Talk:Rail travel in Great Britain

Page created

Hello, thanks for the clicking the discussion. I have taken the step of creating this page because I have received a number of comments from Hospitality Club visitors and a number of questions from Wikivoyagers about my area of knoweledge - the UK's train system. I feel it is worthy of its own topic page because of the confusion caused by different (and often competing) train companies. Please allow me to start this stub and welcome your contributions before it is considered for deletion or relocation. Thanks (WT-en) Jamesbrownontheroad 05:35, 28 January 2009 (EST)

Ah, the good old British rail network... The number of hours I spend on it :) Will do my best to help with this page as I agree it can be confusing! (WT-en) Nrms 05:38, 28 January 2009 (EST)

Page rating

Although I've been one of the dominant contributors to this page, I hope that the rating of "guide" is accurate. I'd appreciate other user's input, especially if you feel that rating is not accurate. I've tried to follow the Wikivoyage rating guide for travel topics. (WT-en) Jamesbrownontheroad 12:27, 3 March 2009 (EST)

It seems to me that this is at guide-status; it's a very complete and well-written article. --(WT-en) Peter ^Talk 15:35, 3 March 2009 (EST)

I enjoyed reading the article, and it is very comprehensive. One suggestion for improvement - are the wikilinks to the London airport stations, the best things to link to, I would probably expect to click on them and get a link to the airport info? --(WT-en) Inas 16:26, 5 March 2009 (EST)

Great article - the rail network in this country can be confusing enough for those of us that live here! Well done. (WT-en) Tarr3n 04:00, 29 April 2009 (EDT)

Split tickets

In this edit my change was reverted. The original author proposes that you can actually purchase split tickets on one train to obtain a cheaper price, as long as the train stops at that station. The text then goes onto say there is a risk in missing the second train - but there is no second train involved in the strategy. --Inas (talk) 01:09, 6 August 2013 (UTC)

Is this the edit you're referring to: where I corrected two external link formats and tried to make things clearer?

I rejected your new wording because it gave a probably false hope to folks that they might be able to rescue the situation with a "train manager" and I thought the phrase "...this strategy carries risk if you book the two tickets separate tickets on separate trains, and one of them runs late causing you to miss the other..." less than clear.

I also did not understand either the previous (or my current) wording to mean: " i think the person proposing the split ticket strategy is saying to buy them for the one train - therefore no risk." as you stated in your edit summary. A "Split ticket strategy" means that you buy more than one ticket for more than one ticketed (but connecting) journey for one - or more than one - train, doesn't it? If I'm wrong just change things the way you want it, Inas. --W. Frank^e-mail_talk 01:30, 6 August 2013 (UTC)

Two points. Firstly, the whole discussion in the previous para about the train stopping at the station you buy a ticket to only makes sense for a single train, so although the strategy may be valid for two trains, the current text doesn't say that. Secondly, even in the case of two trains, the experience of people posting on the interwebs is that the train manager will allow boarding in the case of a delayed service causing a missed connection. I haven't seen a contrary account. --Inas (talk) 03:18, 6 August 2013 (UTC)

That's the sort of result you get on a wiki; yes, the example given in the previous paragraphs speaks about a one train example of relatively short distance. However, longer journeys may require two or more separate trains. My personal experience is of the sadistic delight taken by ticket inspectors when they fleece you while muttering all the while "that's the risk you take when you try and buck the system". Anyway, hopefully the wording is clearer now. --W. Frank^e-mail_talk 03:25, 6 August 2013 (UTC)

When I booked a single train trip which involves two train companies it gives me two entirely different tickets on the booking, even though it is one reservation. I just ended up in much the same situation as this, missing the train due to delay and catching the next one. After speaking with the train manager he accepted the advance purchase non-refundable ticket for the previous train, "just because today is a day with a 'y' in it". I'm not familiar enough with UK trains to really make a point of this. Of course, rules are rules, and if you game the system or buy a non-refundable ticket then you take your chances, and we have to make this clear. However, dropping a hint that it seems to be very much at the discretion of the train manager, who in my one and only experience, and in the experience of others may be willing to oblige if you look sufficiently humble and smile? --Inas (talk) 04:55, 14 August 2013 (UTC)

