The One A Day CrossCountry Service From Guildford
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- Опубліковано 4 жов 2024
- Did you know that you can catch a CrossCountry service ... to Guildford! Just once a day there is an early departure in the morning, and then once a day in the evening a serive that arrives and terminates there.
I caught up with my friend Jono on a rainy Sunday and travelled one stop to Reading and discussed why this service runs.
Manument Bonk t-shirt: stores.clothes2...
Intercity Trains Through Guildford Website: www.1s76.com/
This is the train Guildford station staff deny the existence of! I went to meet my son on a Sunday, coming in at 22:45 and was categorically told there were no Cross Country services to or from Guildford anymore. The look on their faces when it rolled in was priceless!!
Note how the Dot Matrix display on the platform said "Next train doesn't stop here" and thus didn't show it properly ...
Huw Price - if your son hadn't been On the train - also Price-less. 😉
Ann Other. Ah haha, indeed!
Much the same used to happen at Bromley South with the Ramsgate train (hauled by a Deltic in 1998/9). I remember arriving there on the up train and the platform wallahs all shouting “Not this train! Not this train!” at passengers boarding. Don’t know what they thought it was.
Huw Price were they SWR if so then they are brain dead
I'd love to see a video for budget travellers, exposing the absolute dirt-cheap routes that may encourage people to go and explore a bit further afield in the UK!
What a great idea!
There aren't many, really. Pricing on the UK rail network strongly discourages spontaneous exploration. It's crap, I'd love for there to be an affordable weekend ticket that somehow let you travel on all the trains up and down the UK - you might get people leaving their cars at home if it's cheaper!
@@classicmacintosh Try Euston to Lichfield - about £8. Just checked (23.00) and tickets available tomorrow. Seems to be a fairly regular price, and a reasonable journey when I took it recently.
Too many Senior Managers and etc from the TOCs to have any fun here; explore EU using an Interrail card for less
It won't be on this service. Guildford to Newcastle weekday £163 with no advanced fare I find see for the next month. There are cheap=-ish fares but most of them are specials, usually travel in an area for either one day, or a set number of days in a period. They usually aren't advertised; can be complicated (especially with a rail card) and difficult to buy.
Even if you're not a big train person, it's nice to see train liveries that don't belong at certain stations.
A few days ago I saw what looked like an ex-GWR sprinter in Sheffield station - no branding, but still the distinctive dark green - probably halted there as it was transferring operators or something.
Also, I want a Manument Bonk Shirt.
153381... and 153380. Northern Rail's trains now, ex GWR as you mentioned.
150109 with Northern Rail, normally everywhere. Ex-(A London company) (not sure about 150108)
Ex-GWR old livery 1501XX sometimes makes an appearance at Sheffield.
One of those ex-GWR 153s runs from Huddersfield to Castleford regularly
Jake is in denial about his love of trains
@@annother3350 you're absolutely correct in that.
There’s quite a few GWR HSTs up by Glasgow Central parked in the sidings
Fun fact: cross country is the only train operator that runs to both Cambridge and Oxford. (sad varsity line noises and angry yelling about beeching)
Grrrr...Beeching....
More like Bitching
Maybe again one day, a direct link between the two...Bedford to Sandy would be the tricky bit...
The education express
I believe east west rail is on the way. So Oxford and Cambridge may be linked again
Geoff, I don't live in the UK, or ride trains, but man something about your presenting keeps my eyes glued. Thanks for the entertainment!
9:28 "We're so nerdy... I love it". Yes, yes you are! Never change 😊
‘I could smell the voyager’
Sounds about right
Back in the 80s there were several inter-regionals through Guildford. My favourite was the 0805 from Portsmouth to Liverpool. There were also services to York, Manchester and Nottingham. Happy days.
Hi Geoff. Just a note to say I would love to see more these ‘unusual services’ videos! An idea for a new series perhaps? Thanks
See also my "Super Sprinters on Sunday" series and my recent trip on the once-a-day train from Holytown to Wishaw.
