http://philtheone.com/2010/01/1-21-jiggawatts/ Right-leaning Blackpool blog covering South Shore, North Shore, Marton, Bispham, Cleveleys and the rest of the Fylde discussing politics, local life, tourism, national issues and the rest of the world. Lively discussions encouraged! Tue, 22 May 2012 01:45:13 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 http://philtheone.com/2010/01/1-21-jiggawatts/#comment-2353 Frustrated Thu, 07 Jan 2010 16:31:31 +0000 http://philtheone.com/?p=1193#comment-2353 I do remember British Rail - and used to travel to university in London and back fairly regularly. There were far more delays to the service (though the timetables did suggest the journey times were less than they do now) and they were always crowded and dirty. I once spent the entire journey up to the North West with 4 other passengers trying to quieten a child who was screeching after a fellow passenger had rather unreasonably complained by shouting at the mother and telling her to smack him (the mother was trying to quieten him down and he was travelling to Great Ormond Street for treatment and she was in a state anyway). However the trains were certainly more affordable though you rarely got a seat - in fact it was better to travel with a suitcase as at least it gave you something to sit on. If you were delayed the train company tended to tell concerned relatives that the train had got in on time - and this was pre mobile phones and led to some worrying when you had to cross some not very salubrious areas of London at night. Virgin is certainly a better service - easy to buy tickets in comparison (always buy in advance if you can), clean trains on the whole and much better in dealing with problems when they arise. In fact I'd be happy for them to take over the whole rail network. P.S. - re the seat reservations - always walk down the carriages and check the labels. A lot are for journies higher up the track that have finished and others are for people who have obviously missed the train. And never be afraid to ask if someone is sitting on a seat with a bag on it. I do remember British Rail – and used to travel to university in London and back fairly regularly. There were far more delays to the service (though the timetables did suggest the journey times were less than they do now) and they were always crowded and dirty. I once spent the entire journey up to the North West with 4 other passengers trying to quieten a child who was screeching after a fellow passenger had rather unreasonably complained by shouting at the mother and telling her to smack him (the mother was trying to quieten him down and he was travelling to Great Ormond Street for treatment and she was in a state anyway).
However the trains were certainly more affordable though you rarely got a seat – in fact it was better to travel with a suitcase as at least it gave you something to sit on. If you were delayed the train company tended to tell concerned relatives that the train had got in on time – and this was pre mobile phones and led to some worrying when you had to cross some not very salubrious areas of London at night.
Virgin is certainly a better service – easy to buy tickets in comparison (always buy in advance if you can), clean trains on the whole and much better in dealing with problems when they arise. In fact I’d be happy for them to take over the whole rail network.
P.S. – re the seat reservations – always walk down the carriages and check the labels. A lot are for journies higher up the track that have finished and others are for people who have obviously missed the train. And never be afraid to ask if someone is sitting on a seat with a bag on it.

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