I did it, I really really did it - wow I hear you are all saying has this woman finally lost her marbles??? - last weekend I travelled by Wales & West Alphaline Train to Manchester - no mean feat I hear you all say - well 16 years ago I had an incident with a train, standing on a platform ... Read review
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Advantages: On time, could have a drink without worrying about driving Disadvantages: Hot, stuffy, stopped at every station - more expensive than the car
...last weekend I travelled by Wales & West Alphaline Train to Manchester - no mean feat I hear you all say - well 16 years ago I had an incident with a train, standing on a platform behind the safety line in a station, the train was pulling in and some bright spark opened the door which proceeded to hit me at some 35mph leaving me with a good bit of physical damage (those poor ambulance men that had to carry me up the stairs), but more so psychological ... .../>
To be fair to Wales and West Alphaline, they made regular announcements for destinations and when changes were required for alternative venues. Amazingly having heard the horror stories about works on the track and delays I was pleasantly surprised to discover we both departed and arrived bang on time - surely they couldn't be that efficient more than once?
GETTING BACK
We arrived by Taxi at Manchester Piccaddilly to discover ... more
I did it, I really really did it - wow I hear you are all saying has this woman finally lost her marbles??? - last weekend I travelled by Wales & West Alphaline Train to Manchester - no mean feat I hear you all say - well 16 years ago I had an incident with a train, standing on a platform behind the safety line in a station, the train was pulling in and some bright spark opened the door which proceeded to hit me at some 35mph leaving me with a good bit of physical damage (those poor ambulance men that had to carry me up the stairs), but more so psychological scars - from there on in, it was the tube/coach/bus or walking - I avoided trains like the plague and once I had learned to drive there was no stopping me.
Well until last weekend that was - five of us invited courtesy of Granada TV to appear on their football quiz show - we had to travel to Manchester City Centre, the same weekend as 70,000 fans were converging on the city to watch England achieve a last gasp win over Greece in their endeavours to qualify for the World Cup Finals, and for any one who has ever driven in Manchester on a normal weekday will know, this is not an experience to be taken lightly.
A minibus was out of the question, as not even the Granada drivers wanted to risk this, thus it was the train. I can tell you I took some persuading as it was only because he had the tickets and the lift to the station that I let myself be persuaded.
TICKETS First stop for prices was 'thetrainline.com' which was quoting us £87.60 for a Supersaver return requiring 3 changes between Manchester and Swansea - see a good reason not to go - undeterred he tootles off to the train station and collects the same tickets at the more realistic cost of £43.60 each, reserved seats (outbound only) and no changes - there must be a catch surely? - well, yes there was, it stopped at virtually every station between Swansea and Manchester and took 4½ hours.
GETTING THERE The train was a two carriage sprinter with seats laid out in sets of 4 with a very narrow table in the middle - certainly not big enough to run one laptop let alone 3 or 4. There was no buffet carriage (naturally owing to the minute size of the train, but there was a hostess trolley serving both hot and cold drinks (soft and alcoholic) a variety of crisps and sandwiches at prices that would have made the motorway service stations look cheap.
The train housed one toilet which was unpleasant and dirty and certainly made me want to cross my legs, and also a payphone (seems a bit pointless in these heady days of the mobile phones). There were no openable windows in the carriage and despite stopping at virtually every station it was rather hot and stuffy by the time of our arrival in Manchester.
To be fair to Wales and West Alphaline, they made regular announcements for destinations and when changes were required for alternative venues. Amazingly having heard the horror stories about works on the track and delays I was pleasantly surprised to discover we both departed and arrived bang on time - surely they couldn't be that efficient more than once?
GETTING BACK We arrived by Taxi at Manchester Piccaddilly to discover hoards of people and notices on the board advising of late arrivals and departures and cancelled trains accompanied by an awful lot of apologies - oh dear it was going to be a late night - there was no sign of our train and no announcements of departure/delay/cancellation on the board - how on earth do you get back from Manchester on a Sunday afternoon when you have all had a couple of beers?? - well surprise, surprise, after making a few enquiries we located out platform - as far away from the central area as could be physically imagined - and proceeded to wait.
How many people would you expect to be travelling from Manchester to South Wales on a Sunday afternoon??? - Too many I can tell you - far too many for the three carriage sprinter that arrived - this is when I discovered that I had conquered by fear of trains (they no longer have those silly huge heavy doors - but now these slick sliding push button ones) and that I definitely had not lost the touch of locating a seating area for 4 people - much to the dismay and disgust of everyone who got on after me - well 4½ hours is a long time to stand up.
