Let the train take the strain ...

[pejay]

I got given a chinese burn by a drunken lady with considerable stubble once on the train. *shudder*

I don't think she was actually a lady.

Edited by pejay on Thursday 26th March 20:15

[BrassMan]

Emsman said:

I elected to use the train to get to birmingham

Your first mistake. When something goes wrong around Birmingham, they don't do it half arsed.

[Cheeky Jim]

Much as I agree about Trains being loser cruisers...unfortunately, from where I live in Dorset, to get to Waterloo in 2 hrs on a Monday morning in the car is completely impossible. Plus I have nowhere to park and then hopscotching around the city and canary wharf during the day...car would be a nightmare.

I have to say, that I can only think of one occasion in the past year when the service went a bit tits.... but £136 for a weekly ticket including underground isn't actually that bad...




can someone please check my sanity......defending the trains.....my poor grandfather would turn in his grave...

[Prof Beard]

I used the train today - the journeys were fine. However - see my other train thread...

[DJC]

In defence of the trains however, my monthly ticket is about £112. My journey to work takes roughly an hour and usually it is very pleasent. I can sit, relax and read the paper. I walk to the station every day so it also means I get exercise.

Usually the service is absolutely fine.

[Cheeky Jim]

Thats it, regular train users will probably agree that in general they are reasonably reliable.

It's the occasional user who happens upon a bum deal that really gets it up the chuff.


My only wish was that it was just a bit quicker and didn't stop at Andover. I never realised Andover was the most popular train destination in the country.... I've never seen such packed platforms ever.....

[Carreauchompeur]

I've never had a significant problem on the trains and love the Bristol-London service for days out, far less stressful than driving there... However I think if I had to commute to work, particularly in the South East, on said trains I imagine my outlook might be a little different...

[peenut]

J-Tuner said:

I wouldn't mind so much but i had some real inconvenience of late and all i got was a poxy £4 in vouchers for being 3 hours late for work more than once in a single month. Complete waste of time and not worth my time filling out their forms. They can poke it up their arse as far as i am concerned !!

thats why they do it - they know no-one wants the poxy vouchers so you don't cactually complain about the st service so their complaint stats drop so they turn round to customers (you) and say look our complaint stats are really low, we're running a really good service and you love us!!

wkers.

used the loser cruiser for 8 years as alternative was driving 15 miles across Birmingham and frankly sitting in the train for 30 minutes each way was mildy better than sitting in traffic for 60 minutes each way. now drive 35 mile commute and it's bliss and takes 35 mins each way!

edit - oh and next weekend, 6 of us to bristol for stag do, train is £52 each return (£312) and 2 changes. Fuel cost for the diesel S-MAX for round trip about £38 (350 miles @ 43mpg). guess which method of transport we're using........

Edited by peenut on Thursday 26th March 22:37

[Hammer67]

I can`t believe I`m about to write this but here goes: I needed to get from Folkestone to Liskeard to collect a car. Roughly 300 miles, looked into all the options, bus, one way car hire, give a mate petrol money etc etc. Cheapest option was a 4 change train journey.
Booked on line £48, ticket delivered next day. Left Folkestone bang on time at about 6.30 am. Arrived in Liskeard fresh as a daisy just after 1 pm. This was a weekday so got swallowed up in amongst the commuter crowd across London but overall I was pleasantly surprised. The train from Paddington to Plymouth was exceptional ~ fast,clean and comfortable.
Credit where its due.

[Carreauchompeur]

Hammer67 said:

I can`t believe I`m about to write this but here goes: I needed to get from Folkestone to Liskeard to collect a car. Roughly 300 miles, looked into all the options, bus, one way car hire, give a mate petrol money etc etc. Cheapest option was a 4 change train journey.
Booked on line £48, ticket delivered next day. Left Folkestone bang on time at about 6.30 am. Arrived in Liskeard fresh as a daisy just after 1 pm. This was a weekday so got swallowed up in amongst the commuter crowd across London but overall I was pleasantly surprised. The train from Paddington to Plymouth was exceptional ~ fast,clean and comfortable.
Credit where its due.

4 changes? Ouch. What a pig of a journey.

The main line from Paddington down to Bristol/Plymouth/Cornwall is excellent though, and rarely delayed IME.

[Mr.Jimbo]

Look at it this way, OP, it could always be worse, you could have had to leave Rugby Station

At least the station is quite nice to look at these days.

[Hammer67]

Carreauchompeur said:

Hammer67 said:

I can`t believe I`m about to write this but here goes: I needed to get from Folkestone to Liskeard to collect a car. Roughly 300 miles, looked into all the options, bus, one way car hire, give a mate petrol money etc etc. Cheapest option was a 4 change train journey.
Booked on line £48, ticket delivered next day. Left Folkestone bang on time at about 6.30 am. Arrived in Liskeard fresh as a daisy just after 1 pm. This was a weekday so got swallowed up in amongst the commuter crowd across London but overall I was pleasantly surprised. The train from Paddington to Plymouth was exceptional ~ fast,clean and comfortable.
Credit where its due.

4 changes? Ouch. What a pig of a journey.

The main line from Paddington down to Bristol/Plymouth/Cornwall is excellent though, and rarely delayed IME.

Yeah I was dreading it. First time on a train for donkeys years but wouldn`t hesitate should I ever have the need again.

[elster]

DJC said:

In defence of the trains however, my monthly ticket is about £112. My journey to work takes roughly an hour and usually it is very pleasent. I can sit, relax and read the paper. I walk to the station every day so it also means I get exercise.

Usually the service is absolutely fine.

Christ that is cheap. If I want to get a train to Stansted Airport it will cost me £70. One way! What a con. A limo wouldn't cost much more!

[Zen.]

£12.60 for a bus instead of a train, after a night in Dirty Dicks, the last thing a girls wants to be on is a bus!

[Funk]

I will always, ALWAYS avoid using a train unless there is categorically no other option. I hate the fecking things with a passion.

[Scraggles]

only travel off peak and so get my choice of seat this includes the underground, luckily I work on site and do not need to be there any particular time, hated the cattle class standing room only for 3 hours that used to have to endure whilst working near marble arch for a 6 month contract years back

[ewenm]

Funk said:

I will always, ALWAYS avoid using a train unless there is categorically no other option. I hate the fecking things with a passion.

Having spent a bit of time travelling by long-distance bus (National Express/Greyhound type of thing), trains are so much better. Of course, we in the UK are doing our best to make them terrible with our multi-layered privatisation structure.