I spent the pandemic learning everything about trains in the UK, impressed the British counselors at camp. It's cool to see an experienced traveller like Thom and Bear ride the trains I learned so much about.
It was delightful to see Bear's misadventures on the train in Britain. When I was there, Britain's national rail system was still owned and operated by British Rail, and it was a national treasure! Wherever you were going, there was only one ticket good on every train, which was so easy. I was working in Burgess Hill, Sussex. It was on the main line from London Victoria to Brighton. There was a train every half hour all day long. They checked your ticket before you went on to the platform, and sometimes when you got off the train as well. There didn't seem to be any conductors on the train, except on Sundays. So I tried the obvious. I moved into First Class, which was deserted. Instantly a conductor appeared, asking to see my ticket. He was very nice about it, since I was a foreigner, but I had to move back to Second Class. Oh well.
Still, You can but ticket valid at all trains, all operators BUT - this is most expensive ticket, so You need to think: Save money or be flexible. Off peak or Super off peak are helpfull solutions as well (weekends/off peak hours) Other than this - Do not buy "ADVANCED" ticket if You wanna split journey. Or buy in counter instead app or machine - person selling tickets explain You everything. FUN FACT: On some routes flexible tickets are CHEAPER than advanced one. On some stations You can buy ticket in train (by Conductor) but mostly this apply to smaller stations with no cashier desk, or when no other option avaliable (like: counter closed and broken ticket machine). Otherwise in other situations, still You can buy ticket with penalty fare included.
@Thom-TRA you'll probably be fine, only thing to watch out for is that Kirkby is pronounced Kirby. I'm also not surprised bear had trouble at Warrington, so many tickets are inexplicably not valid on that line
Good start to the series! If you follow Jen, you'll know the rail authorities are currently trying to make spontaneous travel here more expensive by making advance purchase the default option \m/
Of course your Avanti West Coast video is going to come out right around the time that I get to experience it first hand, I'm heading to the UK for a trip in a couple weeks, will be riding Avanti from London to Crewe, and then TfW to Shrewsbury, and will probably end up using TfW a fair bit as we're staying there for a week and exploring Wales.
Every one of my booked rail trips in this region last spring were cancelled including the MAN to Liverpoool direct. Had to go into Manchester and do the same type of transfer. Same getting back to MAN for my return flight. Disgraceful for the country that “invented” passenger train travel! Of course on the same trip, all sorts of trains were a mess as one day strikes shut down either the Tube, the Elizabeth line or Heathrow Express. And since getting between terminals at LHR/Heathrow often required using one or another of these trains, it was a complete fiasco for several days!
Amtrak has contracted with Alstom to produce 28 next-generation high-speed trains that will replace the current fleet of Amtrak's premium Acela service. After 4 Years of Delays, Amtrak officials said that the new trains, which had failed an extended series of computer modeling tests, had passed on the 14th try. No date yet for when it can carry passengers. (Jan. 13, 2024)
@@Thom-TRA Apparently they've been doing a bunch of test runs in the usual spot around Princeton Junction and some runs up between Boston and Providence. The two primary 150+mph sections. Been seeing a fair bit of footage on some other channels from the last week or so.
In UK Hitachi was choosen to deliver new Express IC trains to replace 40+ years old HST's In Midlands we still waiting (few years delays already) At East Coast - all sets (class800) was return to manufacturer due to cracks forming in frame (trains never was design to run at bumpy British rails) Not a great start.
British trains and ticketing are just _slightly_ mad aren't they? As infamous as TPE are, I really love their liveries. And the new Merseyrail 777 from Stadler look like large angry wasps; something about the yellow and black scheme with the multi-part LED headlights is just perfect.
I was reading someone's rant on FB about ticketing that said if she booked a ticket direct to the station she wanted, it would be £4 more than booking a ticket to 1 stop beyond where she wanted to get off. If you get off 1 stop early and get caught by the ticket inspectors then she risks a fine. Ticketing is very mad.
@@Thom-TRAPrivate firms are shamelessly milking as much profit as they can get out of products and services now. I don't even bother looking in the annual Black Friday sales as you will find everything is cheaper at seemingly full price after Christmas.
You really trying to use EMR? Feels lucky? EMR in current days are overcrovded, delayed or cancelled. New franchise owner (Abedilo) is same who bring Northern to collapse. Totally avoid!
I spent the pandemic learning everything about trains in the UK, impressed the British counselors at camp.
It's cool to see an experienced traveller like Thom and Bear ride the trains I learned so much about.
Love the Avanti class 390 Pendolino, solid trains they are
Bear got one in a special livery too! Stay tuned
Bear and Jack....a very handsome couple of fellas! I'm jealous. 🙂
Looks like that 156 hasn't been refurbished. The seats weren't in the Northern Trains Livery
EMR hadn’t either - I had one just like that with Greater Anglia between Norwich and Great Yarmouth back in March 2017!
Wow what an adventure for Bear. Thanks for sharing!!
Finally, bear goes British!!!
Thank you! Great video!
My experience with British rsilways was so long ago, it is no longer relevant. :-)))
It was delightful to see Bear's misadventures on the train in Britain. When I was there, Britain's national rail system was still owned and operated by British Rail, and it was a national treasure! Wherever you were going, there was only one ticket good on every train, which was so easy.