Similarly on the way home, the train stopped at EVERY flipping station and still had no opening windows or air-conditioning - this time the toilet was somewhat cleaner - and the ever expensive trolley remained on one spot in the train (there was far too many people for it to move) - but amazingly AGAIN it departed and arrived bang on time - so all in all an uneventful, boring and somewhat hot experience that I am sure would be of interest to all the DVT specialists who whinge about planes.
I really tried to make it interesting - but I guess for me the most exciting bit of this experience was conquering my long term fear of trains, and reminding myself that despite my accident, the best thing I ever did was learn to drive.
Now Manchester - thats another story..............
Advantages: Seems cheap for my admittedly small excursions Disadvantages: Akin to sitting in the back of a very poorly maintained refuse truck
...improve my love of the Wales and West service or Bristol Temple Meads.
I am sure that I am not expecting too much when I ask a member of staff whether I am boarding the right train. I should know if I'm boarding the right train, it's not too difficult, except for when platform changes go unnanounced (a particular favourite of mine), or a later train beats the scheduled train in, or the train pulling up is to all intents and purposes a ghost train, ... ...generated, but for 4 weeks Wales and West helped me to see Bath from every conceivable angle. I grew quite attached to Bath Spa, and when the monitors were finally fixed at Temple Meads, I quite missed having to ask a strategically shaved gorilla if I was boarding the wrong train with no hope of getting home.
Last weekend I travelled back and forth to Bristol visiting friends, and boy did I wish I'd walked. Wales and West can't honestly operate ...
dadmancat 22.05.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful Review of Wales & West Railway
Advantages: You get to sit next to people who talk to themselves and smell of strong cider, which some people may enjoy(?) Disadvantages: See Review
The wind whistles on the unsheltered station and whips at your face and shoulders, pushing the heavy rucksack against your back, but still no train. You wait, getting increasingly impatient and desperate for the toilet as the one at the station is locked on a Sunday. Eventually your hope dies as there is no sign of the 10.17 to Manchester, in desperation you drag your heavy bags into the station office and beg the attendant to assist you even though ... ...where it began as the trains are not running on this particular sunday due to 'trouble on tracks'. You discover that British Rail enabled you to buy a ticket and book a seat on a train that was never destined to make its journey. You were misinformed by Rail Information, you had to beg a family member to give you a lift, 200 miles up the motorway and when you ask for a refund, guess what happens...
They ask you to pay an admin fee, an inconvenience ...
katarina 20.04.2001 (03.05.2001)
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Wales & West Railway
Advantages: i didnt know they existed? do they? Disadvantages: i havent space
wales and west to me a joke, they should fee up the track for more of the virgin or great westen trains. wales and west firstly have no food carts, sleeping carts, or clean seats! The trains are from the exterior just about ok but then u get inside as soon as u realise ur mistake the doors have shut and u have no choice but to sit...no stand. My bad experience came about when me and two friends decided to go on a bike ride we caught a train from ... ...ours in a grotty dark empty station untill 2am really not only makes u angry but also ur parents who r egerly awaiting ur return so they can go to bed!!
so dont travell on the grotty, unreliable, unhelpful, costly train service that is wales and west!
thank you ...
Muffin 05.05.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Wales & West Railway
Advantages: Cheaper than a car (when you have a rail card - no need to pay over the bridge to wales) Disadvantages: No real late running of trains (last trains about 11:30pm)
One of the main routes i find useful is the Portsmouth Hardbour to Cardiff (okay, it ends in Swansea but i've never been that far).
I live just outside bath, and often have to catch connections to London, Plymouth, Cardiff, and to the North of England. The best thing about the line is that the Bristol and Westbury stations are the main connection stations for all these places.
Give yourself at least a 5 minute gap (preferably 10 mins) between trains ... ...often do the trains run on time anyway? More than likely your first train will be late, and your second one will have gone by the time you get there.
That has happened to me once or twice, but it is not normally more than an hours wait until the next train comes along. Not good if you are going to a meeting, but not so bad if you are just travelling around for the weekend. ...
sbenbow 12.02.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Wales & West Railway
Advantages: not much - just that the conductor was helpful Disadvantages: do i have to say anything
i myself am not a regular train traveller, but i thought that by now the railway network may have sorted out its problems, so because fo this me and my friedns decided to catch the train and take our bicycles on a trip to paignton and then ride to blackpool sands.
we arrived at taunton train station, only to our disbelief to find that we would have to be charged £3 EACH WAY to take our bikes onto the train, this caused much anger in the eyes of ... ...and ride places, we try and do this but get charged. the person behind the till tehn rectified the situation and we were not charged when boarding the train.in my view the next hassle was gettign the bikes on tho the trian and into the train compartment, we had to lift 3 bikes into the carriage and then secure them into bike holders that are not suitable for all bikes. as well as this you also tehn have to leave the bike carriage and then board the ...
fedamunta 05.05.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Wales & West Railway
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