I doubt my plans would allow me to get the train 2 hours earlier and in any case with an advance ticket it is only valid on the booked service, first class available or not. You must also not join or leave the service at any other station on the journey unless its a valid connection as per your advance booking.On the day, if it’s a Sprinter, arrive at Piccadilly early enough for the 67 before, and explain your situation to the guard. He might be a sticker for the rules and tell you to wait two hours, but he might well be sympathetic and tell you to get on. After all, he’ll probably be well aware of just how unpredictable the MK4 diagrams are himself.
I agree. Id say the entire route from Abergavenny to Shrewsbury is the most scenic and less scenic from Shrewsbury onwards but still some nice parts.Cardiff to Hereford is more scenic, but Wilmslow to Shrewsbury has some higher speed sections which are honestly quite enjoyable. One isn’t clearly better than the other, so I’d base your choice entirely on set availability.
There are no seat reservations, so if you want to upgrade to first you just sit down in any available seat and ask for an upgrade when the conductor walks through. There’s no need to inform them before boarding, but you might be questioned by the first class host, in which case just tell them what you’re doing.
It does seem like they need to improve the catering especially as someone could join the service from say Cwmbran to Swansea. Or someone might want more refreshments after Cardiff if they were making the full journey. They might as well not continue the service beyond Cardiff if there isnt proper catering service available.I regularly (once a month or more) take the 1744 from Shrewsbury to Swansea, and the catering staff do indeed get off at Newport, typically doing a last round for drinks and taking payment at Abergavenny.
Most of the time I’ve easily had time for three courses before they clear up, but most recently I was told I could only order from the standard menu as there wasn’t time, and had to argue my case to have two courses - which of course were finished easily before Abergavenny. It was a bit annoying considering it’s a 3 hour journey!
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