Intermediate stations, avoiding Birmingham..

[rockershovel]

Next weekend’s Railway Adventure seems to be Plymouth to Preston (actually to Appleby, but that adds around 90 mins going to Carlisle and back, so that’s out).

 

I’m meeting someone along the way, who is travelling from Coventry. Right now the plan is Plymouth to BNS by Cross Country followed by BNS to Preston by Virgin Rail.

 

I picked Preston as a destination because it’s the last mainline station before turning off the M6, and the station is only 4 miles from the motorway.

 

But .... I thought of intermediate stations as possible pick-up and drop-off points. So far, I can’t find any way to establish what they might be. I’m sure this information exists, so does anyone have any pointers or suggestions?

Edited October 9, 2018 by rockershovel

[Oldddudders]

What does your train from Plymouth do after BNS? While the facilities at that hub are substantial, its sheer size and complexity, not to mention last-minute platform changes imposed by the exigencies of the service, can leave the traveller a bit tired out. Changing at Stafford, OTOH, might be simpler and less stressful. Check it out. And Stafford is awfully close to M6.......

[TheSignalEngineer]

If it's a Manchester train I would look at changing at Wolverhampton or Stafford if possible.

[big jim]

Am I reading it right as the person coming from Coventry is in a car and your on a train?

 

Plymouth to new st trains tend to carry on to derby-Sheffield-Leeds-York Newcastle etc whereas anything to Manchester from there is ex reading or Southampton

 

Stafford is a good option for the person coming by car (apart from the roadworks north of there on the M6) or crewe

Edited October 9, 2018 by big jim

[rockershovel]

... which all, rather elliptically, illustrates the question quite neatly.

 

I am, indeed, meeting someone travelling from Coventry by car, and returning the same way. The problem is to identify intermediate stops for either service, to avoid them coming to BNS in either direction and frankly, after my experiences on Sunday, cutting out part of the BNS to Plymouth leg if possible and as much as possible of the BNS - Preston leg, both ways.

 

To do that, I need to identify intermediate stopping points on specific services, and I can’t work out how to do it. Timetable/booking sites now seem entirely focussed on the start and end point, which I suppose is fair enough in most respects.

[big jim]

How about picking a suitable train and looking on real-time trains for it, it will show the intermediate station stops in blue and passing points in grey

 

The only way I can think of without physically changing at new st would be gWr Plymouth to reading then an XC reading to Manchester service where you could actually alight at Coventry (Southampton airport services go that way I think, reading go via Tyseley) or continue onward to wolves or Stafford, stoke etc

[meil]

Why would you travel from Coventry to Birmingham New Street by car when there's a good train service?

 

The obvious station for parking a car is Birmingham International but smaller stations such as Marston Green and catch a local.

 

Web based timetables always give details you just need to select details.

[big jim]

Quick look on the chiltern booking app

 

Not sure what time you were looking at but I put first train after 06:00, Devon obviously doesn’t get up til 08:00!

 

Plymouth to Coventry

 

Plymouth to preston

[big jim]

Why would you travel from Coventry to Birmingham New Street by car when there's a good train service?

 

The obvious station for parking a car is Birmingham International but smaller stations such as Marston Green and catch a local.

 

Web based timetables always give details you just need to select details.

I think they are going to ‘car share’ when they meet up hence why rockershovel wants his mate to avoid city centres to meet him

[tractionman]

But .... I thought of intermediate stations as possible pick-up and drop-off points. So far, I can’t find any way to establish what they might be. I’m sure this information exists, so does anyone have any pointers or suggestions?

My suggestion is to look at the network map and routes, eg

 

https://goo.gl/images/nX2jG2

 

Cheers,

 

Keith

[BoD]

The pocket timetable facility on the National Rail website allows you to create your own specific timetables in pdf format. If you use the advanced feature you can include all calling points, with times, in your timetable.

 

http://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/service/pockettimetable/search

 

Hope the link works.

[TheSignalEngineer]

Am I reading it right as the person coming from Coventry is in a car and your on a train?

 

Plymouth to new st trains tend to carry on to derby-Sheffield-Leeds-York Newcastle etc whereas anything to Manchester from there is ex reading or Southampton

 

Stafford is a good option for the person coming by car (apart from the roadworks north of there on the M6) or crewe

Birmingham - Manchesters are alternately from the Reading direction or from Bristol and beyond, usually Paignton, but the vague nature of Sunday timetabling doesn't help matters. 

[rockershovel]

... none of the websites listed have the facility to list intermediate stops.... the rail map is useful, though.

 

However, following up the suggestions; Plymouth to Coventry isn’t really viable. Too far across country, delays the whole trip and the return services on Sunday evening are a problem.

 

The Stafford one is interesting; it’s a BNS connection, as it turns out. Could be worth a look for the N bound leg. Return schedules between anywhere to BNS are utterly bonkers, must be major engineering works somewhere.

 

So preferred choice right now, is Plymouth to Stafford Friday evening, meet there. Return leg, drop off at BNS for the same 20:12 service as last week.

[TheSignalEngineer]

The National Rail website shows calling points and times. 

 

 

Doing a search for Plymouth to Preston for a chosen date/time you get this page

 

 

then click on details to get this

 

 

Click on show calling points to get this

 

[BoD]

... none of the websites listed have the facility to list intermediate stops.....

