This is one of Britain’s most HATED high-speed trains!
Вставка
- Опубліковано 13 тра 2024
- The Avanti West Coast Class 221 is one of Britain's most HATED high-speed trains in the UK, so today I decided to try the so-called Super Voyager on a ride in standard class from Holyhead to London Euston, running along the North Wales Coast. Are these troubled trains really deserving of all the hate they get? Let's find out!
---
Journey Details:
Origin: Holyhead
Destination: London Euston
Company: Avanti West Coast (AWC)
Train: UK Class 221 'Super Voyager'
Accommodation: Standard Class Seat (2nd)
Distance: 263 miles / 423 kilometres
Price: £55.80 (€65.30 / $70.10)
Time: 3 hours 39 minutes, arrived 3 minutes late
---
Find me elsewhere:
superalbs.weebly.com/
/ superalbs
/ superalbstravels
/ superalbstravels
---
00:00 Introduction
00:32 Welcome to Holyhead railway station
01:12 History of London to Dublin sail rail
02:00 Introducing the Voyager trains
02:30 Virgin Trains
02:56 Boarding the Avanti West Coast Voyager in Standard Class
03:21 Today's route from Holyhead to London Euston via the West Coast Mainline
03:40 Departing Holyhead to travel on the North Wales Coast
04:18 Avanti Standard Class seat review
05:20 Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgogerychwyrndrobwllllantysiliogogogoch
06:59 Llandudno Junction - the North Wales village named after a station
09:41 Joining the West Coast Mainline high-speed railway
11:51 A quick look at Avanti First Class
13:23 Ticket price
14:02 Avanti West Coast's new trains and the future
14:40 Slightly delayed arrival into London Euston
The super voyagers are not the ones that people complain about, they are actually not bad. Its the normal voyagers that cross country run that are terrible.
This! I used to used to commute between chesterfield and Leeds, and the only direct service at the time was XC on their godawful voyager. Always crowded, basically no reasonable standing room and the stench of toilets. Oh the smell!
When northern started a nottingham to leeds service calling at chesterfield, I used that. It wasn't as fast and had more stops, and occasionally was a Pacer, but at least it wasn't stinky!
When I used to head into our Leeds office, I avoided the Voyagers and used TPX and the 185’s instead.
This is the truth. The anxiety of wandering of your train at random will be 4 , 5 , 8 or maybe even 9 carriages. 4 carriages and when you take off 1st, driver compartment , bike storage, luggage storage, DDA toilets - you've got the equivalent of 2.5 carriages. On the 8 train consists I've found the back carriages are always freezing cold
I've done Plymouth-Newcastle a lot and found XC to be packed (from Bristol->Leeds at least) but more comfortable than LNER or even the most recent Eurostar I was on.
thanks for explaining. I was wondering why this train was hated, it seemed to be quite nice. sure, not ideal, but nice.
I'm not sure about AWC but Cross Country don't have enough capacity and often run four or five cars on quite long and busy routes, because not only trains to London are busy you know
And they retired 7 coach 500-odd seat HSTs. I get they're old but... seriously?
Now they've secured 12 of AWC's Voyagers, which they'll be gaining over the next year to finally sort out their long-running capacity problem (initially 7 to make up for their loss of the HST but an additional 5 has been added on top of that), but unfortunately London-centric intercity trains generate 10x more revenue than any CrossCountry service of a similar loading so the latter consistently gets the short end of the stick.
@@AymanTravelTransportabout time
I've seen packed 4-car trains running Bournemouth - Manchester Picadilly and it was so bad to ride on one to the point I made it a habit to never ride XC unless I didn't have a choice
@@AymanTravelTransportnot in effect until may 2025 though
At least it was an Avanti Voyager. The Crosscountry ones are much worse as they're unrefurbished from the Virgin era
some of the avanti ones arent even refurbed from the virgin era
I love them! They bring the nostalgia of the train travelling in the 80's. The seats are still comfortable, so much better than the card board seats in the Class 800.
They will be gone in the next few years. Crosscountry are rumoured to be replacing them with bi mode IETs. So are EMR.
@@chrisrowe7503 No actually, the Avanti ones will be transferred to XC and be refurbished along with the rest of the fleet. There are no plans for replacement yet.
