Train Chat

[teamsaint]

More people go to St Pancras to shop, than go to catch a train.

Edit; those 3+2 seat configuration trains really are lousy, aren’t they. I actually time my trips into London to try to avoid them. Unfortunately the 09.16 from Amazingstoke is now a 12 carriage 3+2, and still seems to be full to bursting.

Dont think the Chelseas crowd will have enjoyed it........

[french frank]

More people go to St Pancras to shop, than go to catch a train.

I shall be going to catch a train. Now anounced it will be an SNCF strike day, so will the following day - so I may start my holiday with two days (at least) in London

[teamsaint]

I shall be going to catch a train. Now anounced it will be an SNCF strike day, so will the following day - so I may start my holiday with two days (at least) in London

Plenty of time for shopping then.

Are the Eurostar trains due an upgrade ?
Eurostar is a wonderful thing, but the carriages are, well , adequate.

[french frank]

Are the Eurostar trains due an upgrade ?
Eurostar is a wonderful thing, but the carriages are, well , adequate.

I've only ever been on it once. I had a window seat which did not coincide with a window and a bloke next to me engrossed in reading something and did not speak. Probably the most boring train journey I've ever had. I plan to concentrate on the TER trains which don't need reservations. And usually nice big open carriages.

Best train ever: Railjet, Vienna to Salzburg, 2009 (actually, I see it was Budapest to Vienna)

[teamsaint]

I've only ever been on it once. I had a window seat which did not coincide with a window and a bloke next to me engrossed in reading something and did not speak. Probably the most boring train journey I've ever had. I plan to concentrate on the TER trains which don't need reservations. And usually nice big open carriages.

Best train ever: Railjet, Vienna to Salzburg, 2009 (actually, I see it was Budapest to Vienna)

Had similar problems with booking window seats .

That is a fine looking breakfast.
Best train journey for me was the West Highland Line. Lived up to the hype. Rolling stock was a bit ordinary. But who cares with views like that?

[french frank]

Had similar problems with booking window seats .

That is a fine looking breakfast.
Best train journey for me was the West Highland Line. Lived up to the hype. Rolling stock was a bit ordinary. But who cares with views like that?

It wasn't just a fine breakfast: it was the relaxed comfort. The interior screens showed a map of where we were, alternating with station stops and speeds. As some people are more interested in trains than breakfasts (German and Austrian locomotives seem much more solid than British ones):

[Dave2002]

Had similar problems with booking window seats .

That is a fine looking breakfast.
Best train journey for me was the West Highland Line. Lived up to the hype. Rolling stock was a bit ordinary. But who cares with views like that?

The breakfasts on the 7.55 am train from Inverness to London are good too, or they have been in the past. The service has just reverted back to public ownership - again! Hopefully the breakfast will still be fine. The scenery is good too, for the first part anyway.

[MrGongGong]

The breakfasts on the 7.55 am train from Inverness to London are good too, or they have been in the past. The service has just reverted back to public ownership - again! Hopefully the breakfast will still be fine. The scenery is good too, for the first part anyway.

I went to London on the first day of Virgin taking over the East Coast
fantastic breakfast
after a couple of weeks ........ it reverted to "normal"

(always sit on the left going South and the right going North)

[Dave2002]

(always sit on the left going South and the right going North)

Depends what you want to see. The coast round Berwick is good, but so is the part through the Cairngorms. For the coast follow your advice, otherwise don't!

[french frank]

Sorry to harp on about Railjet, but it brings back such a host of wonderful memories . This is one of the screens mounted in each carriage to indicate the progress of the train (red line is the track, blue arrow is our train, approaching Tatabánya station).

[alycidon]

Well, here I am in glorious retirement in the Scottish Highlands and I have not been on a train for a very long time, other than loads of heritage railways and a couple of trips on the new Borders Railway. I don’t know if anyone else has noticed, but there are far more railway-orientated programmes on TV than there used to be, but watching some of these makes me feel very, very sorry for you poor folk who have to travel in such lousy conditions. No doubt you become acclimatised to them but watching from far away, as I do, I just become horrified by it all.

[french frank]

watching some of these makes me feel very, very sorry for you poor folk who have to travel in such lousy conditions. No doubt you become acclimatised to them but watching from far away, as I do, I just become horrified by it all.

Being a daily rush hour commuter is not something I'd welcome. But travelling for the pleasure of travelling, where and when you like, on trains of your own choosing, is altogether different.

I hate travelling by car. And plane. If I had to, I wouldn't go.

[alycidon]

Being a daily rush hour commuter is not something I'd welcome. But travelling for the pleasure of travelling, where and when you like, on trains of your own choosing, is altogether different.

I hate travelling by car. And plane. If I had to, I wouldn't go.

Yes, of course, FF. it is the compulsion to have to take certain actions that make them so unpalatable. Even so, travel these days is less tolerable with all the anti-social antics of fellow-travellers. Unfortunately, my temperament is such, that if someone annoys me I am likely to react in some way and I fear, nay, I know, that I would come off worst.

I don’t mind travelling by car if I am driving, or perhaps Mrs A, who is a good driver. (I get very travel sick). I am 75 and have never flown, or indeed, had a passport. I am severely claustrophobic, and just going into a Concorde in a museum gave me the galloping heebie-jeebies!

[teamsaint]

Commuters and others could do with a laugh right now.

https://www.citymetric.com/transport/11-things-i-ve-learned-pre-crossrail-crossrail-commuter-4427

[LMcD]

Well, here I am in glorious retirement in the Scottish Highlands and I have not been on a train for a very long time, other than loads of heritage railways and a couple of trips on the new Borders Railway. I don’t know if anyone else has noticed, but there are far more railway-orientated programmes on TV than there used to be, but watching some of these makes me feel very, very sorry for you poor folk who have to travel in such lousy conditions. No doubt you become acclimatised to them but watching from far away, as I do, I just become horrified by it all.

Perhaps it would be a good idea to find out which services Michael Portillo is planning to use, or just follow him around - he's easy enough to spot - as he usually seems to have most of the coach to himself, apart of course from the camera crew.