A huge thanks to those who have allowed me to use their footage for todays video - whom without this video would not be possible to make; KTV Videos: www.youtube.com/@KTVTransport SimOnTrains: www.youtube.com/@Sim0nTrains Southernrailwaysfan: www.youtube.com/@Southernrailwaysfan THAMESLINK319: www.youtube.com/@THAMESLINK319
I Still think 'London Midland' was a more appropriate name than the current 'London Northwestern', considering they don't really go that far North or West.
Also you have London North Western doing local/regional services on the West Coast Mainline with Avanti West Coast doing the intercity services, whereas on the East Coast Mainline, you have Great Northern doing the local/regional, and London North Eastern doing the intercity services.
Both London North Western and Great Northern are named after Victorian railway companies which built and operated most of the routes they operate. The original London and North Western Railway operated the West Coast Mainline as far as Carlisle as way as many other routes in the Midlands, North West and Wales, as well as into Peterborough and Cambridge. Their main aim was to link London with the North West and they were so successful that they became the biggest railway company in Britain until the nationwide railway reform of 1923. The original Great Northern Railway operated the East Coast Mainline as far as York as well as most services in Lincolnshire and a few in the East Midlands and Norfolk.
@mcollier4566 oh completely understand where the names came from, but still argue that it doesn't stop them being a bit misleading for the current companies.
@@Vanmanyo I agree. The 196's gave me the worst luck possible for the past year though. But they're the best CAF Regional/Commuter train built so far.
When I was younger especially after college if you call it that. Around 12pm I use to travel on all the buses and Trains around the West Midlands for a few hours before going home.
London Midland were **much** better towards the end.... That final year before renewal, the trains were very clean, punctual and properly staffed! WMR are truly awful 😂 We've seen ticket offices effectively closed due to not recruiting new staff, many cancellations due to staff shortages despite having a massive recruitment drive before the pandemic and now only running 2/3 the service, new departure boards of poor design (which seem to be only designed to be read close up with much smaller font sizes compared to the old ones), a much less user friendly app (the Govia/MoveIt OnTrack app was exceptionally well designed from a UX standpoint, I still use the London Midland variant of it today for departures). The Great Escape offers were also great!
They were failed there, and failed on the southern route, yet they lost the Midlands trains and got Gatwick express and Thameslink. Grrr. That is the government scratching their back.
I really didn’t mind London Midland before Govia lost the franchise to First/MTR which London Midland became West Midlands Railway and London Northwestern Railway.
They are better than WMR right now. WMR's trains are dirty. Completely neglected and such. And they have been giving me the worst luck in the past year. London Midland remains the best operator ever to existed before they lost the franchise.
I think it depends where you live. If you live in Crewe then actually they were pretty good with a cheap reasonably fast alternative to Euston. Around Birmingham - much less so.
i use to be a conductor for Southern when the Clapham Juncton to Watford Junction/Milton Keynes. and southern didnt have enough trains as they loaned their 377 to FCC and the brought the London Midland tran to do the route. It was a pain as at the time for a conductor it could only be operated from the rear drivers cabin. But apart from that they were good trains.
1,000 cancelations in 2 months seems like a typical day for the snow hill lines also with london midland the poor service to polesworth.. as LNWR still dont care about it.
West Midlands Railway is still the same, horrid service and unreliable. Although they are much modern and improved a lot, relability absolutely sucks on West Midlands railway services, particularly the cross city and snow hill lines
A huge thanks to those who have allowed me to use their footage for todays video - whom without this video would not be possible to make;
KTV Videos: www.youtube.com/@KTVTransport
SimOnTrains: www.youtube.com/@Sim0nTrains
Southernrailwaysfan: www.youtube.com/@Southernrailwaysfan
THAMESLINK319: www.youtube.com/@THAMESLINK319
@@Vanmanyo You are welcome!
London Midland has by far one of the best livery’s worn by a UK train. The trains that they operated are very nice too.
Great video as always!!!
1000 Cancellations in 2 months? Sounds like they were speedrunning "How many cancellations can you do Any%"
I Still think 'London Midland' was a more appropriate name than the current 'London Northwestern', considering they don't really go that far North or West.
Also you have London North Western doing local/regional services on the West Coast Mainline with Avanti West Coast doing the intercity services, whereas on the East Coast Mainline, you have Great Northern doing the local/regional, and London North Eastern doing the intercity services.
Agreed, and there is the same issue with Great Northern on the ECML!!
Peterborough is not exactly amywhere near the North!
