Today, I was going on a mammoth of a train journey all thanks to Avanti West Coast. I reached out to Avanti a few months ago, to ask them if they could provide me with any support with my challenge of travelling all of Britain’s railway lines. I got a response within a matter of days and Richard, from Avanti, set out a potential train trip he could help with. The journey he suggested, after looking at my progress map, was to go Blackpool and Manchester via Crewe; this would tick off all of my remaining Avanti routes. I was very excited when I received the email back from Richard. Even more excitingly, he was suggesting a trip that Avanti could provide. This trip sounded like a good half term candidate, as it needed to be done on a weekday.
After a few emails, we had arranged a route and all we needed were our tickets. A couple of weeks went past and we received an email from Richard. This contained our Authorities to Travel (ATT) and seat reservations. ATT are like a digital ticket that train companies can provide you with; like the name suggests these allow you to travel. I got my first big surprise when I saw that he had put us in first class for part of the journey! This was really exciting as I have never travelled first class with Avanti before; I have heard they do some fantastic food and it should be quieter which will help with my anxiety. In addition, he put us in standard class for some of the journey. This was so I could experience both, as he was keen for me to explain what both of these classes were like from an accessibility point of view. Given that I am autistic and suffer with anxiety, I can give my point of view about accessibility for people with hidden disabilities. Richard also told my mum and me that he was going to try and meet us in Crewe. He also hoped that Brandon (Avanti’s Accessibility & Inclusion Manager) would meet us at Manchester Piccadilly.
A week before I was starting to feel rather excited about the trip, but also quite nervous about things that could happen. For example: getting stranded somewhere, missing connections, amongst a lot of other things. I also convinced myself that I was going to be poorly and wouldn’t be able to go, but luckily that didn’t happen. The day beforehand we bought our tickets for the journey, from Gloucester to Birmingham New Street, as we had to get a pretty early train.
The day came and we woke up at about 05:40 to catch the 1L98 service, the 07:08 train from Gloucester to Birmingham New Street. We got up and had a light breakfast – as when I am excited/nervous about something I find I don’t eat much. I usually start to eat more as the day goes on.
My mum suffers with chronic fatigue, which sometimes can cause her to be very tired on train trips and for a few days after. She always likes to join me on trips, as she also likes to travel on the trains but I have to go careful about how much we fit into one day.
My dad drove us both to the station because my mum had to conserve her energy for the trip. I was very much looking forward to what the day could bring, although I was still quite nervous about all the things that could go wrong. We had a very tight connection at Crewe, which was playing on my mind as missing that could throw the rest of the day away. Arriving at the station, we got out of the car, said goodbye to our dog – Bella – and headed into the station. I had downloaded the e-tickets to our phones and printed them out the day before. All we needed to do was to scan them on the barrier to gain access to the station.
I get quite worried about losing my belongings. Therefore I like to, wherever possible, have a backup system – for example printing the tickets as well as downloading them. I also like everything to look perfect, so the day before I had to merge all the tickets onto one sheet of paper, and make sure they were all exactly the same size before I printed them. It is quite stressful for me but I feel like I have to do it.
We went through the barriers and my mum popped to the toilet while I waited on the platform. Looking up at the boards, I could see that our train was running about 5 minutes late. Luckily, we had a very long connection time at Birmingham. The train pulled in and we got onboard, we had booked seats but we didn’t need them as the train was pretty much empty. We sat at the front of the train around a table, and after the driver changed ends we were ready to go. This is the only train of the day that goes direct from Gloucester to Stansted Airport. Also, it’s one of the very few Cross Country services that come to/from Bristol which call at Gloucester.