There’s a similar train at Bath Spa where the first Bristol-Glasgow train of the day starts at Bath instead. Could be interesting if you don’t mind getting up early
Awesome video again. I was the gateline staff at Norwood Jn on Sunday morning. Nice seeing you and keep doing the stuff you do for all of us.
Petar Ninov that was you, hello! Ha I couldn’t stop as i was on my way to Guildford! 😜
Geoff's T-shirt! 🤣🤣 Loving that this channel now has proper running jokes.
Manument Bonk. Is Geoff trying to tell us something?!
If people hadn't seen the video with this mistake uttered in it, they might think it was an Officer Crabtree thing - Good Moaning!
@@annother3350 monument bank he need to make
Have always wanted to catch this train. Before the end of 2008/7 they used to run to Brighton via Gatwick as well.
Which was more useful !!
High Path I vaguely remember when I was younger an XC HST went passed Betchworth at speed.
I hope we see more unusual services videos. Like all trains to from Sheffield to Cleethorpes are ran by Transpennine Express except for Saturdays. On Saturday’s 3 trains a day are ran by Northern and goes via The Brigg Line.
As in 'All the Stations - Have an Adventure' 😁
We love the Brigg Line ♥️
Back in 2005,There wasn’t any XC trains from Guildford.But then I saw a 43 on platform 6 and I realised it was diverted via Guildford from Basingstoke!Fascinating
Congleton also has a cross country early in the morning to Manchester Picc then an evening service to Bournemouth
I saw a CrossCountry train go under the main lines at Reading about 10 years ago. This video finally answered my question, why.
One Stop to Reading is the name of my indie rock band
I lived in Guildford for many years until I got a new job at Reading. For a couple of months I was doing the daily commute between the two towns (until I moved) and would occasionally catch the CrossCountry back to Guildford. I remember the first time I saw that 18:22 service to Guildford on the Trainline app and it did make me go "What is a a CrossCountry train doing, terminating at Guildford?!".
It's actually really nice taking that train back, as all the slightly earlier ones are either stopping services or trains to Gatwick, and therefore packed with people.
Ah, took the train that starts at Newcastle. I would leave from Sheffield and arrive home in Guildford! Very convenient :)
We took it once when the trains down to Kings Cross were all rammed. There was this Voyager just sitting there in the adjacent platform, virtually empty. Checked with the guard and they said, yes, you can use your ticket on this one. Visited a load of stations I had never seen before that day.
I remember the voyagers coming in on the Crosscountry (then Virgin) routes while I was regularly heading between Devon and York when I was at university - if I wanted a direct train on a Sunday it went from Bristol -Birmingham via Reading and Oxford, always used to be amused by the look of panic on people's faces when we reversed at Reading...
I grew up in Wokingham and I had no idea that there were ever any Intercity/CrossCountry services using the line into Reading, despite having gone to school right next to it (I guess they were all too early/late for me to have noticed). The shots of the junction with the line to Waterloo and of Wokingham’s shiny new(ish) station have left me feeling a tad homesick, the ongoing global unpleasantness has kept me from visiting for well over a year which is the longest I have ever been away.
I used to commute from Reading into London on a daily basis and on occasion often had to use the Cross Country services from Reading. I used wonder why the northbound CrossCountey sometimes would pull into Reading station from the direction of (as I thought London Paddington) rather than Newbury/Southampton. That explains everything. Thank you for solving the world’s greatest mysteries for me! Yeah - it really is the small things in life that please me.
A number of them did run from Paddington at one time.
5:02 XC trains to edinburgh use the ECML rather than the WCML.
diamarker 100 they used to
@@s125ish Really? I didn't know that.
@@diamarker1004 yep , Aberdeen , Glasgow and Edinburgh to Plymouth and Bournemouth
@@diamarker1004 Aberdeen to Bournemouth via Manchester and Scotland to Plymouth via Crewe.
