Heathrow Central to London Paddington,
Heathrow Connect, Class 360 Train.
£8.50 Single
Back at Heathrow Central
I exited, and headed for Heathrow Connect/Express train station, and got a single Heathrow Connect ticket to London Paddington. And whilst it’s more expensive than the tube, for £8.50, it still represents far better value than the stupidly overpriced Heathrow Express.
As usual, the train was on time, and pottered it’s way to Paddington via the Great Western Slow Lines. The loads as it was past midday were low, with the cheap travellers like me at Heathrow and some locals boarding along the way. As a result the train never felt busy or unsafe.
27 minutes later, the train arrived at Platform 12, and I was out through the barriers.
Whilst Platform 12 is out of the way to visitors to London, it has one little feature just beyond the barrier - an entrance to London Underground and a direct connection to the Bakerloo line. Considering Marylebone is a few stops down, this is very useful. For those of you visiting London, this is also very useful as it cuts across important stops in the heart of Westminster - namely Oxford Circus, Piccadilly Circus, Charring Cross and Embankment.
A hop on, and hop off, and I arrived to see a train go. No matter - I booked a ticket for the 13:37 the night before anticipating the time to transfer from Heathrow to Marylebone. The train was called a good 10 minutes before departure, and people were directed to not a Diesel Multiple Unit, but shock and horror - a proper train with a Locomotive and Carriages!
London Marylebone to Birmingham Moor Street.
Chiltern Railways Mainline Silver Train Service, Class 67+Mk III stock
Advance purchase single: £7.50
The Photos -
http://www.photoblog.com/kevincm/201...-mainline.html
Damn. I’m going to have to trip report this properly I suppose!
For those of you who have only known the British Railway network before 2001, you can skip this bit. For everyone else, allow me to explain. In the past, there used to be trains with locomotives, and carriages. On some of the mainlines, these are being displaced with Multiple Unites (Electric or Diesel) or in some cases coaching stock remaining.
A "Class 67 Locomotive"
The Mark III coaching stock has been round the houses and operators (From BR to InterCity to West Coast Railway to Virgin Train, to Wexham and Shropshire trains). But operators are seeing logic in using this older stock as it offers some comforts over modern trains. That and they’re cheaper to hire too.
Rolling Stock
Chiltern Railways (and Wrexham and Shropshire) have been busy with these trains, practilically rebuilding and refurbishing the innards of the coaching stock till they look like they rolled out of factory.
Very lightly loaded
Power sockets
Branding
The Espresso Bar
In a five-car rake (Plus a driving van and a locomotive), it’s a standard class affair throughout - with a “business zone” (supplement payable) and “Espresso bar” near the Birmingham end of the train
In terms of comfort, the Mark III coach can’t be beaten. Through all refurbishments, it’s always been a comfortable seat you could just sink into. But these are modern times, so putting on new seat covers isn’t enough. The coaches have power at seat now, and for the connected traveller for today - Onboard WiFi that was free to use.
And like the journey down, the train just breezed through, making it’s five stops to Birmingham Moor Street - all on time and on scheduled.
At Moor Street
Head that way...
Overall: Again, perfectly delivered by Chiltern Railways. The new Mainline service is well priced and should really be used as an alternative to other services to and from London if you’re heading from Birmingham.
I bundled myself into a cab, and arrived at the office. Lo and behold in Server 7, one dead disk. A quick check to see if the maintenance company had sent a correct replacement (they did). Flick the armature open, pull the disk out. Place to one side. Flick the armature open, push new disk in, lock the armature, watch disk rebuild.
Of course, I didn’t bother to check my email. I’m on leave still thank you very much.
Happy the disk begun rebuilding, I picked up my trash, locked the Comms room door and caught the bus home. 2 buses and 30 minutes later, I was at my front door.
