked of the National Rail Enquiries journey planning algorithm. When the website first came on the scene, I was left wondering why they couldn’t have used the excellent engine that Network Rail had inherited from Railtrack; it was one of the few things that they got right. It was all the more puzzling when the new planning engine was nowhere near as good as its predecessor. Glitches like not being told about journey options via Wilmslow when engineering work disrupted the normal Sunday services between Macclesfield and Manchester was but one of the inconsistencies.
Of course, any system is only ever as good as the data supplied to it. A striking example of that was the carrot of having an early Sunday morning rail replacement coach to Wilmslow for a day out in Wales. The advised coach service turned out to be a work of fiction so my travel arrangements had to change as did any plans that I had. A good day was enjoyed but not in the way in which I had envisaged it. The same sort of thing may explain the lack of available fares sometimes when there is engineering work ongoing and that between Lockerbie and Edinburgh earlier this year comes to mind.
While I can deal with this and find my way around the rail network anyway or even turn to other journey planning services, what must it all seem to someone who isn’t so savvy? I can see it looking very offputting and that’s a pity because public transport needs all the support that it can get in these leaner times. Taking this further, public transport needs to sell itself better and easier journey planning is part of this. Websites that don’t deliver may not cause someone to pick up a phone or visit their nearest staffed train station but set them to choose to drive or even fly instead, hardly the type of thing that should be happening. The National Rail Enquiries website may have won awards and offer the option to sort out accommodation along with your train ticket but what use is all of this if the journey finding algorithm or the information supplied to it aren’t up to scratch? After all, that’s why people go to the website so both of those need to take precedence over any other fancy features that some might care to add.
Trains, Transpennine Express
In Site news on September 1, 2009 at 10:43 am
On my hillwalking blog, I did share, on an occasional basis, some experiences and observations of British and Irish public transport. That changed after a posting regarding being crammed into a Transpennine Express train while travelling to and from Edinburgh last year. Since then, this has been the place for sharing my thoughts on and experiences of public transport. So far, this has been limited to travel by train and bus but related air and sea travel musings cannot be ruled out either; naturally, an associated train and/or bus journey would make such things fit better under the site’s title.
The subject of public transport is one that attracts its share of negative commentary and you do have to wonder if that is justified. Of course, things don’t run smoothly all of the time but there’s a not so limited network out there that needs both publicity and celebration. That is why I have pages celebrating helpful local authorities and useful train and bus company websites as well as a listing of selected bus service timetables. People often don’t realise the extent of what is available and get to hear the complaints instead, not a good state of affairs.
Some may counter that public transport cannot serve every need but the spectre of global warning and the finite nature of the world’s fossil fuel reserves mean that the concept of taking the car everywhere has to be challenged. What really has been felt over the last decade is that there isn’t enough space in our towns and cities for personal motorised transport anyway. That may have been the cause of the upsurge in train travel seen in recent years. If so, it’s no bad thing and, if there’s a corresponding rise in bus patronage, that’s even better. My hope is that I’ll have some small part in helping this along.
Aviemore, Birmingham, Caledonian Sleeper, Cheshire, Crewe, CrossCountry, Edinburgh, Ireland, Irish Rail, Rolling Stock, Scotland, Scotrail, Trains
In Observations, Trains on August 18, 2009 at 8:44 pm
Last week saw me travel to Aviemore for a few day’s stay by way of the Caledonian Sleeper and I perhaps foolishly stuck with seated accommodation in the spirit of thrift. Scotrail seem to use Mk 2 carriages for that role and the roar when the brakes are applies cannot be missed. Might I suggest earplugs for a more peaceful night’s rest? The same din was to be heard from Mk 1 Craven carriages used by Iarnród Éireann (Irish Rail) until not so long ago but I reckon that they have been banished by newer coaching stock. In the days before the introduction of the Voyagers, the same metallic sound pervaded a cold December nighttime journey from Birmingham to Edinburgh after a job interview. In this day and age, it just makes me wonder why no one ever thought to change the bogies on the Mk 2 coaches to quieter ones like what are common on their Mk 3 and Mk 4 successors. However, that may have had something to do with the money available for such work when they were more commonly used. Replacing them with Mk 3 rolling stock is probably more sensible now that there has been an influx of new trains over the last decade and that the SuperExpress is in the offing. That leaves me to wonder when Scotrail might get to releasing the Mk 2’s from overnight duties. With the economic environment right now, that well may be a matter of money, a scarcer commodity in these troubled times.