I was working in Burgess Hill, Sussex. It was on the main line from London Victoria to Brighton. There was a train every half hour all day long. They checked your ticket before you went on to the platform, and sometimes when you got off the train as well. There didn't seem to be any conductors on the train, except on Sundays.
So I tried the obvious. I moved into First Class, which was deserted. Instantly a conductor appeared, asking to see my ticket. He was very nice about it, since I was a foreigner, but I had to move back to Second Class. Oh well.
At least he was nice about it!
Still, You can but ticket valid at all trains, all operators
BUT - this is most expensive ticket, so You need to think:
Save money or be flexible.
Off peak or Super off peak are helpfull solutions as well (weekends/off peak hours)
Other than this - Do not buy "ADVANCED" ticket if You wanna split journey. Or buy in counter instead app or machine - person selling tickets explain You everything.
FUN FACT: On some routes flexible tickets are CHEAPER than advanced one.
On some stations You can buy ticket in train (by Conductor) but mostly this apply to smaller stations with no cashier desk, or when no other option avaliable (like: counter closed and broken ticket machine). Otherwise in other situations, still You can buy ticket with penalty fare included.
I'm interested to watch it all
I'm very interested to see this series, an outsider personally to my local area!
I hope I don't butcher any names or other facts. Trying my best!
@Thom-TRA you'll probably be fine, only thing to watch out for is that Kirkby is pronounced Kirby. I'm also not surprised bear had trouble at Warrington, so many tickets are inexplicably not valid on that line
If you haven't seen it yet the CP 2816 came out today and she will be in Franklin Park IL on May 8
Brilliant video, you should come to the uk and ride our trains!
I enjoyed that video👍👍
As always a great video; but where is Bear. Let the mystery Bear loose! 😉
This was an awesome video about Bear being in the British trains… I thought the trains were awesome too!!! Did he get to see the Beatles sites?
Visit Ellesmere Port
Manchester Airport is probably most famous for being the third busiest in UK and by far busiest outside the London airports.
Good start to the series! If you follow Jen, you'll know the rail authorities are currently trying to make spontaneous travel here more expensive by making advance purchase the default option \m/
Getting thrown off the east midlands train, even though it's going where you want,shows what a confusing mess the privatised railway is.
Of course your Avanti West Coast video is going to come out right around the time that I get to experience it first hand, I'm heading to the UK for a trip in a couple weeks, will be riding Avanti from London to Crewe, and then TfW to Shrewsbury, and will probably end up using TfW a fair bit as we're staying there for a week and exploring Wales.
I’m sure you’ll love Wales!
Every one of my booked rail trips in this region last spring were cancelled including the MAN to Liverpoool direct. Had to go into Manchester and do the same type of transfer. Same getting back to MAN for my return flight. Disgraceful for the country that “invented” passenger train travel! Of course on the same trip, all sorts of trains were a mess as one day strikes shut down either the Tube, the Elizabeth line or Heathrow Express. And since getting between terminals at LHR/Heathrow often required using one or another of these trains, it was a complete fiasco for several days!
Amtrak has contracted with Alstom to produce 28 next-generation high-speed trains that will replace the current fleet of Amtrak's premium Acela service. After 4 Years of Delays, Amtrak officials said that the new trains, which had failed an extended series of computer modeling tests, had passed on the 14th try. No date yet for when it can carry passengers. (Jan. 13, 2024)
I've been checking online to see when a test run will make its way down to DC, but so far none yet
@@Thom-TRA Apparently they've been doing a bunch of test runs in the usual spot around Princeton Junction and some runs up between Boston and Providence. The two primary 150+mph sections. Been seeing a fair bit of footage on some other channels from the last week or so.
In UK Hitachi was choosen to deliver new Express IC trains to replace 40+ years old HST's
In Midlands we still waiting (few years delays already)
At East Coast - all sets (class800) was return to manufacturer due to cracks forming in frame (trains never was design to run at bumpy British rails)
Not a great start.
We did that trip once.
British trains and ticketing are just _slightly_ mad aren't they? As infamous as TPE are, I really love their liveries. And the new Merseyrail 777 from Stadler look like large angry wasps; something about the yellow and black scheme with the multi-part LED headlights is just perfect.
The TPE livery is one of my absolute favorites of any livery in the world!
I was reading someone's rant on FB about ticketing that said if she booked a ticket direct to the station she wanted, it would be £4 more than booking a ticket to 1 stop beyond where she wanted to get off.
If you get off 1 stop early and get caught by the ticket inspectors then she risks a fine.
Ticketing is very mad.
@@HughzieTube I just read that some restaurants in the US are switching to dynamic pricing. The world has truly gone mad.
@@Thom-TRAPrivate firms are shamelessly milking as much profit as they can get out of products and services now.
I don't even bother looking in the annual Black Friday sales as you will find everything is cheaper at seemingly full price after Christmas.
You really trying to use EMR?
Feels lucky?
EMR in current days are overcrovded, delayed or cancelled. New franchise owner (Abedilo) is same who bring Northern to collapse.
Totally avoid!
how much did the train cost from the airport to Liverpool?
13
Is Bear his real name? I thought only Hymeks could be named Bear. Just ignore this if you are not a Thomas fan. 😅
Lord have mersey
7:14 from all over the _what???_
The world. It’s the planet you and I live on.
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