Northern Spirit hold the train franchise, believe it or not from the name, up north. They offer services as far south as Sheffield and travel to places like Wakefield, Leeds, Barnsley, Pontefract etc...
I often use a Northern Spirit service or range of services approximately 4 times a month. It is normally on the 20 minute journey between Wakefield and Pontefract, however I have travelled between Sheffield and Pontefract on a Northern Spirit service, taking approximately an hour.
I will be perfectly frank about the service and say that there is a distinct trade off. I have very rarely seen Northern Spirit trains late. They, in my experiance, are incredibly punctual very rarely arriving more than 2 minutes late than expected. The staff are very friendly and there fares are very respectable as well, allowing travel in Yorkshire very cheap. There is also the oppurtunity to purchase a Metro Card, which will see a cut in fares. I however don't possess one of these as I use a Railcard for more wide spread use.
The one thing that isn't so impressive about Northern Spirit is their trains. Don't get me wrong, the trains aren't neccissarily dirty as in bits of litter around, but they are very old trains. I don't know what the situation is with Northern Spirit, whether they're waiting fro a stock of new trains being built at the moment, or if they are sticking with the present old BR stuff, trading off old trains for cheap fares.
Whatever happens we must remember that you aren't going to expect Virgin luxury on a Northern Spirit because they are a local operator and hence you're not expected to be on their trains for very long as you would be on a cross country Virgin. However one local company, Central Trains, have some very nice new trains whereas the seating arrangement on Northern Spirit tends to be like bus seats and no arm rests.
Overall, despite recent rail problems I have no problem using Northern Spirit instead of my car because they are good value and also punctual so go and give the train a go in the Yorkshire area.
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May 2nd, 2001
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