Rolling stock

Can I suggest that the rolling stock section is shortened (with links to Wikipedia?) as most of the info here is quite specialist and not necessarily of use to travellers. —The preceding comment was added by Crookesmoor (talk • contribs)

I think I do agree - it's a bit extensive perhaps. Please feel free to cut it down as you see fit! --Nick ^talk 15:05, 20 January 2015 (UTC)

Sure, but without any separate links to Wikipedia articles. How much to link to Wikipedia is still under debate on this site, but to date, all we've achieved consensus on is a single link at the end of the article on the same topic as the Wikivoyage article, which appears in the sidebar on the left side of the page under "Related sites." Ikan Kekek (talk) 15:13, 20 January 2015 (UTC)

Shouldn't this be called "Rail travel in Great Britain"?

Since it only covers England, Scotland and Wales? --ThunderingTyphoons! (talk) 00:40, 23 June 2015 (UTC)

That sounds like a good idea. The only possible issue I can think of, is whether it woud complicate and confuse the distinction between the UK, GB and the individual nations for someone unfamiliar with the country. --Nick ^talk 23:10, 25 June 2015 (UTC)

Hi Nick. Yes, I thought that might be an issue too, but it may just be a question of having confidence in the intelligence of our readers. The paragraph starting in "This guide does not cover rail travel in Northern Ireland..." could be cut down and bumped up to the top in Italics. --ThunderingTyphoons! (talk) 00:11, 26 June 2015 (UTC)

Sounds like a good solution - I'm all for this :) --Nick ^talk 00:25, 26 June 2015 (UTC)

FTT?

Now this article is already rated as "guide", but it seems to me that compared to some other articles featured as FTT it still has a lot of bullet points and a bit of a lack of direction... What do you think? What should still be done before featuring? Hobbitschuster (talk) 15:47, 10 August 2017 (UTC)

Yeah, this one has been on my list of possible FTT candidates for a while. It does have a lot of bullet points, as you said. There's a great deal of information in the article, so probably everything relevant is covered. I haven't read it in detail, so I can't tell how logically arranged (ie. user friendly) the article is as of now. Also, the article needs to be up to date as per when it will go live. ϒpsilon (talk) 18:03, 10 August 2017 (UTC)

"Traveller's Fare" (or) Should this article mention options for in station/on train catering?

I was wondering if this article should have a section on which train operators still have dining cars and proper meals options instead of the pre-pack sandwich "shop" option, which seems to be more common with more recent passenger rolling stock.

Some mid to long distance services used to have a refreshments trolley, if they didn't have a full buffet car. Not sure if this still the case...

Options in stations vary considerably, but I don't think there are any formalised "Station Buffet" now run by TOC's directly.

ShakespeareFan00 (talk) 19:20, 27 January 2019 (UTC)

None of the main UK train operators have dining cars with waiter service. The last one was on the East Coast line which was withdrawn about 5 years ago. Larger long distance trains (LNER, Virgin Cross country etc) have buffet cars with limited hot food, hot and cold drinks and a range of sandwiches. The Caledonian Sleeper has a lounge car (bar). Medium distance trains usually have a trolley with sandwiches and hot drinks. First class tickets often include some at seat food or drink - on a 2 hour Virgin journey I got a beer and a bowl of soup.

Stations generally have one or more bland fast food outlets, the Pumpkin chain is common. However there are some rural stations that have good local cafes which attract people who aren't catching a train. AlasdairW (talk) 22:39, 27 January 2019 (UTC)

Any objections to me adapting the above for a paragraph in the page? ShakespeareFan00 (talk) 17:46, 29 January 2019 (UTC)

Of course not. It's a good proposal.--ThunderingTyphoons! (talk) 21:11, 29 January 2019 (UTC)

Go ahead - one small correction - Cross country now have a trolley, not a buffet car. AlasdairW (talk) 21:31, 29 January 2019 (UTC)