We left about 4 minutes late and headed up towards Cheltenham. A few minutes after leaving Gloucester we came to a stop at a signal; this signal protects the junction that trains avoiding Gloucester use. Another late running service had to pass us first before we could proceed. We were only sat at the junction for a few minutes and then the train jerked into motion. We were chasing the late running service all the way to Cheltenham so we were gathering up quite a delay. Arriving into Cheltenham Spa, we were running about 10 minutes late. However, the informative guard on the service told us that we should get the time back between Worcestershire Parkway and University. He was most certainly right and we arrived into Birmingham New Street only one minute late. A point of interest on the journey was seeing locomotive 66 731 on the railhead treatment train. 66 731 is a GBRf train and it is painted in special livery to celebrate Captain Tom Moore’s achievements. I had never seen it before so I was very excited to spot it. For those who don’t know, Network Rail runs a railhead treatment train service in the autumn to clear leaves off the track to improve the train’s adhesion to the track.
In Birmingham there was now some daylight as most of the journey was spent in darkness, although you wouldn’t know it as New Street station is all underground! I find Birmingham New Street a very confusing station and it does cause me quite a lot of stress. There are so many signs, exits and entrances that you have no idea where you need to go! Luckily, I have been to New Street before, therefore it’s not quite as stressful. I would imagine for a new traveller they might become quite flustered. Having first class tickets means we can use the Avanti West Coast first class lounge; it was quite a relief to have somewhere quiet and tucked away to sit. Having said that, Birmingham New Street has a great accessibility lounge (which I will talk about later). We headed up the escalator to street level, went through a maze of ticket barriers to get out of the gate line and find the first class lounge. We found the “lounge” that the first class lounge was located in. Annoyingly, the Blackpool North train departs from a different “lounge” so it means walking through two sets of ticket barriers. There are three different colour “lounges” in New Street which divide the station up; each “lounge” is behind ticket barriers so it makes the station quite complicated to navigate.
Walking into the first class lounge, I saw that there was only one other person in the lounge. This was good for me as it provides a quiet environment to wait in. I like the quiet, not having to look at flashy screens and a feeling of safety.
In all honesty, I hate busy stations as they cause sensory overload for me. Sensory overload is a common trait that autistic people have; it is a fancy way of saying that I get overwhelmed by the amount of noise, light and smells there are in an environment. It causes me a lot of anxiety if I know we are going somewhere which might cause me to go into sensory overload. Another thing I don’t like about busy stations is that I always panic that I am breaking the stations “rules”: taking photos, standing in the wrong place and a lot of other things. Finally, I just don’t feel safe in busy stations. I almost always feel safe on the trains, in accessibility lounges and in quieter stations. Consequently, me and busy stations don’t mix. I have to go through them because they are usually big interchange stations, but it takes a lot of energy and strength to do so.
We sat down in one of many empty seats and had something to eat and drink. After not having much breakfast this was very much needed. For that reason my mum and I shared one of Avanti’s specialities, a Jammie Dodger cake! It was actually very tasty; the cake was made up of red velvet sponge with Jammie Dodger flavouring and icing on the top. I also spotted something called “Uglies”. I have had these in the past on Virgin Trains and couldn’t resist one as they were, and still are, very tasty. In the first class lounge there are no Coronavirus restrictions anymore which was quite strange for me. The last time I was in an Avanti first class lounge, in Euston when I was going on the Caledonian Sleeper, there was just a table service where food is brought to your table. It is better now that you can walk around the lounge but it still feels odd to be able to do these things – to me anyway. The first class lounge is a lovely space to spend an hour and it certainly makes travelling through busy stations much more manageable.
At this point, it was around 08:50 so we decided to head down to the platform as it required quite a long walk. We weren’t entirely sure where we needed to go, so we left a bit more time than maybe was necessary. Leaving the lounge, we found the ticket barriers were left open so it was very straightforward to find the platform.
I always end up leaving too much time to catch trains, as another thing I panic about is missing trains; so, wherever I can I get to the station/platform early.
