You are trapped with a group of people who can be a challenge to say the least
Recommend to potential buyers:
yes
Full review
Many years ago there were, as now two railway companies engaged in the Race to the North, they were the London Midland Scottish Railway on the West Coast Main Line and the London North Eastern Railway on the East Coast Main Line (ECML). Speed was the key to their fortunes, speed was prestige and that was the reason for the race.
Step forward in time and the need for prestige was still apparent so the L.N.E.R under the guidance of Sir Nigel Gresley introduced their famous A3 Pacific class of Locomotives, these Locomotives hauled the crack Anglo Scottish expresses of the time. Many took the name of famous racehorses of the era and one still runs today hauling Steam Specials, that Locomotive is the World Famous Flying Scotsman.
These powerful locomotives would average speeds of around 78 mph between London and Newcastle and have been recorded at speeds of up to 108 mph. These speeds were not bettered until the advent of Gresley's masterstroke the A4 Pacific's. Gresley streamlined these locomotives and their carriages. One was painted silver and aptly named Silver Link again the image and perhaps the illusion of speed came to the fore. To this day one of these Locomotives, Mallard, which can be viewed at the National Railway Museum, holds the world speed record for steam traction of 126 mph. It was on a downhill stretch of track at the time and it should be noted that it did itself serious damage while achieving the record by knocking out a big end bearing on its valve gear. It should also be noted that her driver remarked that she still had plenty of power in reserve when the bearing failed.
Following on from the A4's came a novel design amongst rail traction in the form of the Deltic (Class 55) Diesel Locomotive. Two Napier Deltic two stroke power units powered this machine up to an attainable 100mph. That they were a nightmare for the fitters charged with their keep was incidental, the fact was they could really move and they again transformed rail travel on the East Coast Main Line.
Next came the world famous H.S.T or High Speed Train, as they were first known. They set levels of comfort and speed previously unknown by travelers in this country, in effect they were introduced and marketed by some clever PR people as the Intercity 125 and indeed they were capable of sustained running at 125 mph. Suddenly people realised that they could travel between major cities on the route both faster and cheaper than by air and certainly quicker than by road. Again they broke records and one of the them holds the world speed record for diesel traction at 148 mph.
Next came the locomotives that still ply their trade daily on the ECML the Class 91 electrics. British Rail as was quickly realizing the potential of these locomotives embarked on a massive publicity drive marketing them as the Intercity 225. Or in other words as a follow up to the hugely successful Intercity 125 but the campaign somehow fell flat. Passenger loadings did increase but it was only after the break up of British Rail that things really changed.
Enter onto the scene Sea Containers under the guise of Great North Eastern Railways (GNER) and things became to change. The Trains themselves were given a mid life upgrade both internally and externally including a smart new blue livery. The crest of GNER appeared on all the carriages and the logo the route of the Flying Scotsman was added as a touch of well perhaps not nostalgia but a ploy perhaps to add romance to the railways again. Speed was never the issue this time as 125mph was the maximum allowed on the E.C.M.L for three main reasons, one the track wasn't up to it, two the signaling system was old and wasn't fast enough to cope with speeds in excess of 125 mph and three congestion especially in the London area. As publicity stunt G.N.E.R ran a special train between Newcastle and Peterborough in May 1996 for the press and a speed of 156 mph was attained.
Next G.N.E.R realized that the customer needed pampering and looking after so they looked at car parking making it both easy to get to and secure. Waiting rooms were redesigned and brought right up to date; indeed some also boast meeting and conference facilities. Information displays were added that worked and even a magazine was introduced on board, even the trains would come to benefit from cleaning whilst on the move.
So what of today well G.N.E.R has become a victim of its own success, passenger loadings are high leading to frustration by the unfortunate customer who is forced to stand for part or the entire journey. All is not lost however because due to cascading of redundant rolling stock from the West Coast Main Line and also from Virgin Cross Country services due to the arrival of the new Voyager trains G.N.E.R. is taking extra coaches from the leasing companies. Yes that's right, leasing companies G.N.E.R do not own their trains they are rented. Anyway I digress these coaches are being refurbished and added within the train formation primarily on the HST's.
