But where was the tea trolley? (Railways in general)

Member Name: SusanLesley

Product:	Railways in general
Date:	11/11/01 (67 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Clean trains, On time, Efficient booking service

Disadvantages: No refreshmenst on a long journey

As you will know if you have read my opinion on The Train Line (and, if not, why not?) I have just travelled from Birmingham New Street to Tenby by train to join Dave, who was working in Haverfordwest, so I thought I should tell you what it was like.

The journey provider was Wales and Borders Trains and I rang them direct to book my ticket as it was almost £10 cheaper than booking via www.thetrainline.com. I was very impressed with the booking procedure, which was handled quickly and efficiently, and the ticket arrived in the post two days later.

This was a good start – an efficient member of staff in a railway booking office – not a common species at the best of times.

The train left Birmingham New Street exactly on time at 0930 hours on Tuesday morning. This almost caused a problem as the bus that I had taken from home should have got me to Birmingham with almost an hour to wait (in the buffet with a pot of tea!) before the train was due to depart.

I’m one of these people who would rather be an hour early than a minute late.

Unfortunately the bus was caught in a huge traffic jam caused by a high volume of traffic due to an accident on the motorway and I arrived in Birmingham with about 5 minutes to run across the city to the station. I literally stepped onto the train as the doors closed behind me and it pulled out. I said a little prayer of thanks I can tell you.

The travelling time to Tenby was 5 hours and 10 minutes as the train stopped at almost every station from Cardiff onwards. Still, never mind I didn’t have to change trains and I do enjoy travelling by train so that was all OK.

The train itself was just two carriages long and it had lovely, unvandalised (is that a word?) seats upholstered in shades of blue and turquoise with a carpet to match.

There were some seats set in two sets of two facing each other across a table and some were just two seats side by sid
e facing the backs of the seats in front.

My reserved seat was as I had requested – front facing in a non-smoking carriage.

The carriage was very clean, with nice big clean windows through which I could appreciate the beautiful Welsh countryside and a surprisingly clean toilet too!

The seats were comfortable with moveable armrests although they did not recline at all.

I was very impressed, but as the journey wore on I realised that there was one big disadvantage with this company. There was no buffet car and no trolley service! Luckily I had taken something to eat and drink with me, but I had hoped to get a cup of tea at least, especially on such a long journey.

The carriage that I was in wasn’t very well ventilated so the air was quite stale and dry and I really needed a drink by the time I reached Tenby.

The train stopped for 30 minutes in Cardiff and again for 20 minutes in Swansea, and both times I considered getting off and nipping to the station buffet for a bottle of water, but I decided against it. I thought that, knowing my luck the train would pull out without me!

We did arrive in Tenby right on time at 1440 hours and I made a beeline for the nearest café and ordered a pot of tea!

Having said all that, I would travel with Wales and Borders again, but I would certainly make sure I took plenty of drinks with me next time.

I will just say to the powers that be at Dooyoo - if you set up a category for Wales and Borders Trains would you move this opinion for me please?

I have tried to set up new categories just lately with no luck at all I'm afraid!

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