Our train, 9P47 the 09:15 Birmingham New Street to Blackpool North, was departing from platform 7. We walked down some escalators to get to the platform. The Avanti Pendolinos and Super Voyager trains take up both the “A” and “B” partitions of the platform, therefore it can be quite a long walk to the extreme ends of the platform. Given that we were booked to sit in coach K, which is right at the back of the train, it required a reasonably long walk. Within a few minutes of reaching the end of the platform our train pulled in, formed of a nine car Pendolino (390 011). We weren’t entirely sure which end of the train we needed but after looking at the RealTimeTrains website, which shows Avanti train formations, I could be reasonably sure that we were at the right end for first class. I have since been informed that first class is at the London end of any platform, so that’s good to know! As the train pulled in I noticed it was in the full Avanti livery, something I hadn’t seen before and certainly not travelled on! On RealTimeTrains it showed the train as still in the transitional livery so it was a nice surprise to see and subsequently travel on it. Luckily, we were at the right end of the train which was good and it saved a lengthy walk.
The familiar sound of the Pendolino doors opening commenced. They have a step which folds out from the body shell, one of very few, if any, trains in the UK that have this feature. I think the step folding out is supposed to help with the train being more aerodynamic. The step makes a very distinctive sound and the beeping of the door is one of the Pendolino’s traits that I always remember.
For me certain noises are quite relaxing, if I’m stressed I sometimes repeat train announcements in my head or even out loud if I’m on my own. I think it is to do with being autistic that I like certain sounds and they help me relax. I guess it’s a sort of autistic stimming behaviour. If you don’t know, stimming is usually a repetitive behaviour that is very common in autistic people. Another example for me is when I’m stressed my leg starts shaking up and down. It’s completely harmless but it just helps me to feel relaxed for some reason. Some people don’t understand the idea of stimming and people think we are just “weird”, but really it’s just a way of self-regulating.
As the doors opened we got on board and looked for our seat. There was plenty of space in coach K. Coach K is probably the best first class coach to sit in as there are only 18 seats in the whole coach; this is because there is a kitchen galley and drivers cab at one end. We sat at seats 15 and 18.
First class is a great place to sit, if it is possible to get a first class ticket. For one, you get a lot more space and you don’t have to sit with people you don’t know. Plus, it is typically much quieter which is really important for me, as it helps with the sensory side of things. It is unfortunate that you can pay quite a lot more for first class. However, you can occasionally find a good deal, and I would highly recommend it if you ordinarily find travel more difficult, to pay the extra if possible. I do talk later about another class of travel that Avanti offer which could be a great alternative to first class.
As soon as we sat down, our lovely first class hosts came and gave us the menus for breakfast. I was really excited to try out Avanti’s breakfast offering. The only thing they didn’t have was the “Smoked Salmon & Scrambled Eggs”, this wasn’t a problem for me because I am not a big fan of smoked salmon.
I am really glad they told us what wasn’t in stock; as one thing that always causes me anxiety is not knowing if what I would like to order is available. I don’t like to get my “heart set” on something if it turns out they don’t have it. I always have to have a backup option in my head just in case they haven’t got what I initially asked for; this applies at restaurants and cafes too. So, the little things really help.
Within a few minutes of leaving New Street they came back to take our order. I had “The Great British Breakfast” and my mum had the “Fresh Fruit Plate”. After about 5 minutes our food was on the table and I tucked in! Really impressed with the speedy service.
The Great British Breakfast consisted of: smoked bacon, pork sausage, black pudding, mushroom, roasted tomato, potato scone and a fried egg. It’s nice to have a lot of variety in a breakfast. The Fruit Plate was comprised of: a selection of different melons, papaya and pineapple. We shared the fruit and my mum had a few bites of my Full English.
We were now coming into Sandwell and Dudley and we had just started our breakfast. There was a man behind us, who clearly didn’t know where he was, and he had to rush off when he saw we were at Sandwell and Dudley. Obviously he was supposed to be getting off here!
