Worcestershire Parkway High Level to Low Level - Pointless Journeys
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- Опубликовано: 22 авг 2024
- Time for another Pointless Journey! From Worcestershire Parkway High Level to Low Level!
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I should probably learn how advance singles properly work, shouldn't I?
Like a good little viewington, I searched for "advance" before commenting :D
it's all in National Rail conditions of carriage and discussed regularly on rail forums. It is complex but easy to understand for those with railway expertise and interest
A heart Of England Rover covers this route & also Gloucester, Hereford, Marches etc but is getting quite expensive now. Still not bad for a few days value though.
It's not obvious to be fair, it's not advertised at all and you have to comb through the conditions of carriage, which 99.99% of people never read
A pointless joney
😊
if you don't use this series as an April fools next year by doing a 'pointless journey' from a low level to high level and just walk up to the high level then I'm going to be very annoyed! 🤣
I was thinking Victoria to Victoria.....Manchester Victoria to London Victoria.
@@alloallie that’s also a good idea!
I think it would be funnier if it was a not so pointless journey, like Blackpool to Blackpool.
🤣🤣🤣
@@mattevans4377Blackpool North to Blackpool South, simply change at Kirkham & Westham.
As a GWR local, I can confirm that they are more punctual normally! The Didcot trains always wait for the London ones for connectors, you never have to stress!
It's an aspect of the scheduling they get right, when the line is actually open, I live in Bath but go to Oxford usually once or twice per university term to see my sister who studies there, and the connection is a nice easy cross platform change. According to Wikipedia there used to be trains direct between Bristol and Oxford but that was a long time ago
Not the same story for me. I use the Avocet Line to get to work in Exmouth and the punctuality is about 50/50. Cancellations are still rare though, although when they do happen sometimes the announcements won't display it rather annoyingly.
@@nathanw9770 I'm blessed to live on the GWML elsewhere with 800 service! Must be frustrating when you share the line with late XC voyagers! (At least where the Exmouth trains come from)
Oxford-Didcot trains are everywhere and constant. It's about the only thing you can rely on!
I live in the cotsworld line, so when I head to London and Worcester I take this train. The Didcot train always waits first as I have been on the Didcot Parkway Train. But I dont usually get delayed at the station here in Evesham unless it’s something like a points failure or an ill passenger.
You can use as many advance tickets in a row as you like, if any journeys are delayed and cause you to miss a connection you can jump on the next train at no extra cost. It's covered in the "Using Multiple Tickets" rules in the Conditions of Travel and is really helpful to know.
I've got out of many scrapes by quoting them at staff who have tried to charge extra for tickets when I've travelled on different services than planned during disruption.
Ah! Well that's relieving to know!
Does it apply from London Terminals (or Manchester) when the Tram or Tube services have been (seriously) delayed ?
@@highpath4776 Unfortunately not, Unless the journey on the tube/tram is part of your ticket between two national rail stations.
So let's say for example you were traveling from Norwich to Penzance. If you had a ticket from Norwich to London Liverpool Street and London Paddington to Penzance then it wouldn't be valid because the underground isn't covered in your NR tickets. If however you had Norwich to Reading and Reading to Penzance then the first ticket would cover the cross London so that would be valid. Or at least that's my understanding.
@@EuroDC1990
My understanding as well, however it's always worth just asking the train manager of your next service (if possible) if they will let you on anyway, they might be nice and able to if it's. LU delay!
We can all agree we need a Whitechapel, “Pointless Journey” between the overground and underground platforms.
Don't forget Overground platform is now mid-level as there is EL underneath!
Double Bonus Pointless Journey????
On the topic of London how about Richmond National Rail to Richmond Underground
@@Northerner_Transport_HubUnlike others, those two are actually the same station... Both National Rail and Underground use the same platforms I think...
Double pointless journey, subsurface to mid-level overground to low-level elizabeth
Love the personal indulge to use Moreton-in-marsh despite the extra time it cost you. I once took a flight via philadelphia to miniapolis just to fly on a certain aircraft. Could have got the direct flight and saved myself 8 hours and £300 but it was worth it!