Jack Shiels yes via Leeds , not Many via Doncaster.
Can’t believe I’ve been planning to do this trip and been outdone by Geoff!! Fair play
Lovely ending shot - I almost expected the "all the stations" theme to play as the train pulled out!
Very nerdy but also very good. Thanks for the video - I've caught that early morning train so many times in the past and it is an absolute godsend if you're heading anywhere up north - you can sleep the whole way!
Didn’t know the history of this service. Thanks Geoff
When I lived in Birmingham i used to regularly catch the 1633 from New Street to Guildford during the week. I now work on the trains based at Guildford. 455s are the best!
You should’ve went all the way to Newcastle 😂
😂
Then done the Tyne Valley line diverts
@@OlanKenny not necessarily the guildford but ok
@@alfieontransport wat
it would’ve taken hours due to the train queue into Birmingham New Street taking twice the length of the scheduled journey!!!
Many thanks for the name check and plug Geoff, enjoyable video.
Andrew, hello!! Ah, someone said that they'd passed the link onto you, hello! I stumbled across your site a while back and loved it - fond memories of Guildford and that service on Sunday that i saw once, so i knew one day i would have to go and ride the XC. thanks for your great site! cheers, Geoff.
@@geofftech2 not manument bonk
I have many memories of travelling on the CrossCountry services between Coventry and Brighton in the days of InterCity then Virgin and the current franchise until they stopped going to Brighton. Occasionally travelling via Guildford and Redhill, in particular on a Good Friday service to Brighton that ran that way probably 2007 or 2008. Great video as ever.
Ah I spent my college youth 92-95 waiting for trains at platform 1 in Guildford! Memories of those cold evenings and hot afternoons!
If you are doing a new series on CrossCountry one offs I can recommend the only Turbostar out of Bristol the 06:13 to Stansted.
There's also Nottingham to Bournemouth.
@@adamstripreports9538 Is there one the other way?
It did only start running in service in May 2019 so is quite new.
The CrossCountry app shows you can get that one direct arriving at 11:41 or change at Bristol Parkway, Paddington, Liverpool Street to arrive at 09:47 for the same price.
I can't believe anyone has ever done that journey end to end.
@@craigthurston7731 And schlepp heavy suitcases through three changes, when you could be sitting watching the world go by for the same price? Not bloody likely.
Regardless of what know all Mr 'Caps Lock' has written, you are correct.
As you say, 6.13 departure to Stansted Airport.
It departed at on time from platform 3 and is due in at Stansted Airport at platform 2 at 11.40. It is currently at Stansted East Jct.
I've got that direct train between Guildford and Birmingham a few times, my mum lives in Hampshire and I went to uni in Brum.
Live close by in the Black Country now.
Remember sitting in the corridor by first class on one particularly over crowded service.
And this is Crosscountry we're talking about which is often pretty overcrowded anyway.
Mention of the Pines Express reminds me of my first university interview in Southampton - in the days when such things happened. The first thing my form mistress said was 'You can get the Pines Express'. I misheard her, and thought she said Pinta Express. Assumed it was the milk train (something else they still had). Having consulted Google, I guess I would have caught it at Crewe. As it was, I stayed with relatives in London overnight. It was probably that trip where I was served coffee by a BR steward who poured from 2 pots (coffee and milk), and in 2nd class. First time I'd ever seen that, let alone on a rattling train. For those who only know a trolley pushed through the carriage serving instant coffee in paper cups! Happy days - thanks for the memories ☕🛤️
Caught one of the handful of XC Brighton trains many years ago to get from Reading to East Croydon. It was running 40 minutes late but it was so much more relaxing than having to schlep across London between Paddington and Victoria.
