The Friday Charter & The Return of Intercity - Avanti's New VINTAGE LUXURY Competition on the WCML!

[@SeanMidlandstransporthub]

Great video! I did the 90 on the Friday Charter from Birmingham New Street to Manchester (I can see myself at 15:19 in the black top)and also on one of the Avanti capacity services from Nuneaton to Euston. Great journeys both times!

[@andrewhowe555]

Looks fantastic! I’m going to book a trip on it myself having watched this. Fantastic video as always 🚂😊

[@jacobporrett]

Great video mate. I enjoy watching. Nothing better than seeing cars transported by train.

[@Lynxfan2]

Apart from the buffet car, the carriages date from 1985 as they are Mark 3B - you can tell that the interiors differ from the Mark 3A which were built during the 1970s and the seats are actually InterCity 80 design. Best wishes and take care. Kind regards, Peter Skuce. St Albans.. Hertfordshire.

[@scottduggan2146]

I really like that we can use old rolling stock today,some of the new class trains are awful to ride on.

[@mohammedmay]

That train looks so beautiful, how nostalgic. 🚄🚄🚄❤️❤️❤️

[@SMILEVIDEOTRAINS]

A joy to view. Very professional

[@noooo_safechat2589]

The Crewe heritage centre is also home to the APT I believe

[@noahhunt2003]

I really hope LSL manage to extend this past December. Someone said they are hoping to add a Monday service as well, but these may not go ahead.

[@sydwoods.woodsendjunction9492]

Great video , really enjoyed it and thanks for the awesome commentary very informative well done matey . that was one awesome train take care A T B syd

[@sydwoods.woodsendjunction9492]

your welcome👍

[@stevenmoran4060]

The curtains are not the original ones. The original ones were orange! A true 70’s colour!

[@OMtheRails]

NOTE: LSL confirmed today (30/09/22) that The Friday Charter will cease to operate from next week, meaning tonight’s service (30/09/22) is the last Friday Charter to operate on the WCML.

[@downonthestour]

Great Video Midland! Always a joy to watch

[@OMtheRails]

Many thanks DOTS, not just for this but the use of the clip too! 😁

[@LoneSheWolf09]

You and Francis should do a collab! What a collab that would be!😍

[@andrewreynolds4949]

I have heard the line speed increases will be on routes south of Preston, and the new trains will run on those routes while some of the 390s move north to run all the services into Scotland

[@kieranstravels]

This service was complimented with even more services over the week of national mourning, and those could be travelled on with standard national rail tickets, as well as including another service chartered by the government to Lancaster using MK2 coaches instead of MK3s, and using class 86 locomotives. It was quite good! Great video as always midland!

[@railnut21]

In terms of prices don't forget it is a private charter and it is still less than £100, which is an absolute bargain

[@OMtheRails]

Indeed, but I still feel more could have been provided for the amount, especially as regardless of what point of the journey you alight, it’s a fixed fare.

[@amanda_wm_3261]

Great video. Thanks

[@thetechnocrat4979]

We need more locomotive hauled trains in the UK.

[@MrJimheeren]

No the UK needs more OHEW. Locomotives are an old fashioned way of getting a train moving. EMU’s use less power, accelerate faster and break better

[@davidbull1914]

This certainly looks like a fun trip for rail enthusiasts but at one train a week it's hardly competition for Avanti West Coast! It's a pity the open access operators were pushed off the WCML in order to maximise profits for Virgin as these would provide a useful alternative to the current farce at Avanti. At least there are alternatives provided by Chiltern, Cross-Country, LNWR and LNER that run more often than once a week.

