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willc
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« on: September 16, 2008, 13:45:09 » |
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Needing to be in Chester yesterday afternoon and not being in a particular hurry to get there, I decided to give W&S▸ a try, so drove over to Banbury (where station car parking is now so over-run that Chiltern are leasing two industrial units nearby as overflow).
I was supposed to be on the 11.28 - return of the early working into London - so was surprised to see an empty W&S train sat in the north bay platform. Crew told me it had terminated there earlier due to a suspected technical problem, but all was well for the return and Chiltern had laid on a Turbo to provide the connection from London, which pulled right up to the end of the platform to stop alongside, so it was a quick transfer for a couple of dozen passengers joining the train.
Slightly late away, but that didn't matter as the schedule is padded to an incredible extent, mostly through the West Midlands. With better pathing, you could probably cut out 30 minutes and timings beyond Wolverhampton aren't exactly taxing either. This particular working runs via Birmingham New Street, where we sat at a platform for three or four minutes and were then given the right away by a dispatcher!
If you like chord lines - hot topic elsewhere - and unusual routes, then this service is just for you. Off the Snow Hill line to the Camp Hill route, then swing left on to the line into New Street, then right at Soho junction and off to Perry Barr to join the Walsall line to Bescot then on to Wolverhampton. My return, on the 18.10 from Wrexham, took in the Aston-Stetchford cut-off before being looped at Birmingham International for a while to allow a CrossCountry service to overtake us before we tailed it all the way to Banbury.
On-board service is excellent, with friendly staff, who will bring hot food to any seat in the train - most welcome, as I hadn't eaten, so had soup, followed by sausages and mash, on the way home.
Passengers numbers were respectable for off-peak on a newish service and I was told peak loadings to and from London are pretty good already, so the ability to just add an extra Mk3 to the trains may come in handy, something you wouldn't get with a DMU▸ .
I would definitely recommend the service if you are heading to Shropshire or north-east Wales and aren't in a great hurry, though I gathered the journey times should start to come down from December, largely as a result of smoother passages through the Birmingham area.
The first train will get into London nearer 9am, rather than 9.54 at present, which may well deflect any threat from Virgin's rather cynical plan to suddenly show an interest in Wrexham and run a peak London train via Chester.
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