Cross-Country services on diversion from the SWR due to engineering works used to run through Guildford, Havant and Fareham and then to Southampton. Nowadays, most diversions for that reason are sent to Salisbury and then to Southampton and on to Bournemouth. The empty train from Eastleigh (stabled overnight) to Bournemouth early on a Saturday or Sunday morning runs via Hedge End to Fareham, reverses and then goes off to Southampton and so on.
Why do I always watch your videos? Never knew I had an interest in trains
I think it was 1980 when they started Inter City services on the Guildford to Reading. There was Portsmouth to Manchester and Portsmouth to Wolverhampton, which would be 47/3 hauled, and a Fridays only Portsmouth to York which would be Class 33 hauled. I remember watching the trains pass through Crowthorne, my home station.
Here re-watching this in April 2024 after Geoff linked it in the comments of his most recent video. I forgot this video ever-existed and have no recollection of watching it 4 years ago, but I definitely did as there was already a like on the video! Great work. The crosscountry service to Guildford is unfortunately no more though.
I've actually taken this service the whole way, I had a Wedding in Newcastle to attend (I'm also from there) but I study down at drama school in Guildford so that service is incredibly useful
Cross Country trains at Reading either use the bay platforms at the south-west end eg 3- (if they are using the dive under the main lines) or platform 13 (if they use the dive under from Reading West).
Thanks for another great video. I remember when I used to catch the train from Woking to Ash Vale and waiting on the platform at Woking, used to see the Anglia Railways service that used to come from Ipswich/Norwich on its way through to Basingstoke.
This is closer to home, I go through this platform every day!
Used to catch those trains when first moved to Banbury - 1988 - to go to exhibitions at Olympia and/or Earl’s Court, never did find out what happened to them when they stopped, now I know, thanks Geoff.
There’s a swr service that runs at 5am from Waterloo to Portsmouth that calls at pretty much all of the stations in between including all of the suburban commuter stops!
I actually get this from Banbury to reading really frequently and didn't realise how rare it was, so this has actually really impressed me 😂😂
I have gotten this train once
(the 6am) when I needed to go to Coventry. It is quite a unique journey!
In early inter city day's, there was services from York to London Paddington, or Wolverhampton to Darlington. You should try the esk valley line, where trains finish at random staitions instead of running all the way to Whitby.
Oh god that map he drew hurts my eyes... Edinburgh XC trains via Manchester?
I remember intercity trains going the Reading route from Birmingham bound for Portsmouth, I think that may have been the last incarnation of Cross Country beyond Guildford. Would love to see them run to Gatwick though
1S76 was the Sussex Scot service from Brighton to Edinburgh and ran through Clapham Junction and round that way to Reading stopping at Kensington Olympia.
There was the 1M18 that ran from Brighton to Manchester via Redhill and Guildford as well as loads of trains to Gatwick and Portsmouth, all via Guildford...
As someone who takes the Cardiff to Nottingham direct train regularly, I’m from Notts, live in Cardiff for uni, I’ll tell you it doesn’t *feel* like a small service Geoff
I don't know if anyone has already mentioned this, but there were services from Brighton through Reading to the Midlands and the North long before 1979. I don't know when they stopped but they were certainly running in the 1950s, steam-hauled. I'm pretty sure I remember one at Redhill station (which presumably would have had to reverse there). Love your videos by the way. I only discovered them a week ago and I've been bingeing on them since!
I miss the CrossCountry service which served Brighton. I heard that it was canned due to the limitations of the Brighton Main Line. I’m glad I managed to take the service from Brighton to Manchester in 2004. Six hours but it was a cool experience.
When I was a little boy (rather a long time ago). we lived alongside the Guildford to Reading line. There was a regular service in the summer from Liverpool through Reading, then Guildford then across thru Surrey to the Kent coast (I think it eventually stopped at Margate but could stand corrected).
The Guildford to Reading service was not electrified, all steam Southern region class N or U 2-6-0 locos with about 3 carriages. This ran into the other Reading terminus which stood directly beside the Western region station. There were even to sheds in Reading
As a guildford resident I cannot believe our poor excuse for a train station is somehow featuring at #29 on UA-cam's trending page!
