ChrisCooper
Established Member
Based on similar threads, what is everyones worst trip by rail they have ever been on. I'm refering to the whole journey, from leaving to getting back, with the only stipulation being that a significant part of the problem has to be rail related.
Mine would be some years back when First Great Eastern advertised they were going to use the 306 on Manningtree to Harwich shuttles in connection with the Harwich Sea Festival. I first found about it when earlier in the year the 306 had been used on London - Shenfield runs and the next planned outing was publicised at the time, and then also saw it advertised in a railway magazine along with a voucher for a FGE day ticket for use on that day.
Things went wrong from the start. Firstly the train from Loughborough to London was late, then I think there was some issue on the Underground, and I finally arrived at Liverpool Street to find there had been an earlier overhead problem which was causing disruption. I qued for ages to get my ticket and finally got on an FGE 321 up to Manningtree. Nice rough ride, bottoming out on the slightest bump it seemed, and then pulling into Manningtree I saw instead of the 306 a 312 in the bay. Crossing the bridge I noticed a sign saying that unfortunatly the 306 had failed so would not be in service. Great, so my primary purpose for the trip was now lost, and I had already missed a good chunk of the sea festival. Oh well I thought, at least I'll get a 312 on the Harwich line, and still get to see a fair bit of the sea festival. I was right on the former, not on the latter. On getting to the 312 I noticed the screen were showing "delayed" and people were standing around not looking happy. Turns out it had no guard. A nice long wait and eventually one arrived by train and we left an hour late. By the time I got to Harwich the sea festival was coming to a close, so the secondary purpose for the trip was also gone. At least there was one final thing, after the festival the 306 was booked to run through to Liverpool St, so a 312 all the way to London would be rarther nice, especially as even then they only saw London in the peaks. Wrong again, getting back to the station (an hour after arrival) I saw the train was advertised only as far as Manningtree, and on asking the guard it was confirmed that the London service was cancelled. Made sence, the 312 would have covered the branch whilst the 306 went to London, but there was nothing to cover for the 312 if it went to London. A slight bonus was that the driver had the blinds up giving a view into the cab, and then we had fun at Manningtree as someone had not told the signaller at Colchester we were not going through to London (and the driver must have had a moment too) as we ended up on the Up platform, meaning that once everyone was off the 312 had to shunt back up the branch and into the bay. This caused the next FGE London train to be slightly delayed, and due to the large numbers coming from Harwich, the 4 car 321 was standing all the way to London.
It wasn't over though, I got back to St Pancras fine and boarded a HST for the final leg of the journey. Walking through the train I noticed that 3 coaches were lacking air conditioning, on what had been a very hot day (august bank holiday). Hot from the day and the underground, I decided to stand in the vestibule for some fresh air until Belsize Tunnel, then find a seat. Not long after I got into position, the station staff blew their whistles, the buzzer went and the valenta roared into life. The train though remained perfectly still. This happened a couple of times before the doors were released and it was announced that there was a "technical problem" with the train and passengers should get off and await further announcements. We'd all just got back to the concource when it was announed that the train would be leaving and to board afterall. By this time there were plenty already there for the next train, so I ended up standing anyway. If I'm right it was either a Sunday or bank holiday Monday, so the HST was pretty much all stations, and at every station there was the same problem with getting going. I think it was the brakes not releasing. By the time I got back to Loughborough I was nearly an hour late, having spent a good portion of the trip from Manningtree standing, and the rest in a hot Mk3 with no air conditioning.
Basically I had two pretty bad journies, and the trip itself was almost entirely pointless. The MML delays were not enough to get me any money back from them, but I wrote to FGE and was given a complementary day travel ticket for them as well as an apology. Sadly the 306 was never used again.
Mine would be some years back when First Great Eastern advertised they were going to use the 306 on Manningtree to Harwich shuttles in connection with the Harwich Sea Festival. I first found about it when earlier in the year the 306 had been used on London - Shenfield runs and the next planned outing was publicised at the time, and then also saw it advertised in a railway magazine along with a voucher for a FGE day ticket for use on that day.
Things went wrong from the start. Firstly the train from Loughborough to London was late, then I think there was some issue on the Underground, and I finally arrived at Liverpool Street to find there had been an earlier overhead problem which was causing disruption. I qued for ages to get my ticket and finally got on an FGE 321 up to Manningtree. Nice rough ride, bottoming out on the slightest bump it seemed, and then pulling into Manningtree I saw instead of the 306 a 312 in the bay. Crossing the bridge I noticed a sign saying that unfortunatly the 306 had failed so would not be in service. Great, so my primary purpose for the trip was now lost, and I had already missed a good chunk of the sea festival. Oh well I thought, at least I'll get a 312 on the Harwich line, and still get to see a fair bit of the sea festival. I was right on the former, not on the latter. On getting to the 312 I noticed the screen were showing "delayed" and people were standing around not looking happy. Turns out it had no guard. A nice long wait and eventually one arrived by train and we left an hour late. By the time I got to Harwich the sea festival was coming to a close, so the secondary purpose for the trip was also gone. At least there was one final thing, after the festival the 306 was booked to run through to Liverpool St, so a 312 all the way to London would be rarther nice, especially as even then they only saw London in the peaks. Wrong again, getting back to the station (an hour after arrival) I saw the train was advertised only as far as Manningtree, and on asking the guard it was confirmed that the London service was cancelled. Made sence, the 312 would have covered the branch whilst the 306 went to London, but there was nothing to cover for the 312 if it went to London. A slight bonus was that the driver had the blinds up giving a view into the cab, and then we had fun at Manningtree as someone had not told the signaller at Colchester we were not going through to London (and the driver must have had a moment too) as we ended up on the Up platform, meaning that once everyone was off the 312 had to shunt back up the branch and into the bay. This caused the next FGE London train to be slightly delayed, and due to the large numbers coming from Harwich, the 4 car 321 was standing all the way to London.
It wasn't over though, I got back to St Pancras fine and boarded a HST for the final leg of the journey. Walking through the train I noticed that 3 coaches were lacking air conditioning, on what had been a very hot day (august bank holiday). Hot from the day and the underground, I decided to stand in the vestibule for some fresh air until Belsize Tunnel, then find a seat. Not long after I got into position, the station staff blew their whistles, the buzzer went and the valenta roared into life. The train though remained perfectly still. This happened a couple of times before the doors were released and it was announced that there was a "technical problem" with the train and passengers should get off and await further announcements. We'd all just got back to the concource when it was announed that the train would be leaving and to board afterall. By this time there were plenty already there for the next train, so I ended up standing anyway. If I'm right it was either a Sunday or bank holiday Monday, so the HST was pretty much all stations, and at every station there was the same problem with getting going. I think it was the brakes not releasing. By the time I got back to Loughborough I was nearly an hour late, having spent a good portion of the trip from Manningtree standing, and the rest in a hot Mk3 with no air conditioning.
Basically I had two pretty bad journies, and the trip itself was almost entirely pointless. The MML delays were not enough to get me any money back from them, but I wrote to FGE and was given a complementary day travel ticket for them as well as an apology. Sadly the 306 was never used again.