backontrack
Established Member
I'm writing this from the 17:59 VT service to Euston.
The wires down at Garstang have thrown the WCML into disarray.
I boarded the 13:03 Penrith ex-Glasgow train to London at 14:15, arrived in Preston at 16:20, waited onboard with the rest of the train - no announcements were made. Over forty minutes later, we finally got one, curt and completely unapologetic, telling us "This train will now be going to Glasgow Central". An entire trainload of people was evacuated. We ended up on an ex-Glasgow that then left an hour later; with more than two trainloads inside once we left. Even now, we're stuck at Crewe, waiting for a...crew.
Virgin's handling of the incident up until Preston was exemplary, including frequent frank and helpful announcements; and inserting a stop at Oxenholme for one young passenger who'd got separated from his folks at Penrith during a long layover. (Shout out to Kieran at Penrith.) At Preston, things went downhill without an announcement for so long; no apology, nothing about how to get refunds over the telecom for the uninformed. I hadn't expected better, but in a way it's disappointing. But, hey, we've had some free crisps and water distributed among us (buffet now empty), so it's not exactly North Korea.
Are you snarled up in the West Coast fiasco? If you're reading this, and have nothing better to do... I've heard reports of northbound passengers at Preston waiting eight hours for a service; an exaggeration, surely?
A brief adjunct: while I've been typing this, we've started moving again.
The wires down at Garstang have thrown the WCML into disarray.
I boarded the 13:03 Penrith ex-Glasgow train to London at 14:15, arrived in Preston at 16:20, waited onboard with the rest of the train - no announcements were made. Over forty minutes later, we finally got one, curt and completely unapologetic, telling us "This train will now be going to Glasgow Central". An entire trainload of people was evacuated. We ended up on an ex-Glasgow that then left an hour later; with more than two trainloads inside once we left. Even now, we're stuck at Crewe, waiting for a...crew.
Virgin's handling of the incident up until Preston was exemplary, including frequent frank and helpful announcements; and inserting a stop at Oxenholme for one young passenger who'd got separated from his folks at Penrith during a long layover. (Shout out to Kieran at Penrith.) At Preston, things went downhill without an announcement for so long; no apology, nothing about how to get refunds over the telecom for the uninformed. I hadn't expected better, but in a way it's disappointing. But, hey, we've had some free crisps and water distributed among us (buffet now empty), so it's not exactly North Korea.
Are you snarled up in the West Coast fiasco? If you're reading this, and have nothing better to do... I've heard reports of northbound passengers at Preston waiting eight hours for a service; an exaggeration, surely?
A brief adjunct: while I've been typing this, we've started moving again.
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