7:22 > In France, there's a town of 4000 inhabitants named "Capdenac - Gare" [literally "Capdenac - train station"]. The original city of Capdenac, which still exists today by the way, is located on the left bank of a river while the train station was built on the right bank. When the station oppened, the residents decided to create a second Capdenac city on the right bank and they just named their new city "Capdenac - Station".
Romania features a similar situation, with Lehliu Gară being a town built around the station of the town of Lehliu, some few kilometers apart. Ironically, the train station named town surpasses the other town by a bit of inhabitants and size.
@@andreibegu happens a lot in romania, fetesti gara also comes to mind
@@andreibegualmost the same case in Spain: the picturesque mountain village of Canfranc built a big station down in the valley, and the town that emerged around the station is now known as Canfranc Estación and has become larger than the original Canfranc and a major tourist hotspot
Plenty places in Denmark didnt exist before the train....my old home changes its name due the name being difficult to differentiate from other names on the line. From Lillerød to Allerød
Same thing with Canfranc in Spain, except Canfranc Estación is miles further up the valley
The Voyagers are not bad trains.......its where they are deployed,that is the problem.
Holyhead to London on board a nice refurbished one doesn't sound too bad.
I think the bad reputation is all down to CrossCountry's use of them. Edinburgh to Plymouth on one would be absolute torture.
I went to York with XC, going up it was perfect, lovely window seat, quiet, two nice ladies helping me out because I got nervous (due to social anxiety) but on the way back, Jesus Christ it was awful, as it was a 4 car, only one toilet, it took me from Birmingham to Taunton just to use the loo.
all of CrossCountry's fleet will be getting a refurbishment by mid 2025
@mattcalder1936 I hope you were OK in the end Matt.
@aviationtrainsfc1 I think CrossCountry have gotten away with running a bad service with shabby Voyagers for years due to the fact that there have been worse performing train operating companies making the headlines.....Avanti West Coast and Transpennine Express spring to mind.
I know this is slightly off topic for this particular video but I would like to see an open access operator to be given a chance to give CrossCountry some competition.....particularly between York to Bristol.......Flixtrain using redundant mk5s perhaps?
I think they could have been good but they were designed more for headline numbers than passenger satisfaction.
I would take more space over tilting any day of the week because there just aren't that many places where tilting makes a noticable difference. I like the way they pull and the way they are laid out but as a well built kind of chap I found far too many times my shoulders meant I was taking up most of the two seats which is less than ideal when they were mainly used on fairly busy routes for their capacity.
Funnily enough I was on a heritage railway not long back and had the chance to ride in some BR MK1 coaches. It was shocking just how good they were considering they are mostly just bits of wood nailed together in the 50's. Its as if they were built with peoples comfort in mind rather than how many could be squeezed in.
These trains have a lot of potential. If they had better capacity they wouldn't be so hated.
The companies should be hated, not the trains.
They'd still stink though.
@@face_thereality Finally someone with sense!
@@Benjamin.Jamin.Unlike a Class 720 which actually does stink
they will never drive to another country.... they are on an island!
and the UK hates other countries!
I find the Voyager a comfortable train but what lets it down is capacity. Especially with XCountry who never seem to have enough carriages at peek times on Bristol to Birmingham and back.
Now try X-C, with a suitcase, on a busy day & see how you get on. Not sure a review of a trip on an empty train is getting to the heart of why they are 'hated'...!
Agreed. Southampton Central when a cruise ship has come in and its passengers and lots of very big suitcases wanting to get on the XC to all points north is a scrum to be avoided.
Bold of you to assume he'd be able to get on.
Quiet interesting to see the units you travelled still had the EX Virgin Trains livery
Was probably filmed a while ago as all the voyagers are now vinyled in AWC and of course the two in GC and I have seen both the units he travelled on in AWC.
@@ataphotographyUK The social distancing stickers on the floor are also a giveaway. This could be from a couple of years ago.
As a train, I don't think the Voyagers are as bad as they can sometimes be made out to be. There were broadly two complaints. One was that being multiple units they had engine noise that loco hauled carriages did not, though personally it doesn't bother me too much and they're not as bad as some other units on the network. The other and more critical complaint was overcrowding. Even though this can be a general theme on many a rail service in the UK, it does feel like the Voyagers needed to be longer from the outset and there has always been a desire for more carriages. In terms of ambience though, I feel they are quite decent. Interestingly, regarding some of the "new train" complaints they attracted when introduced about seat-to-window alignment and the comfort of seats, arguably because some newer trains have got much worse in this regard it now makes the Voyagers look better.