If you miss a connection on an advance due to another train being cancelled or delayed, you can get the next train from the same operator, so it shouldn't cost anything extra
That was a very lucky connection at Oxford. Will admit do like those tight connections but can be frustrating if you do miss them, great video
I personally don't like tight connections. For example the connection at Kettering (between the EMR Connect to Corby, and the EMR InterCity to Leicester/Nottingham) is about 5 minutes. So if the Connect is delayed by more than a few minutes, then when the Connect goes on the slow lines north of Wellingborough it makes it very tight indeed to run over the bridge at Kettering and board the InterCity.
I frequently use GWR, and I also use the Worcestershire parkway to oxford and oxford to didcot parkway routes a lot.
The IETs are ALWAYS empty, to the point where first tickets can be the same price as standard class, or only £1 or £2 more.
I don't really find GWR services to get delayed often, but when they do, it's often not too bad, 10 minutes at most
This was brilliant to watch a video of an area and set of tracks I use frequently
Yay, he went to my local station! Cheltenham Spa!
Great video Nick; though I'd personally not risk advance singles over a journey like that. Shame it wasn't covered by some day rover/ranger of sorts.
You're still covered in case of delays and missed connections if you use multiple tickets, it's somewhere deep in the conditions of carriage, though often the guards don't even know this themselves. My father and stepmother once had to stand their ground to be let on a train coming back from Scotland to Bath. The only time I've had split advance tickets was going from Carmarthen to Bath Spa, and the train from Carmarthen was cancelled and the one I took instead was late so I missed the following train, and fortunately the guard understood and was really friendly
I use GWR down in the Westcountry. They are delayed fairly frequently, although their delay repay team are very quick!
6:33 There’s a reason I nickname them “Late Worsten Failway”. I have occasionally asked them - to no reply - on Twitter if they should just bite the bullet and change the timetable. Bump every train time up by eight minutes, seeing as they consistently currently leave eight minutes late anyway!
As for the IETs being empty… you’ve never been on the every-other-hour Berks and Hants semi-fasts then. Castle Cary, Westbury, Pewsey (and Newbury, but that gets more trains) are all busy stations. The trains continue to Exeter and occasionally even to the seaside resorts of Dawlish, Teignmouth, Torquay, and Paignton. They get a train every two hours. It is regularly five carriages. I’ve spent way too much of my life sat in vestibules and even in the carriages proper.
Plymouth - Exeter is usually fairly busy I find with the IET's. I rarely have delayed trains with GWR, I find CrossCountry are ALWAYS late and almost always jam packed (especially between Exeter and Bristol)
When they were called First Great Western, I used to call them Worst Late Western
@@xanpagebrown CrossCountry's trains are jam packed because they use 4-car and 5-car Voyagers on extra long distance journeys when they should be 8-car at minimum.
@@TheSpotify95 yes I am aware, occasionally they will join two units together but it’s not very often
Great video thanks. GWR is not normally that empty but the delays seemed about normal.
I’ve done 3 long distance journeys on GWR. 2 were really empty, with only a few people in each carriage. The last one was misery. All seats were full and people were standing and it was boiling. GWR seems to be a mixed bag.
Nick as a suggestion you should do wigan north western to wigan wallgate as a pointless journey
Wish has come true
@@Harrynhoughton13 Natt has magically done it!
As a frequent GWR user, I can confirm that yes, they are usually that late.
Also - a shorter version of this Pointless Journey could be Worcestershire Parkway to Worcester Foregate Street (via GWR), WFS to University (via West Midlands Railway) then University back to WP with Cross Country. Though this means doubling back on yourself between University and Bromsgrove. But you'll be going up and down the Lickey Bank on diesels so you can appreciate how steep it is (it's a good couple of minutes quicker to go down than up on a diesel. On a 323 though - no difference whatsoever!)
this is a brilliant pointless journey i really enjoyed watching & GWR is my local TOC & most of the time i usally have little deleys sometimes i get a few deleys every now and again but most of the time GWR are usally fairly good
Good to see another transport youtuber at my local station (Cheltenham). I've also been to M-in-M several times without ever actually getting off or catching a train there.
Bit behind the upload BUT, yes. GWR are normally pretty late and delayed, i'm definitely a regular on the delay repay. It's a pretty expensive line so thats why its empty. Also, not much to do out that way especially when its raining for day trippers!
Good video Nick. Should’ve gone up to Birmingham instead of Didcot lol
Brilliant pointless Journeys Nick, that connection at Oxford was quite lucky. Also that rain in the video just makes me wish for it as it's rather warm weather as of posting this comment.
They were always going to put the fast train ahead of the slow train, otherwise the slow train would have held up the fast one.
