Monday 3rd June 2019 It was meant to be the grand launch night, last night. Serco owned Caledonian Sleeper had planned to begin running their much delayed smart new Mark 5 trains on the Lowland route between London's Euston station and Edinburgh and Glasgow from Sunday 2nd June so I bought a ticket to Glasgow... Continue Reading →
Saturday 1st June 2019 There's a lovely railway branch line which heads in a north/south direction across the centre of Kent where Southeastern trains shuttle up and down all day between Tonbridge in the Weald and Strood in the more industrial north of the county. It's a quiet backwater line weaving its way between the... Continue Reading →
Thursday 23rd May 2019 I headed north from Newcastle to Edinburgh with Cross Country first thing yesterday. It's always a pleasure to travel on this stretch of the East Coast Main Line (No 17 in my Hundred Best Train Journeys) especially with the late Spring early morning sun shining across the bays and coves as... Continue Reading →
Wednesday 22nd May 2019 I left you yesterday morning in Sheffield about to head west on the delightful Hope Valley line (No 12 in My 100 Best Train Journeys) with Trans Pennine Express. It's a beautiful scenic ride through the Peak District made all the better by a gorgeous sunny day. I changed trains in... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 21st May 2019 First improvement in the May 2019 rail timetable I experienced yesterday on my tour around was from my own local station, Hassocks where our disjointed two an hour trains to the Thameslink Core stations and on to Bedford or Cambridge (one an hour to each but to a 40/20 pattern) have... Continue Reading →
Monday 20th May 2019 Mid May's always a good month to buy an All Line Rover and have a wander around Britain's rail network taking a look at new initiatives introduced by various Train Operating Companies in the May timetable change. This year's changes are bound to be much smoother than last year's collective meltdown... Continue Reading →
Saturday 18th May 2019 Today's a poignant day on the Great Western. The much loved HST trains are running their last journeys across the network to and from London as new Hitachi IET Class 800 and 802 trains now reign supreme. Whereas last week's LNER Azuma launch was met with much excitement for the future,... Continue Reading →
Friday 17th May 2019 Let's get the usual bit out of the way first .... "at last, after many delays" etc etc. Same old story, of course, and in the Azuma's case it still hasn't quite been sorted with onboard technical issues to do with electrical and signal compatibility north of Darlington still to be... Continue Reading →
Wednesday 8th May 2019 I spent last weekend’s Bank Holiday break on beautiful Alderney, one of the Channel Islands. Alderney’s not renowned for its public transport - there are no buses - they’re not really needed on an island that measures just three miles long and 1.5 miles wide with a population of 2,000. It... Continue Reading →
Friday 3rd May 2019 Finding myself in Glasgow at 7.30am yesterday morning (after my inaugural Caledonian Sleeper Mark 5 journey) I thought it would be an opportunity to continue the first-time experiences by taking a ride on the recently completed electrified ScotRail line to Edinburgh via Shotts and then catch a Borders Buses X62 down... Continue Reading →
Thursday 2nd May 2019 The long awaited Caledonian Sleeper CAF built Mark 5 coaches began running on the Lowland route last Sunday night. I booked myself a ticket and travelled from Euston to Glasgow last night/this morning to see whether the salivating I'd been reading on social media from high profile commentators blessed with their... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 30th April 2019 My Funday in Furness yesterday exploring three small islands off England's north west coast came sandwiched between two other great travelling days. I travelled up the East Coast Main Line from Kings Cross to Newcastle on Saturday with LNER (always a favourite journey) to meet the lovely members of the Northern... Continue Reading →
Monday 29th April 2019 Today's been a fascinating day visiting three tiny islands off England's north west coast alongside Barrow in Furness. Until a few months ago when planning this adventure I had no idea they even existed! The Borough of Barrow, including neighbouring Dalton, has a population of around 57,000 and is Cumbria's second... Continue Reading →
Wednesday 24th April 2019 It's been a long wait with some well over a year late, but finally an avalanche of new trains is entering service; well one train has. First off the blocks is the much anticipated Class 230 train which began running on the Marston Vale line between Bedford and Bletchley yesterday. Not... Continue Reading →
Monday 18th March 2019 During my initial trip on a brand new Class 800 train when they began running between Paddington and Bristol/Cardiff at the end of 2017 my first thought was to lament the end of the luxurious comfortable seats GWR had introduced in first class in HST trains the new IEP units were... Continue Reading →
Day 5 Sunday 3rd March 2019 Glasgow to Carlisle I always look forward to a journey down the West Coast Main Line between Glasgow and Carlisle, or for a bit of variety, ScotRail's alternative via Kilmarnock and Dumfries, but today I thought I'd try out the bus option. It takes much longer than the... Continue Reading →
Day 3 Friday 1st March 2019 Mull of Kintyre When planning trips it's not often I'll schedule a long journey out and back by exactly the same route and mode of travel in one day. It's always much more interesting to devise a circuit taking in different routes and scenery, villages, towns or cities along... Continue Reading →
Thursday 21st February 2019 It's reminded me of London 2012. Aside from the brilliant athletes and the behind-the-scenes organisational excellence it was the deployment of Games Makers which made for such a positive and enjoyable visitor experience despite mega crowds and challenging transport logistics before and after events. When the wash up review of this... Continue Reading →