Both London North Western and Great Northern are named after Victorian railway companies which built and operated most of the routes they operate. The original London and North Western Railway operated the West Coast Mainline as far as Carlisle as way as many other routes in the Midlands, North West and Wales, as well as into Peterborough and Cambridge. Their main aim was to link London with the North West and they were so successful that they became the biggest railway company in Britain until the nationwide railway reform of 1923. The original Great Northern Railway operated the East Coast Mainline as far as York as well as most services in Lincolnshire and a few in the East Midlands and Norfolk.
@mcollier4566 oh completely understand where the names came from, but still argue that it doesn't stop them being a bit misleading for the current companies.
London Midland definitely has the best livery of any train operator
Seeing shots of 150s on the Hereford services gives me bad memories 🤣
And I thought the 172s on that route were bad 😅
@@Vanmanyo I agree.
The 196's gave me the worst luck possible for the past year though. But they're the best CAF Regional/Commuter train built so far.
I swear these videos are perfect for documenting the colossal failure that has been privatisation of the railways.
I still miss London midland, especially the old rolling stock like the 153s and 170s but yeah they were very hit or miss to be fair.
very hit and miss... like Southern
When I was younger especially after college if you call it that. Around 12pm I use to travel on all the buses and Trains around the West Midlands for a few hours before going home.
London Midland were **much** better towards the end.... That final year before renewal, the trains were very clean, punctual and properly staffed! WMR are truly awful 😂 We've seen ticket offices effectively closed due to not recruiting new staff, many cancellations due to staff shortages despite having a massive recruitment drive before the pandemic and now only running 2/3 the service, new departure boards of poor design (which seem to be only designed to be read close up with much smaller font sizes compared to the old ones), a much less user friendly app (the Govia/MoveIt OnTrack app was exceptionally well designed from a UX standpoint, I still use the London Midland variant of it today for departures).
The Great Escape offers were also great!
Seems the only thing they got right, were the liveries
They were failed there, and failed on the southern route, yet they lost the Midlands trains and got Gatwick express and Thameslink. Grrr. That is the government scratching their back.
I love the livery though
I really didn’t mind London Midland before Govia lost the franchise to First/MTR which London Midland became West Midlands Railway and London Northwestern Railway.
Replaced 321s with 319s? What were they thinking. It was really dumb not to order more desiros
Obviously it seems like a downgrade but the 319s are fine
idgaf how bad london midland was its my goat
🐐🐐
Great video like always 😁
Thank you!
They are better than WMR right now.
WMR's trains are dirty. Completely neglected and such.
And they have been giving me the worst luck in the past year.
London Midland remains the best operator ever to existed before they lost the franchise.
I think it depends where you live. If you live in Crewe then actually they were pretty good with a cheap reasonably fast alternative to Euston. Around Birmingham - much less so.
i use to be a conductor for Southern when the Clapham Juncton to Watford Junction/Milton Keynes. and southern didnt have enough trains as they loaned their 377 to FCC and the brought the London Midland tran to do the route. It was a pain as at the time for a conductor it could only be operated from the rear drivers cabin. But apart from that they were good trains.
1,000 cancelations in 2 months seems like a typical day for the snow hill lines also with london midland the poor service to polesworth.. as LNWR still dont care about it.
100% agree with this video. London Midland did absolutely crap during the franchise
@danny069is do you like Steve cooper
London Midland, a failure ? *ABSOLUTELY*. They treated passengers with contempt.
I'd say London Midland was a good company, I find it difficult to compare them to WMR though, lot's of ups and downs about both companies
They used to have a £10 great escape which was great for a day out but they were always packed
Nice video! Shame the 350/2 are going I think they should be refurbed and run on WCML so 730/2 could run on cross city
Average Govia, no staff and loads of cancelations, it's a miracle of some evil god that they've been given the option to be a TOC since
My local franchise and I will NEVER understand how they kept the franchise for as long as they did.
Can we have fragonset, i was told of a great incident regarding fuel, a class 33 and a farmer :D
West Midlands Railway is still the same, horrid service and unreliable. Although they are much modern and improved a lot, relability absolutely sucks on West Midlands railway services, particularly the cross city and snow hill lines
Very hit and miss TOC (especially Cross City services) but livery and fleet range was far better than WMT imo
Sounds successful to me
@@SomethingETC literally
1000 cancellations in 2 months? That’s amateur by BR and SCR standards.
Cheese.
Thanks Wallace
They never failed
Elaborate why you think that!
@@Vanmanyo tbh they failed on the local birmingham routes but apart from that they did will elsewhere