Hey I didn't know trains could now post comments on youtube! ;D
9:38 Let’s not forget that it was British Rail’s APT technology that created the Pendolino. There were passive tilt systems in some fairly obscure rolling stock around the world but the APT brought the active tilt principles. The APT also debuted the step that extends from the side of the train before the doors open too, which is also featured on the Pendolino. Also the APT seats are dramatically more comfortable to sit on than the Pendolino, and APT seats are lined up with the windows.
The Pendolino does not use APT's tilt. It uses FIAT's tilt technology which they developed around the same time as APT. It uses electric motors to tile instead of hydraulics & involves trackside balises.
Ironically, the Voyagers (subject of this video) does use a revision of the tilt system developed on the APT.
@@TheRip72The Super Voyagers use a hybrid type tilt system, with APT-P style hydraulics and control systems with the balise's input added on as well. The APT-P system worked right down to zero speed, but the Pendolinos don't tilt below 45 mph. I've yet to discover if Super Voyagers tilt at low speeds, I should find out....
There's the town of Entroncamento in Portugal. The name means 'junction', because it grew around a junction of two railway lines. Then in Finland there are places where a railway line did not go through the centre of a parish/municipality. They are not "towns" themselves, strictly speaking, but villages or some conglomerations of population. The places where passenger trains still stop (and I can think of) are "Hankasalmen asema" (between Jyväskylä and Pieksämäki, in Hankasalmi), "Asemankylä" or "Iin asemankylä" (between Oulu and Kemi, in Ii), "Asemanseutu" or "Alavuden asemanseutu" (between Haapamäki and Seinäjoki, in Alavus).
Edited later: There's also "Oriveden asema" in Orivesi, between Jyväskylä and Tampere.
The philosophy introduced by Virgin of short, frequent services gummed up the network and led to persistent late services with overcrowded trains.
The Virgin late overcrowded trains vs The Chad "we apologize for being 2 minutes late" Tokyo Rail
Deustche Bahn, looking from a corner: "amateurs"
Virgin brought the philosophy which is why the UKs rail network is in such a mess, Branson always thinks he does wonders when really you only have to look at Virgin XC, Virgin Trains, Flybe (Virgin Connect) to see it's a rubbish business model that uses panache to look good.
I think the clockface timetable brought alot of people onto the railways, and it's maybe a victim of it's own success . No-one seemed to anticipate the rise in demand . The hourly timetable is used elsewhere in Europe , i. e. Switzerland , without the ill effects . Maybe it's because they design their infrastructure to accomodateit, or maybe it's because the franchising arrangements would penalise an operator for combining or just canning a service that's so late it's interfering with the one an hour behind .
The GWR 800 series are crap as well and the most uncomfortable seats for a lengthy journey and rubbish catering , otherwise fine .
I remember thinking that the Voyagers were quite nice when they were introduced. That said, I was used to Southern region slam-doors at the time so anything was an upgrade by comparison!
I always enjoy your informative commentary.
I appreciate that! 😊
Well presented. Thanks.
During the December 2022 timetable change, the North Wales/Chester services don't call at Milton Keynes Central anymore, they now stop at Stafford and then fast to London Euston. But CrossCountry will be getting 12 Class 221 Super Voyagers from Avanti instead of the seven as planned, great video
Good, we could do with that capacity on the Manchester - Southampton/Bournemouth route so badly. Since HSTs were withdrawn, we’ve been lucky to see any double unit formations at all. On an hourly timetable might I add, so of course it’s full and standing most of the time!
Confirms my suspicion that this is pretty old footage. The social distancing stickers are another giveaway. Still a good video though.
Excellent news, plus there's the offchance you might get a refurbished unit as well.
@@arch9enius They should all be refurbished anyway. They’re in dire need of one! Not as much as the Chiltern 165s but still…
@@ChilternTransportProductions That route may not see much of them as the majority if not all will be on the Plymouth to Edinburgh route which Cross Country considers to be it's premium service.
couldnt agree more about the fact they are really nice trains to ride on when not overcrowded etc, Ive never had the toilet issue either, granted the only thing is that they are just a little too small for the routes that they do, other than that though they are comfortable, relatively quiet for diesel trains and can get you from A to B very quickly with their good acceleration.
