Andy wrote:
Incidentally, my impression of Glasgow (as a visitor from the southeast of
England) was VERY impressive. This has to be the most stunning,
architecturally innovative and friendliest city in the UK. The people,
city, buildings, shopping, hotels etc are fantastic. An added bonus has to
be that the city has the largest suburban electric railway network outside
London and the only city in the UK (outside London) to have a proper
underground railway system. I loved Glasgow, the scale and metropolitan
feel of the city and can't wait to go back again. It surely has to be
Britain's best kept secret? Many people in the UK would avoid it (for some
strange reason) but it is beautiful, exciting and overwhelmingly friendly.
I loved it and when I got back to London I thought "What a dump (compared
wth Glasgow)".

Andy

Aw, thankyou. I think ours is the only one which is COMPLETELY underground
(except the depot).

And yes, that is the voice I'm on about. There's two voices, that annoying
on-train broad Glasgow voice, and a posher voice that does the Glasgow
suburban station announcements "The train now approaching platform 9 is the
5:32 ScotRail service to Milngavie. Calling at...."
--
"We are now approaching Paisley Gilmour Street"

I just wondered, as I seem to remember an off-peak half single from London
to Dover costing a lot of money back in 2001. On top of the large cost, I
had to change at Chatham, and the train split in two at Faversham. The
trains were all very old and slam-door.

Now it seems that for about a quarter of what I paid then, I can get a
single for 45-odd miles from Ayr to Glasgow, in under an hour, without
changing trains, and on a lovely, nice, new (but a bit dodgy) Alstom
Juniper for £5.30.

How to train fares there mount up? PS: A peak return from Ayr to Glasgow
is
considerably more at £9.10


I live in Dover (not through choice I may like to add).

I stayed in London for two nights at the end of March/beginning of April. I
originally purchased a "Network Away Break" in Dover, thinking I was coming
back the next day, but I wasn't (didn't know that when I bought it). For
that ticket, I paid £23.40.

When I did decide to come back from London to Dover, I went to the ticket
office to get a single. I was absolutely disgusted to find out that it
would cost £20.70. (Had to pay it, otherwise I was a bit stuck).

Can anyone tell me why it costs £20.70 to get from London to Dover single,
but only £12.90 from Dover to London single? Both were off peak prices.

Some railway companies decide to charge more from London than to
London. It's a bit silly really. This is definitely the worst example
I've come across. Another amusing one is:

Birmingham (NS) to London (Euston) SVR £32.10 (Route: Any Permitted)
London (Euston) to Birmingham (NS) SVR £36.80 (Route: Any Permitted)

Meanwhile:

Birmingham (SH) to London (Marylebone) SVR £25.60 (Route: High
Wycombe)
London (Marylebone) to Birmingham (SH) SVR £25.60 (Route: High
Wycombe)

The result is I'll buy the Any Permitted ticket if I'm starting in
Brum, but I'll go to Marylebone if starting from London.

And, with regards to the trains splitting...trains from Dover tend to join
with others at Faversham now, and then go straight on to London, and they
are the new Electrostar 375's. You get the odd incident (such as the one
that happened to me last week - train hitting a tree between Selling and
Faversham), where they can't attach the damaged carriages to the train
already waiting, so they don't bother attaching any, and everyone has to fit
into 3/4 carriages. Even with the air conditioning, it was hot.

Ah, so that's how (Connex) SE manage(d) to run 4 car trains in Rush
Hour!

Incidentally, my impression of Glasgow (as a visitor from the southeast of
England) was VERY impressive. This has to be the most stunning,
architecturally innovative and friendliest city in the UK. The people, city,
buildings, shopping, hotels etc are fantastic. An added bonus has to be that
the city has the largest suburban electric railway network outside London
and the only city in the UK (outside London) to have a proper underground
railway system. I loved Glasgow, the scale and metropolitan feel of the city
and can't wait to go back again. It surely has to be Britain's best kept
secret? Many people in the UK would avoid it (for some strange reason) but
it is beautiful, exciting and overwhelmingly friendly. I loved it and when I
got back to London I thought "What a dump (compared wth Glasgow)".

I just wish they'd number the streets. I had great difficulty finding
Central Station when I was last up there!