Loved that as…
1- I suggested this on a comment on your first pointless journey vid.
2- The Cotswold line is the only local one I’ve never been on- I’ve even used Worcestershire parkway high level but in the other direction.
3- I’ve been to Moreton In Marsh loads but never once seen the station.
4- Cheltenham is my home station.
And yeah the GWR IETs tend to be quiet outside of commuter hours as aside from going to London and people using them as a local service between near by stations, most the other places tend to be much quicker by road- Cheltenham-Swindon for example. The north-south trains, which mostly aren’t gwr, tend to be much busier
Cheltenham is my home station too!
Always wanted to go to Cheltenham @IceCream_RBX
Nice pointless journey Nick. I do Like Worcestershire Parkway Station. I went down the cotswolds line towards Moreton in Marsh for the first time back in February on a surprisingly sunny day.
Madness to see you at my local at Oxford mate!!
Terms of tardiness, no, not really, things have got to go pretty wrong to be delayed, especially on the Oxford branch/Cotswold Line
So many ways you could play this... via Birmingham might allow for Chiltern and West Midlands in addition to GWR and Cross Country... and yeah, I think I've only ever left Worcestershire Parkway on time once since it opened!
Great video Nick 👍
Oh god!! That British Transport Police announcement. The last time I heard that waaaay too many times was when I went down to London last October to try and visit every Underground station in a day. Over the course of one week, I heard it a lot
Enjoyed the video as usual Nick! Can I make a suggestion? Maybe you could do a Pointless Journey involving a High/Low level station, where you started by getting a train from the Low Level, and returning on a train to the High Level.
In 1974 I photographed a Class 47 loco-hauled train coming off the single track into Moreton-in-Marsh station - so you didn't imagine it!
I Live In Cornwall And I Use Great Western Railway - Sometimes They're Delayed, Sometimes They're Not
I use GWR between Exeter and Torquay and most often get delayed at Dawlish Warren to wait for a train to pass through
Great video! I used to live near Dorking in Surrey and there is a pointless journey from Dorking West to Dorking (Deepdene). Ripe for visiting! 👍
yes, GWR is usually quite delayed. but recently they have started to be better. also, you were incredibly lucky to get an empty IET even if it is a weekday. ive had many trips sitting in the vestibules
IET's on the proper Great Western Mainline are usually packed from Paddington to Bristol, most seats taken and idiots usually sitting in your reserved seat because they forgot to press the free reserve seat button on trainline again.
From what I hear, IET's are usually mostly empty elsewhere on the GWR network.
Delays are sometimes common, depending on where you are travelling, but usually not that bad on GWR (under 10 mins usually?)
GWR are also pretty good at getting replacement trains to where they need to be for passengers.
And how dare you insult my networkers, I love those trains :(
Nick as part of the bit have you thought of including you timing yourself walking from low level to high level platforms in this case (you even made to walk all it would take is recording the time), or as an example Catford to Catford Bridge and comparing that to the time the train journeys have taken you at the end of the video?
Nice to see you travel round my old haunts and said Hello to Didcot Parkway. Yow.
Brilliant video as always!
Nick, your videos are always so good! keep up the great work,
Great video nick 👍
Just remember if your train is late and you miss your train at thd next station the single ticket is still valid as long as the train you was on before was late but if it happens to be your own fault then the single ticket will become no longer valid....
Hope that helps you.
Keep up the great videos and bring on 25k 🎉🎉🎉
I travel on GWR a lot, though further southwest, and they are usually quite good for time. Seeing an empty XC service was the biggest shock for me though, i have never been on one that wasnt rammed!
6:48 if your going to London I normally find they sometimes are late but the most I’ve had is about 30 minutes ironically from didcot parkway heading to Swindon one winters night 🥶
I took my first journey through the Cotswold yesterday (by a miracle that involved WMR cancelling a late running service at Shrub Hill instead of Foregate Street), pleasant scenery :) First Class was empty too until it got to Oxford 😂
They are delayed normally up past Bristol but down here in Devon it’s only intercity services that are liable to delays😊
May I suggest a route down south for you?
Guildford - Guildford
Leg 1: Guildford to Redhill (GWR)
Leg 2: Redhill - London Victoria (Southern)
Leg 3: Victoria to Waterloo (UNderground)
Leg 4: Waterloo to Guildford via Woking (SWR)
Empty IETs might have something to do with them being the worse most uncomfortable trains since Stephenson’s Rocket! I had to endure one all the way from Port Talbot Parkway to Paddington. I literally couldn’t wait to get off the damn thing!