Awesome video as always super albs
I've used these trains a lot in the past when Cross Country used them. Prior to Cross Country there was one train a day in each direction between Edinburgh and Wakefield so visiting my mother before I lived down here was a pain in the bum. When Virgin Cross Country arrived the service eventually went to one per hour, which it still is and the Voyagers were a big improvement but yes, over crowding was the one major issue. Once we hit Newcastle the train filled quickly and by the time it got to York and then Leeds it was standing room only, not good for poor passengers travelling all the way to Cornwall on the route.
The town of Nelson in Lancashire started out as Great Marsden and Little Marsden. There was already a Marsden station in Yorkshire, so the L&Y named the station after the nearby pub, the Nelson Inn. Eventually the town took the name of its railway station.
CrossCountry is always packed. For example the machester picadilly and bournemouth route, my sister couldn’t get out because of the crowd. I think they need to always do 9 or 10 car CrossCountrys because 4 or 5 aint enough especially with how active and busy it gets
It does get busy but as a regular user of that service it's a classic example of everyone cramming onto the first carriage they see when the carriages on the other end are often half empty.
love your vids!
Your comments are interspersed with subtle comedy , that makes your videos more enjoyable, even if the trains are the most hated ones. :))
I (along with most of Britain) love those trains! They’re brilliantly laid out and the decor is so good standard class feels like first, comfortable, sound great, the route is gorgeous, and there’s often nine or even eleven carriages so there’s plenty of room.
The four car versions Cross Country runs packed with enough seats to make Ryanair blush on sometimes THIRTEEN HOUR JOURNEYS through Birmingham and Manchester, the country’s second busiest corridor, to pack to the literal brim with suffocating levels of desperate commuters- not so much.
I actually represent most of Britain and we hate these trains. Narrow seats that are uncomfortable if you're broad shouldered, stinky toilets, stale air throughout, plug sockets and wifi that rarely work. That stale air is the worst. Most of Britain despise these trains with the fury of a thousand suns.
@@AsphaltAntelope Compare this shit to a Class 150 bus on rails
A years back 2022 i flew into Manchester airport ,i caught a train to Piccadilly from the airport then on to York then finally Northallerton i was impressed by how many railway staff were able to help with questions ,the last train was high speed and all seats were taken i had to kneel on the floor between the carriage join ,but it was August school had been out a week ,i saw great views from the train that you would not see in a car ,nice vid thanks .
I made the opposite journey last week from London, leaving my accommodation there at 7.00am. I had no problem with the train and enjoyed the trip. The total cost was €75 including the ferry to Dublin, booked about 2 days in advance. It was a 12 hour trip door to door. Local train from Homerton to Central London and ferry to Dublin. The bus that meets the ferry in Dublin costs €3 to Dublin city centre.
The village of Verney Junction in Buckinghamshire was also named for a station, though the station itself met the Beeching axe in the 1960’s. Unlike Llandudno Junction there was no village before the station, the village arose around and because of it. The station was only created (and named after the local landowner) because it was where three lines intersected (one of which was the once furthest ever extent of the Metropolitan Line of the London Underground, despite the station being twice as far out from London as that line goes today and in the middle of absolutely nowhere).
Halwill Junction in Cornwall got its name as it was a junction in the middle of nowhere. It was on the Southern "Whithered Arm" route to Bude.
From Halwill Junction, branch lines left southward to Wadebridge and Padstow and northward to Torrington and Barnstaple. No railways left in the area now, all closed many years ago, the name Halwill Junction remains.
The town of Bearsden to the north of Glasgow seems to have had several names in the past. It was generally known as New Kilpatrick when the railways arrived in the 1860s. The station was called Bearsden to avoid confusion with other stations with Kilpatrick in their name and the town seemed to have adopted the name at some point soon after.
Halwill Junction on the Withered Arm from Oakhampton to Holsworthy was named after the railway originated there.
I used to live in "Widdrington Station" in Northumberland. There is a smaller village called "Widdrington" nearby . . . but "Widdrington Station" is much larger and separate community. The station still operates.