CrossCountry, East Midlands Trains, First Great Western, HST, Macclesfield, National Express East Coast, Trains, Wolverhampton
In Happenings, Trains on August 3, 2009 at 11:40 am
On Saturday, I embarked on a journey that had me travelling on an NXEC HST without going anywhere next to near the stomping ground of the beleaguered NXEC. The train itself was bound from Manchester to Newquay and had been hired by CrossCountry in anticipation of the summer holidaying hoards, not that it was very full when I was on it. Admittedly, it was early in the morning when I set off from Macclesfield to Wolverhampton en route to Machynlleth in Wales.
HST’s are many people’s idea of a perfect but my mind started to compare it with newer trains. For one thing, the delay in setting off from any station was more than a little noticeable. Having to slam all of the doors shut will have a bearing on this but I am wondering if other things are in play. So many of our trains have underfloor engines that it is a little eerie sitting in an unpowered trailer carriage awaiting the off. Many prize the quietness and smoothness but those engines do seem to add a certain extra immediacy that allays any impatience. Another thing is that there needs to be an added heave to get things moving, even if there is a power car at either end. So, does distributing the power to each train carriage make it easier to set off? Virgin were in the habit that it does and I can see what they mean.
One other though bubbled up as I disembarked at Wolverhampton: operating the doors. More specifically, I wonder how many people get confounded by the need to push down the window and reach out to use the handle to open the door when push button operation is so commonplace. What places this into sharp relief is the surprise expressed by a Swedish acquaintance upon travelling on an old West Coast Mk III set; it seems that the outside door handle approach with which so many have been familiar in former times are foreign to residents in other countries, Sweden for example. It might be the same with many British train travellers too. Recalling the fumbling that passengers did when Voyagers and Pendolinos were introduced, I do ask myself if the same foolish operates in the reverse direction.
While I am sure that some HST’s will make it into preservation, the onset of the Super Express more than likely will end their reign on the British railways. After all, they were only ever intended as a stopgap measure, albeit one that has lasted into its fourth decade so far. So, if you are into your railway experiences, it might be worth catching a HST while you can. Along with NXEC, CrossCountry, East Midlands and First Great Western all have their own. Saying that, with the financial constraints facing us, I wouldn’t bet against them continuing in regular service into their fifth decade. Well, they must have lasted this long for a reason…
Buses, Isle of Man, Timetables, Trains
In Buses, Timetables, Trains on July 12, 2009 at 8:44 am
It seems that there are ample public transport options for exploring the Isle of Man by public transport. The website iombusandrail.info should tell you much of what you need to know. Recently, I made a short of visit to the island with the aim of paving the way for others and turned up a pile of useful information for such endeavours, naturally including public tranpsort palnning stuff as well. It may have rained on the day but I am not so easily put off.
Aer Lingus, Airlines, Bus Éireann, Coaches, England, Ireland, National Express, Ryanair, Scotland, Scotrail, Scottish Citylink, thetrainline.com, Ticketing, Trains, Trawscambria, Ulsterbus, Wales
In Booking, Coaches, Ticketing, Trains on May 5, 2009 at 4:14 pm
Sadly, those insulting thetrainline.com ads have reappeared. Personally, I like the flexibility of just turning up at a train station, buying a ticket for my journey and going on my way. In fact, I like that idea so much that I am willing to pay for it most of the time (saying that, when the cost passes £60, savings are often sought). Being called an idiot for wanting to things in this way is certainly not something that I appreciate and I can next to guarantee that the said company will not be getting my custom, at least not directly.
Apart from those appalling posters, another thing that brings the whole matter of Internet bookings to mind is my travelling on a train south from Aviemore a few weeks back. Many seats were reserved but most of these weren’t occupied. That may have been just as well for sake of travelling comfort but it prompted the thought in my mind as to whether those reservations were a “just in case” measure. The next step in musings has me wondering if a world where there was more more frugality in the booking of seats might be a better one. However, there is also the possibility that a decline in seat booking would result in less frequent services and shorter trains, something that could increase seat reservations and pop things back where they were before anyway. It all makes a seat reservation less useful than it ought to be. In reality, it is probably no bad thing to sit in such a spot until disturbed by the rightful occupant. After all, you only need to move away when asked. It may not make things user friendly for those reserving seats or be the sort of practice that is encouraged but it might be a minor irritation in the broad scheme of things.
