Train ticket prices make no sense

[armalites]

I rarely use public transport but I have used them recently as it was a good option.

I had to collect a car from north London, looked at the easiest no change routes and the local stations.

I could get a lift to Gloucester which about 3/4 hour but it meant the train was non stop to Paddington. Price was about £45.

Train form Hereford similar price and a change at Newport.

Ledbury is 15min away and parking is free so checked options there. Ledbury-Birmingham-Euston £13.80 I then found I could add the final destination overland train too £16.80!and when I got to London I found this even included the underground. So I was able to drive there and park and then get my wife to drop me off to collect the car that evening.

The whole Ledbury thing gets more weird than that.
Got a night out in Bath planned with some work colleagues. Return ticket to Bath from Hereford £54 change at Newport. For amusement I checked with Ledbury as the start point £24 with 2 changes and guess what the first change is Hereford so it's the same train that costs £54 if pay from Hereford. So I can book a ticket from Ledbury and get on at Hereford and save £30 makes no sense whatsoever.

 

[CompoSimmonite]

When I collected my UMM Transcat the train fare from Stoke to Plymouth was going to be £136 one way ! Sod that - went down in my Smart and A framed it back behind the UMM

 

[8ob]

Total waste of space, all rails should be ripped up and turned into roads. My last train journey Guildford to Durham should have taken a few hours so I left Guildford at about nine with the intentions of being there just after lunch, arrived at 8pm. Over running engineering works,signal failures, catching buses to get around different stations, nothing to eat other than a stale lump of cake, standing only ( no seats) for at least an hour on one busy section and they stink. All that at a cost of £130 ,rip them all up.



Bob

 

[rtbcomp]

It often pays to split a journey. You can book from anywhere to anywhere from any station that issues tickets and even on some some trains. In some cases it's the same train and you don't even need to get off the train.

I saved £10 on a trip from Sheffield to Shrewsbury by booking Sheffield <> Manchester then Manchester <> Shrewsbury. I did the same by booking Sheffield <> York then York <> Scarborough.

It's also possible to buy a ticket Sheffield <> Bury which includes the tram Manchester <> Bury, but it's cheaper to buy individual tickets for that journey. In my case I used the bus Manchester <> Bury for free on my OAP pass, but it's worth the £5 for the tram!

 

[armalites]

I guess if you are a regular train user then much of this is common place.

The one thing the online systems don't seem to be able to do is cope with the time where it would quicker to go in the wrong direction to get to another station that gets you on a faster train.

There was a bit in one of Bill Brysons books talking about London underground. I don't remember the exact stations but basically if you put a person at one and asked them to navigate to the other they would go multiple stops on two different lines but if they just gone up the stairs to ground level they woud have found the station was just along the road.

 

[Kayos]

The ex Mrs Kayos is a regular train user, had a call at 5pm yesterday as the storms the night before had blown a leaf on the line so all the trains were delayed

I picked my son up from school club then her from Bradford, her ETA waiting for trains and busses was 1930, a full 2 hours more than it normally takes

 

[fizzy]

I LOVE trains but so many of them these days look like buses on rails - what's the point in that? They don't carry many passengers either!
What I would love to see are nuclear trains - replace the tender with a nuclear power plant and we could have steam trains running everywhere - zero pollution!

 

[slim_boy_fat]

the storms the night before had blown a leaf on the line so all the trains were delayed

In fairness, there could have been a 100-year-old tree attached to it.

 

[gav0994]

The ex Mrs Kayos is a regular train user, had a call at 5pm yesterday as the storms the night before had blown a leaf on the line so all the trains were delayed

You and most of the rest of the public may laugh at the "leaves on the rails" excuse. But as a fully qualified mainline train driver I can assure you that the leaves do indeed cause issues at this time of the year. A steel train wheel relies on friction between it and the steel railhead to gain traction and thus motion. Add in wet leaves lying on the top of the railhead and train wheels crushing them up into a nice greasy paste you then get no grip and the wheels spin. Most trains these days have sand distribution devices fitted bit they only help so much. The leaves cause even more issues when braking - once the grip is lost the wheels lock up and the train just slides along the rail.

 

[Kayos]

You and most of the rest of the public may laugh at the "leaves on the rails" excuse. But as a fully qualified mainline train driver I can assure you that the leaves do indeed cause issues at this time of the year. A steel train wheel relies on friction between it and the steel railhead to gain traction and thus motion. Add in wet leaves lying on the top of the railhead and train wheels crushing them up into a nice greasy paste you then get no grip and the wheels spin. Most trains these days have sand distribution devices fitted bit they only help so much. The leaves cause even more issues when braking - once the grip is lost the wheels lock up and the train just slides along the rail.

