Sealink
Service Attendant
I have returned from a marathon journey between London and Wick,
northbound on Saturday, southbound on Monday. And what a mixed bag of
train companies I travelled on... here are some details. The ticket was a \"Super Off
Peak Return\" which used to be called a Saver. Here are my observations, as both a rail fan and as a passenger. Which makes me sound like I have a split personality. To
save you reading, here is the order of company from best to worst.
1. Grand Central
2. First ScotRail
3. National Express East Coast
4. CrossCountry
I will explain my reasons later, here is the Northbound journey.
SATURDAY 02 MAY 2009
LONDON ST. PANCRAS - YORK 0637
This was my planned departure - but due to a miscalculation on my
part, and that fact that East Midlands Trains platforms are in fact located in Camden,
missed this train by one minute.
I then attempted to walk from St. Pancras to Kings Cross. A fairly
simple task you might think - walk through the queues trying to check
in for Eurostar and Kings Cross is just across the road. Except that
thanks to the continuing work, and a series of misleading pedestrian
signs, this took a few minutes longer. The railfan in me didn\'t care,
as a passenger I was annoyed at signs directing me to dead-ends.
So, attempt two to get to Scotland.
SATURDAY 02 MAY 2009
LONDON KINGS CROSS – EDINBURGH WAVERLEY 0715
I had given up trying to use another TOC so found myself on NXEC, and
I wanted to pay for Weekend First. There were three staff at one of
the doors and I asked if I could pay a supplement for weekend first
with my ticket (I knew I could, but this being the first InterCity
journey I have made in years that wasn\'t an Advance ticket just wanted
the clarification).
\"Yeah you can\" was the answer, and as I walked towards first class the
other staff member barked that I had to go to Coach M. She shouted
this at my back, which was novel.
Coach M was clearly in need of a clean. It smelt of dust, and was in
fact rather dirty. It was also very very warm. Uncomfortably so.
Thankfully, the air-conditioning would kick in shortly after
departure.
I felt the urge to clean the carriage - if NXEC want to cut costs,
cleaning is not where the axe should fall.
I wasn\'t impressed, but the railfan in me was determined to give them
a chance. And then the announcements started. When I say
announcements, I mean a series of orders to passengers, which left the
passenger in me in no doubt that I was an inconvenience to the train
crew.
Store your luggage properly! Make sure your ticket is valid on this
train! Don\'t block the aisles! We only sell full fare tickets! Make
sure you have a ticket! If you\'re not travelling get off the train!
Watch out for terrorists! (Almost). Like all railway announcements,
there were pauses, repetitions and far too much superfluous drivel.
But no mention of the onboard chef (it was left to one of the First
Class staff to tell me) and no mention of Weekend First – surely an
easy revenue stream? Still, no one had their luggage in the way.
The first class attendant offered the usual complimentary drinks – and
after pouring my coffee I realised that there was no cutlery provided
so I couldn’t even stir the milk in. He disappeared for a while and I
nabbed a spoon from another table.
He returned to tell me about the onboard chef, he could prepare hot
breakfasts like a Full English or a Full Grill but ‘Sorry, we don’t
have any menus, I don’t know where they’ve gone’. Funny that.
Despite my unease about the surroundings I decided to try the full
English breakfast, with toast (I didn’t realise that the offer of
toast added another £2 to the order… Que sera!)
A lady arrived with my toast, again, without cutlery. It was delivered
so quickly that the attendant had gone before I could even ask for a
knife. When the other attendant returned he muttered ‘Oh, didn’t she
leave you any cutlery?’ and went off to get some. While this happened,
another person asked the lady for some cutlery, and her reply “Oh,
didn’t he leave you any cutlery?’. Go teamwork!
This lady returned with a plate and said “Full grill” while looking at
me. I think she meant ‘Did you order a full grill’ so I answered ‘I
ordered a full English’ and she said ‘That’s the same thing’ and I
thought well why did the other person offer them as two separate
dishes but didn’t say anything as its just one of the stupid little
things that I have come to expect on todays railway.
Here is my breakfast:
I did not feel that £14.99 represented good value.
The second cup of coffee arrived and made me feel actually sick. They
had topped up the coffee jug with tea. No one had any more after that.
TIP – Always check your cup before they pour – the other two on my
table were dirty.
Compared to my previous breakfast on GNER, in a restaurant car, this
was a disappointment.
The journey was fairly uneventful, I managed to drown out the ongoing
announcements, there was an unfortunate 10 minute delay just outside
Edinburgh or maybe Berwick, due to trespassers on the line, and it
meant that a possible connection to Inverness was missed.
The carriage doesn’t look too bad in a certain light:
SATURDAY 02 MAY
EDINBURGH WAVERLEY to INVERNESS 1335
I have never been a fan of First Group, and I don’t think the
improvements they boast about for ScotRail are anything more than
carrying out the instructions of the Scottish parliament, who have a
more proactive approach to railways.
But this journey was actually nice. I paid £5.30 for Weekend First
upgrade (advertised at £5.00 on the National Rail website) and
received complimentary coffee, and… shortbread! There was also orange
juice and water and more coffee provided – so £5.30 isn’t too bad for
a three and a half hour journey. Welcome to Scotland!
The staffer who served me was very pleasant, and the conductor was
nice too, I don’t recall anything apart from the lovely scenery on
this line and some very well kept stations.
First Class, like on National Express had the advantage of power
sockets at the windows however I don’t think the seats were that much
better than Standard.
Arrived at Inverness on time, where there was a half hour wait for the
Wick train.
SATURDAY 02 MAY
INVERNESS – WICK 1752
This journey was uneventful – there were some boisterous passengers
returning from a day trip in Inverness, but I can’t really say more
about this journey as I have made it so often. The train did separate
at Dingwall as a portion departed for Kyle of Lochalsh and I think
this is a recent development.
Snaking across the concourse at Inverness was a queue of about 70
people, waiting to board; the stations on the route have been
smartened up (with the exception of Brora and Invershin which have
been in a sorry state for years) and while not the busiest train I
have been on, it definitely was not ‘transporting air’.
The train was warm (an improvement on previous years), on time, with a
trolley catering service. No first class, but the seat alignment is
much more geared up for sightseeing with a marked increase in table of
four seats compared to other trains I have been on.
I alighted at Georgemas Junction – to continue my journey by car – one
of the ‘improvements’ National Express made when they had ScotRail was
to stop the joining/separating of Wick and Thurso trains at Georgemas
Junction. So passengers for Wick have had, for some years, the
additional trip to Thurso, back to Georgemas before going to Wick,
adding about 45 minutes to an already long journey.
After my days travel, this was 45 minutes too much. At 9.30pm, I was \"home\"
before the train had even reached Thurso…
At 0700am on Monday, I would be boarding for my trip back... where I would experience Cross Country and Grand Central trains...
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