Shakespeare Express

[778]

I have not done this for a few years. When I used to do it I got the afternoon departure from Birmingham (about 2pm) and did the second round trip. I have looked at the vintage trains website and it does not give you the option of getting the afternoon train from Birmingham. You can only start from Birmingham in the morning or Stratford in the afternoon. Is there a reason why they wont let people on at Birmingham for the afternoon trip?

Would like to do this again but don't know if I can trust London Northwestern enough to get to Stratford on time on the Sunday. Also the return trip is only £15 from Stratford. Not sure how they can get away with charging this low?

 

[wce]

I have not done this for a few years. When I used to do it I got the afternoon departure from Birmingham (about 2pm) and did the second round trip. I have looked at the vintage trains website and it does not give you the option of getting the afternoon train from Birmingham. You can only start from Birmingham in the morning or Stratford in the afternoon. Is there a reason why they wont let people on at Birmingham for the afternoon trip?

Would like to do this again but don't know if I can trust London Northwestern enough to get to Stratford on time on the Sunday. Also the return trip is only £15 from Stratford. Not sure how they can get away with charging this low?

The second trip from Birmingham is available to book on the website, it is sold with an afternoon tea in standard class so although you can’t just go for a ride the option is available. Looking at it the first couple are sold out so seems to be popular option.

 

[Iskra]

Part of the reason it is so cheap is they are running the journey with two sets of paying passengers, so that’s double the revenue.

I did it from Derby the other week and it was £40 return in STD which is fantastic value, and presumably cheaper than the real railway offers. The castle working hard made a great sound too.

There is an element that you get what you pay for though, as the stock isn’t in the smartest condition and they didn’t do any seat reservations, so it was unreserved seating which isn’t great when you have groups of 4 turning up last minute and bickering about not being able to all sit together, so it got a bit dramatic.