Perhaps you should do Exeter Central to Exeter St. David’s, Portsmouth Harbour to Portsmouth & Southsea. East Croydon to West Croydon, Wrexham General to Wrexham Central, Thorne North to Thorne South.
Gainsborough Central to Gainsborough Lea Road, Ewell West to Ewell East. Penge West to Penge East, New Cross to New Cross Gate and many other railway stations that are near and close to each other that would make it pointless.
Exeter Central to Exeter St Davids is connected by train, same woth Portsmouth Harbour and Portsmouth/Southsea, East-West Croydon (connected by tram)
New Cross to New Cross Gate is just one change
I dont know any of the other stations you mentioned
You should do Heath High Level and Heath Low Level in Cardiff! 2 separate stations, a minute from eachother
With some of those connection times you certainly live on the edge.
Thank you very much for the kind donation 😁
What about London Kings Cross to London Euston but you’re not allowed to use tube or buses? You would have to travel via Peterborough and Birmingham New Street for that lol
I think Kings Cross to St Pancras would be the most pointless journey
Yes there are some important gwr services that are either delayed or cancelled sometimes
You need to do Pontefract Tanshelf to Baghill next!
You should look at Dorchester South to Dorchester West or vice versa. They are only half a mile apart but on different lines
Great video! This was a nice route when the Super Sprinters were introduced on the Birmingham Cardiff. It went via Worcester & I think via Stourbridge for a short time. Now we have XC monopolising the route. What's desperately needed is a local Birmingham to Bristol route that doesn't have the extortionate fares of XC. About twenty odd years ago I tried for a day return New St to Bristol, it was like £50 + !? I declined. Now with this new station you'd think some more options would open up? No. If I'm heading to Wales from the Midlands I'm more likely to ride past Worcestershire Parkway by bike, A46 across Evesham / Pershore & on to the M5.
If you are thinking of High Level to Low level there is Smethwick Galton Bridge. I think via Droitwich and Birmingham New Street would be the shortest without backtracking or walking.
Maybe u can do the train from euston to crew and euston to liverpool lime street crew train is usless cause liverpool lime street train already goes crew?
The easiest route between the platforms by train is probably WP- Worcester Shrub Hill - Cheltenham (or possibly Ashchurch) - WP
170398, the train that haunts me. EVEN WHEN IM NOT SPOTTING!!
Always doing it when the lift is out of order... 🙂
Hey Nick your videos are really good
Great Western Railway and in my experience it's a bit hit and miss, some days it runs perfectly smoothly without any delays, some others every train has problems. They do sometimes run 5 car trains when they really shouldn't, though, like last month when I took a late evening train back home to Bath and it was full and standing because they only ran 5 coaches rather than 9 or 10. How busy it is is also very variable
Smethwick Galton Bridge has this to High level for the Snow Hill Lines from Worcester and Kidderminster to Stratford Upon Avon and Low Level for Walsall to Wolverhampton Via Birmingham, Birmingham - Liverpool/Crewe and Wales to Birmingham International and Shrewsbury to Birmingham New Street, Lichfield Trent Valley has it to with High Level for the Cross City Line and Low Level for the WCML
Woohoo, just like Tamworth as it also has high and low level platforms.
Living between Gloucester and Bristol, my experience with GWR is that they are either really late, or bang on time. And it is pot luck which. I've have many anxiety inducing sub 1 min changes with them at Bristol parkway
Also, the IETs get super busy on mornings, evenings, and weekends through the cotswolds.
The North Cotswold Line was doubled in 2008, shut for 6 weeks solid.
And thanks to online ticketing - thousands of ticket office staff are to be axed! Thanks.
Great video Nick. I enjoyed it.
It's funny how many ways it could've been done from Worcestershire high to low level. I first expected you to go to Foregate Street, go on West Midlands to University and then go in a CrossCountry the other way. Or there was always going from Oxford to New Street or Oxford to Newport, then back to Worcestershire Parkway low level. Very interesting how many alternatives there was here.
Brilliant video sir.
Next Pointless Journey
Lichfield Trent Valley, you choose which platform to start off
Isn't the High Level platform closed now for replacement?
