When have you had 99.9%-100% perfect train trips?

Hello everyone. I thought I might start a new thread of this and see what others experiences have been.

Yesterday, I have to have had a 99.9% to 100% perfect 2 IET trips. I caught the 10:45 from Oxford to Great Malvern and the 17:40 back - each First Class.
Let's say I had an extra almost £20 spare!

I know not everyone likes First Class on the IET's but as long as the seats are very comfortable, and the onboard experience is 10/10 and the train is on time or not too late then I'm happy!

Both the 10:45 and 17:40 ticked all these boxes for me...

1. On Time / On Time to not too late ✅.

2. Trolley service ✅.

3. 2 ever so friendly onboard hosts ✅ - both wanted to make sure I had enough food.

4. On both services, I managed to charge my phone to 100% (from like 75% on the 10:45 and 67% on the 17:40) ✅.

5. Good / excellent heating ✅.

6. Seat reservations in operation ✅.

7. More importantly - both scheduled 5-car IET's had First Class at the London end ✅. Therefore my First Class seats, booked on Thursday 3 days ago, were forward facing for the first time. Before yesterday, all the roughly a handful of First Class IET trips I made since February 2018, the IET's were in reverse formation.

I'd nominate my trip to Peterborough on LNER back in November (I think).

Nice cool carriage, with around 2 other passengers in it(!) Friendly staff in the buffet serving nice cold beer and an excellent non stop run in just under 45 minutes.

The return journey from Stevenage too was excellent under the circumstances. A 91 had pulled down the overheads at York, so we had several extra stops and lots of extra passengers. TM came through to ensure as many people as possible had seats and even announced that there were X empty seats in the rear portion and X-2 people standing. He kept up well informed as to connections and the likely delay caused by the extra stops (which he was spot on with).

Three examples, all London <> Scotland related.

1 - Way back in 2011 I went to Inverness to see friends via a very cheap 1st Advanced fare on East Coast. Beautiful July weather all the way, great breakfast on East Coast and a clean and comfy 158 from Waverley thru to Inverness. Coffee and biccies on the Scotrail leg, and if memory serves me correctly there may have even been wifi although 2011 seems a long while ago for that to have happened..?

2 - Homeward bound leg of the same trip a few days later on the CS from Fort William. Instead of a berth I opted for a comfy seat in the Mk2 just behind the 67. The weather was again amazing and the scenery was magical, even down to the stags on Rannoch Moor. Watched the sun slowly fade until we reached just north of Glasgow, and I finally nodded off somewhere south of Edinburgh. The whole experience felt a bit dreamlike..to this day I still think about it. Pretty much the perfect train experience.

3 - Introduction of the new CS stock last year. This goes against the grain of many experiences described on this forum, but the staff were friendly during podium check-in and throughout the journey, the single malts in the Club Car inexpensive and plentiful, and I slept very decently in a comfortable bed in a berth with no discernible rattles or squeaks. Breakfast was fine and we arrived in Glasgow on time with no issues. Looking back it seems I was one of the lucky few!

I'd also like to add my journey to Inverness in summer last year.

Set off from Ipswich on the last day of my Anglia Plus, clearing the last few shacks I needed on it. Then headed over to Cambridge for a cheap ticket to Tottenham Hale followed by a quick trip to Euston on the tube. Quick pint or 2 shared with a bloke travelling to Brum in the Signal Box pub at Euston before settling into my Mk2 seat for the night to Inverness. Drank until Preston then slept until Aviemore. Only disappointment being sleeping too long to get a bacon roll onboard!

Most of my train journeys are 100%. That's partly because I mostly travel at times when I can get a seat. Most trains are on time, or so close that I'd have to be watching the clock to notice that they weren't, and the odd couple of minutes doesn't make any difference. But I probably wouldn't be saying that if I went into Waterloo to work every day.

I've had many of these.

The ingredients consist of:

• The train turning up roughly (but not necessarily completely) on time.
• Nice and uncrowded.
• A preferred unit type.
• No awkward connections.

