Trains...why?

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100%JR
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Trains...why?

Post by 100%JR »

I can assume this is not going to be a popular post here but Trains.Why?
Why would anyone use this expensive,slow,dirty,out of date mode of transport???!
Today I used a Train for the first time since 2003.Well to be exact I used three Trains and what a thoroughly unpleasant experience it is :|
Some work colleagues and I were having a shift outing/walk.We had decided to get the Train from Sheffield to Grindleford(Peak District) and walk back to Sheffield.I walked to my local station,Chapeltown in North Sheffield to catch the train to our meeting point Sheffield main station.It is about 7 miles/2 stops=£3.90 or £4.50 return.The train arrived(8 minutes late) and was rammed.Despite windows being open it was like a sauna on there.I'd hate to be on one in Summer!The carriage was very grubby/tired looking.Not a happy experience at all.
Train No2 wasn't much better,grubby.tired but the guard,a young lady,was very cheerful.Train No2 was also late but only 3 minutes.Including change over times the journey(with late trains) was just over 80 minutes.I can do the same journey in about half the time in the car,cheaper and be comfortable :?:
Train No3 was by far the worse.OK it was 17:30 so "rush hour" but people were pushing to get on and the guard told me "I was lucky to be lt on with a Dog and I would have to stand"Standing was not a problem as it was rammed anyway but I did tell him to check their T&Cs regarding the dog.
All today has done is confirm why I don't use public transport.
Outdated,expensive,slow and just not worth the hassle.
People wonder why the car is King...I give you public transport...that is why :roll:
Never again :|
I said that in 2003 after a poor experience from Sheffield to Inverness/Glasgow to Sheffield with bikes but as it hasn't improved in the last 15 years I really can't see me using Trains again :|
mercalia
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Re: Trains...why?

Post by mercalia »

quality varies? yes expensive if you dont use Advance Tickets & a Rail Card Some trips are cheaper by train than your car? eg London to Stratford Upon Avon return just £7 or so using the above options - with a bike. The only thing I might agree with is on board loos..... :( :shock: :? :x :oops: :cry: :twisted:
pwa
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Re: Trains...why?

Post by pwa »

My wife and I are going to Bath for a few days at the end of the month and we went online to book rail tickets. Weeks in advance. We saw the price and then the question became, okay, where can we park the car. We won't need it after arriving but we are not paying that just to get to Bath.

I last took a bike on a train in the early 1990s, about the time the guards vans were disappearing.
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661-Pete
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Re: Trains...why?

Post by 661-Pete »

100%JR wrote:I can assume this is not going to be a popular post here but ....
Spot on! I live in the heart of Southern Railways misery-land, but we still use the trains quite a lot - more so now that we have Senior Railcards (which help a great deal).

I suppose there's no pleasing everyone.

Sometimes the journey works out fine. A few weeks ago I had to make a trip to somewhere near Wimbledon, from our home in Mid Sussex. I could have driven. I could have done it, part by train and part by tram from East Croydon. I chose to take trains all the way, changing at Clapham Junction. I actually arrived ahead of schedule - no problems!

On another occasion we went to visit our son in Southampton - again by train (once again, one change). And he often comes to visit us - again by train (not having a car, he has no choice: too far to cycle). Yes he faces frequent disruption and once had to abandon his journey. But he perseveres. So do we.

But I admit to double standards. On our visits to France, we usually drive.
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kwackers
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Re: Trains...why?

Post by kwackers »

Cars are consumerism raised to the nth degree and they've changed our lives for the worst by making us absolutely dependent on them and just watching them being thrown around the streets by semi-trained monkeys relying on instinct can't be anything other than depressing.
I personally find driving a soul destroying experience. Gridlock, idiots that'll risk life and limb to get a vehicle ahead, the amount of filth they throw up, fighting for parking spaces and then worrying you've left the second most expensive thing you'll ever own dumped in a dodgy side street.

Trains otoh aren't perfect but for a lot of common journeys they're way faster than cars, particularly longer haul. You get to sit down, catch up on your reading and relax.
Having said that some of the local trains are pretty grim, but you quickly learn which trains to catch.

Imagine how good public transport could be if the vast amounts of money we pour into our "private" transport was used there instead.
pliptrot
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Re: Trains...why?

Post by pliptrot »

Train service in the UK is lacking due to political imperatives; private operators have profit as the imperative. It is possible to make trains run on time and not at great expense - but in the UK our value system reflects the contempt for public transport which successive Governments have engendered. Most other developed nations manage to run a decent rail network. Interestingly the US developed much as it due to that nation having the most extensive rail network ever seen. If you have ever driven in any major US city, you would know what misery motoring there entails, and wonder about the car and how it displaced railways.

