Tag Archives: Train

Mail Rail at the London Postal Museum, London, England

06 Friday Oct 2017

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The mail rail was an underground network of automated trains stretching from Paddington to Whitechapel. For 75 years, millions of items of mail each day were transported beneath the streets of London. The system was retired as over-ground transport by van was cheaper.

I previously wrote about the opening of a Postal Museum and the chance to ride on the mail rain trains here. This post is about our visit on Saturday 23rd September.

It’s hard to get there

Mail Rail and the Postal Museum opposite aren’t that close to any of the three nearest underground stations. London Black Taxi drivers don’t know the street – I guess because nobody went there until September this year.

But we found the place – well Postal Museum first and then had to cross the road and walk down a little to Mail Rail.

Once inside we went downstairs to a large hall.

At one end was a platform.

And then the Mail Train arrived.

 

The carriages are quite small – with gull-wing doors.

We boarded the train.

Then we set off down a warren of tunnels.

Past empty platforms where postal workers used to be busy loading mail.

With maybe the odd game of darts between trains.

There were also stops with interesting video projections. All too soon we were back and found ourselves stepping out of the door opposite to the one we entered – the train takes a loop.

We left Mail Rail and crossed to the Postal Museum. The entrance has a modern café with themed outdoor seating.

We were a little late and didn’t have much time to spend there – but there were some interesting exhibits.

We all enjoyed the Mail Rail and Postal Museum and I’d recommend a visit. Just leave early so you get there in time.

The Postal Museum
15-20 Phoenix Place
London WC1X 0DA

https://www.postalmuseum.org/

Steam Trains from Prague Smíchov Station Saturday June 10th 2017

09 Friday Jun 2017

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For those who love steam trains, there are three steam trains that you can take from Prague Smíchov on Saturday June 10th 2017.

Departure times are 09:00, 12:00 and 15:00. The ride last for two hours and follows a circular route:

Smíchov – Radotín – Krč – Malešice – Libeň – Holešovice – hlavní nádraží – Smíchov

Cost is 150Kc (80 CZK children 6 – 15 years) and tickets are sold on the station platform or on the train.

The trains feature a bar carriage with beer and soft drinks.

It looks like the same locomotive will be used for all three departures:
475.111 Šlechtična – which translates as Noble Woman. Below is a stock photo – please don’t blame me if the actual loco is different!

For more information (in Czech) visit http://www.masinka.cz/

Heathrow Connect – avoid the Heathrow Express rip off

21 Sunday May 2017

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The Heathrow Express runs from London Paddington to London Heathrow airport. The journey is advertised as taking 15 minutes – although I’ve been on journeys that have taken up to 30 minutes. Fare is £25 peak or £22 off-peak. Their website has this little infographic:

What they don’t mention is the Heathrow Connect service. Journey time is 30 minutes. Fare is £10.30 – less than half the cost. The Heathrow Connect website doesn’t do much of a job selling the service and uses this tagline:
“When time is not an issue.”
Whereas they should say:
“Only 30 minutes to Heathrow for less than half the cost.”

I had been staying at the Hilton Paddington and so it was just a short walk from the rear exit of the hotel to the platforms and ticket office.

My Heathrow Connect train was empty:

I could see a full Heathrow Express on the adjacent line:

My train pulled into Heathrow Terminals 2 & 3 on the same platform as the Heathrow Express. If you need T4 or T5, you need to change to the Heathrow Express, but that is free.

So unless you’ve just missed a Heathrow Connect, or cost isn’t an issue, just ignore the Heathrow Express and make yourself comfortable on the Connect train.

Virgin Trains – London Kings Cross to Darlington Return

06 Monday Jul 2015

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I booked a First Advance fare for the following journey:

  • Friday 26th June 2015 depart Kings Cross 19:00 arrive Darlington 21:19
  • Sunday 5th July 2015 depart Darlington 16:49 arrive Kings Cross 19:23

And the fare, including local train connections at either end was £175.50. The return was £73.00.

Outbound

I arrived at Kings Cross with enough time to visit the Virgin Lounge. On arrival at the lounge, a lady checked my ticket and advised that ‘Advance First’ ticket required an additional payment of £5. I asked if my Virgin Atlantic Gold Card made any difference – it didn’t.  The glasses of sparkling wine at the lounge entrance convinced me that £5 was probably worth paying. I didn’t have change and gave her £10. Luckily it seemed that she didn’t have any change and within a few minutes my £10 was returned and I was advised that my visit would be complimentary. If you decide to visit (and I wouldn’t bother if I were you) then take a £50 note and hope it can’t be changed!

There were quite a few spare chairs and found one by the television. I wandered around and found that only soft drinks and a few apples were available. There was also a sign that said ‘Fizz Friday’ – so it seems that sparkling wine is a Friday thing. I had another glass of that. So a pretty disappointing lounge and certainly not worth paying £5 for entry – especially if it isn’t a Friday.

The train was on time and I found my comfortable seat which was in the quiet coach – mobile conversations are discouraged.

Soon after departure we were offered hot drinks, soft drinks, beer, wine, spirts, biscuits, crisps and a dinner menu. I was pleasantly surprised as the Virgin website seems to indicate that post 19:00 departures don’t include a hot dinner menu.

Food, drinks and service were good throughout the journey.

Wi-fi was poor and I wouldn’t want to rely on that to maintain a connection for business purposes.

Return

The train was on time and I boarded the quiet coach – it was hot. Soon after departure I was offered hot drinks, soft drinks, biscuits, crisps, a sandwich and cake. No alcoholic drinks or hot food on Sundays – but then I knew about that. I’m surprised they don’t have alcohol available for sale though.

After my tea was poured and I had a sandwich, the attendant advised that I was free to move to a non-reserved seat in another carriage as the air conditioning had broken in my carriage. This was a bit late as I already had my tea in front of me – I decided to see how things would be with the curtains closed.

After eating, it was clear that the carriage was too hot to sit in for a few hours and so I moved myself and my luggage to the next carriage – which was, of course, almost full. I found a rear-facing seat – I don’t really like travelling backwards. But at least it was cooler.

There was another round of drink and snack service. Wi-Fi was again poor.

The train arrived on time – which I suppose was the most important. However, I’m planning to write to Virgin and complain about the loss of my forward-facing seat – mainly because I’m hoping they’ll send me some money! I’ll update this post with their reply.

And here is the disappointing reply:

Thank you for your correspondence received on 27 July 2015 regarding your recent journey.

I am sorry to hear that you had to move seats due to their being an air conditioning fault in your original carriage. I do understand that inconvenience of having to do this; however I hope you understand that in the event of their being a fault it is in the interests of the passengers to move seats.

I also understand why you are unhappy that you did have a rear-facing seat when previously you had a forward facing seat. I appreciate that you selected a specific seat preference whilst booking your seat, and I am sorry that you were unable to find a seat that fitted your preference. Our on-board staff would have been happy to try and locate an alternative seat if you had made them aware of the issue.

I would like to thank you for getting in contact with us regarding this issue.

Yours sincerely

Myles Roberts
Customer Relations Advisor
Virgin Trains East Coast

So thanks for nothing Myles.