My comment was a little tongue in cheek, it was actually quite a big tree by all accounts.

On another note, my son is 5 and is dead set on being a train driver, he likes going on the old diesel trains so he can sit next to or behind the drivers cab, and he points out what the signals mean (on the Worth Valley railway)

 

[slim_boy_fat]

You and most of the rest of the public may laugh at the "leaves on the rails" excuse. But as a fully qualified mainline train driver I can assure you that the leaves do indeed cause issues at this time of the year. A steel train wheel relies on friction between it and the steel railhead to gain traction and thus motion. Add in wet leaves lying on the top of the railhead and train wheels crushing them up into a nice greasy paste you then get no grip and the wheels spin. Most trains these days have sand distribution devices fitted bit they only help so much. The leaves cause even more issues when braking - once the grip is lost the wheels lock up and the train just slides along the rail.

Can't be beyond the wit of man to design and fit revolving brushes [think...chimney sweep type in miniature] ahead of the lead wheelset to clear the rails?

 

[gav0994]

Can't be beyond the wit of man to design and fit revolving brushes [think...chimney sweep type in miniature] ahead of the lead wheelset to clear the rails?

they wouldn't last 5 minutes and all sorts of weird and wonderful ideas have been dreamed up over the years to combat the problem. The problems started back in the 80s when the government of the day began running BR into the ground and lineside vegetation control was scaled back. If Network Rail had the budget then all lineside trees, bushes and shrubs would be cut away and there would be alot less issues with leaves. Some train operators such as GTR who run the Southern, Thameslink and Gatwick Express networks use this time of year to cut services even further. My company runs a full timetable and lineside trees seem to be getting a meeting with heavy duty flail heads this year which is good to see.

 

[slim_boy_fat]

they wouldn't last 5 minutes

They wouldn't need to run all the time though?

 

[gav0994]

They wouldn't need to run all the time though?

Network Rail use specialist trains this time of year to combat the problem. They utilise High pressure water jets to clean the railhead and at the rear of the train there is nozzles that apply traction gel(sand and some sort of low tack gel) to the railhead.

These trains run every day during the official network rail "leaf fall season" which is 1st October to 13th December. Some areas get a top and failed loco hauled treatment train to do the same job.

 

[gav0994]

Why wouldn't rotating brushes last 5 minutes?

They seem to last significantly longer than that on road sweepers while running against tarmac/concrete/etc. which is significantly more abrasive and uneven than smooth steel rails.

Pheasants, Pidgeons, crows, other birds tend to cause a bit of damage when hit at the speeds trains run at so brushes at the front of a train doing up to125mph aren't going to last long when hit.

 

[gav0994]

You'd be surprised how resilient you can make a brush And/or put a shield in front of them - not like you have to worry about speedramps.

How often do things get hit though?

Everyday. I got a couple of pheasants and a pigeon today. Pigeons, pheasants, foxes and deer are the most commonly hit animals on the railways.

If mini rotating brushes would work we would have had them fitted to all trains many years ago. It's guaranteed that it's been tried somewhere and proved ineffective. With more and more new trains coming into service with what is essentially ABS fitted the problem of sliding due to locked up wheels is getting less but pulling away from stations will always be an issue - even light, drizzly rain making the rails damp can cause the wheels to spin.

 

[rtcosic]

Run the steamers again.

Burning off all the lineside vegetation was a bonus un-noticed until they were withdrawn.

Grit down the back of the neck won't be missed though.

 

[dannyp]

i don't understand how trains can be more expensive than a car to get anywhere.

they should be the most efficent way possible to ove anything at speed ? ether there not or the cretins that run them are doing so spectacuarly badly

 

[fizzy]

Run the steamers again.

Burning off all the lineside vegetation was a bonus un-noticed until they were withdrawn.

Grit down the back of the neck won't be missed though.

You are right there. I am too young to have seen steam trains in service but I do remember playing alongside railway lines that are now totally overgrown. Obviously the fires kept the undergrowth away.

 

[rtcosic]

You are right there. I am too young to have seen steam trains in service but I do remember playing alongside railway lines that are now totally overgrown. Obviously the fires kept the undergrowth away.

Minor drawback was they also burned off garden sheds, washing, thatched roofs, crops...........

But ye Gods the sound and fury of a Gresley A4 pulling up out of Morpeth curve on a wide open regulator. Standing at Longhirst crossing less than 2metres from trackside - ah the unfettered pleasures of an earlier age!
Same spotting point gave me the Flying Scot in daily service in BR drab as 60103 and after restoration as 4472 (I never saw the intermediate numbers as I wasn't even a twinkle in Dad's eye then!)