As to the cost - if you did an honest assessment of the cost of buying and running a motor car I imagine you would be (1) surprised how expensive this is, and (2) made more aware of the environmental damage the motor car inflicts on us all. Future generations will look at our behaviour with, and acceptance of, the internal combustion engine in the same way we look back at tobacco, DDT, mercury seed dressing et.al.
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mjr
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Re: Trains...why?

Post by mjr »

I use and like trains and they're clean, spacious apart from the occasional peak commuter service and you don't have to waste hours on the attention-demanding task of driving.

But I can understand the comments. Trains often reward a little planning to avoid commuter services and prebook tickets, plus the opening poster has probably enjoyed two of the worst train operators: Deutsche Bahn's Northern, and Stagecoach's East Midlands. A foreign railway and a bus company! This patchwork privatisation and ineffective regulation has left some train services in a bad way.

However, if we posted ever bad motoring journey on here, we'd struggle find any cycling posts in the deluge! Yesterday, driving from Bedford to King's Lynn took over 2 hours - an average speed of just 30mph. Trains here do 100mph, averaging a bit over 50, but that journey would take 2h40 because you have to use two buses to get to the train because past governments with strong interests in road-building pulled up one of the needed railways (Bedford-Cambridge) and current governments don't prioritise buses much so they get stuck in swarms of private cars. Why do we allow private cars to run amok and mess up public transport, cycling, walking and so much else?
MJR, mostly pedalling 3-speed roadsters. KL+West Norfolk BUG incl social easy rides http://www.klwnbug.co.uk
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mercalia
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Re: Trains...why?

Post by mercalia »

what a hard choice? a reasonably comfortable seat in a warm/cool train where you can if you want have a snooze and a noisey car where a snooze will have you off the road ( if you are driving )
paddler
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Re: Trains...why?

Post by paddler »

Four of us caught the train from Tyndrum Lower to Oban last Saturday. We were surprised to find the price was £17.80 return! Seems a tad expensive for an hours journey. No complaints whatsoever about the train or the conductors though. But how much cheaper it would have been to drive and park for the day, divided between the four of us - which, to be fair, if we had bothered to enquire about the charges before we left, we would probably have done.

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merseymouth
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Re: Trains...why?

Post by merseymouth »

Hello there, Trains are a necessity for many folk! Those who can't, don't or won't need trains, but the scales are balanced against a decent rail service.
Having recently been advised by the medics that driving was a no no, I view things from a less selfish perspective.
My late father had to give up driving, dementia, my late mother was never suitable for driving, so a good public transport is not a mere play thing.
A good quality rail & bus service should be the norm, rather than the exception.
I'm now cleared for driving again, but I actually like using our rail network, even though it is not comprehensive enough! Take me back to Pre- Beeching.
So don't begrudge a service for non motorists! TTFN MM
Cyril Haearn
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Re: Trains...why?

Post by Cyril Haearn »

Old railways are great for children of all ages, the Thomas events at the Watercress Line are unbeatable :wink:
Unfortunately TDC applies :(, many drive to visit the railways, some children have never been on a modern train and think steam haulage is normal
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kwackers
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Re: Trains...why?

Post by kwackers »

merseymouth wrote:Take me back to Pre- Beeching.

Beeching is a synonym for everything that's wrong with the world.

No understanding of the holistic whole, preferring instead some sort of simplistic notion of how things might work.
Cyril Haearn
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Re: Trains...why?

Post by Cyril Haearn »

kwackers wrote:
merseymouth wrote:Take me back to Pre- Beeching.

Beeching is a synonym for everything that's wrong with the world.

No understanding of the holistic whole, preferring instead some sort of simplistic notion of how things might work.

Mr benching was tried posthumously and sentenced to wait at Riccarton Junction until the next train calls there. Quite possible that line might be reopened eventually :wink:
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Cyril Haearn
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Re: Trains...why?

Post by Cyril Haearn »

100%JR wrote:I can assume this is not going to be a popular post here but Trains.Why?
..

Actually it is quite popular, many of us like trains and the chance to talk about them :?

Cycling on old railways is great too :wink:
Last edited by Cyril Haearn on 17 Oct 2018, 11:41am, edited 2 times in total.
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PH
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Re: Trains...why?

Post by PH »

That Hope Valley, Sheffield to Manchester service has been due for upgrading for decades. It's redeeming features - it goes through the Hope Valley, just look out the window, it's pretty relaxed about taking bikes, it's popular with walkers and runners because you can get off at one stop walk/ride/run and and get back on at another, it can be super cheap with a Derbyshire Wayfarer ticket.
My last train journey was a week ago, Derby to Harrogate. Up to Leeds on a fast and comfortable train with a carriage almost to myself, change to a much older cold carriage for the last half hour. Both trains on time, £12.50 booked in advance, no bike this time though there would have been space for it.
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