The breakfast was absolutely spot on. The Full English was quite possibly one of the best breakfasts I have ever had and the fruit was very tasty. It was also very good that all the ingredients are sourced from along the Avanti route. I think I might dare to say it was even better than the old Virgin Trains breakfast, and that’s saying something as Virgin did a pretty amazing breakfast. Even the condiments were really tasty! It is quite obvious that Avanti have put a lot of time into thinking about onboard food and it really shows through.
After about 10 minutes, we had just finished our breakfast when we were on approach to Wolverhampton. I love the viaduct as you pull into Wolverhampton, an impressive engineering feat. We were now at the station and we were running perfectly to time.
After leaving Wolverhampton we were running fast to Crewe. Not much happened until our approach to Crewe. Other than passing Stafford, platform 5 (slow lines), at a very unusually slow pace. It didn’t really seem to affect our timings though.
I love coming into Crewe as you see such a variety of trains. On one side you get to see the Freightliner depot – that have new(ish) and very old trains, along with a lot of different freight wagons. Then you have the Crewe Arriva Train Care Depot, which I visited a few years ago (click here to read the blog). They always seem to have some new trains there and this time it was the brand new Mersey Rail class 777’s. Pretty sleek looking trains! Finally, you have the Crewe Locomotive Services Limited depot which houses some of the stock used for special rail tours/charters. I got to see (and photograph) the Midland Pullman which was great to see.
At Crewe there was an engineer’s train awaiting to proceed past the signal. It was occupying the whole length of the platform, so it was a pretty long train. After leaving Crewe, we saw the Crewe Heritage Centre which looks like a fascinating place. I have never been and I really should make an effort to visit.
I looked at my train diagrams, this tells me where every train is, and there were two trains chasing each other at very slow speeds. I’m not sure what the issue was, but both trains picked up quite a hefty delay. We had a couple of more stops before Preston which is where the line to Blackpool veers off. I had a quick look on my phone and I could see there was a signalling failure between Warrington Bank Quay and Weaver Junction. This caused me quite a bit of distress. Even though we had passed through the affected area, it could play havoc with our connection at Crewe. We had less than 15 minutes at Crewe and if we missed that connection it would prove challenging to complete all the proposed route. I had to keep trying to put it to the back of my mind but that was easier said than done.
I struggle with unexpected changes to plans. Again I imagine this is linked to the fact that I am autistic. However, I am getting better at just “going with the flow” and taking the day as it comes. In the past though, I would have worked myself up into a state and wouldn’t have been able to function. Having said that, it still takes a concerted effort from me to not get myself too worked up. My mum also has to reassure me that everything will work itself out – I find this really useful, but I do need to try and learn not to rely on her.
We arrived into Preston two minutes early and that was our last stop before Blackpool North. This was new route for me, as I have done the route on the West Coast Mainline (Birmingham to Preston) many times before. After seeing a few cows in fields, we were on approach to Blackpool North. In all honesty the line from Preston to Blackpool isn’t the most scenic. However, the line to Blackpool North has only recently been electrified so that Pendolinos and Northern’s new trains can run on the route. Therefore, all the overhead line equipment looks really new. I am always interested in overhead wires. I don’t know why? I think it is because I know how much of a challenge it is to put them up – so I appreciate them more. As we were arriving into Blackpool, my mum got chatting to the crew onboard and told them about my challenge.
I don’t tend to have the confidence to talk to new people so my mum always gets the conversation started and then I sometimes join in.
The crew told us that their shift started at 04:00 and they were carrying on till 13:30 – that’s a long old shift. Despite that, they still provided an excellent service.
We got off the train and got a breath of sea air (or should I say gust of air)! We haven’t been to anywhere near the sea for about 2 years, so it was very pleasant to feel the sea air again! I took a few photos and then headed towards the exit. My mum was determined to see the sea but we only had 30 minutes. The station concourse felt like an airport, as there were so many people milling about and queueing for the train back to London.
