London to Manchester (and back) - a slightly more interesting way

[purple-Azumas]

Hi all,

My question in earnest is the same as from this thread - https://www.railforums.co.uk/thread...mitted-routings-–-any-recommendations.248755/ - but that didn't really seem to reach a conclusion so I thought I'd post this so I can give my situation as well...

I'm going up to Manchester for the day in a couple of weeks time, and wanted to go a more interesting way then just the direct Avanti via the Trent Valley. I've had a play with the routes and the five I can find that take an acceptable amount of time for me are:

1. Euston (EUS) - Piccadilly (MAN) via the Trent Valley (i.e. direct Avanti), possibly changing for a stopping train of some kind at Stockport / Stoke-on-Trent for the fun of it!
2. EUS - Crewe (CRE) - MAN, changing from Avanti at Crewe
3. EUS - New Street (BHM) - MAN, with Avanti then XC
4. EUS - Warrington Bank Quay (WBQ) -(walk)- Warrington Central (WAC) - MAN, Avanti then EMR
5. St Pancras (STP) - Sheffield (SHF) - MAN, all on EMR

I've worked out times and connections for all of these, and cost isn't a problem as I've got an Any Permitted Anytime Single for the outward and an Off-Peak (Any Permitted) Single for the return already purchased.

I just wondered if anyone could recommend one route (or two!) or another out of those five - either because the scenery's nice or it's just a nice route to travel. I've never been up that way before so have no idea what to expect on any of the trains really and will probably just pull it out of a hat otherwise! If it helps, I'm travelling up in the morning peak and then coming back shoulder-peak (about 3:30/4ish).

Thanks in advance for your help and any insights you might have - apologies if this is information overload!

 

[Mcr Warrior]

I'd probably go for option 1 for the Northbound leg and 5 for the return via a completely different route. Presume you need to be in Manchester for before noon, otherwise can't see why you've gone for the (somewhat expensive) Anytime Single.

 

[telstarbox]

Via Sheffield is a good route for scenery although not so much south of Derby.

 

[purple-Azumas]

Thanks both - will make sure to give via Sheffield a go on the way back!

Presume you need to be in Manchester for before noon, otherwise can't see why you've gone for the (somewhat expensive) Anytime Single.

Yep, into MAN by 11 - tickets brought for me by work so I thought I'd make the most of it!

 

[Ken H]

Chiltern to birmingham, then local to Lichfield TV ir Rugeley TV then local to stafford or crewe.
St Pan to Nuneaton used to be valid via Leicester. Dunno if Nuneaton-Brum is valid but worth considering
I did Liverpool St - Watford on a Nuneaton - London Stations return, Graham road curve and all. Maybe routing via London Overground from E London is possible.
Not done this stuff since privatisation so probably out of date so caveat emptor.

 

[Mcr Warrior]

Chiltern to birmingham, then local to Lichfield TV ir Rugeley TV then local to stafford or crewe.

Problem with that is that it's at least four hours travelling from London via High Wycombe on the Chiltern Line. OP needs to be in Manchester by 11 a.m., so setting off from Marylebone would require a particularly early start time.

 

[Greybeard33]

Slower variations on 2 could be:
- Use LNR between Euston and Crewe, either direct via the Trent Valley or changing at New Street from the via Northampton service to the Liverpool via Wolverhampton.
And/or
- Use Northern via Styal and Manchester Airport between Crewe and Piccadilly (xx16 dep CRE or xx36 dep MAN) rather than TfW or Northern via Stockport (although some of these TfW services are now worked by LHCS).

A variation on 4 is to use TfW between Warrington Bank Quay and Piccadilly via Newton-le-Willows, or Northern between WBQ and Manchester Victoria, rather than walking to Central.

I agree the Hope Valley via Sheffield is the most scenic route.

 

[BeijingDave]

Via Warrington you pass by the side of Old Trafford football ground, if that interests you.

 

[Lost property]

If it's a view you want, a rearward facing seat leaving Euston is perfect.

 

[purple-Azumas]

Thanks everyone for all your help. In the end, I decided to take Route 2 (via CRE) on the way up, and then Route 5 (via SHF) on the way back. I’m sure it’s been done before, but I thought I might as well document my thoughts here…

RTT was very much my friend at EUS, as I was able to be the first one down the ramp and onto the train – pleasingly the TM didn’t seem too confused when I presented my ticket to MAN on a train towards Lime Street and we left bang on time just as the sleeper from Inverness/Fort William pulled in. The train seemed pretty quiet, though boarding so quickly I couldn’t really gauge how popular the service was. Coach C, where I chose to sit, was almost deserted. I’m not sure if it’s deliberate but whenever I tried to create a reservation on the GWR website it would only allocate me one of the seats with a limited/no view so I decided to chance my arm at one of the unreserved coaches, and I think it worked out pretty well.

Journey was nice and speedy, and we would have arrived at CRE about 5 early but were held outside whilst the service in front of us came and went. Nothing particularly interesting to note on the first Avanti leg, but a free hot chocolate thanks to signing up to Club Avanti definitely was most welcome. Managed to dash upstairs for a quick photo of the station front and then jumped onto a TfW service towards MAN – this was a busier train (though that’s not too surprising given it was running as a 2 car 150) but again there was some lovely scenery as we sped towards Manchester, and again after being held for a couple of minutes outside MAN, we pulled in 5 minutes down on our scheduled arrival time. As a bit of fun, I jumped across to Platform 14 for a cheeky one stop hop to Oxford Road – letting me tick of another station and another piece of haulage which is always most welcome!

The best was yet to come on the return journey though, as I greatly enjoyed sailing through the Peak District and seeing the hills and mountains rolling by through the window. Again, it was a fairly busy service across to Sheffield but four cars meant that the load of passengers was not too dense in either of the two coupled units. I made the decision to treat myself to a Seatfrog upgrade for the final leg back to STP, and with hindsight I think that was a very good decision.

The refreshment trolley came through after almost every station, with a sandwich run after Chesterfield and then Derby when another group of passengers got into our coach. I’ve got to say I was very impressed with my onion bhaji wrap (a combination I was definitely not expecting) – it had just the right kick for my pretty limited spice tolerance and was able to fill me up in place of a hot cooked meal. A raspberry and yoghurt flapjack and a couple of glasses of orange juice washed everything down, though I think I made the mistake of looking at the sugar content on the back of the pack – I won’t be doing that again anytime soon!

I did think that the rolling countryside would disappear at some point in the journey, but that wasn’t really the case until we hit Thameslink land south of Bedford and by that point I had little desire to do anything useful (like write up my day’s travels); we cruised into STP bang on schedule which was very pleasing to see over such a long journey.

I do have to say all the staff which I encountered on my travels – both Avanti and EMR – were really friendly and welcoming and I was very impressed with all of them; I suppose spending so much time in the SE I’m not used to anything other than DOO services, so to have a visible staff presence was definitely very welcome and it was lovely to see them so passionate and enjoying everything that they were doing.

In conclusion, it was a very enjoyable (if long!) day of travelling, and certainly a journey and two routes I would strongly consider taking again whenever I’m visiting Manchester again in the future. EMR First Class service was top notch and very good value for what I paid, so no complaints from me, nor could I complain about the lovely views on all legs of the journey.

Thank you everyone for your help and encouragement to take a slightly slower route – I’ve definitely learnt that exploring a more circuitous route can be very rewarding and will look to repeat in the future!