• Our booking engine at tickets.railforums.co.uk (powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!

Northern Rail praise

Status
Not open for further replies.

ryan125hst

Established Member
Joined
2 Jun 2011
Messages
1,230
Location
Retford
Most of the posts about Northern Rail on here have been negative, but I've got a positive experience of travelling with them that I thought I would share with you all.

On Wednesday (16/4), I travelled from Retford to Meadowhall with my mates to watch "Captain America: The Winter Solider". The train we used to get there, the 09:02 (ex Lincoln) was on time. It was a Class 144, so the better of the Pacers, and had the better seats that the 144's have. Our tickets were checked, we got a seat and the train was clean (I don't recall thinking that it was dirty anyway). This isn't the main reason why I am writing this, however.

On our return journey on the 15:33 from Meadowhall, the train was 10 minutes late, although this was probably due to having to pass through Doncaster, crossing over the East Coast Main Line from Scunthorpe on the way, and also Rotherham Central, which has a section of single track I believe. We were in the front carriage to start with, but after a reversal at Sheffield, we were in the rear carriage, and I saw the guard board (they have a crew change at Sheffield). It is this part of the journey that I would like to praise.

The guard made an announcement after leaving Sheffield. It was hard to hear as it was a busy train with a few people having to stand and the PA wasn't the loudest, but he announced that the train was slightly late running, listed all the stations the train would be calling at to Lincoln and alerted passengers to the safety information. Despite the fact the train was busy, he managed to check tickets, and he did these in a friendly way- I heard him ask some people on the opposite side of the train if the weather had been nice when leaving Retford that morning.

He continued making announcements regularly- I think he announced something about a pass at Kiverton Park (SYTPE pass possibly?) and continued checking tickets. Shortly before Retford, we moved to the rear of the train ready to leave. He announced Retford Low Level (why do Northern like to refer to it as Low Level? It isn't a separate station!) and then released the doors. Many people thanked him as they alighted, myself included, and he thanked us as well.

I remember his name- should I post it here or do you think that it isn't a good idea to do so?

It made me wonder why we give Northern Rail such a hard time. Granted, their trains are old and they are a bit short of stock, but I think they aren't doing a bad job overall. I've travelled between Retford and Sheffield about 7 times within the last 12 months, and the only bad experience was being in a packed 142 full of people who were drunk after a long day at the University of Liverpool's open day, not Northern's fault. The only other problems I've had was being in a full and standing train on a Saturday morning, again not really their fault, and coming back from Sheffield on a 153 which, as I posted a thread about, I thought Pacers are better as it was very loud, had a table missing and didn't look like it had had a proper refurbishment ever!

Going back to the positives though, the trains are generally on time for one thing. Also, the toilets seem to work as as when ever I have been stood or sat near one, I've seen people going into use them. Some TOC's struggle to do this (London Midland comes to mind!). The guards seem to be good at checking tickets as well, which is an achievement given the short distance between stops on the Sheffield to Lincoln line. As well as this, their stations generally look good now as well with new signs, waiting rooms ect. I believe Worksop station (where two of my mates boarded) has recently had a ticket office refurbishment.

Can this thread be used for members to share their positive experiences of travelling with Northern Rail? No moaning about them please as there are enough threads that have done that. I don't believe they are as bad as some people say they are. I have been impressed with them considering the difficulties they have to put up with.

Ryan
 
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R

RailUK Forums

SS4

Established Member
Joined
30 Jan 2011
Messages
8,589
Location
Birmingham
You should let Northern know but I wouldn't post his name here if it were me. I have no tales about Northern having rarely encroached on their area, let alone use a service
 

Crossover

Established Member
Joined
4 Jun 2009
Messages
9,247
Location
Yorkshire
I was on a 144 locally on Thursday evening and the PA was, unusually, deafening! The guard made a good announcement as we approached Leeds rather than the grunt of 'Leeds' as some do and I'm fairly sure it included thanking us for travelling with them. The same guard was very revenue proactive, even if this was at the expense of checking for the signal clearing at Dewsbury after an express passed us, too.

As an aside, putting crew on with a TPE uniform is guaranteed to cause some confusion amongst the passengers ;) (before anyone says, yes this was on the last Hull - Scarborough of the night and yes I'm aware it is normal :P)
 

Tomnick

Established Member
Joined
10 Jun 2005
Messages
5,827
I've never had a problem whenever I've used Northern - any issues have always been sorted without too much fuss, and they've always got me to where I've needed to go without much delay. The staff, with the inevitable handful of exceptions, seem a really cheerful bunch whenever I've encountered them, doing their best in often difficult circumstances.

Retford L.L. and Retford ECML seem to be treated as two separate stations operationally, even though they're clearly a single entity as far as the passenger is concerned - similar, but on a much smaller scale, to St Pancras, I suppose!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Top