While the railways still cut some slack and that is good when it comes to convenience, other modes of travel are far from being like this and I hope that the railways don’t follow suit. For one thing, they already compensate for a less than comprehensive express coach network in England that makes seat bookings a necessity. Wales now has its Trawscambria long distance bus network with Ireland and Scotland having none too shabby networks provided by Citylink, Ulsterbus and Bus Éireann. Airlines are run on a far tighter footing and you only need to note Ryanair’s closure of airport check in desks in favour of the online option and Aer Lingus’ passenger operated baggage check in facilities to see what I mean. They also overbook their aircraft which is not so nice but the expectation is that not everyone will make a flight. If the same sort of thinking started to pervade the railways, then that would be a very disappointing development.
Saying all of that, I don’t object to there being a need for bookings on services running at busy times. In fact, if you are tied to a train by an advance purchase ticket, then reserving a seat makes sense. For more flexible tickets (Off Peak and Anytime returns come to mind), the logic of that argument may not be so strong, hence my appeal to only reserve your place when you are absolutely certain of travelling. Yes, I realise that stuff happens but there’s no need to devalue the seat booking by not turning up because it was only done just in case.
Appleby, Bingley, Carlisle, Cumbria, Keighley, Leeds, Northern Rail, Settle, Settle-Carlisle Line, Shipley, Skipton, Trains, Yorkshire
In Happenings, Incidents, Trains on May 3, 2009 at 8:22 pm
Yesterday saw me head out for a spot of walking in the countryside around Appleby, or Appleby-in-Westmorland. These days the place in the eastern end of Cumbria. My way there and away was by train, something that went off hunky dory apart from a spot of trouble on the Leeds-Appleby leg. There was nothing unusual in the coupling together of two twin carriage units and its something that happens routinely in several parts of the British railway network (the Cambrian and West Highland lines come to mind). However, as with anything, it can occasionally go awry and it just happened that this was one of them. There seemed to have been a problem with the coupling and it was slowing the train down, a major concern considering the heights it was to overcome on its passage over the Settle-Carlisle railway line. The slowdown was easily noticeable after Shipley. Decoupling and re-coupling at Bingley didn’t set things to rights so both sets were decoupled at Keighley and everyone put on the front train. It looked that it was going to be a two carriage unit for the rest of the way but the back set turned up in Skipton and coupled to the front of the one on which I was travelling. Apart from a certain reduction in the functionality of the lighting that had been the case since Leeds anyway, all went swimmingly from there north. A delay of more than thirty minutes might have been accumulated but I could cope with that and tailor my plans to fit the time that I had available. I am sure that what was encountered is rare but, as they say, stuff happens.
Buses, Cheshire, Information, Timetables, Trains
In Buses, News, Timetables, Trains on April 20, 2009 at 12:55 pm
The Cheshire East and Cheshire West & Chester councils seem to have taken up the baton for public transport information from the now defunct Cheshire County Council. The welcome practice of having a list of bus tables has lived on in the websites for the new councils. Hopefully, progress from here will continue in the right direction. In addition, both new authorities are to work with Warrington Borough Council so my hope is that best practices can continue to be shared and promoted while keeping a certain pan-county approach too.
130, Arriva, Arriva Trains Wales, Cheshire, Crewe, Macclesfield, Manchester, Northern Rail, Sunday Travel, Timetables, Trains, Virgin, Wilmslow
In Suggestions, Timetables, Trains on April 16, 2009 at 3:08 pm
The powers that be must reckon that Macclesfield is full of lazybones with the first northbound train departing on Sunday mornings after 10:00. Thankfully, the first 130 of the day does leave at 09:05 but that takes an age to reach Manchester. However, there is another option: using the 130 to reach Wilmslow’s train station. That approach gets you to Manchester by 10:12 and opens up a few more travel options. Booking a taxi starts to bring earlier options from Wilmslow into the fray and there are more again if you decide to go as far as Manchester Airport. Returning to Wilmslow, it seems that Arriva Trains Wales’ apparent stabling of trains in Crewe means a good supply of Sunday morning services since their southbound timetable was expanded at this time. Add to that the fact that Northern, CrossCountry and Virgin all use the station and a good deal of choice is on offer.