[@luketrainspotteryt2007]

Great video! Might i ask what the naughty seats are used for 🤣 🤣

[@esmeephillips5888]

Luxury? Give us corridor coaches with separate compartments, deep upholstered armchair-style seating, lamps with shades and crisply laundered antimacassars. Instead of hard, cramped seats like a vacation bus or cheap airline, under glaring lighting. How about a Euston approached through the great Doric Arch into a marble hall, instead of the dullest mainline terminus in London which looks like a cross between an airport terminal and a shopping mall? Trains may be faster and more frequent than they were, but they are less comfortable, and being in touch with the outside world is a mixed blessing. A few hours of inaccessibility used to be therapeutic. The food was variable, but sitting down at a proper dining table was preferable to a trolley or buffet selling sandwiches in boxes. And today's new stations all look the same: aluminium bus stops. The variety of vernacular building styles which used to distinguish different companies' stops has been abolished. And fares are among the dearest on Earth. Bah, humbug!

[@nicks4934]

The train looks great!❤

[@leonblittle226]

Great idea, and a shame they can't use the other HST set they had (green) in a different path to somewhere else like Chester or such

[@missismiggins7329]

Would it be at all possible to introduce a score system out of 5 for the train toilets? It would really brighten it up if you performed a lick test on the toilets, where you give a score of 1 lick for pretty grimy, to 5 licks for one you could eat your dinner from? Thanks.

[@daffyduk77]

Good video thx. Would have been more cred (if less speed ?) pulled by an 87, plus the matching loco noise, who needs a horn ? 🙂 Some might say "you've never lived" without the experience of compartmented coaches on this line way back in the day.

[@Londontransportthings]

Who’s that person walking up the ramp at Euston… oh wait it’s me

[@MrBlueBus22]

do they still do this?

[@andrewclark8630]

Hard to believe this is "heritage" rolling stock, when it looks more modern and swish than the modern trains which replaced it, with their bottom-numbing 1cm thick seats. I am sure people would pay 5% more for their ticket to actually sit on a chair with some cushioning rather than sit on an ironing board. The operators think they are so clever because they can squeeze an extra row of seats in but they are missing the point.

[@geraiswaiya2347]

Not bad at all. Miss the would-have-been Grand Centrals with the Mk 4s.

[@OMtheRails]

Indeed - at least they’ve now found use with Transport for Wales!

[@telemachus53]

Looks wonderful and reminds me of bygone days. It's a pity they didn't give complimentary drinks etc as it is First Class.

[@kiwitrains]

Brilliant

[@toby.maximillian]

Apparently avanti will operate HS2

[@lewisdwyer1536]

How do you book from intermediate stations? Aka New Street. There is no option. Fantastic video :)

[@danspotter8618]

@Midland London Subbed and excellent video

[@supersprinter1564]

Hi again I seen you on the midlands railway center hst day back in the spring can you put the times of station stops please

[@dylanjb4065]

Looks like a rail tour

[@glenjarnold]

Looks fantastic! And what is the app you are using at 7.20 with the speed etc if I may ask? Thanks.

[@realman6ft6]

There’s been no unofficial strike across Avanti don’t have enough drivers.

[@thebigquestionpodcast4958]

I strongly support the strikes

[@nowapproachingyt]

I wish I experienced those workhorse locomotives. I have been on a class 91 before but that’s just a one off. My generation is only just going to get ironing board seats, bad suspension and obnoxious door alarms

[@feeshyman]

What trains?

[@nowapproachingyt]

@@feeshyman class 195, class 802, and when my area gets electrified, god knows how bad the trains are gonna be

[@Sarahbryson321]

Permant please!

[@Westlondontransportguy7045]

can you review the s stock ato section

[@genuinepetermorgan]

Fantastic news that Coventry was skipped

[@OMtheRails]

If it was Royal Leamington Spa that would have been better 😉

[@tylernash5364]

How much is it from London - New Street

[@OMtheRails]

It’s a fixed fare if you board from London, so will be the same £75 from London to New Street.

[@s1d3i]

if any of u have played british railway in roblox, this station is avonhill

[@lloydstrips7586]

It's a shame they don't have standard class as well

[@OMtheRails]

There is one standard class carriage usually, but that’s reserved for staff (unless there’s an emergency).

[@busestransporta-z781]

Oh remmconded