Virgin North Wales services

[Andyh82]

A quick query, are North Wales services generally just a single Voyager or a double voyager, particularly on Saturdays?

I'm thinking of catching the 11am-ish one from Chester to Llandudno Junction on a Saturday and am wondering if I have a seat reservation will it be a case of fighting to get on board, climbing over luggage and then evicting a young family who have been sitting comfortably from London to sit in my reserved seat.

Would I be better using the ATW service although I can't see any Advances on that route.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

A quick query, are North Wales services generally just a single Voyager or a double voyager, particularly on Saturdays?
I'm thinking of catching the 11am-ish one from Chester to Llandudno Junction on a Saturday and am wondering if I have a seat reservation will it be a case of fighting to get on board, climbing over luggage and then evicting a young family who have been sitting comfortably from London to sit in my reserved seat.
Would I be better using the ATW service although I can't see any Advances on that route.

The 1116 from Chester (0910 ex Euston) is normally the only double Voyager operating west of Chester, coming back from Holyhead at 1358.
There are two ATW services from Chester around the same time (1100 originating from Manchester, 1125 originating from Birmingham) with different stops.
They all stop at Llandudno Jn.

 

[headshot119]

The 1116 from Chester (0910 ex Euston) is normally the only double Voyager operating west of Chester, coming back from Holyhead at 1358.
There are two ATW services from Chester around the same time (1100 originating from Manchester, 1125 originating from Birmingham) with different stops.
They all stop at Llandudno Jn.

It's usually fairly quiet on a Saturday too.

You'd be better off on a ten car voyager than a two, three, or four coach ATW service.

 

[gordonthemoron]

Used the 9:10 ex Euston on a summer saturday last year, double voyager, completely rammed until well into Wales

 

[Aldaniti]

A quick query, are North Wales services generally just a single Voyager or a double voyager, particularly on Saturdays?

I'm thinking of catching the 11am-ish one from Chester to Llandudno Junction on a Saturday and am wondering if I have a seat reservation will it be a case of fighting to get on board, climbing over luggage and then evicting a young family who have been sitting comfortably from London to sit in my reserved seat.

Would I be better using the ATW service although I can't see any Advances on that route.

As suggested above, the Euston - Holyhead service can be completely unpredictable. I've used it when it's been uncomfortably busy and also when it's run a half-empty. It's a gamble, view it on the day and if conditions look unfavourable, perhaps flag it and take a gamble on the following service if the timings suit you. Might be worth checking for footy matches on a Saturday too, not sure if Welsh services suffer the same problems as in England, but at that time you're perilously close to potentially more problems on a Saturday.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

There's also the possibility of extra unadvertised ATW loco-hauled workings on summer Saturdays, but their running is unpredictable:
http://www.railforums.co.uk/showthread.php?t=119417