Virgin pendolino trains - awful things

[editor]

I'm wedged in one of their tiny airplane style seats now, looking through the squinty little window.

There's no power supply on offer (unlike the 25 year old 125s on the Cardiff route), there's less space and the seat isn't as comfortable.

Ain't progress great?

 

[pinkmonkey]

They're as cramped as fuck and there's just nowhere to put your luggage. Dislike.

 

[RedDragon]

It's slightly better if you can postpone travel to the weekend on a 1st class upgrade .

 

[PursuedByBears]

They always seem to smell faintly of shit as well.

 

[Ax^]

Ain't progress great?

is it not grand that virgin are branching out into the health service...

 

[Crispy]

They always seem to smell faintly of shit as well.

The air intake for the air conditioning system is next to the ventilation for the toilet waste tank.

 

[fractionMan]

terrible bloody things. Most uncomfortable & cramped trains on the network.

With luggage racks in the middle of the carriage too

 

[19sixtysix]

They are small due to tilting. But being Britain extra seats are rammed in so window seats often don't have a window. I'm sure they were designed to be one group of four seats per window. Power's at table seats or at back of coach A the cleaner's socket is good.

The bogs have lots of problems with leaks. The old hole in floor don't flush in a station type had a lot to said for it.

 

[bi0boy]

The 125 with the original seats was like the best thing ever.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

Travel first class, problem solved

 

[Lord Camomile]

It's very easy to misread the title of this thread

 

[neonwilderness]

Travel first class, problem solved

and go up the east coast if you're going to Scotland

 

[editor]

But not such great advice if you're going to Liverpool.

 

[Crispy]

You could go via Leeds, if you don't mind an extra 2h20

 

[neonwilderness]

Liverpool isn's in Scotland

 

[Teaboy]

But but but they tilt and everything. Plus they nearly go as fast as the 125's used to do in the 80's, they don't but nearly do.

Incidentally I saw some marketing bumf a year or two back from Virgin which described them as 'iconic'. There you have it folks, a chance to experience history in the making.

 

[stuff_it]

The name makes me think of a virgin with really long dangly labia.

NSFW: http://honeyslusciouslabia.wordpress.com/zoominations/comment-page-1/

 

[lizzieloo]

We know what labia means

 

[stuff_it]

We know what labia means

I thought I knew, but I really knew nothing until I looked at that site.

 

[cyberfairy]

They always seem to smell faintly of shit as well.

More of a 'strange coincidence', don't you think?

 

[Ax^]

The name makes me think of a virgin with really long dangly labia.

NSFW: http://honeyslusciouslabia.wordpress.com/zoominations/comment-page-1/

stop reminding me of college

 

[Bungle73]

But but but they tilt and everything. Plus they nearly go as fast as the 125's used to do in the 80's, they don't but nearly do.

Incidentally I saw some marketing bumf a year or two back from Virgin which described them as 'iconic'. There you have it folks, a chance to experience history in the making.

125s never ran on the WCML. It has a lot of curves, which is why one needs tilting trains to go faster. The tilting train idea dates way back to the late '70s'/early '80s with the ATP.

But not such great advice if you're going to Liverpool.

The go FC advice is though. You get complementary snacks and refreshments (although not as good as EC's day time offering though) and if you travel at the right time you get a hot meal too.

 

[beesonthewhatnow]

Plus you get to use the first class lounges, keep away from the great unwashed

 

[Bungle73]

And a Pendolinos can potentially go a lot faster, but they aren't allowed.

 

[purenarcotic]

I quite like them because I can get to London from Brum in an hour and a half as opposed to the shitty 2 hours plus on london midland or chiltern.

I am not a great fan of train travel, I just want to arrive to where I want as quickly and easily as possible. Unless it's an actual day out on an old steam train or the like.

Table seats have power points, but it depends then on how busy the train is I guess.

 

[Tom A]

Privatisation has all but robbed me of my love of train travel. I tend use Megabus or National Express for any inter-city travel, I may get a train to London if I can get the cheapest ticket from Manchester, but most times it costs half as much to go on the coach, if that.

The one saving grace regarding the Pendolinos is they are fast (<2 hrs vs 4-5 on the coach), I don't understand why they are pushing HS2 considering it barely takes two hours to get from London to Manc. Put that money into subsidising the fares and reopening some local lines to take the strain off the road network instead, I say.

 

[Crispy]

And a Pendolinos can potentially go a lot faster, but they aren't allowed.

They'd need in-cab signalling to go that fast, because trackside signals aren't visible for long enough as they zoom past. That was supposed to be included in the big upgrade project, but it got cut when they went over budget.

 

[harpo]

They are nightmarishly cramped. Yes, they get you to Liverpool quicker than ever before but it feels like a longer journey because of the unpleasant conditions. Many's the time, you can't even get to the bog without having to climb over the many people forced to sit on their case in the corridor. And I don't trust those bog doors not to swing open and reveal myself mid piss to those corridor sitters.

They are just about bareable on a quietish day but the seats are still too small. I am generally of small build, they must be a nightmare for bigger types. And there's an awful lot to be said for an open window on a packed train but you can't do that either.

 

[Tom A]

They'd need in-cab signalling to go that fast, because trackside signals aren't visible for long enough as they zoom past. That was supposed to be included in the big upgrade project, but it got cut when they went over budget.

The InterCity 225 (that the ECML trains) were also designed to do 140mph, but the lack of cab signalling means that 125 is still the upper limit for them too.

 

[Tom A]

They are just about bareable on a quietish day but the seats are still too small. I am generally of small build, they must be a nightmare for bigger types. And there's an awful lot to be said for an open window on a packed train but you can't do that either.

There is a lot to be said about the leather seating on most modern National Express coaches.