I wasn’t a big fan of Blackpool North station as it was very busy, probably as busy as the platform at Birmingham New Street that we caught our train from that morning. As I mentioned before I don’t like busy places as I simply don’t feel safe.
I knew we had to be quick as at this point we only had 20 minutes. We had a pretty fast trot down the road. Given my mum has chronic fatigue, I was more worried she was going to wear herself out or do herself an injury. We did however manage to get one road away from the sea, before I insisted we turned around otherwise we would miss our train. We took a speedy photo of the sea and then headed back.
When we returned to the station, we showed our ATT to get through the barriers. After getting through the barriers we had about 5 minutes until our train departed. This service was the return working of our previous train therefore it was still operated by 390 011, but it was now working 9M53 the 11:48 Blackpool North to Crewe. I wanted to get some more photos so I did that, and then we headed to board the train. When we got back onboard and we only had about 2 minutes until departure, so it was a jolly good job we walked at quite a pace back!
I was very flustered when we got back on the train, I had a soaking wet facemask after running back down the road and getting extremely stressed about missing our train. I sat back and tried to relax in the same seats we had before, 15 and 18. These seats are, in my opinion, the best seats in first class for two people travelling. You are tucked out of the way so you don’t get many people passing you, and it is just an all-round nice seat with a great window view. We were the only passengers in first class and we thought it was easier for the crew, as it is one of the closest seats to the kitchen area. Although I’m sure they wouldn’t have minded if we sat somewhere else.
The crew came back around and handed out some more menus. This time we could choose from a selection of hot and cold food which is served from 11am until the end of the day. They had everything on the menu this time, but once again it was nice of them to confirm they had all the options. I went for the “Afternoon Tea” which consisted of a: selection of sandwiches, warm scones, chuckleberry jam and clotted cream. My mum had the same. I wasn’t really that hungry after getting really stressed out, but thought I needed to eat something otherwise I would be hungry later.
When I get stressed I initially sometimes lose my appetite, but I know that I need to eat otherwise I wouldn’t be able to regain energy that I would need for the rest of the journey. After my anxiety dissipates, I find myself very hungry so it is better to tackle the hunger before it hits.
I had a couple of sandwiches which I enjoyed but the scones were fantastic! The chuckleberry jam complimented the clotted cream and scone really well. I can’t say I have come across chuckleberry before but it has a great mixture of sharpness and sweetness. I have got to say Avanti really have nailed the food selection!
Before I knew it, we were approaching Preston once again. The train came to an unexpected halt outside the station. This was quite alarming at first because I thought something had happened to the train. In actual fact it was because we were running an impressive 6 minutes early!
I get very nervous when unexpected things happen whether that’s on the trains or in my personal life. I really appreciate it when railway staff make announcements to tell you what is happening. Maybe it should be part of the accessibility training for railway staff to inform passengers, where possible, what is going on? I know for me it would make a huge difference and I am sure others would feel the same.
Another thing that potentially might help passengers is, if there were posters or announcements that tell passengers what alarms and the like mean. I know from experience on the Pendolino fleet of trains there is a quite serious sounding alarm which I am pretty sure means the train crew want to speak to the driver. However, it could cause passengers distress if they don’t know what it means. Also, when you go through neutral sections you sometimes momentarily lose the air conditioning and things go very quiet. This can cause the uninformed passenger alarm. For those who don’t know, neutral sections, in extremely simple terms, are a way of trains moving between different power grids. To achieve this, the power has to be broken temporarily therefore sometimes causing everything to go eerily quiet.
After a few minutes our platform became free and we were on the move again. We arrived into Preston two minutes early! I had a quick look at Avanti’s Journey Checker, and it seemed to suggest that the signalling failure near Warrington Bank Quay had cleared. That was such a relief! Our train was now running perfectly to time and there was no reason to believe that we would now miss our connection at Crewe, to get to Manchester.