It might be the size of the shopping precinct in the centre of the town but I have always been a little surprised by the level of train service that a place the size of Wilmslow enjoys. To an extent, that has always been pertinent when it comes to getting away to somewhere of a Sunday but becomes even more pointed after last December’s timetable changes left Macclesfield with three trains an hour connecting us with Manchester. Is it because Wilmslow feels a little like an extension of Greater Manchester and Macclesfield has pastoral countryside between it and Stockport? I don’t know the answer to that one but I’d much rather it if Northern Rail offered a better Sunday service to Macclesfield than they do. Hopeless is near enough the description that I’d ascribe to it and the timings of Virgin and CrossCountry trains make Sunday service next to hourly when spreading them apart would make so much more sense. As things stand, they look enough of a dog’s breakfast that using buses to get to and from the likes of Crewe and Wilmslow remains a useful addition to the travel arsenal.
Coaches, Edinburgh, Glasgow, National Express, National Express East Coast, Railways, Scotland, Trains, Transpennine Express, Virgin
In News, Suggestions, Ticketing, Timetables, Trains on April 15, 2009 at 3:24 pm
The past weekend saw me fit in a short foray to Scotland and rail engineering work has started to return some thoughts to my mind that have lain dormant for a while and then developed them. The main cause of this was the non-running of trains between Lockerbie and Glasgow or Edinburgh because of work on the line. The result was that I got sent around by the more expensive East Coast mainline on a journey commencing from Macclesfield. Does going around by York add that much to the mileage?
Of itself, that escapade has prompted thoughts regarding the differences in fares between the West Coast and East Coast mainlines. Some vague recollection has left me with the impression that the former is subsidised with the latter being treated as a sort of cash cow. However, it would make for a great display of forward thinking if West Coast tickets were to made valid for journeys along the East Coast whenever engineering works took place. Going beyond this again, it might be an even better idea if fare harmonisation meant that an East Coast journey cost the same as a West Coast one. In the eyes of some, that may seem like adding a new idiosyncrasy to a system that already is illogical in parts. Others may decry the idea of fare increases while more would appreciate the decreases. All in all, having the extra flexibility could be worth it.
Saying all of that, the tide seems to be going the way of inflexibility these days so another crazy idea of mine might never see the light of day either: tickets allowing you to go via either Edinburgh or Glasgow on journeys going further north. Though it doesn’t happen so often these days, there have been occasions in the past when I wished to go via Edinburgh and return via Glasgow or vice versa but the need of single tickets for each precluded the scheme. Then, I was prone to going by coach from Scotland’s central belt so the idea of a “Central Belter” ticket allowing the use of either Edinburgh or Glasgow on inbound or return journeys often appealed.
Would either of the above wild daydreams yield an increase in visitors to Scotland using the railways? I don’t know the answer to that one but having the freedoms granted by their implementation would be no bad thing. Otherwise, the thoughts of the inconvenience induced by what I assume are very necessary rail engineering works are enough to get you wondering about the prospect of going by National Express coaches instead. Add the cost of travel into the equation and the coach option starts to look more promising, enough to make you wonder why the service level isn’t better than it is.
Fares, Macclesfield, Manchester, Manchester Airport, National Rail, Northern Rail, Ticketing, Trains
In Ticketing, Trains on March 26, 2009 at 12:02 pm
Most of my trips to Éire involve my taking a taxi to Manchester Airport on the outbound portion and a train journey back from there on my return. The full price single would appear to be around the £10 mark but its been a while since I purchased one so I am not sure of the price. The reason for that is that I stick with Cheap Evening Returns (or whatever they are called in these allegedly simpler times of Advance/Off-Peak/Anytime ticketing) instead and the whole cost comes to £5.30 (£1.60 as far as Manchester Piccadilly and £3.70 from there to Macclesfield). A recent inspection of the National Rail website reveals that the same price is offered to you for travel between 18:30 and 21:00 so their algorithm must be getting more slick to pick up these things. Another example is the cost of a single fare for travel from Manchester to Macclesfield is usually £7.30 but, on the website, this drops to £3.70 for travel during the same time period. In a time when every pound matters, knowing of this stuff is useful though Northern Rail conductors are good when it comes to supplying you with cheaper fares in the evening time.
Arriva, Birmingham, Cardiff, CrossCountry, First Great Western, Macclesfield, Shrewsbury, Ticketing, Trains, Virgin
In Booking, Ticketing, Trains on March 15, 2009 at 8:37 pm
I was recently pondering a trip to Cardiff and the standard Off-Peak return starting from Macclesfield kept coming to £57.90. This was rather more than I was expecting so my mind turned to the idea of re-booking or split ticketing. It might constrain my journey options (a good few good around by Birmingham) but doing the split at Shrewsbury does save money when doing so at Crewe costs even more. The Off-Peak Return from Macc to Shrewsbury comes to £18.80 while the same for Shrewsbury to Cardiff stands at £26.50 with the total cost coming to £45.30, not a staggering reduction but a step in the right direction and at a price that I feel it should be. I don’t know who is setting the prices but £12.60 is still quite a difference.