Many trips back from London on the EMT have been perfect over the past decade or so, often including a nice meal.

I've done many trips over the years all over the country, many in first class and to be honest I've found very little to complain about.

Trains have been mainly punctual and all connections made.

Most first class hosts have been very helpful and all provided an excellent service
(The 14:40 Glasgow to Euston on a Virgin Pendolino a couple of years back being a real highlight. The dinner service on the non-stop run on the Warrington to Euston section was about as perfect as a first class service can get, outside of the GWR Pullman and the Gerald of Wales, both of which I have done).

The trips I've taken in Standard have also met expectations. Even if things have gone wrong, it was put right very quickly and in the appropriate way...either by quick decisions made by the TOC's Control or the TOC paying up Delay Repay with no arguments.

I've had the (what I see as) small quibbles...WiFi not working, charging points not working. Occasionally in Standard, me and my wife have had to sit apart for short durations when the train is crowded. And once my wife started to get bored on the East Suffolk Line...and large coffee and a Dairy Milk bought on arrival at Ipswich fixed that though!

But a trip can be as good as you want to make it. Be nice to the staff and they'll be nice to you. Know what your expectations of a service are, know when to expect overcrowding...and my most important thing...don't give yourself stressful connections.

Mine is probably Manchester to Euston on a Sunday evening in December last year, though not for the usual reasons.

The train set out on time, and I was in a fairly quite first class carriage. Shortly before departure two gentlemen boarded and sat across the aisle from me. They were acting rather oddly - one of them carried a bag around his neck and spent the first part of the journey clutching a bouquet of flowers while doing something inside the bag (I'm guessing drug-related) and casting furtive glances around the carriage. The other one starting drinking his way through a couple of four-packs of beer and strewing little pieces of paper around the floor.

Somewhere between Piccadilly and (I think) Crewe, the guard came round doing a ticket check. It transpired that the two men across the aisle didn't have tickets or the means to pay for them, and didn't speak significant amounts of English. The guard stated politely but firmly that she'd throw them out at the next stop. They refused to leave. Various railway employees slowly accreted around the situation, and they still refused to leave. Finally, a very muscular man who I understand was an off-duty policeman decided that he'd had enough, and began to physically eject them. The man with the bouquet and the dodgy bag took the "better part of valour" approach and sauntered onto the platform, shortly followed by his friend making a less successful landing on his face.

So the journey was unexpectedly exciting, and the delay was just long enough for me to receive automatic delay repay at 100%.

i've had almost no significant issues on mainline trains for the last 5+years. The largest delay was just over a year ago when misdirection on the PIS's and PA at Milton Keynes Central meant an hour delay getting home from Chester (because the St Albans Abbey branch service was an hourly interval). A carefully worded letter to WMT was responded to with a refund of the whole fare back. Mistakes happen and they responded in good faith. Other journeys have mainly been on Thameslink to/from the core, and delays rarely exceed 5 minutes. Many posters here claim that their journeys are far from a 100% record (and not necessarily all peak hour issues) so maybe I am exceptionally lucky or just less likely to make a mountain out of a molehill.

Most noticable one was on the 6th of December last year: The afternoon Munich-Kufstein "Ersatzzug" was formed of the AKE/TRI TEE set, including a dome car. For the normal fare(!), you had a very comfy dome car, free beer, coffee, cola etc.
-2 Arrival at Kufstein, friendly staff, epic scenery, nice passengers in a perfect coach - easily the best railway journey I had so far.

Every time I travel on the Tyne Valley line, its an absolute pleasure.

Every time I used the Wrexham and Shropshire service between 2008-2011.

A hot meal cooked to order and brought to your table in Standard Class? It was too good to survive in modern Britain.

I will never forgive VT for killing this off with their Euston-Wrexham Voyager, having never been interested in Wrexham before.