After two more station stops we were arriving into Crewe. I hadn’t been to Crewe for years, I used to go quite frequently to watch the trains but during the pandemic – like most people – I wasn’t able to get out to the places I might have wanted to go. I like Crewe because there is always something interesting coming through: whether that’s test trains, brand new trains, old trains going for scrap or refurbished trains – there is always something interesting!
We gathered our things together and left the train. I did have a look to see what platform our train to Manchester Piccadilly was departing from and luckily it was going from the platform we arrived in on. So, no running required! Richard said that he was going to try and meet us in Crewe, therefore I suggested to my mum that she gave him a call to see if he was free. Within a few minutes Richard was on the platform and he was going to travel with us to Manchester. I had a sneaky look on my phone before we got off the train and noticed that the train allocated to our service (1H66 the 13:11 Crewe to Manchester Piccadilly) was operated by a very special train – “Progress”, 390 119.
The train, “Progress”, was named last year following a competition that Avanti ran for people in the community to name their Pride train. Edward Hitchon came up with the winning name. The name Progress embodies the fact of where we have got to as a society and a recognition that we’re still not there yet. The train is the only train in Britain to be wrapped end to end, the full 11 coaches, in the Progress Flag – it is very impressive and shows Avanti’s dedication to inclusivity. Each colour in the flag has an important meaning which represents different people in the LGBTQ+ community.
I have never seen the “Progress” train before, and certainly never travelled on it so this was a great surprise. Once my mum got chatting to Richard we found out he had managed to arrange for the “Progress” train to work this service especially for me.
I can’t believe how much time Richard must have put into making it as special a day for me as possible. This was just the start to the surprises he had lined up for me.
As always, there was an interesting movement coming through Crewe which came through on our platform. It was a ScotRail class 170 working an empty coaching stock service to Haymarket. It was returning to Scotland after undergoing, what I would assume, was some maintenance/refurbishment. After that train passed through the platform, our train slowly pulled in. It was running a few minutes late but it didn’t matter because this same train set was going to work our service back south. As the train came in the colours were really striking and even nicer that they have got an important meaning to them. It is certainly one of the best pride trains I have seen. I might even say, it is the best one!
The train was really busy which made me feel rather overwhelmed, but it was certainly helped by the fact we were travelling with Richard. We were in standard class as Richard thought it would be good for me to experience both – I agree with him because then I can comment on both. As the train stopped, the doors opened with the familiar beeping and buzzing. There were a lot of passengers alighting here as the train had run non-stop from London Euston. So, a lot of passengers use it to quickly get to the gateway of the north and Wales, which is Crewe.
The last of the passengers got off, and we were preparing to board. Richard spotted a lady and a young child who were struggling with their suitcases, so he very kindly went and helped them. After that, we boarded the train. We found a pair of adjacent seats. We claimed those and very soon after we sat down the “Progress” train was on the move.
My mum started chatting to Richard and I would join in occasionally. Quite soon after leaving, he handed me a couple of old train posters that he managed to find in the office. He showed me pictures of them on his phone because he couldn’t get the tape off. They looked great! As time was going on, I was becoming more confident in talking to Richard and I started chatting to him. We talked about all manner of things to do with trains. He was telling me about the route we were taking and some interesting facts about it.
When it comes to trains and railways in general, I find them a “safe” topic to talk about. I can sometimes hold quite lengthy conversations about them. If you were trying to talk to me about anything other than trains I would struggle, especially with new people. I’m not really sure why I find it easier to talk about trains but I think it might be because I am quite knowledgeable about them. I know I can answer questions easily and that I can almost always find something to talk about to do with trains. I guess you could call trains my “special interest”. Having a “special interest” is very common among people that are autistic and is their “safe subject” to talk about. I still can however find talking about trains challenging at times.
This bit of line from Crewe to Manchester Piccadilly was new to me. As a matter of fact, I hadn’t ever been to Piccadilly station before! The first stop on our train today was Wilmslow, which was relatively quiet and the next stop was Stockport. Richard told us that there are lots of football stadiums on the line between Stockport and Manchester. Before I knew it, we had stopped at Stockport and we were then on approach to Manchester Piccadilly.
