23-MAY-2013
"The train at Pershore station was waiting that Sunday night
Gas light on the platform, in my carriage electric light,
Gas light on frosty evergreens, electric on Empire wood,
The Victorian world and the present in a moment's neighbourhood."
Pershore Station, or A Liverish Journey First Class by John Betjeman
23-MAY-2013
Leather seats again.....not a good sign.
Nice bright cabin, good lighting but despite looking really comfy those seats disappoint again.
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The service in First was restricted to a drink....any food had to be bought, not quite the style we had become accustomed to.
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In fact having looked thru the menu booklet I inadvertently put it back in the holder opened at the wrong page.....it was corrected for me by the catering team....made me feel like a schoolboy in the naughty corner.
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The offer of coffee was frequent though.
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On time arrival into Sheffield.......can only give them 6/10 not in the same league as others.
Nice bright paint job though
PS.. we beat the system again to board early. 2-0 to the grumps.
23-MAY-2013
Sheffield
Back to the land of "too short" trains c/o Northern and TPEx. They are more coach and trailer than trains
Surprisingly a Cross Country came thru with a 4 car unit attached to a 5 car....almost a real train length. We could have done with one like that on the Edinburgh>Plymouth run.
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We had 30 mins to wait and realised in the whole week we had not had a pasty.....this needed correcting.....two large Cornish eaten to round of the trip in a celebratory mood while watching 144s and Pacers trundle by.
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Just the anticipation of what Northern were going to provide for the final ride home to Shepley......
23-MAY-2013
Northern lived up to the low expectations and we got an overcrowded 2 car "bus" on rails.
Standing room only until after Barnsley, some still stood as it was more comfortable than the seats.....seating being 3+2 across the cabin means you get to get one cheek each on the seats.
Still they can have 4/10, on par with London Midland.
"Single to Dodworth please". "I'll have to come back my machine is not working" Heaven help us.
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After an hour on this we suddenly became tired of the rides and were happy to be home at last.
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The 142 leaves Shepley vibrating its way to Huddersfield.
The coffee trolley never made it to the front carriage!
That was 188 miles from London making the final milage 3196 miles give or take an odd mile which for £460 for the rover ticket (SNR discount applied) was good value for money
24-MAY-2013
An overview of the routes taken
Each day being a different colour.
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The east and south were avoided this time...scope for the 2014 tour.
When fresh I will do one more entry giving my overviews of the performances but we know Virgin won and Northern Lost!
22-MAY-2013
Train companies.
I have divided them into various groups, those with the headline routes, other long distance operators and those which didn't offer 1st class accomodation.
The Premier League
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1. Virgin ..............................walked it no contest.
2= Cross Country and East Coast
4. First Great Western
Championship
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1= South West Trains and Scotrail
3. East Midlands Trains
4. TransPennine Express
10. London Midland
Blue SQ Conference. (2nd class travel only)
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1. Arriva Trains Wales............................. 1st by a long way
5. Northern
10. The Underground
