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[Kevin Wood]

All you can do Kevin is hope that one day the Mid-Hants, 'Watercress Line' Railway will take over the line up to London from Alton!

All carragies will be guaranteed not to have a/c, will be steam heated in winter, and you will be pulled by beautiful steam engines like West Country Class 'Bodmin' 34016, or A4 Pacific 'Bittern' 60019 or Merchant Navy ''Canadian Pacific' 35005 or.......... ooh what fantasies!!!

Now that would be romantic and so enjoyable, as long as you do not mind a bit of soot on your clothes every so often!

Well, yes and no... (Watercress line is at the end of my back garden!).

But yes, I feel more at home in the carriages, although on the last "Real Ale Train" I went on the lighting in the carriage didn't work at all. Beer still tasted Ok so not a trajedy.

I used to have a nose round "Bittern" on a regular basis when in the workshops. Saw it come out of hibernation about a year ago IIRC. Looks fantastic.

Kevin

[Martin_1962]

No, not first class, nothing has changed apart from the fact you can no longer get a standard day return "on the day"

The trains themselves are not too bad. They are the Turbostar 170 2/3 carriage 100mph jobs that were run by Central Trains on the Cardiff-Nottingham route for some time. They are now run by CrossCountry (Arriva).

Another lost benefit - the old Central Trains units had de-commissioned first class, so you could get really comfy seats for normal fare.

XC are now capitalising on this though and re-instating first class.

Still better than Arriva trains wales though, in the respect that ATW are running the old class 140 trains, they feel like they should be in a museum!!!

They run the same here, trouble is only 25 miles of the 65 mile run can they actually do 100!  

I even got geeky and wipped out the Crackberry which has build in GPS, according to it, on 1 section we did 103mph  8-)

Hmm well I remember a trip to Swindon watching the speedo on a old bus engined DMU - rev counter deep in the red, top gear and speedo around 90.

Another Gloucester Swindon run I did count the mile posts at over 70 with a Castle on the front when they still had a 60 limit.

Had a few 100mph runs behind 50s they shift, especially one couple which were temporary uprated, an extra 300 - 400bhp makes them shift.

[FRE07962128]

All you can do Kevin is hope that one day the Mid-Hants, 'Watercress Line' Railway will take over the line up to London from Alton!

All carragies will be guaranteed not to have a/c, will be steam heated in winter, and you will be pulled by beautiful steam engines like West Country Class 'Bodmin' 34016, or A4 Pacific 'Bittern' 60019 or Merchant Navy ''Canadian Pacific' 35005 or.......... ooh what fantasies!!!

Now that would be romantic and so enjoyable, as long as you do not mind a bit of soot on your clothes every so often!

Well, yes and no... (Watercress line is at the end of my back garden!).

But yes, I feel more at home in the carriages, although on the last "Real Ale Train" I went on the lighting in the carriage didn't work at all. Beer still tasted Ok so not a trajedy.

I used to have a nose round "Bittern" on a regular basis when in the workshops. Saw it come out of hibernation about a year ago IIRC. Looks fantastic.

Kevin

I am so envious of you having that at the back of your garden!!

Still, I would have to time putting the washing out to avoid the smuts!

[TheBoy]

Sadly, my commuting costs are going to rise by £1500+ per year soon  

[Taxi_Driver]

No, not first class, nothing has changed apart from the fact you can no longer get a standard day return "on the day"

The trains themselves are not too bad. They are the Turbostar 170 2/3 carriage 100mph jobs that were run by Central Trains on the Cardiff-Nottingham route for some time. They are now run by CrossCountry (Arriva).

Another lost benefit - the old Central Trains units had de-commissioned first class, so you could get really comfy seats for normal fare.

XC are now capitalising on this though and re-instating first class.

Still better than Arriva trains wales though, in the respect that ATW are running the old class 140 trains, they feel like they should be in a museum!!!

So presumably you can still get a standard day return the day before you wish to travel.........and i assume you know when your going to work....so can you not buy a standard day return for the following day when you return in the afternoon/evening  :-/

[Martin_1962]

All you can do Kevin is hope that one day the Mid-Hants, 'Watercress Line' Railway will take over the line up to London from Alton!

All carragies will be guaranteed not to have a/c, will be steam heated in winter, and you will be pulled by beautiful steam engines like West Country Class 'Bodmin' 34016, or A4 Pacific 'Bittern' 60019 or Merchant Navy ''Canadian Pacific' 35005 or.......... ooh what fantasies!!!