  

 

If you use the advanced feature you can include all calling points, with times, in your timetable.

There is a pull down menu in the advanced section that allows you to show intermediate calling points. The pdf it creates looks like a page from the book of National Rail timetables that you used to be able to buy.

[Enterprisingwestern]

The National Rail website shows calling points and times. 

 

 

Doing a search for Plymouth to Preston for a chosen date/time you get this page

 

nr times.JPG

 

then click on details to get this

 

NR details.JPG

 

Click on show calling points to get this

 

nr enq.JPG

 

HOW MUCH?????????????

 

Mike.

[rockershovel]

HOW MUCH?????????????

 

Mike.

Hence my previous remark about only travelling by rail, if my employer is paying.... joking apart, there is a cost comparison I have to fill in when I request travel, and rail doesn’t tend to show well against air, if the airport is reasonably close. I probably couldn’t get my rail travel authorised, if I didn’t have a railcard or lived closer to the airport.

 

I was fairly flippant about some of my fellow passengers, earlier on, but I did get a distinct impression that nobody travels by rail if they have a viable alternative. It’s like travelling by long-distance bus in the USA.

Edited October 10, 2018 by rockershovel

[rockershovel]

There is a pull down menu in the advanced section that allows you to show intermediate calling points. The pdf it creates looks like a page from the book of National Rail timetables that you used to be able to buy.

So, the answer proves to be - National Rail is the preferred website for this sort of question. I was, indeed, looking for the online equivalent of the old paper timetable book.

[Joseph_Pestell]

I would always travel by train as a preference. But it is usually prohibitively expensive whether here or in mainland Europe.

 

But back to the original question. Why alight at Preston to go to Appleby? Oxenholme and Penrith are both much closer. Or avoid the WCML altogether and change at Leeds.

Edited October 10, 2018 by Joseph_Pestell

[rockershovel]

I would always travel by train as a preference. But it is usually prohibitively expensive whether here or in mainland Europe.

 

But back to the original question. Why alight at Preston to go to Appleby? Oxenholme and Penrith are both much closer. Or avoid the WCML altogether and change at Leeds.

Various reasons, mostly because we both know where it is and it’s an easy stop-over from the M6. We usually turn off S of Penrith because of historic roadworks on the A66, I don’t know if they are still there?

 

Latest iteration is this, which looks like a realistic itinerary, despite the bus transfers on the return leg (which seem to vary wildly with successive enquiries, so I’ll treat them as an adventure for future information). First class upgrade for £20 one way looks worthwhile, given the abysmal experience I had BNS to Plymouth last week

 

 

 

 

 

I mostly enjoy travelling by train, and not having a local airport influences my thinking. But travel experience between Plymouth and BNS or Paddington is pretty ropey, and I was much delayed Plymouth to Paddington and KX, so I think I’ll give BeardieRail a miss this time, given my experiences of ECML under that name.

Edited October 10, 2018 by rockershovel

[Pete the Elaner]

 I think I’ll give BeardieRail a miss this time, given my experiences of ECML under that name.

They are run by separate management so it is unfair to judge Virgin West Coast on the performance of VTEC.

East Coast has seen several failed franchises. Virgin have been the only franchise on the WCML. This suggests there is something else wrong with EC.

[rockershovel]

They are run by separate management so it is unfair to judge Virgin West Coast on the performance of VTEC.

East Coast has seen several failed franchises. Virgin have been the only franchise on the WCML. This suggests there is something else wrong with EC.

.... which brings us back to an earlier thread; if Virgin Rail are basically a “brand”, what does that brand consist of? If the customer can’t infer service standards from the brand, and Virgin don’t bring technical expertise or substantial investment to the table (and I don’t believe either to be the case) - why are they there at all? What is the taxpayer paying for?

 

Virgin Atlantic has been roundly slated on another thread, come to that..

Edited October 10, 2018 by rockershovel

[TheSignalEngineer]

.... which brings us back to an earlier thread; if Virgin Rail are basically a “brand”, what does that brand consist of? If the customer can’t infer service standards from the brand, and Virgin don’t bring technical expertise or substantial investment to the table (and I don’t believe either to be the case) - why are they there at all? What is the taxpayer paying for?

Beardy's Island?

[Kickstart]

Stafford is a good option for the person coming by car (apart from the roadworks north of there on the M6) or crewe

Stafford station has very limited short term free parking. Over 20 mins (I think) you need to use the pay and display. This is £12 a day, which is the minimum charge.

 

And the M6 is closed between junction 14 (Stafford north) and junction 15 this Saturday night (taking a bridge down)

 

All the best

 

Katy

[rockershovel]

Stafford station has very limited short term free parking. Over 20 mins (I think) you need to use the pay and display. This is £12 a day, which is the minimum charge.

And the M6 is closed between junction 14 (Stafford north) and junction 15 this Saturday night (taking a bridge down)

All the best

Katy

We are only meeting there, so the parking isn’t an issue - Sam arrives shortly after my train, we’ve done it before. Plenty of stations seem to be designed to make life difficult for motorists meeting trains, the new drop-off area at Peterborough is a good example.

 

We aren’t on the M6 on Saturday night, fortunately.