Other “perfect journeys” included the Lowlander Caledonian Sleeper in 2007 on a £19 bargain berth fare, and discovering by sheer coincidence that a FGW HST service I was on in 2014 had a Pullman Restaurant open to Standard Class ticket holders. The food was outstanding, and there was no requirement to leave after dining, which meant that the £30 meal cost was effectively a £15 seat upgrade and £15 for a very fine meal!

The most comfortable NR journey, however, was Birmingham-Holyhead in about 1999 in a declassified Mk2 with First Class compartments. Marvellous!

I remember what has to be the most punctual South West trip since I've used trains - this trip was back on Saturday 7th April 2018 to and from Didcot Parkway and Plymouth.

I think I decided on that date late during the later part of 2017 - certainly was a good day put it that way. I'll explain why...

I booked to travel on the 08:15ish from Didcot Parkway (as it was a straight through train meaning no changes) and the 16:00 back from Plymouth which required a change at Reading onto the 18:58 from there back to Didcot Parkway. I had an Off-Peak Return as I didn't want to risk being delayed and tight for time - the reason I went to Plymouth was to visit some past memories. The last time I was at Plymouth before then was Sunday 4th June 2006 with Mum when we came back to Didcot Parkway.

Back to the 07/04/18 - I was going to pay the £25 upgrade on the 16:00 to Reading. However I did it going up as the HST was in reverse formation. Now I what many of you might think but it made sense upgrading to First Class on the morning train going up for 2 reasons - 1. It was around 3 hours journey time and 2. Likely to be less busy.

Luckily I had my Guide to Services book with me whcub meant I could identify unreserved forward facing seats - I found seat 19 in Coach K available (19 is the date I was born - not this month) so that was me sorted for around 3 hours!

On the 16:00 I caught the same HST and I decided on my booked seat albeit backwards. I'm thinking that I perhaps should have boarded the 15:00 which was around few minutes late - I think Coach B was a First Class coach (meaning a First Class coach was substituting for a Standard Class coach).

Now the main point. I can't believe I'm saying this but the biggest delay was arriving into Plymouth at 11:17 - instead of 11:16 (I'm autistic so I have to say the exaamount of minutes late even though it was just 1)! That was with the 1 addition call at Ivybridge. Everything else was altogether 2 minutes early to on time (early being arriving into some stations).

The same HST on the Didcot to Plymouth and Plymouth to Reading services on the 07/04/18 were formed of I say 7 and a half coaches - you had 2 First Class coaches but I think coach K was a composite First and Standard coach. If I'm right the train only had I believe 50-60 seats less than an 8-coach formation.

When I got back to Didcot Parkway off the 18:58 (8-coach HST) around 19:10, I was amazed at how 3 HST services (bearing in mind with them then having slam doors) can run so punctual!

My memorable 100% perfect trip was pre-privatisation, when Class 40s and Mk.1 stock still ruled on the North Wales coast.

My mate and I were heading home from Bangor to Wigan NW late one Sunday afternoon after a spectacular weekend of hiking in Snowdonia with excellent summer weather throughout.

The train already looking pretty busy as it rolled in, there were plenty waiting on Bangor station and we faced a significant possibility of standing.

Luckily we boarded a Mk.1 compartment composite through the First Class door. Once in the corridor, I noticed these compartments were declassified. Compartment windows had "For use of second class ticket holders" paper stickers, but these were only visible once you were in the corridor.

No other passengers noticed this, so the two of us and our rucksacks had exclusive use of a very nice First compartment for the scenic, summer evening run along the North Wales coast, windows open and a Class 40 whistling away up front.

We reluctantly bailed at Warrington BQ, resigned to the prospect of a longish connection there for the next northbound train up the WCML - to be met by an announcement to the effect that due to engineering work on the Chat Moss route, the Manchester Victoria train would be diverted via Wigan North Western.
So it was back on board, back into First Class, and arrival into the pub in Wigan at least three-quarters of an hour sooner than would normally be the case.