The line speeds have now been raised in some areas now and the trains can operate at their maximum design speed of 140 mph or if you prefer 225 km/h and it has even been known for these speeds to be exceeded on occasion. Hiring of other trains has also occurred with surplus Eurostar sets being hired, which operate between London and York. Also in a rather bizarre happening G.N.E.R even hired a unique preserved electric locomotive for use on the London Leeds service, this however was doomed to failure because of the non standard nature of the locomotive where even the smallest failure would take on mammoth proportions as the search for suitable spares began. A refurbishment program was also undertaken on the Class 91 locomotives to iron out myriad small faults that had become apparent over the years.
Add all these factors together, more trains, faster more reliable trains, longer trains and it became apparent that more services could be added to alleviate overcrowding and the icing on the cake expected in the next few years is expected arrival of the new tilting train known as the Pendolini. This train can negotiate bends faster than a conventional set due to its ability to lean into the bends and so this will have the knock on effect of increasing line speeds. Indeed now a class 91 takes 3hours 59 minutes from Edinburgh to London and it is expected that this will be reduced significantly, but the real key to decreasing journey times is by reducing congestion.
This though is a Railtrack problem and there is little G.N.E.R can do about it. One project here in the North East was to reopen the mothballed Leemside Branch Line which would have taken a lot of freight away from the main line but what happened someone stole the track, over a mile of it I believe.
G.N.E.R operated an electric service daily from Glasgow via Edinburgh to London, be aware though that many services start and terminate at York, Newcastle and Edinburgh, yet more services operate between Leeds and London and Hull and London. Diesel services are also operated from Aberdeen and Inverness to London and serve all main stations in between. I have traveled quite extensively over most of these lines during the past few years and have been more than impressed with what I have found. The carriages are generally clean; at least to start with, the seats are comfortable unless you are unfortunate enough to have to sit on one of the tip up ones found by the doors within the vestibules. Visibility is good and the air conditioning and heating systems are efficient. The crews I have found to be courteous efficient and polite, onboard announcements regarding approaching stations and or delays are usually both clear and concise. I supposed I must be very fortunate as the longest delay I have encountered was ten minutes but be aware that delays can occur especially at weekends when engineering work takes place. There are facilitys for disabled people to board at all stations but please make the station aware before you travel. Facilities are provided within the train for the disabled traveller but are as described to me by a friend spartan in nature.
Catering on board is good if expensive; they're being both an onboard buffet car and a trolley service to your seat serving assorted beverages both hot and cold, soft and alcoholic. Food is a mixture of pies pastries and confectionary with other foods such as bacon rolls thrown in for good measure. There is also an onboard restaurant for first class travelers, which through lack of money I have never experienced.
Fares are a minefield, there are a multitude of options and special deals available all year round so it really does pay to check to see what's on offer before booking, times of departure playing a major part in the prices. Indeed a visit to your local booking office or even a simple phone call can save you pounds. There is a route planner available on line at http://www.gner.co.uk but it appears to be worse then hopeless the website though is well worth a look. A better option appears to be at http://www.thetrainline.com
My last journey to London was a Standard Class day return departing Newcastle before 07.00hrs and departing London after 20.00 hrs, this one cost in the region of £120 but please check as you really could save a fortune and what ever you do reserve your seat when booking, you can stipulate which way you are facing, if you sit at a table and smoking or no smoking. Seats for smokers are small in number though as only one coach is designated a smoking area.
Now for final observations, should you look at the electric train you may think that there is a locomotive at each end, there isn't? The locomotive is normally at the Northern end of the train; at the other end is a DVT (Driving Van Trailer), which is basically a baggage car. Take a good look at the locomotive and you will see it has a cab at each end, one end is pointed and the other end flat. Should the flat end be leading then be aware that the train will be limited to 100 mph. This is due to the aerodynamics of the locomotive. Originally during its design British Rail insisted that the locomotive be available to haul goods trains at night in practice it never happened but the second cab was retained.
Also there is still a tradition harking back to the steam age where the first coaches into London are first class, this is so that the first class traveler may alight first and so beat the rush and crush, also the same customer will not have so far to walk on returning to the train.
Thanks for reading And I hope the journey wasn't to long.
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