TOCs using Crewe are: TFW, Avanti, Cross Country, Mersey Rail, London Midland, West Midland Trains, Northern, Caledonian Sleeper and TransPennine Express.
Merseyrail do not use Crewe, they don't travel further than Chester although a lot of the new trains were actually stored at Crewe
Down here in Kent we have the village of Meopham Station, just down the road from the village of Meopham. The station was some way from the original village, so a separate village grew up around the station and took the name of the station.
Marion
I spent a whole year commuting on Voyagers (both 220 and 221 variants) and I absolutely loved them. Quiet, smooth and comfy. I was even able to sleep on the floor of one when it was packed full. And here’s a little hack to Voyagers if you’re getting tired of all the seats getting reserved; there’s a row (either 2 seats or 4) in carriage B, if I remember they tend to be in front of a baggage storage, where the seats don’t have the display screens for reservation so these seats cannot be reserved. As long as you’re quick, you’re guaranteed a seat.
I have ridden Bangor too London but tbh it was during when services were cancelled due to weather so had my service cancelled but eventually got to London. Hope when I go again soon it will be smooth sailing
What is now called 'Waterloo' in London was known as 'Lambeth Marsh' before the arrival of the station, which was named after the village in Belgium near to where the eponymous 'Battle of Waterloo' took place.
Isn't what is now Waterloo named after the vicinity of the Bridge not the village in Belgium. The bridge however is named after the battle.
Another instance of a village named after its station would be Cemmaes Road in Powys, on the Welsh Coast line.
A friend told me she gets good plane deals flying into Ireland from the US and then taking the ferry. She said it's a nice trip overall without having to deal with London or Heathrow.
Possibly the area around Clapham Junction was named after the railway station .. But the correct name is still "Battersea" (or officially in postal addresses "London SW11"), right?
Noisy and cramped after the loco (HST) hauled Mk3 carriages they replaced, nowhere for luggage, and those toilet smells. Not the toilets themselves, but the area around, and often into the carriages. They're also usually standing room only through the West Midlands core. I look forward to seeing if the Class 800 derivatives are any better.
I don't know what sort of Voyager it was from Watford Junction to Birmingham International but I was staggered how noisy it was. I wish I had taken ear defenders with me.
@@kevinrayner5812 221
I definitely think you should go on holiday to Rhyl, I’ve heard lovely things about the town :) :)
In germany the town of "Porta Westfalica" was named after its station. The town is a result of the merge of 15 villages (several each several hundret to 5000 inhabitants) to a new town. The name was chosen as the station in the largest village, Hausberge, had the name "Porta Westfalica", as Hausberge did refuse to fund the station as the railway line was built, so the railway company didn't name it after the village.
Lived beside the mainline in Rhyl and used to count the carriages on their way and back from Holyhead just like counting sheep, 11, 13 carriages in the 1970,s, travelled that route countless times, glad I didn’t have to travel on this particular train , nice post
In Ireland, we have Limerick Junction, a town with the same theme name as the Station.
I commute on Avanti Voyagers, can't wait for the 805s to enter service.
Be careful what you wish for
I go from Manchester to Bangor a couple of times a year and recently did Manchester to Totnes , almost entirely on class 221s. I must carry i much prefer both the Intercity Express and Pendolinos over the Super Voyagers, but they're both rarely used on those routes. I should also note that leaving at midday on a Monday my 5+ hour journey to Totnes was standing room only with 2 changes, with the first two legs being on Cross-country Super Voyagers and the last being on a GWR Intercity express which i found to be much more pleasant
7:10 There is another place named after a railway ststion I can think of. Its a little village in Belgium, in fact called Waterloo which is derived, obviously, from the London terminal station!
getting home from uni was always a hassle as its always overcrowded from the route my trains go on. even if you get a seat its a hassle as there was no space some of the passengers had to stand in the middle of the carriages ( meaning it was warm and smelly) so getting off the train was also fun
I'm sorry if it's been said before - but Carstairs Junction was named after the station too. Great stuff btw
Not technically named after a station, but Clapham Junction practically is. The station (and surrounding shops/housing estates) are part of Battersea. When the LSWR built the line in Victorian times, Battersea was a slum, with horrific levels of crime. They were concerned that their middle-class target customers wouldn't want to use the line or change trains if it was called Battersea Junction, so they looked for somewhere posh nearby after which to name the station - enter Clapham, which is about 1.5 miles from Clapham Junction, across the other side of Clapham Common. Back then, Clapham was mainly large, suburban detached houses on huge plots, built for the newly wealthy London merchant class.