CrossCountry, England, Megabus, National Express, Railways, Scotland, Trains, Transpennine Express, Virgin, West Coast
In Happenings, News, Timetables, Trains on March 12, 2009 at 4:06 pm
My run in with the West Coast Mainline Upgrade saga is probably worthy of a longer post but it seems that it is still continuing as much as ever and that’s in spite of their celebrating the end of things not so long ago. Thankfully, Macclesfield is being spared by the latest attentions but weekend engineering works continue apace between Lancaster and Lockerbie and the journey suggestions supply by the National Rail journey planner for Saturday and Sunday travel can send you around by the more expensive East Coast Mainline, or even via Birmingham if you try Macclesfield as your starting point like I did when I went experimenting. Currently, the idea of a day out among the Lakeland fells remains stillborn and that appears to be the case until the end of the month. As if that weren’t enough, works between Lockerbie and the cities of Glasgow and Edinburgh are to extend the disruption to Anglo-Scottish services into next month and beyond. It’s enough to make you consider going by coach instead and neither National Express or Megabus seem not to have made the running with what is taking place; they might need the business in these depressed times. Let’s hope that the railway works get scaled back to a reasonable level, without compromising safety, sooner rather than later to let us all travel in peace. That would be a change for good but I’m not holding my breath just yet.
Birmingham, Cheshire, CrossCountry, England, London, Macclesfield, Manchester, Northern Rail, Stoke-on-Trent, Timetables, Trains, Virgin, West Coast
In News, Timetables, Trains on December 14, 2008 at 6:57 pm
The massive reorganisation that is the new train timetable changeover hasn’t too kind to Macclesfield. It might not sound so bad to hear that we have been left with three an hour in each direction but it’s the timings that disappoint me, even if the frequency is a cut from that which we have been enjoying for a while now. What is the matter is that Virgin and CrossCountry don’t seem to have worked together to get their times in the hour better separated.
The main pattern for weekday service from Manchester is 27, 35 and 48 minutes past the hour. The CrossCountry in the 27 departure and the 35 is the Virgin one while the 48 is Northern Rail’s local stopping service that now goes all the way to Stoke-on-Trent, not necessarily a bad thing since it opens some new destinations for Macclesfield folk.
Sundays see the same sort of thinking about which I have already complained on my hillwalking blog, especially with the timings of the local stopping service; the TSO timetable had more services listed but these have since turned out to be a work of fiction. Until March 29th, Virgin and CrossCountry do well when keeping their Sunday services to different parts of the hour but this is forgotten on the date in question and both services end up so close together as make it laughable to suggest that Macclesfield is getting any more than an hourly service
This is the sort of thing that makes you want to go to a central timetabling authority to complain but there appears to be none so it’s a case of contacting each operator. Maybe, Passenger Focus might be able to provide some help if no satisfactory response is forthcoming from either of the companies in question. Our local MP is said to have “intervened” but, like a lot of places where he has stuck in his oar, it doesn’t seem to have the desired effect and we have been left with the less than ideal situation that we now face. It probably needs someone else to make an effort…
Edinburgh, England, Macclesfield, Preston, Rebooking, Scotland, Ticketing, Trains
In Booking, Trains on December 8, 2008 at 1:20 pm
I an mulling over a Christmas shopping trip to Edinburgh over the coming weekend (yes, I know that we are just after one) and decided to see if I could save on the £64 off-peak return fare by having a poke around the National Rail Enquiries website. It turns out that there is a way to manage the feat and a saving of around a third of the price is possible too without needing advance purchase tickets with their lock-in to specific train times. In fact, all that’s needed is a practice called rebooking where you get more than a single set of tickets for your journey and it’s valid so long as the train on which you are travelling actually stops at a station that is a destination for one set and a starting point for another. I have found that a set from my home station to Preston and from there to Edinburgh does the deed. The very nice part of all of this is that it can be done with off-peak return ticketing (the current incarnation of the old saver return), all walk on fares in other words. And there’s no need to resort to thetrainline.com with all their smugness and hubris either; well, I find their latest billboard campaign to be on the wrong side of insulting…
National Rail, Timetables, Trains, Transpennine Express, Virgin
In Timetables, Trains on December 6, 2008 at 9:22 pm
The December train timetable changes are ahead of us on mainland Britain again and there are some major alterations coming. Transpennine Express has notices up to that effect and Virgin has been making some big promises for a while now. Let’s all hope that it doesn’t turn out like the ill-fated Operation Princess did for Virgin CrossCountry a few years back.