Travelling in standard class certainly has its challenges, for people like me, on busy trains. The coach we were sitting in was busy, not overcrowded just busy. I haven’t been on a busy train for years so it was more of just a shock to the system than anything else. I was able to cope on this service for a couple reasons; having Richard there made it feel safer for some reason and that it was only a short journey. I think if all the trains I travelled on were as busy as that I might have struggled a lot more.
The train arrived into Piccadilly right on time and after a few seconds of the doors being opened we were off the train. Richard spotted Brandon (Avanti’s Accessibility & Inclusion Manager) and we went over to him. We introduced ourselves, then Richard told me he had a surprise for me. He walked us down to the front of the train where I was met by Dave (a Train Driver Manager for Avanti). He asked me if I wanted to have a look in the cab of the train. Of course, I said yes! I have been in some cabs before but this felt extra special because it was the cab of “Progress”! Dave gave me a very informative tour of the cab, he told me what all the various buttons and switches do. Then Richard asked me for a photo, so Dave suggested that I had a photo taken out of the Pendolino cab window. I think this is the only opening window on the Pendolino trains (class 390’s) so this felt really cool to be able to have my head out of the side of the train! Class 390’s always have a very special place in my heart and some of my most memorable journeys have been on Pendolinos. Once I had my photo taken, we headed back onto the platform. I was still in shock, in a good way, about everything that had just happened. Dave gave me a few special gifts and then my mum and I headed back towards the front of the train.
I did have a quick chat with Brandon, who told us about some research they were doing into hidden disabilities and travelling on the trains, as well as additional staff training programs they were working on. I hope my blog might be able to provide a slightly different perspective on travelling on the trains for people with a hidden disability.
I went down to the front of the “Progress” train, which would take us back down towards Milton Keynes, to take some photos. The “Progress” train was now operating 1A42 the 14:12 Manchester Piccadilly to Milton Keynes Central. After seeing a TfW class 175 come into the station, we decided to get back onboard and settle down for the journey south. We were now sitting in coach J. We sat in a table of two, seat 26 and 29. These were nice seats as well, but you do get some more passing passengers. The nice thing about first class, as noted earlier, is that it is generally quieter, so that helps my sensory side of things. It was quiet in this coach, so that was good.
We left Manchester perfectly to time. Within a few minutes of leaving the station, the first class crew handed round the menus again. The menu had lots of options on it, but I opted for the “Afternoon Tea” again and my mum had the “Salted Caramel Tart”. The other first class host came around and asked us what we would like to drink. I went for an apple juice with ice and my mum had a cup of tea. The apple juice was of the cloudy variety which was very tasty.
Now we were pulling into Stockport, and a few more passengers joined us here. First class was still very quiet though. After Stockport we called at Macclesfield and Stoke-on-Trent, then we would run fast to Milton Keynes Central via Colwich Junction. The line between Stoke-on-Trent and Colwich Junction was another bit of new route for me, and that was going to be the last bit of new line for the day.
Once you leave Macclesfield it is very green and leafy, you could be anywhere. There are lots of fields and the occasional area of water, and it was quite possibly one of the most scenic parts of the journey.
Shortly after leaving Stoke-on-Trent our food arrived! Once again it was all very tasty, this time I did however try the smoked salmon sandwich which was very moreish. I had never tried smoked salmon before and I was pleasantly surprised by how nice it was. The “Salted Caramel Tart” was also very flavoursome, but it was very rich so you don’t need much of it. All in all, the food was very tasty. I certainly didn’t need my sausage pitta breads I bought with me for my lunch!
