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Nice day's travel today

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trainophile

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Just to air my appreciation of all you rail workers for the complex and often thankless job you unfailingly do, I thought I'd share a couple of incidents from my Southport to Hereford (via Chester) journey today.

First, on Merseyrail out of Southport I was lucky enough to be in a carriage with seven or eight uniformed M/Rail staff, including a couple of guys who were obviously new recruits on a training day. I was able to hear some of the conversations, and it brought it home to me how involved the job actually is, learning the door opening/closing procedures, always being alert for any kind of unexpected event, ticket checking etc. These guys all looked very smartly turned out, were unfailingly polite, had a friendly word for anyone who caught their attention, and quite honestly made me proud of the ethos of our rail transport workers.

Then on ATW from Chester to Crewe I was impressed with the newness of the coach, which has apparently just been refurbed. Sorry I am no good with knowing what reference numbers trains are, but it was a two-coach newly painted one! :oops:. I particularly liked the back of seat tray tables, which now have a pull-out handle-like rail that extends the supported area, ideal for laptop users, or readers of large books!

It was good to see the train presentation guy cheerfully cleaning the tables and collecting rubbish. I was not impressed by how much litter previous passengers had strewn on the floor, but that's another thread!

Thank you guys and gals, with all the things we have to grumble about in this country these days, I am pleased to say that train travel is not one of them, at least in my experience. Yours gratefully (and no I haven't been drinking!) :D.
 
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D1009

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Just to air my appreciation of all you rail workers for the complex and often thankless job you unfailingly do, I thought I'd share a couple of incidents from my Southport to Hereford (via Chester) journey today.

First, on Merseyrail out of Southport I was lucky enough to be in a carriage with seven or eight uniformed M/Rail staff, including a couple of guys who were obviously new recruits on a training day. I was able to hear some of the conversations, and it brought it home to me how involved the job actually is, learning the door opening/closing procedures, always being alert for any kind of unexpected event, ticket checking etc. These guys all looked very smartly turned out, were unfailingly polite, had a friendly word for anyone who caught their attention, and quite honestly made me proud of the ethos of our rail transport workers.

Then on ATW from Chester to Crewe I was impressed with the newness of the coach, which has apparently just been refurbed. Sorry I am no good with knowing what reference numbers trains are, but it was a two-coach newly painted one! :oops:. I particularly liked the back of seat tray tables, which now have a pull-out handle-like rail that extends the supported area, ideal for laptop users, or readers of large books!

It was good to see the train presentation guy cheerfully cleaning the tables and collecting rubbish. I was not impressed by how much litter previous passengers had strewn on the floor, but that's another thread!

Thank you guys and gals, with all the things we have to grumble about in this country these days, I am pleased to say that train travel is not one of them, at least in my experience. Yours gratefully (and no I haven't been drinking!) :D.


Thanks for that, I'm sure it's touched the hearts of many on here. What a change to find someone who isn't moaning !
 

trainophile

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Thanks for that, I'm sure it's touched the hearts of many on here. What a change to find someone who isn't moaning !

It's not a job I could do in a million years. Respect :).

--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Arghhh what on earth made me say Chester to Crewe? I meant Chester to Hereford! Apologies for anyone trying to work out what train I was talking about :lol:. Would edit my OP but it has been quoted now so thought I'd just explain here.
 
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LE Greys

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Nice to hear about the good days sometimes. I did the whole of Stevenage to Aberdeen on Monday, bang on time, and with a few polite conversations in a quiet coach that was genuinely quiet on the two separate trains. Now that's a good journey.
 

MidnightFlyer

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That'll be a 175 then. ATW 158s have also been refurbed very similarly too. IIRC the refurb was done about 18 months ago to 175s; the 158s are still ongoing.
 

michael769

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Speaking as a regular commuter I find the vast majority of my journeys are trouble free and the staff are routinely polite and helpful.

Yes you get the odd staff member who is having a really bad day, or more rarely someone who has no business in a customer facing role - but such cases are few and far between. Unfortunately it is these that one tends to remember rather than the more normal good experiences.

The only time I have much reason to criticize rail travel is when things go badly wrong and front line staff seem all too often to be left high and dry to face irate passengers with little or not accurate information.
 
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