If you can decipher such things and I have to admit that they seem to be as clear as mud in places, Network Rail has PDF’s for the current and forthcoming timetables on its website (there’s the £15 dead tree option too if you’re feeling flush); I honestly don’t envy Rail magazine’s Barry Doe in reviewing the these documents. In addition, the various operators have begun to roll out PDF’s for their own new timetables on their respective websites (Northern Rail has already done the needful). For the majority of us who are so disinclined, the National Rail Enquiries website has a useful overview of what’s coming and has the changes already loaded into its system already so you can dispense with the old means.
Cumbria, Oxenholme, Trains, Transpennine Express
In Incidents, Trains on November 24, 2008 at 12:54 pm
The last thing that anyone wants to see while awaiting a train is someone dropping down onto the tracks in front of it. However, that’s the sight that I witnessed in Oxenholme on my return from a walk among the Cumbrian fells on Saturday evening. I feared the worst and got myself away into the ticket office before I saw too much and left the professionals to deal with it. Call me a coward if you want but what I saw was already shocking enough and I really didn’t need to see any more; in any case, getting out of the way allows the emergency services to do what is needed without any hindrance. Thankfully, the train was halted in time so any injuries suffered were no way near as bad as those where my mind had gone on me.
Of course, something like this remains a serious matter and the police were in attendance (local police were there and I saw no sign of British Transport Police though they might have come later on) and conducting their investigations while an ambulance carried the unfortunate lady away for hospital treatment. Statements have to be taken and the scene assessed, all things that eat up time.
Luckily, my journey was only held up for an hour and I was home by 21:30 anyway so my thoughts are only with the lady concerned, her people and those had more to do with it than me. From what I could gather, the incident had the appearance of someone trying to do away with themselves, not at all a nice thought but a situation that could be triggered by financial troubles in these gloomy times. Let’s hope that it works out well for all concerned.
Buses, Trains
In Buses, Trains on November 4, 2008 at 5:52 pm
One of the things that is part and parcel of using public transport is having to share the same space with others. I don’t know if it is more prevalent these days but there are always some who bring there noise with them. It could be the young person at the back of a bus playing their music aloud rather than containing it in earphones or a group of lads engaging in loud banter on a night out (I encountered the latter while coming home from the Lake District last Saturday and some clearly were disturbed by it; some cringeworthy behaviour was on display when the train conductor was trying to get them to buy tickets, particularly by one individual who was “trying it on”). There are other examples of course but, when you fancy a peaceful journey, either of these could have you reaching for the personal music player (iPod?) or heading to a quieter part of a train. I suppose that our own tolerance of other people’s behaviour should temper our own so that we behave like we would like others to do. Maybe, if we all learnt that lesson, then using public transport could be a far more pleasant experience for all.
Arriva, CrossCountry, First, Keolis, Trains, Transpennine Express, Virgin, West Coast
In Trains on November 2, 2008 at 11:21 am
Transpennine Express is a train company that you could see mentioned here a lot. It just so happens that I was on one of their trains yesterday morning and in a carriage where there was no heating. It’s not exactly warm in the U.K. right now so having no heating meant that the Polartec fleece that I had on me came in very handy and I also had a down jacket in my rucksack that could have been used too if the need arose. To be fair about this, heating can fail even on very new trains like the one on which I was travelling. Older ones can be similarly afflicted too of course, like the one on which I was coming home to Edinburgh (where I lived at the time) from Coventry after a long taxing day at a selection centre for a certain large multinational IT services company. That was a good few years ago and those trains were subsequently replaced with Voyagers by Virgin Crosscountry and they still ply the U.K.’s tracks at the behest of Arriva’s CrossCountry and Virgin West Coast.
England, Manchester, Trains
In Incidents, Trains on November 2, 2008 at 11:08 am
You have to wonder what some people are thinking when silly stuff happens. I was off to the Lake District for a day trip yesterday morning when the sickening announcement of trespassers on the line came through over the Piccadilly tannoy. It took the most of twenty minutes for the authorities to sort things out and things to get going again. I was lucky enough to be only delay by a matter of minutes but there were cancellations caused by someone’s thoughtlessness.