Don't worry, the building for the refurbishment starts next week!
@@lompstem It's a miracle
@@lompstem For 4-5 years of roadworks buildingworks ETC xD
I got this train (going the other way) a few times on the way back to Surrey from Oxford when I was at university! Never seemed worth the direct route though as the train always sat for ages at Reading so you didn’t seem to save any time over changing from CC to GWR as normal. I had no idea why it was only once a day, thanks for letting me know!
I loved the little nerd out seeing the black train
Love the "MANUMENT BONK" shirt Geoff XD
Also, in 2001, when we still had The Sussex Scot running via Croydon and Olympia (when the Voyagers were new, and the service was converted to Voyager from loco-hauled), there were also frequent Redhill - Birmingham New Steet trains via Guildford, every couple of hours or so, interworking with the ones from Bournemouth at Reading. There was even a small depot at Three Bridges (on part of the site of the Thameslink depot) to stable and service Voyagers at that end of the route overnight. As you say, the service was run down (almost as quickly as it started up) and now the journeys from Guildford are all that remain.
Ah the old what we used to call "straight through" train from Brighton to Manchester! We used to get that in the mid nineties when going back up to manchester to visit my dad. Long journey time though at around 6 hours or more compared to 4 hours changing in London. Boring as hell when you're only 8 or 9 without mobile phones or tablets.
I remember the One Stop Travel shop agents used to dispute that a straight through train even existed and you had to convince them to search for it!
I once took it from Birmingham to Brighton as I was curious about the route and didn't want to make any changes. Alas the crew change at Olympia didn't take place and we were shunted into a siding for an outrageously long time before being shunted back and told to get off as they were cancelling it. One train became five, four and a half hours became seven. Didn't take it again!
@@TheSm0wman oh god that sounds terrible. I remember once when i was about 13 (1998 ish) and my sister was 14 or 15, she came up to my dads a few days after me travelling on her own. There was some problem and the 6 hour journey ended up being 11 hours! My dad left to meet her at the station at 7 and they didnt get back until gone midnight. She said that they were giving out free alcohol to people but because she was too young all she got was a couple of bottles of coke. I dont think she even got a refund. She didn't have a mobile and my dad didn't have a landline so i had no clue what was going on. Not sure if my dad did either but he sat there for 5 hours poor bastard.
@@TheSm0wman also yeah i remember it was frequently at least 45 minutes late.
Michael - after 5 hours or so the sardine sandwiches get pretty ripe
@@annother3350 is that a euphemism? 😉
I moved to Yorkshire in 79 and could get cheap train fares. I sometimes used to get the Brighton-Manchester Piccadilly train from Gatwick; drink cheap beer, then walk to Victoria to get a train home. I think it was side corridor stock and am fair sure a Class 47 pulled it. One of the few clear memories was the grey semi dereliction around the Thames and especially Stamford Bridge. The linked timetable says it took 5 hours. Add near an hour to get to Gatwick and another hour + from Manchester and that's a long, daft way round.
Lol 😂 I was on a cross county train to Guildford yesterday
Interesting detailing on the map...
Southern also chuck a few random trains a day Guildford way each day.
I remember getting that train route back to Manchester direct, when it used to start from Brighton back in the mid 90s. Really handy as I was in Guildford and friends were in Brighton and Oxford (Uni days all returning to Manchester at the end of term). All managing to avoid the London change over drama.
Also, back then, you could get a train from Paddington to Manchester Piccadilly, and the Euston - Piccadilly route was nearly an hour slower than it was now.
Used to use the Brighton trains fairly regularly as my wife and I would pick them up after work to visit her mum. Some trains went to/from London Paddington as well for a while!
In the early 2000s there was around 5 or 6 a day from Guildford. In the 1980s I remember there were services coming up from Portsmouth to places like Liverpool or York. Even nerdier, I recall Thameslink services coming down to Guildford too in the days of Network Southeast...
