Virgin's Pendolino Trains

[jay]

I travelled on one of these fantastic trains recently and was VERY impressed.

The tilting sensation is so weird but you get used to it almost straight away. You almost feel a sense of pride whilst travelling on one of these, and seeing little kids staring at it as it tilts and roars past is great.

Has anyone else travelled on one of these before?

[cat]

I shall on the 25th August, only catch being I have to go via London Underground to get to Euston.

There's always something to spoil things, isn't there.

[iSon]

I regularly travel on them to get between ere and London. Journey time of an hour (compared to 1hr 40 mins) is very welcome, and makes attending exams down in London easier - I got home before people who lived in Essex...that says something.

Yes, I have friends in Essex.

[fusionlad]

The Virgin trains that serve Plymouth are Voyagers. They are pretty similar to the Pendolinos, except they are diesel, and either 4 or 5 carriages in total. These replaced the Virgin High Speed 125s which had at least 8 carriages. (There's a pic of one of those about here somewhere )

So of course, what happens, you get massive overcrowding. I travelled from Plymouth to Preston on one. We got as far as Crewe before the train manager came on the PA to say that unless some people get off there, the driver will not continue due to health and safety reasons.

When there's not too many people on them however, they are very nice trains.

[Pete]

I always try to get a Virgin train between Berwick and Newcastle as they are far nicer than the GNER things. Cleaner for starters.

I also got a free ride once as the guy had ran out of tickets.

They're all voyagers here too, although once I got one with a lot of duff radio things on it. It would be nice if the Voagers had the full range of stations like the new ones do.

[DAS]

I regularly travel on them to get between ere and London. Journey time of an hour (compared to 1hr 40 mins) is very welcome, and makes attending exams down in London easier - I got home before people who lived in Essex...that says something.

Yes, I have friends in Essex.

Takes me 3 friggin hours to get from there to Kent!

[J.Christie]

I've heard good things, but what's the difference to other trains like Merseyrail and trains outside Merseyside?

[Andrew]

The only Virgin Trains we get here in Yorkshire are Voyagers that are generally massively overcrowded as they only operate with 4-5 carriages, so that spoils the effect really.

GNER seem to have the better idea, their trains may be older but they are being refurbished and operate with a decent number of carriages. The White Rose services operated by unused Eurostar trains are the best ones

[Fireboy]

GNER seem to have the better idea, their trains may be older but they are being refurbished and operate with a decent number of carriages. The White Rose services operated by unused Eurostar trains are the best ones

The refurbished carriages are called "Mallard". And hopefully I'll be in one of the refurbished carriages tomorrow on my way "down south".

[jay]

I shall on the 25th August, only catch being I have to go via London Underground to get to Euston.

There's always something to spoil things, isn't there.

I know exactly what you mean, although at least I only had to go via Underground for about 10 minutes!

Do the Voyager trains tilt as well?

[nwtv2003]

I've used Pendolino, as they're used on the West Coast Mainline, got it from Warrington to London, I was quite impressed, as said the tilt is odd at first but you get used to it. On the way to London we got there about 5 minutes early, left Warrington Bank Quay at 10.10am, got to London Euston a smidge after 12.20pm, but it only stopped at Crewe, Rugby and Milton Keynes.

Overall it was good value for money, got a decent seat, the shop was quite handy, the speed was fast. The only thing I wasn't happy with was on the board radio, it promises BBC Radio 1-4 and some of Virgin's own stations, we only managed to get BBCR 1 and 4 and about 2 stations otherwise.