AAAA I SAW MY HOME STATION!!!! 🎉🎉🎉 7:16
I live near Moreton in Marsh. I wish I could’ve come and say hello. Ur may favourite 😢 Also, what day did u film it?
Looks like you had fun Nick.
Great vid, could you do Birmingham new street to moor street?
I’ve had yet another point to point idea: Moreton (Dorset) to Moreton (Merseyside)
If you're on advance tickets and you miss a connection you should be able to board the next train without having to buy an extra ticket.
GWR has a 30% punctuality rating from me (as someone based near reading) it’s usually delayed/left three minutes early. Also the IETs are usually rammed for me. Try the Weekday 09:32 GWR Reading to London Paddington, you will see that struggle. It’s delayed and rammed usually.
As a Pointless Journey I would like to suggest Burnley Barracks to Burnley Manchester Road.
Nick as a Richmond-Upon-Thames local you can do a pointless journey from The SWR Richmond to Overground (or Underground) Richmond
next time u go to london you should do hackney downs to hackney central for a pointless journey
Also pre 2011 it was single track from moreton through honeybourme into evesham and pershore and no they are normally rater reliable
That first train you got from Worcestershire Parkway is the same train we'll be getting in a couple of weeks from Worcester Foregate Street - so it's nice to see it is pretty empty (even though we have reserved seats) so boarding will be unstressful - though as it's a 5-leg trip from South Birmingham to Weymouth a delay could cost us a connection (we have a 13 minute change at Reading for example). Why go via Worcester and not Birmingham New Street? Far cheaper and less hassle than using Cross Country! Even though it's slightly longer, we'll be in no rush to get to our destination - the journey there is part of the trip!
PS - I thought with Advance Singles (which is what we have), if you miss your connection due to your booked train that you're travelling on being delayed, you ask the conductor to mark your ticket (if paper) and catch the next train at no extra charge, and claim Delay Repay if the missed connection causes you to arrive 30+ minutes late at your destination. With etickets, a screenshot of the National Rail app or Real Time Trains showing your train as arriving late could suffice too.
There is T&W Metro that us advertised that never runs as it coincides with Grand Central arrival from KingsX and the same departure from Sunderland to London Kings X. The metro states its delayed then delayed but eventually gets cancelled and the next metro arrives running wrong rail.
6:36 GWR have seem to be having issues with trains being delayed etc lately although they normally aren't
Could you do Lichfield Trent Valley high to low pointless journey at some point?
I dont want to try and do a 3 way pointless journey. (it would be Fenchurch Street-Tower Gateway-Tower Hill)
Can u please do a pointless journey from Glasgow Central High level to Glasgow Central low level
Haymarket to Waverley would be a cracker too. You’d have to go Carlisle/Newcastle/Waverley 😂
Cool
Let me get this right, Avanti has criplping delays, TPE had crippling delays and now GWR has crippling delays. I do love first group
loved teh vid
Which all goes to prove that it is better to travel.
Awesome
Used this station to change trains from Birmingham to Eavesham. The Eavesham (wrong spelling?) train was so long that one was warned that one couldn't alight without moving up the train. You didn't give us a tour of the station.
6:28 yes
Hi there Nick! Really enjoying the series. Out of interest have you considered going between either the two Enfield stations (Enfield Town and Enfield Chase) or the two Hertford stations (East and North)?
Don't forget Enfield Lock on the lea valley line too
@@sonadagothalus Indeed *but* it’s much further away from the other two Enfield stations (Lock is about a 20-30 minute bus ride away from the other two, as opposed to Town and Chase, perfect for a pointless journey, as they are a 10 min walk from each other).
@@JeSuisRene this is true, there are a lot of stations within Enfield that I class as "Enfield" but have the suburban names like Ponders End or Brimsdown as the station names that are closer.
@@sonadagothalus Indeed - I live in the area so I should probably know haha
How about this for a pointless journey (if you haven't done it already), Birmingham New Street to Birmingham Moor Street or London King's Cross to London St Pancras International?
see you on stream
aaay ur personal wish is at my local station
@Nick Badley, how about Portsmouth and Southsea low level to high level as a pointless journey in your series?
GWR trains are nothing like as bad as they used to be. I used to call them Worst Late Western, but since the Crossrail / Electrification / Reading Station expansion project was completed, things have been a lot better.
Ive hesrd Worst Crapital Disconnect, now Worst Late Western?
Great video