I'm sure going back a lot of years that there was a 12car slam door emu from Eastbourne to Manchester that ran once a day.
Was that on the Great Central route ?
There used to be a loco hauled Inter City from Folkestone Central to Manchester Piccadilly in the 1980s -also once daily - when Sealink sailed from Folkestone. After stopping at Dover Western Docks and Dover Priory it ran fast to Canterbury East then Bromley South. I assume it ran via Kensington Olympia. Sadly at that time I was too young to have made the journey alone. Though I did catch it from Folkestone Central to Dover Priory letting the local services go and waiting so I could travel Inter City. Great work Geoff
Should have watched the full video first.
Another rare livery at Guildford is Southern, they operate 4 services a day from Guildford to London Bridge (as oppose to the usual SouthWestern services to Waterloo). 2 services in the morning, 2 in the evening.
There is also a once a day service that runs from Gloucester all the way through to Stanstead airport, it runs Saturday only like that but on a weekday service starts at Bristol
Saw you on the CCTV at work Geoff, you can hear me announcing whilst you were comparing maps just before you alighted.
Paul Biddle YES! 😝 Brilliant!
I have used this service a few times. Also the Brighton service, when it existed. Also amusing the hangover intercity cross-country weekend stop at Congleton, Cheshire which I have used from Bournemouth. That Bournemouth reverse is dangerous... many a time it's caused me to consume a whole bar of chocolate.
My nearest train station is a whistle stop that is around 40 km away. We get 3 trains a week Eastbound and 3 trains a week westbound. Ah the joys of living in rural Canada. It would be pretty hard to live here without a car.
Love the quote that Arriva wound down the services, sounds familiar
They were wound down long before Arriva took over the Cross Country franchise.
I remember the Ken Olympia route to and from Brighton from my Uni days I think. Then more recently I saw they'd axed that side, all except one train...
The map drawn.. Glasgow and edinburgh go through newcastle, york on ne line, then across to Birmingham via doncaster or leeds
Brings back memories of inter-regionals and 47 haulage.
There was a daily service from Hastings and Eastbourne, via Brighton, Redhill (and also through coaches from Kent) and Guildford to Birkenhead in the 1950s, steam hauled. It was actually known as 'The Birkenhead'. Nothing's new on the railways!
The famous (or infamous) 1S76 operated for quite a few years in the late 80s early 90s as the stupid o'clock Preston-Brighton and return which was renowned for arriving at Kensington Olympia and then being lost for about an hour to all-known BR signalling. On one notable occasion, on the Brighton-Preston service on which I was travelling it managed to rack up 180 mins late into Preston for no obvious reason...
Geoff, have you been on one of the services from Wimbledon to Clapham Junction that goes up the District Line to East Putney before branching off onto the Putney-Clapham line? I got on one unwittingly just a few minutes after midnight.
It's on my list! (it's a loooong list)
I've been on one of those when they were doing engineering works one weekend. The people on the tube platforms looked a bit surprised :)
@@Albatross-365 Done it in the Wim-Clapham Junction Direction when there was line trouble just north of Wimbledon. Takes longer and of course you loose earlsfield but gain Wandsworth Town (doesnt stop at East Putney though does it on the scheduled? )
@@geofftech2 I work for SWR (at Guildford station funnily enough). If you'd like to get in touch when you finally get round to doing the Wimbledon-Clapham train I'm sure something fun could be arranged.
I've been that way one Sunday afternoon, when trains were on diversion. I had no idea it was going to happen, until I looked up and noticed that we were whizzing through Southfields, etc!
