Is it better now?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-109397 5/Rail-Britannia-Newly-pictures-reveal-train-t ravel-glorious-experience-shabby-ordeal.html

Ah! A touch of nostalgia.

After one has been packed into a crowded commuter train, and stood for the whole of one's journey, and paying a fortune for the privilege, it is nice to see how it once was.

We engineered some of the best locomotives in the world, and train travel was affordable for the masses.

Yes we now have the Japaneese built bullet train, capable of speeds of 140mph, but is travelling by train any better now than yesteryear?

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/UK-News/Bulle t-Train-The-140mph-Hitachi-Built-Class-395-Spe eds-Into-London/Article/200812215178167?lpos=U K_News_First_Home_Article_Teaser_Region_8&lid= ARTICLE_15178167_Bullet_Train%3A_The_140mph_Hi tachi-Built_Class_395_Speeds_Into_London

[Gromit]

Rail travel is more popular now than it has ever been. Usage is at a record high, so they must be doing something right.

The fares are affordable, the trains are new and clean.

There are still problem at peak times, due to the high number of people wanting to travel at the same time.

There is a good graphic here...

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news /the-new-age-of-the-train-807789.html

[youngmafbog]

Rail travel is only cheap if you buy your ticket in advance and travel at odd hours. If you are a commuter then you are stuffed.

Rail fares are due yet again to rise above infaltion in the new year. Whilst the trains themselves have certainly improved the track has not, it is in fact abysmal.

I travel over 1000 miles a week by South West trains, New trains break down, air con doesnt work (no windows can be opened now) toilets oftern out of order, train is so packed you cant get to them anyway. Continual signalling problems plague arrival times and then an absolute clasic Reginald Perrin moment when the train slowed to a halt, all lights were turned off and the air con becasue the train could not get enough power from an iced track. Only in Britain would this happen.

On a plus side I often travel on the Eurostar. This is a very good service and very quick. I can travel from London to Bruxelles in the same time it takes SWT to cover 100 miles.

It should be mentioned though that Belgiun trains aer not great. Punctuality is a little hap hazzard and the trains quite utilitarian. The big advantage is that they are cheap and affordable.

So for me the UK still gets a thumbs down - could do much better.

[Kromovaracun]

Why are publicity shots being used? Is it really beyond the journalist that people in the past used to grossly over-romanticise things too? You'd probably get a similar impression of trains now if you used publicity shots.

[anotheoldgit]

Usage is at a record high, so they must be doing something right.

Could it be that the overall population has grown 17% more since the 1950s?

The fares are affordable

Is this why it is cheaper to fly?

Forever the optimist eh? Gromit

Here are two good graphics here, neither from the Daily Mail.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2007/jun/05/trans port.politics

http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/32160/Trai n-fares-rip-off-is-worst-in-Europe

[Quinlad]

The faster the train gets me there, the better. That's pretty much my only criterion.

[anotheoldgit]

Why are publicity shots being used? Is it really beyond the journalist that people in the past used to grossly over-romanticise things too? You'd probably get a similar impression of trains now if you used publicity shots.

What is with you Kromo? This was just a post about trains past.

Only one photo was labelled as a publicity shot, but what the hell does it really matter?

But then admit it the real reason was for you to have yet another cheap slag-off at the Mail.

Uniformed porters carrying bags, dining cars where you would actually want to eat and stations that seem more like temples than places of transit.

This is not lies, it really was like this.

It has taken thousands of hours of research by rail enthusiasts to sift through them and piece together the stories behind them for the Museum of the Great Western Railway in Swindon.

I take it you will not be paying this place a visit then?

[jake-the-peg]

Don't think many people got silver service on the trains in the 30's!

And I'm pretty sure you wouldn't have loved steam trains if you lived by a station and had them belch coal smoke over your washing on a regular basis!

The flying Scotsman did London to Edinburgh in 10� hours in those days - it's half that now

Affordable?

In the 30's a ticket to Bridlington was 36 Shillings and 6d

Based on average earnings that is �340 today!

Rose coloured spectacles seem to not work too well for figures do they?

[Kromovaracun]

What is with you Kromo? This was just a post about trains past.

I was annoyed that publicity shots - which were designed to make the trains look classy - were interpreted as truth.

Only one photo was labelled as a publicity shot, but what the hell does it really matter?

Only one was labelled. But c'mon - look at the first photo! The others don't really say much.

Plus bear in mind the railway was relatively new. In most of the contemporary photographs there's naturally going to be a 'hey! Lookit this!' mentality. You get a similar thing with old photographs and documentation of cars and electricity.

But then admit it the real reason was for you to have yet another cheap slag-off at the Mail.


Yep.

[JockSporran]

I love travelling by train except for one thing - people with headphones who listen to crappy music so you can hear the tinny beat (tssk tssk tssk tssk) all the way of your journey.

[Gromit]

I recently did a 140 miles round trip by train.

It cost me �23.10

According to the AA, a small car costs 58p a mile to run.

My journey would cost �81.20 by car

Trains are cheap

[pusspuss]

first of all i think rail travel is too expensive , so i never use it ,it is cheaper to go by coach. i don't have a car so the coach is the only option for me . have a read of this i just found on the net.

And what happened to the development of the railways after 1846, when the market fell to earth? Well luckily so much money had been poured in, that they continued to grow. By 1855, there were over 7000 miles of railway in Britain, compared to 1500 miles in 1840. And while the rate of investment slowed right down, passenger numbers really took off, from 30 million in 1845 to nearly 240 million in 1865. In other words, all that money thrown at the new technology by the mug punters of the 1840s ended up transforming Britain's transport system and changing the social fabric of the country.

I am writing this on a train, using an online document, and connecting to the internet via a 3G dongle. Which would not have been possible had the mobile operators - the mug punters of 2000 - not poured billions into 3G licences and the cost of rolling out new networks. So the investment in technology that we've seen in the good times may slow down a bit, but its effects will continue to be felt.

Mind you, the journey from London to Wrexham is taking me four hours and involves two changes. Have we really made that much progress since the 1840s?



if the nutter called Beeching had not closed down all the small branch lines think how many more people ( if they charged a decent price ) would use the railways now

[terambulan]

an original Brit built train

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=Bym9Zds93rA&feat ure=related

[anotheoldgit]

terambulan an original Brit built train

Was that Gromit I saw on the roof, no wonder his trip only cost �23.10.
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jake-the-peg

In the 30's a ticket to Bridlington was 36 Shillings and 6d
Based on average earnings that is �340 today!

I don't know were you got those figures from, but what I do know is my Father who was only a working man could afford to take my Mother (who did not work) and four children away on holiday by train. At the prices you quote there is no way he could have afforded that.
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Gromit Welcome to the real world

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6442947.st m
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JockSporran
I love travelling by train except for one thing - people with headphones

You are lucky the last time I travelled up to Newcastle by train, two teenaged girls had their MP3 player complete with speakers set up on their table, and they didn't get off until York.

[jno]

you get what you pay for. Trains used to be expensive. Eurostars still are, and at least in club class they still look pretty much like those in the photos (which are, as Kromovaracun pointed out, not exactly everyday snapshots). Planes used to be expensive too, but you had armchairs and proper beds on board. Both trains and planes are now used for mass transport and service levels go down along with the price.

But service varied then, as it does now. You can reserve a seat on long-haul trains; you're lucky to get one at all on a commuter train. Were the seats you sat on while going on holiday pre-booked, oldgit? Were the trains perhaps holiday specials? Factors like that might have affected the price.