Are you a train Virgin? (Virgin Trains)

Member Name: scuba_angel

Product:	Virgin Trains
Date:	02/11/09 (80 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: fast, cheaper than driving

Disadvantages: occasional delays, last minute prices

It's coming up for the party season again so I have recently spent rather a lot of time making travel arrangements, one method of travel I seem to utilise rather alot these days comes in the shape of the West Coast Mainline, between Manchester/Stockport and London Euston, while in a previous life time I was very familiar with the Manchester/Edinburgh section of this same line, this route is operated by Virgin Trains and has been for several years.

Thankfully these days the booking process is somewhat easier than it used to be, having to go in to the train station to book tickets I always found a somewhat draining experience as there was invariably a queue of people apparently wanting to purchase tickets for the next train due and only one counter open, now you can book online at one of several sites, my preference is virgins own, but also avaliable is thetrainline.com and national rail - who will direct you to purchase from else where! As with all online purchases keep an eye out for which sites are offering the best rates of cashback (currently virgin trains are offering £4 per booking via topcashback).

Once you have your tickets booked what sort of service should you expect on the trains?

Well contrary to many opinions the trains operated on this line are among the most modern rolling stock on the line's today as the West Coast Main is the home of the 'tilting' train the Pendolino, distinctively liveried in Virgin colours of Red, Yellow and Silver/Grey these trains look good from the outside. Inside you'll find a typical train layout of paired seats, and at intervals table's with their seats facing one another - these are highly prized by almost all travellers as they offer greater leg room and access to a plug socket if you are lucky enough to get the window seat as well as the table itself.

Luggage storage is generally adequate unless travelling at peak times with suitcase/bag racks at each end of a carriage and often another in the middle, while for coats and smaller bags there are the overhead racks. Storage for bikes is available at one end of the train only.

Worth mentioning is that the onboard shop is almost always in Coach C, which makes this the smallest coach in terms of passenger seating (barring Coach K which is First Class and has the train kitchen) and does mean it also has slightly less baggage storage.

They offer the option of booking in to the 'Quiet Carriage' so for those who get annoyed by mobile phones, mp3 and the like this is where you'll want to be seated - the Quiet policy is rigourously enforced in my experience too.

Generally I like to be seated at a table with access to a plug so I request these options when I book my tickets but if you're travelling off peak there doesn't generally seem to be any real scramble for these seats.

The seats themselves are comfortable enough, certainly more comfy than the typical plane seat and far more comfortable than a local train (possibly just the case in my area where seats seem to be crammed together on newer trains or ancient and decidedly wobbly looking on the rest?). On the non table seats there is enough leg room for me but possibly someone taller than myself would start to feel a little cramped on a long journey. Elbow room again seems quite dependant on the size of the person sat next to you, the seat widths are I would say adquate and I find I have plenty of space even when I was rather larger than I am now I didn't find the space to be a major issue.

I've mentioned a few times that my preference is to travel off peak, does it really make that much difference?
YES, when I was travelling north from Manchester or Preston on this service I often found myself seated in the vestibule areas as there were simply no seats available or no safe place to store my luggage (and the train managers ask that you remain with luggage if it is not in the storage racks). It was interesting the level of cameradrie found in those who regularly travelled the route from the same station as they often spent several hours sat together in a public area rather than huddled in the relative privacy of a seat. So why not book a seat I hear you ask...simply because often Virgins train managers claimed that the reservations download had failed at journeys start so the reservation system was not in operation and those who had a reserved seat should simply find another. They were also unwilling to ask people who had no reserved seat on their ticket to leave one for a person who did have a seat reservation. Off peak however I am yet to experience a train on which I have not been able to sit in the seat I have reserved or one like it, nor a lack of storage space.

Do they run to time?
In my previous life I found that often no the trains were running anything up to 30mins late each time I went to travel, but these days things seem to very much be on time give or take a few minutes here and there, delays which do occur whilst enroute the train managers explain and apologise for and if it is likely to cause you to miss a connection if you tell them they will do their best to find out what other options you have - but they do occasionally get this wrong, I was told to change at Nuneaton to another train on one journey but when boarding the other train was told that my ticket was invalid on it so had to change back to the Virgin service causing me to be delayed by almost 2 hours when the original delay was a mere 40 mins.

You'll note that I don't mention cost, as most will know it depends on how early you book and the time you intend to travel, with a railcard I tend to aim to book around 4 weeks before I travel and each return generally costs around £35, but I have spent up to £100 on a return and as little as £24 for the same ticket.

Summary: Vrigins West Coast Main line