I have travelled in it till Holyhead and took ferry to the Ireland 🇮🇪.. the diesel engine is mounted at the coach terrace .. and creates a lot of noise .. was amazed to see a diesel train running at 200 kmph …
CrossCountry have been allocated an additional 5 Super Voyager units by AWC on top of the already 7. So 12 new units which hopefully will help with capacity issues. It’s rare to have a comfortable journey with XC.
The North Wales Main Line, the unelectrified track between Crewe and Holyhead plans to be electrified, so maybe dual modes won’t be necessary for this service in the future.
As someone originally from North Wales, permit me to say “I’ll believe it when I see it”. There have been proposals to electrify the route since at least the 1980s but nothing has come of them. Sunak has announced the “plan” this time, but he won’t be PM past the end of this year…
The town of Crewe (originally built to house workers on the railway and at the railway works in the 1830s and 1840s) was named after the train station that it was originally adjacent to, and the train station was named after the civil parish it was then part of until the mid 20th century. The civil parish was "Crewe" but it changed its name to "Crewe Green" to avoid confusion with the town of Crewe in the 1970s, the town by then having become a municipal borough. The town of Crewe was at first adjacent to the train station, but was actually in the civil parish of Monks Coppenhall. This led to a riddle that was once popular: "That which is Crewe is not Crewe, and that which is not Crewe is Crewe."
Amazing! That distance would be covered here in Romania in about 5 working days.
7:22 Tring station (Between Milton Keynes Central and London Euston) is so far out of Tring that the small village that has been built around it is called "Tring Station".
A bit like the village of Halwill Junction but there is no longer a junction.
going past a legit Medieval castle is quite awesome and makes the trip well worth it even if the train itself isn't the best.
There's the village of Micheldever Station, named after the station in Hampshire, and 2.5 miles from the village with the name of plain Micheldever
Also Verney Junction in Buckinghamshire on the Bletchley-Oxford line. The passenger service was withdrawn in the 1960s & the line was removed altogether in the 1990s but the village is still called Verney Junction. The line has since been re-laid, but there will be no station or junction at Verney Junction.
Yeah, they look like tilting trains. You should check out the HŽ class 7123. It's a tilting train running between Zagreb and Split.
they do tilt, not as much as the Pendolinos tho
Used to use the Virgin then Cross Country voyagers to commute for many years. Did the trick for shortish journeys but for some reason the toilets smell were awful in the Summer
The Dublin-Holyhead ferry can still be quite cheap compared to my flights, my family was regularly driving to Holyhead and getting the ferry instead of flying until about 2020. It used to be better when they had the fast ferries, but I spent most of my summer holidays as a kid staring at that train station from the car - it's good to finally see what it looks like inside!
Irish Ferries operate a (relatively) fast ferry for about half the year. I find it useful for departing Dublin at lunchtime and getting into London that evening.
Nelson in Lancashire was originally Great Marsden and Little Marsden but so as not to be confused with Marsden in Yorkshire, the expanding industrial town was named after its station, which itself was named after a pub near to the station, the Lord Nelson Inn!
You flew threw Nuneaton and not a word, I was looking out for you.
I am familiar with Voyagers, going from Cornwall to Bristol and the Midlands. They are quite comfortable. However the luggage space is woefully inadequate and they do get crowded.
Lambeth Marsh in London just South of the Thames was renamed Waterloo after the station. The station was named after the bridge.
Interesting question, can think of places that were created by the railways like effingham junction or Haywards Heath but the names sort of existed before the stations even if the towns/villages didn’t.