Now that would be romantic and so enjoyable, as long as you do not mind a bit of soot on your clothes every so often!

Well, yes and no... (Watercress line is at the end of my back garden!).

But yes, I feel more at home in the carriages, although on the last "Real Ale Train" I went on the lighting in the carriage didn't work at all. Beer still tasted Ok so not a trajedy.

I used to have a nose round "Bittern" on a regular basis when in the workshops. Saw it come out of hibernation about a year ago IIRC. Looks fantastic.

Kevin

You said this before - so when I get round to doing the MHR I'll have to visit

[bertiecbx550]

martin and lizzie my old man could sit an talk to you guys all day about trains....he started as fireman on the old LMS at bushbury sheds...

[Kevin Wood]

All you can do Kevin is hope that one day the Mid-Hants, 'Watercress Line' Railway will take over the line up to London from Alton!

All carragies will be guaranteed not to have a/c, will be steam heated in winter, and you will be pulled by beautiful steam engines like West Country Class 'Bodmin' 34016, or A4 Pacific 'Bittern' 60019 or Merchant Navy ''Canadian Pacific' 35005 or.......... ooh what fantasies!!!

Now that would be romantic and so enjoyable, as long as you do not mind a bit of soot on your clothes every so often!

Well, yes and no... (Watercress line is at the end of my back garden!).

But yes, I feel more at home in the carriages, although on the last "Real Ale Train" I went on the lighting in the carriage didn't work at all. Beer still tasted Ok so not a trajedy.

I used to have a nose round "Bittern" on a regular basis when in the workshops. Saw it come out of hibernation about a year ago IIRC. Looks fantastic.

Kevin

I am so envious of you having that at the back of your garden!!

Still, I would have to time putting the washing out to avoid the smuts!

Not noticed a smut problem, TBH (ohh, er!). Our house is on a pretty steep incline so they're either going full regulator (and have been for a mile or so, so boiler pretty clean) or they're hissing downhill with the safety valve doing its' nut.

It's in a 30' cutting at the back of the garden so you strugle to see them. Then again, the tourists can't see you either.

Kevin

[Kevin Wood]

All you can do Kevin is hope that one day the Mid-Hants, 'Watercress Line' Railway will take over the line up to London from Alton!

All carragies will be guaranteed not to have a/c, will be steam heated in winter, and you will be pulled by beautiful steam engines like West Country Class 'Bodmin' 34016, or A4 Pacific 'Bittern' 60019 or Merchant Navy ''Canadian Pacific' 35005 or.......... ooh what fantasies!!!

Now that would be romantic and so enjoyable, as long as you do not mind a bit of soot on your clothes every so often!

Well, yes and no... (Watercress line is at the end of my back garden!).

But yes, I feel more at home in the carriages, although on the last "Real Ale Train" I went on the lighting in the carriage didn't work at all. Beer still tasted Ok so not a trajedy.

I used to have a nose round "Bittern" on a regular basis when in the workshops. Saw it come out of hibernation about a year ago IIRC. Looks fantastic.

Kevin

You said this before - so when I get round to doing the MHR I'll have to visit

By all means. All OOF'ers always welcome.

Kevin

[Richie London]

i think it was 54 quid when i worked in preston for a return booking on the day coming back in 2 weeks, book 4 weeks in advance it was 15 quid i think. :-?
 didnt bother most of time just stayed up there and got hammered on my weekends off, worked out cheaper too in the long run

[JiMbOb789]

 

[Golfbuddy]

Sounds a bit steep to me. Six of us went to St Ives on bank holiday Monday for £18 return for the lot of us.

Perhaps get a job in Cornwall James?  

[FRE07962128]

martin and lizzie my old man could sit an talk to you guys all day about trains....he started as fireman on the old LMS at bushbury sheds...

Your Dad is a hero in Steam enthusiast circles, and deserves to be!

He must have some wonderful memories and stories to tell Bertie.

[bertiecbx550]

39 years as a driver till a heart attack took him off the main line and put him on shunting...took early retirement/redundacy when they privatised B/R...

[Vamps]

I remember, as a child, standing on the railway bridge and leaning over and getting a face full of smoke when the engine went through.

Strange, I know. :-/