The Pryordurkins

Posts Tagged ‘doncaster’

It has been a couple of months since I last used this East Coast Main line to get from York to London, via Doncaster, Grantham and Peterborough. This morning however has me travelling from York on the National Express service that leaves at 8.36am.

There was an air of excitement around York station as I waited for the train. I couldn’t put my finger on what was creating this atmosphere until I noticed quite a few Events Co-ordinators (evidenced by the big bright yellow jackets which said Events Co-ordinator!). They were putting up posters that would direct people who were clearly expected to visit the station and view the new Tornado Steam Engine which was due to pass through. Watching the preparations kept me amused for a while as I waited for my service to arrive into platform 3.

I boarded the National Express East Coast train and we left York bang on 8.36am. The outside of the train looked a bit grim, with old style doors and a lot of winter dirt. However inside was very pleasant indeed. I’d decided to upgrade myself and was happy to find a double seat with a table all to myself. Who says I’m miserable?

A few improvements seem to have been made since I last travelled. The at-seat menu has been revamped and you can now enjoy full dining at any seat in first class. The prices are quite high but I suppose they do have a captive audience and when you think about the space they have to work within to prepare food, it is quite a feat that they can produce so much for so many when they are so full.

In the interest of research I tried the freshly cooked bacon and tomato toasted sandwich (£3.75) and it was nicely prepared and tasty. Another change they have introduced is that you now find sparkling and still bottled water all ready placed on your table which is a nice touch in my view. Along with complimentary biscuits (which I avoided in the interest of my waistline) they served up fresh coffee which was passable and hot. I do wish they would invest in better beans though.

The staff were a little grumpy and barked requests to each passenger …… Coffee?……Milk?……Tickets?……. I just felt they could have been a little happier in their work.

Finally, I should mention the ticket prices. Since I last travelled the open return ticket to London seems to have gone up by £36 since early December. By my reckoning that is the equivalent to a 15% increase. This is on top of the price rises they introduced earlier in 2008. However I do recall a news story which explained National Express pay the government billions of pounds for the privilege of running this service and have to sell several thousand tickets each day before they earn a penny to cover their own running costs. Tax by another name me thinks?

Anyway we continued our journey and arrived into London Kings Cross bang on time.

Pryordurkin rating 3 stars.

With the weather having turned very cold and snow being forecast I decided to get the train from York to Reading today, instead of driving, as has been the norm for the last two weeks. Paul dropped me off at York station just after 8am and with my train due at 8.27am I was pleased to see it being reported on the information boards, as on time. I had therefore had a little time to sit down in the Costa Coffee bar for a medium Americano. The lady serving, well girl, was on her own and a little underwhelming with her friendly personality and broad smile.

Anyway as indicated, the Cross Country train from Newcastle to Reading via York, Doncaster, Sheffield, Birmingham New Street, Leamington Spa, Banbury and Oxford was on time. I took my seat in carriage A. The carriage was clean and quite warm but the seats were a little more suited for short commuter rides than long distance inter city journeys. There was also not a great deal of luggage space and had the carriage being full this would have been a problem. As it was for most of the journey I had the carriage more or less to myself.

There was a power point for my laptop and each seat had either its own table or a shared table. Being the miserable sod I am, I always try and get a seat on my own. There is no free wireless access though and if I didn’t have my own mobile wireless network card, this would have been a big problem. As we pulled out of York I immediately noticed that this wasn’t going to be one of the quieter train rides I had. I am not saying it was noisy, but the rumbling that was immediately evident would no doubt start to annoy me after about an hour of my four hour journey that lay ahead.

The train offers up light snacks to keep you going and where I was sitting, complimentary drinks and Bacon Butty’s were a very welcome treat. The service from the young lady was attentive and regular. With a genuine warm smile on her face as she asked if you needed any more refreshments, I compared her with the cold hard faced witch that I so often came across on the National Express East Coast mainline train service.

The toilets were those that come with an electric door, which I hate. You never quite trust these things and I have seen a number of people suitably embarrassed because of the inadvertent opening that continues to be a high risk. As for their cleanliness, it left a little to be desired and I will even more fervently follow the rule of no number twos in a public loo!

A good thing about this journey is that it is certainly more scenic than the usual East Coast main line which I know so well. This line trundles through many a town and village offering the bored commuter, who has finished doing any preparation for work and exhausted the morning paper, a chance to see other parts of old blighty. With much of the country being covered in snow today, this is quite a treat. The only slight problem is a pretty poor wireless network signal as you travel across the countryside.

There was of course a momentary panic as we pulled out of Birmingham New Street train station. The journey up to that point had me facing forwards in the direction of travel. For a brief moment, I panicked that I was on the wrong train as upon leaving Birmingham New Street, we suddenly started going backwards and continued to do so for the rest of the journey. I could have just moved seats, but this one by now had taken the shape of my cheeks and was nicely warmed through!

Anyway we are now nearing the end of this journey and while it has been a long one, it has in the main being comfortable, relaxing and on time.

Pryordurkin rating 3 stars.

Question. What happened to good manners and polite society?

Example A)

I sat for breakfast at my little square table this morning.  To my right was a young girl.  Within minutes of sitting down, two other young girls sat at a table to my left.  You get the picture by now.  I was in the middle.  Did that stop them talking about last nights shag or how much they drank and who they fancied; at the same time leaning backwards and forwards so as to see each other past me.  Not a bit of it.  I gave it a couple of minutes thinking they would realise how rude it was to talk over/past/through someone.  Five minutes later, they clearly had no concept of how rude this was.   I could take it no more.  I asked in a slow voice, with a face like thunder, whether they had any concept of what was rude.  Looking completely blank, with mouths ajar, they didn’t need to tell me the answer.  With that they left looking back in a way only teenage girls can.

Example B)

On Monday as I sat on the train praying for a quiet event free journey, a large weathered gentleman whose nose betrayed the drinking of far too much red wine over his time on this planet sat down opposite.  The next thirty minutes (and to be frank I have no idea how I lasted this long) were full of him, snorting, sneezing, sniffling, coughing and clearing his disgusting throat using a combination of sleeves and ‘what looked like’ green hanker chiefs.  I had to move to another carriage before running the risk of throwing up.

Answer.  They are long gone.

PS.  You couldn’t make this up!  I’ve just been joined at my table on the train home by two race going gentlemen at Doncaster.  Dressed in suits, but clearly drunk, the last ten minutes have included more swear words than I have heard all week.

Me Grumpy? …….

I’ve literally just passed through Doncaster Railway Station on the East Coast Main Line and felt a little scared.  At both ends of the platform were big middle aged blokes; some standing, some sitting on little fold away chairs, with small notebooks and cameras in their hands noting the number of my train.  A few were wearing plastic Macintosh coats and had flasks and little tupperware boxes with sandwiches in.

I don’t know about you, but every East Coast Main Line train I have been on over the last couple of years has looked the same.  Engine at either end (sometimes electric, sometimes Diesel) and a lot of carriages with miserable looking people standing and sitting throughout.  What is it about trains that gets so many people sitting and standing on platforms taking notes.  I’d love to know.