7:27 the village of Micheldever Station is named after Micheldever station as it developed after the stations arrival
My last trips of this line were 2019, super cheap sail rail return from Dublin to Liverpool, change at Chester. Also that year a one way to Crewe to pick up a car and return same day. Two sail rails in 2015 for the rugby world cup, Dublin to Milton, change to Wembley for 4.pm kick off. Watch the match, quick shuttle to Euston after and back to Holyhead for the overnight ferry (with a cabin) back to Dublin next morning. Similar for the Cardiff match, but needed to overnight in Hereford as Saturday service too late for a 24hr epic journey. I first travelled this line at age 7 in 1963, to holiday in London with my Aunt. Long overnight mailboat and rattley Cravens cars I think, No parents with me, chaperoned by a returning emigrant neighbour. Side aisle and 8 seater booths, you could stretch out and sleep to Euston. You can still see the now inaccessible harbour next to platform 2 I think, where you'd walk down the gangplank straight into the waiting train. Nowadays you have to be shuttled by bus from the Ferry pier to the station, after all the cars have exited, and it is easy to miss the matching train which in theory serves the Ferry foot passengers, but in practice leaves before you can get there due to the horrible delay in disembarking. There are no foot passenger ramps, and the shuttle bus has to enter the ferry bowels, but only after all the cars have gone. The extra hour delay for the next train was usefully used to stock up in McDonald's right beside the station. Very nostalgic for me, that trip in '63 was my first major train journey.
i traveled on these in Train Sim world 4, the DLC is more affordable than a single ticket lol. i said in another video that UK's rail was terrible on a another video and people said i was being rude.
There are no voyagers in TSW
I loved these trains, brand new, clean, quiet and hi-tech, and fast, compared to others I was on, but that was 20 years ago (2005 trip to London with Virgin), I've not been on one since as they've aged.
As soon as the video started i thought the wrong voyager is being reviewed. Everything on crosscountry is worse. To get the full overcrowding effect, catch a late afternoon departure from Birmingham New Street in any direction. The problem even spoils the 170s which are pretty good trains in the right hands. The other annoynce with crosscountry is that the are the only operator on some pretty key routes (Birmingham to Derby or Cheltenham for example). The only way to avoid a xc voyager on those routes is to drive.
In the main, the complaint is that 4/ 5 car trains replaced HSTs, so most peoples experience is of having to stand. Cross country could alleviate one problem by having some trains that dont stop in Birmingham as a lot of passengers leave or join here. Separated Birmingham terminating trains would give long distance travellers more space for through journeys. (More stock would be needed). Bypassing Brum could also save time. I got so fed up with the XC crush that i now pay a bit more and travel ECML, then SW, or GWR to the west.
Used to see them all the time driving through Watford
For Crewe its AWC Cal Sleeper XC EMR WMR/LNWR Northern and TFW.
Cross Country don't serve Crewe do they?
@@OlanKennythey do like 1 or 2 trains a day
I travelled on a CrossCountry Class 221 today. It was very shabby and there was that funny Voyager toilet smell. However, it was fairly comfortable compared to the Northern Class 195 I started my day on which was rather jarring and had a rattle that sounded like the train was shaking itself to bits.
I am growing to enjoy our narrator's sarcasm. Rush down to london at 5PM, huh! Yup.
I had a couple of hours on one of those trains going from Mid-Wales to Hedge End. Didn't like the feeling of being cramped. After that, I went via London.
There’s a station near Glasgow on the WCML where the line splits to Glasgow Central and Edinburgh Waverley that has a station originally called carstairs junction (now just shortened to carstairs) where a village was built around the station the village being named carstairs junction after the original name of the station
There is a village next to Edinburgh Airport called "Ratho Station" although there is no railway there. It seems there was a station there that closed around 100 years ago but the village kept it's name. There is also a nearby village called Ratho.
I recently had my first ride on an LNER Azuma first class, the staff were great, friendly, helpful and you could tell they really enjoyed their job. The Azuma had a choppy ride, you could feel every minor bump in the rails, there was a wierd side to side movement which was worse in the carriage end (keeping on target in the loo was an issue) I put it down to the large overhang from the bogies at the end of the carriage, also the brakes vibrated the coach quite badly. Next I went on a Javlin which had a lot nicer ride, like riding on air, similar to Mk3 HST coaches but was cramped. I've seen people say faster trains have to have a firmer ride but the Azuma was traveling at 125mph and the Javelin 140mph. I didn't know that both were made by Hitachi and makes me wonder why they're so different in ride quality.
Faster trains = firmer ride? Whoever told you that was lying, I've been on silky smooth trains at 220mph! 😃
The Javelins travel on purpose-made high speed rail so it's probably the track quality more at play here.