Sunday 17th February 2019 It's been publicised for over a year; preparations have been going on behind the scenes for much longer than that. It was originally planned to happen last October. Now we're finally on the cusp of the biggest rail replacement ever as the nine day Brighton Main Line closure is hours away... Continue Reading →
Monday 28th January 2019 You've got to feel sorry for the growing number of passengers who rely on the GOspel Oak to Barking orbital railway line in north east London, known affectionately as GOBLIN for short. The former down-at-heel and unloved Silverlink Metro line transferred to TfL back in 2006 when the future was bright,... Continue Reading →
Thursday 24th January 2019The recent launch of First Bus's nine brand new Scania Irizar i6 bodied K-series coaches for its prestigous RailAir nonstop service linking Reading Station with Heathrow Airport attracted a shoal of positive comments on Twitter and in the trade press so I thought I'd give it a road test today. All the... Continue Reading →
Monday 21st January 2019 It was way back on Friday 28th September 2018 when commuters in Hertfordshire and north London had their travel appetites whetted when Great Northern rolled out one of their sparkly new Siemens Class 717s for a grand launch trip from Moorgate to Gordon Hill. The media and public were invited to... Continue Reading →
Wednesday 26th December 2018 And so the final forty of My Hundred Best Train Journeys ranked 61-100. You can read the top 10 here, 11-30 here and 31-60 here. 61 Brighton - East Croydon This line which passes my home station of Hassocks. I reckon I know just about every inch of its track and... Continue Reading →
1 What are passengers in Basingstoke soon to miss, that those in Leicester suffered a loss of in the summer? Printed timetables …. as Stagecoach South announced they wouldn’t be printing timetables for upcoming changes next month. It follows Arriva Midlands doing the same in Leicester in 2018. 2 What did passengers do to force... Continue Reading →
Tuesday 18th December 2018 After my fortnightly French Connection column got ditched last summer, readers of Bus & Coach Buyer have reportedly been worried sick they’ll miss my ritual round up of the year with its concoction of fascinating facts, august awards and quirky quiz questions. Fear no more. I’m delighted to report BusAndTrainUser has... Continue Reading →
Sunday 2nd December 2018 Back on track(s) again to describe thirty more wonderful train trips, ranked 31-60 in My Hundred Best Train Journeys. For the Top 30 previously published click here and here. 31 Exeter - Exmouth I love this journey not only for the truly superb views as the train trundles along the east... Continue Reading →
Thursday 15th November 2018 Following the top ten listing in Part 1, welcome to the next twenty most wonderful train journeys around Britain - they're part of my Hundred Best Train Journeys. Read along for the rides ...... 11 Shrewsbury - Llandrindod - Swansea After the Cambrian Coast line entry in tenth place, we're still... Continue Reading →
Sunday 11th November 2018 Part 1 of 4. This started out as my top ten favourite train journeys but I quickly realised I couldn't possibly do justice to all the many fantastic rail lines across Britain by being so limited. It quickly grew to a top twenty, then thirty as favourites easily clicked away... Continue Reading →
Thursday 25th October 2018 It's taken around ten years to deliver at over four times the original budgeted cost but today passengers could finally get on what seemed like a 'train' at Rotherham Central station and get off what had turned into a 'tram' during the journey right in the heart of Sheffield's city centre... Continue Reading →
Tomorrow is the last day to give feedback for the Rail Delivery Group’s review of rail fares with the aim of making them much easier to understand. They’ve produced a simple clickable online survey which, if you don’t make any additional comments or suggestions, only takes around five minutes to complete, so is well worth... Continue Reading →
That's a headline to grab your attention for sure. And it's true; for those of us on the Brighton line and travel off peak into Victoria. GTR have announced from Saturday 1st September it's back to the bad old days with ticket restrictions reinstated around what trains we can use particular tickets on. Looking at... Continue Reading →
I’ve long thought bus and train owning Groups are missing a trick by not upselling travel in the way savvy retailers would (‘people who bought this also bought this’) so I was encouraged in May last year when Arriva announced they were putting matters right with an exciting modal integration project in North Wales. Arriva... Continue Reading →
It’s always a pleasure to spend a few days in Devon. Superb coastlines, rolling rural scenery, two great cities, many attractive towns and lots of delightful villages. Best of all it has an excellent network of well run bus and train services making it very easy to get around. Here are ten reasons why it’s a... Continue Reading →
The plan was to catch Stagecoach operated route 4 from Axminster station at 1215. It runs via Honiton to Ottery St Mary where I’d pick up the four-journey-a-day Hatch Green operated rural route 382 via Whimple and Feniton. A scheduled arrival at Axminster on the South Western Railway train at 1202 provided a nice 13... Continue Reading →
OK, let’s get this writing journey underway. First up, a few miscellaneous reflections on last week’s travels...... Monday 18th June to Oxenholme and the new West Coast Railways operated fill-in part-time train service to Windermere while Northern continues its May Timetable Meltdown. It certainly got the media coverage. It was overrun with train buffs and the... Continue Reading →
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