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    Worst Railway Journeys in the UK

    Except that trip is all in Lancashire.
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    Avanti West Coast: Standard Premium

    Anyone remember Silver Standard in the 1980s? Used it Liverpool Lime Street to London Euston a few times. Same seats with a coffee and a croissant thrown in, I think. But the was BR InterCity running a three-class service, so not that much different, really.
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    Railcard Refund

    A friend bought a new Senior Railcard online but failed to tick the box which said they did not want to QR code download to a smartphone. Although he has a smartphone it is an older model and it does not support the download offered by the Railcard. They now say that they will not refund the...
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    Trivia - Furthest you've seen someone carried beyond their intended stop

    On the last Virgin (in those days) train from Euston to Liverpool Lime Street (2107), we were joined at Crewe by a man and woman who announced that they'd like some refreshments. They were told that the refreshment service had finished as we would soon be arriving. "But it's well over an hour...
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    Trivia - journey which requires the most changes

    There are trains direct from Chester to Cardiff, originating at Holyhead.
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    Most exhilarating station approach

    Before it was closed in the 1960s, the LMS route into Swansea Victoria was stupendous. The line from that station to Pontarddulais closed in 1964 (I think) but the descent along Clyne Valley, passing through Mumbles Road station and then along the sweep of Swansea Bay was great. Indeed, as a...
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    TPE Liverpool to Glasgow direct: did any trains make it through?

    Not entirely sure, but I would guess the through services Liverpool to Glasgow ended in the 1980s. There used to be one service a day Liverpool to Edinburgh, but that hasn't run for 20 years or more. Both services were certainly in BR days. The through Scottish services joined links to Bristol...
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    Avanti West Coast rebrand

    Caught a train from Manchester to London on Wednesday and noticed that the station signs at Macclesfield have been changed to Avanti branding. Could not see any change elsewhere.
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    Looking down on people paying to travel 1st class: Why?

    Try getting on to a forum such as this in China, North Korea etc etc. Never mind being able to comment at all.
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    passenger confusion over trains going to similar sounding destinations

    I was once accompanying a singer at a wedding (I am a musician, amongst other things) and had scheduled a rehearsal. She did not appear, as expected at Chester. She was tracked down and told us she was in Birmingham. Turns out she had gone to Chester Road between New Street and Sutton...
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    Financial Difficulty at Northern?

    IF you nationalised the railways, the government would be in charge, so you ave negated your own argument within three lines. BR was quite appalling in many cases. Dirty trains, absolutely no compensation for late running, unreliability, no apology if anything went wrong and staff who were...
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    Virgin West Coast Open Access Application

    They did and they were not successful. That have now been withdrawn. Notably, BA services Manchester to Heathrow are a shadow of their former selves and really only serve as feeders to long-haul out of LHR. There was a time, of course, when BA and BMI ran almost an hourly service from MAN to...
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    Virgin West Coast Open Access Application

    Why would you necessarily lose walk-up customers? I have frequently used TGV services in France - though in recent years I've booked online - but prior to the online service it was possible to buy a ticket and check at a concourse ticketing machine whether a seat was available for the...
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    Station name pronounciation

    Welsh is far from unique in that regard. Think of English and compare Scouse with Geordie, or Glaswegian with Bristolian. The solution, in English, is Received Pronunciation, sometimes referred to as "BBC" English. That sort of differentiation does exist in Welsh, i.e. speaking the language in...
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    Station name pronounciation

    All three examples of the w sound you draw upon would have exactly the same sound. The only Welsh letter (including diphthongs, such as dd, ll, ff etc) which changes sound is y, where it can be sounded like uuuh or eee. So, Y Fflint sounds like Uuuh Flint while ty sounds like tea.
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    Trivia: Stations with a worse service now than 30 years ago

    Liverpool Lime Street has long lost its services to the South West. The services to Plymouth and Penzance via Bristol were cut in the 1990s. Similarly, direct trains to Southampton, Bournemouth and Poole were similarly axed. There were, briefly, trains to Dover via Kensington Olympia and to...
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    Wales & Borders Franchise Consultation

    Welsh is not a foreign language. It is a language of the U.K. and has been spoken here a lot longer than English.
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    Trivia: shortest possible journey that can be made on each TOC?

    Merseyrail: James Street to Moorfields (Liverpool) on Wirral Line.
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    Quiet coaches in Virgin First

    Just been on Virgin Trains Birmingham to London and then London to Liverpool and discovered no Quiet Coaches on Virgin First. Could be a problem for those of us wanting to get on with work, as constant wittering does not help.

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