Great presentation, Superalbs! Am I the only one to question the logic of removing one track from the sheltered train shed, then expecting passengers to lwalk along a lengthy, exposed foot bridge to another part of the station (the original docking point for the former Sealink ferry)? The weather in Holyhead is notoriously changeable. Isn't there a more convenient link from the station hall?
I used to work for and get involved with franchise negotiations and the problem is a TOC gets paid to run a route not the number of carriages and the capacity. Back when these plastic toys first appeared I was shocked at the lack of sets in them compared to the "old fashioned" British marine engine HST units. We would run 12/15 carriages and even then most trains were almost full whilst others ran 5 with the odd doubler with 10 but again they had a limited number of seats per carriage.
Waterloo area named after the station (previously the area was known as Lambeth Marshes)
Which was in turn named after the bridge if I'm not mistaken
@@thomashenry3230 That is how I understand it. It is named after the bridge. I assume Waterloo Road was named when the bridge opened.
New video, yay!
Do they have train crew change over at Crewe our same train crew all way London
Yes, you have to sample the CrossCounty units to really understand the hate. One thing, the CrossCountry units don't even tilt! About half were built without tilt (but with the tilt profile bodies), the rest had it deactivated. Interestingly, the bi-mode replacements on the WCML don’t tilt. It seems that tilt is falling out of favour in the UK.
I use European trains fairly regularly, and I remember a journey from Newcastle to Cheltenham on one of these because the seats are so uncomfortable.
That has to be the cleanest AWC train I have ever seen.
Most of the trains are running 3G connectivity which easily gets overwhelmed when the train is half full
When was this filmed im seeing alot of older train liveries in this video!
I have a feeling this might be footage from 2021 as all of the voyagers in the fleet are now in avanti livery and the holyhead - euston route does not stop at milton keynes anymore since the start of 2023, and social distancing stickers and no review on the onboard shop, suggesting it was shut which they were during the pandemic
LOL… The last time I was travelling on train’s within the U.K was way back in 1991, I think it was back then known as British Rail., I purchased a Britrail pass for 30 day’s saving me a bundle but this pass was purchased outside of the UK. I like your review of this train service you travelled on, you’ve done a awesome review thanks👍
Cool video - once again 👍 I really like your videos.
Did you already try the iLINT Train in Germany?
It runs on hydrogen instead of diesel - the first worldwide 😎 - from Bremerhaven to Cuxhaven.
Widdrington Station on the ECML. It's also much larger than Wiiddrington, although that's not saying much.
Unfortunately the voyagers are usually over crowded which does indeed make long journeys uncomfortable.
I live in the midlands of Ireland, and sometimes visit family near London. I've often used this service. But (probably thanks to cheap flights) the service is not as good as it was. In Feb 2023 my wife & I took the evening boat to Holyhead and then slept in the station, taking the 1st train, 04:50 to Euston. We brought our self-inflating mattresses & down sleeping bags! We had hoped to do the same in Feb '24 but the train service to London was not so good, the early trains didn't even go to London and involved a few changes, and I knew we'd probably be dozing. The only proper connecting boats leave Dublin too early for us to get a connecting train from our home. But from London to Ireland the service connects fine. btw if you ever use the train & then ferry to Ireland do make sure to buy a sail & rail ticket, it's often cheaper than just going to Holyhead!
Avanti West Coast
EMR
Northern
West Midlands Railway
Cross-country
Transport for Wales
Caledonian Sleeper
^^ there's your 7 TOCs that call at Crewe. Sadly, I didn't even have to look it up 😂
I just have changed at Crewe before, and work in the railway industry myself - so i could figure it out 😅
Me neither 😂😂
They would be a massive improvement on our ancient fleet of trains in Inverness in the Highlands, we have largely run down class 158 fleet that are literally falling apart and a batch of 50 year old “new” Intercity class 43 trains which keep breaking down and not the safest..
They seem very similar to my local train to London, the HS1 so should be a decent ride, I still think for comfort nothing beats the old Intercity carriages of the 90's, they seemed to have much softer seating.
It's like the Liverpool Lime St. to Norwich route on EMR. They run 3 car 158s on it and you're most likely to be stood up the whole journey.