Several GWR trains a day use the Reading diveunder - whenever a Redhill/Gatwick train is fresh out of the depot, or going back there, it used Platform 15 and the diveunder rather than platforms 4/5/6
In 1989/90, if I missed the 17:36 train from Canterbury East to London Victoria to get to Sittingbourne in Kent, I used to get an Intercity service at around 17:49 to Faversham and then wait for a connection to Sittingbourne. From Faversham, it used to run non-stop to Chatham, Bromley South and Kensington Olympia and head eventually to Manchester Piccadilly. I remember it as it was hauled by a Class 47 diesel, and the seating was quite luxurious at the time compared to the Mk.1 EMUs that ran on this line.
We're so nerdy I love it (Geoff laughs) with a cold 9.32 - 9.34
💛
The East Croydon to Oxford service used to be a good way of going to Oxford for the weekend - saved hauling suitcases round the Circle line. It started with quite l;ong trains but I think ended with a loco and 3 or 4 coaches.
I went on that a few years ago from Oxford to Darlington - dead handy, I was doing a tour of England visiting friends and family without bothering renting a car.
Geoff
If you had complete control of everything train related across the entire UK, what would you do? I can only imagine how amazing your manifesto and how extensive your planning would be.
In BR days, I used to go to Surry Uni. Often would catch the irregular service from BHX to Guildford on a Sunday going back to Uni after a weekend at home.
Back in the 90s I remember as a kid taking a train with a locomotive direct from Chatham in Kent to Banbury avoiding central London. Was very unusual to see a loco pulled train in Chatham.
@@cowanh00eventually Glasgow (The Deltic only ran as far as Birmingham, as an electric loco took over from there - none of this running diesel trains for hundreds of miles under the wires as XC do)
I rode the weekday 1335 Newcastle to Guildford last week, from Derby to Birmingham. Had no idea it was unique.
At 5:01 If you look on the left next to where John wrote M for Manchester, you'll see that he is a very cheeky man...
When I was a student in Preston in the 80's there was a train I could get to Birmingham, easy to get to from Preston, to get down to my boyfriend's down in Bournemouth. Run in and out of Reading. When I was heading to my parents in Petersfield I would hope off at Guildford and get the Portsmouth train home
Likely find it’s for route knowledge as when they close the mainline between Southampton to Reading on weekends, the trains will often go via Guildford instead.
As others have probably already stated, the reason this train exists is to retain driver and train manager route knowledge from Eastleigh to Reading via Guildford for when the direct route via Basingstoke is closed, the only alternatives would be expensive ECS trains or the dreaded rail replacement buses.
Northampton has a similar service pattern with avanti west coast that one train calls there once per day then it’s LNWR doing services you can change to avanti at Milton Keynes or Rugby and Coventry and beyond. The service is the 06:39 to London Euston only.
Have done 1, once a day service in my time each way, but you need to travel to match it, Geoff, was Seattle to Chicago and return. Have another US one I want to do, when cleared to fly again after cancer treatments. I jokingly call it the Jean Harlow route (Wiki, Geoff) from Kansas City to Los Angeles. Good fun, and informative video, Geoff
I caught a CrossCountry yesterday between Motherwell and Edinburgh and was surprised to see Swindon and Bath Spa on the display on its way to Plymouth. I asked the guard, and he said it was because of Engineering Works. He also said it had played havoc with the seat reservations system, which were all jumbled. He tried to reset it as we came into Haymarket, and all of a sudden the display announced we were heading for Aberdeen.
Also, CrossCountry Only fares from Motherwell and Glasgow to Edinburgh are far cheaper than the ScotRail (or Any Permitted) equivalent, you don’t even need to book in advance.
NB, XC don’t serve the WCML between Carstairs and Stafford. Trains from Glasgow to Bristol go via Edinburgh, York and Leeds. Not exactly a quick way to go.
I can recall catching a through train from Liverpool Lime Street to Plymouth with no changes... this was back in the early 1970's though!
Hi Geoff. Great information as usual thanks Just been on the 1s76 site. Very good with lots of pics of good old BR trains lol 😆 I remember those cross country inter city trains as they got us to London cheap by going via reading or Gatwick from Manchester 👍🏻