After I had finished my food I decided to go for a wander down the train. I had never seen Avanti’s Standard Premium offering before, so thought I would go and have a look. The Standard Premium coaches have exactly the same seats as first class, all you don’t get is the food and drink. This could be a great alternative from standard class, for travellers like me; this is because it is typically much quieter and you get a lot more space for not too much more money. Standard Premium is definitely significantly cheaper than first class but still a bit more expensive than standard class. I will have to try out Standard Premium at some point in the future.
By the time I got back to my seat, we were passing Tamworth at 125mph and it was once again very scenic. Shortly after Tamworth, is Nuneaton – where there was one of West Midlands Trains new class 730’s working a mileage accumulation run. I believe the unit number was 730 001.
Before too long we were coming into Milton Keynes Central, where our journey on the “Progress” train would end. As the doors opened, we got off the train and one of the first class hosts wished me good luck for my challenge of travelling all of Britain’s railway lines. I thought that was very kind of them to say that. I got a nice video of the “Progress” train leaving Milton Keynes, and then headed back up towards the main station. The station was quite nice, nothing too special, certainly not a bad place to spend 30 minutes. There were quite a lot of fast trains passing through the station at line speed of 125mph.
I don’t really like fast trains passing through stations so I always try to avoid them, where I can. I am not sure what it is I don’t like about them; maybe it’s the noise they make, or the feeling of the turbulence in my face. I honestly don’t know, but whatever it is always puts me off at being at stations with fast trains passing through.
I had a look at RealTimeTrains once again and I could see that our train back to Birmingham (9P85 the 16:14 Milton Keynes Central to Birmingham New Street) was being worked by a pair of Avanti Super Voyagers – 221 101 & 221 102. I was very tired by this point after having been up since 05:40 and I just wanted to get home. My mum was getting increasingly tired too, so we were glad that this was our penultimate train of the day.
Our train pulled in on time and we sat in coach A at the very front of the train. This was the quiet coach which was a very nice place to sit. It was actually quite relaxing to just sit back and enjoy the train journey without any people talking. We reached all of our calling points about 1 minute early and arrived at New Street on time.
When we left the train at Birmingham New Street, we decided it might be a good idea to go and rest in the accessibility lounge. We walked up some escalators and luckily we were at the right end of the station for the lounge. I had a look at the departure boards and they said our train was running about 10 minutes late, fortunately it wasn’t too big of a delay. We found the accessibility lounge and took a seat.
The accessibility lounge is a place that is used mostly by physically impaired passengers, but can also be used for passengers with a hidden disability – like myself. I have used it a couple of times now and both times have been really positive. The staff don’t tend to ask questions about why you are there, and it helps because I wear a sunflower lanyard. A sunflower lanyard is a way of telling people you may need a bit more assistance with certain things, and are usually worn if you have a hidden disability. I wear mine everywhere, as it helps me to know that other people might be more understanding if I’m struggling. The accessibility lounge is a welcoming area, and you can feel quite safe away from the hustle and bustle of other passengers. There is a similar area in Crewe called the ‘Calm Room”, I haven’t personally used it as more recently, as my anxiety worsened, I haven’t been to Crewe for any length of time. I have heard positive things about it though and it is good to know it’s there if I so need it.
The train back to Gloucester, 1V13 the 17:24 Birmingham New Street to Gloucester, was slowly picking up time and it arrived into New Street just 4 minutes late. The platform was really busy so we went and stood to one end. As the train pulled in it looked pretty full, but luckily the train emptied on arrival to New Street. We managed to get on board after all the alighting passengers cleared and found a seat. We sat in a seat of two as it didn’t look like there were any reservations on the service. We were both exhausted at this point and just wanted to get home after a long, yet fantastic day.
We arrived back into Gloucester pretty much on time and my dad came and picked us up from the station and took us home.
Thank you so much to Richard, Brandon and Dave for all the kindness you showed me on my trip. Richard especially so for organising the whole trip and arranging all the special experiences. All the crew I met on the trains were also fantastic. It really is the people that make the railways.
If you would like to read more about me then here is a link to my fundraising page: GoFundMe.
Leave a Reply