The Virgin Trains Experience

Hello and welcome back to another blog.

In this blog, I will be talking about the train I took.

It is the Class 390!!!

Yes. Those. Trains...

Journey to Euston

So on the 29th August, I ventured off towards Euston during the morning rush hour with TFL Rail towards Liverpool Street featuring old school Class 315 and after taking an S Stock on the Circle Line to Euston Square. After a short 5 min walk towards the station I had to buy a ticket from the ticketing area. The line was quite long at the time, I suppose people wanted to get out of London and go to Manchester or Birmingham. When it was eventually my turn then I went to buy one. It costed £72.00 for going and back. Virgin Trains tickets ain't cheap thats for sure...  

Let the journey begin!

Whilst I was getting snacks from a nearby Sainsburys local, it was 1045 and the train I boarded was the 1103 to Birmingham New Street. My first impressions of the train from the outside? I really thought it was a interesting design and livery too. I stepped onto the train and it had a lovely interior I got to say. 

Stations called at on this service:

Rugby (Opened in 1838)
Coventry (Opened in 1838)
Birmingham International (Opened in 1976)

and Birmingham New Street. (Opened in 1854)

 

The standard class interior seats with nice lighting. The ones on the opposite side was blue. 

This is the seating pattern on the train. Most will have two seats next to each other but there will be 2 seats on certain sections of the train facing each other (like the one in the picture) with a table to do work on the laptop, play games and even eat food. There is a shop onboard where you can buy snacks and drinks. However, on that day the card machine wasn't working due to online transactions so people had to pay by cash instead. When boarding this train, pay attention to the section above the window. It may say "reserved". I had to actually move a couple of times after sitting down because the seat that I wanted was reserved! It applies to standard class as well as first class. Insane right?

Our first port of call!

So after a fast and speedy ride on the Class 390 and some tilting action (which I found quite cool - was almost like travelling on an airplane) we arrived at our first stop. Rugby. The station is mainly served by London Northwestern Railway and Virgin Trains. Unforunately, I didn't get a photo of the train at London Euston. Luckily, I did get one at the sliding (seen in picture above). This was the train I was on and liveried like the old livery I believe. A video can be seen of this station by clicking here. Also the train did mini races between a class 350 and 377 which was both won by the gracing speed of 125mph. They were no match for us. Life on the fast tracks...

Notice the weather change? It was shining before - guess thats British weather for you...

Now, I did actually forget to take a picture of Coventry since I went there for the first time back in December 2018. So let me talk briefly about the train operators that serve it. Coventry is served by Virgin Trains, Cross Country and London Northwestern Railway. The station is busy, as there are alot of services that pass there. Fast fowarding 8 months later the station held a few passengers                  considering this was done during the weekday off peak. The train started to fill but not majorly - put it that way.

Moving on, the station in the picture is Birmingham International known as one of the interchanges for airport flights such as Jet2.com, Ryanair and TUI (previously Thompson). Most people got off here seeing as they wanted to get out of the hussle and bussle of the UK. The station is served by Virgin Trains, Cross Country, and London Northwestern Railway. The amount of people using the station has grown since 2017. In 2018 the usage was around 1,994,252. Crazy.... 

Cross Country train Class 220 Voyager. :)

The train in the picture is a Class 220 and was working the 1027 Manchester Piccadilly to Bournemouth service via Birmingham and Reading (home of GWR*). The running number was 1O14. It arrived at this station on time (1212) and departed on time (1214). So I thought I could take a picture of one and it didn't turn out too bad actually. I will put the specs of the train at the bottom. The journey is long though. And I mean LONG. Almost 5hrs full journey!!! If I was on that train I would have probably dozed off lol...

*Great Western Railway - was known for their fast HST services (Class 43- an iconic train)

Class 323 peeking at our final destination. 

And after all of that, we arrived into Birmingham (New Street)! We were a couple minutes late into our arrival (1228 - time to arrive was 1224) due to waiting for a platform to be free. Nonetheless, we made it! Birmingham! So... the station is served by Virgin Trains, Cross Country, West Midlands Railway and Transport For Wales. Had to go up the escalators then take a right, then left towards the John Lewis exit where a few shops was seen. I was then greeted by an Enviro 400 MMC (18 plate I believe) before staying near a residential area that was nice and quiet. Birmingham felt different compared to London. People seemed more nicer and actually respond to people on the streets. Its a good thing to see to be honest.

Looks nice actually. All aboard!

After a really good day in Birmingham we took the return train home to the city that never sleeps (literally there's always people in London 24/7). This train was different to the other one as it has a really nice white and red livery. It came from Manchester Piccadilly although we did have a long wait before departing the station. Seating wise, I had to ask the staff for Virgin Trains which seating pattern was best to sit at. They said at the end coach as this was an 11 car. 

A view of Birmingham at night. 

I wanted to take a departing photo of Birmingham at night since I didn't take any. Was really lucky to get this seat near the back. There was a air conditioning/heating unit right next to me on the bottom left hand side. We called at Birmingham International, Milton Keynes, Watford Junction and Euston, meaning it was slow but still fine by me. As it got dark along the way, I decided to make the most of the opportunity by using Virgin Trains free wifi. The wifi is actually good I got to say, even when you are under tunnels it still offers a fast connection. I was in the Quiet Zone so the only thing I heard was the fan, could barely hear the motors.

With that all summed up, its time for the specs:

The colour coding is related to the livery/line of the train outside (For the Class 390 and 323 I used different ones since their fleet has red and yellow, white and red whereas the Class 323 had purple, white (Northern livery,) and orange and yellow)

British Rail Class 315

Built in: York - Holgate Road Carriage Works

Constructed between: 1980 - 1981
Entered public service in: 1980
Stock replaced: Class 306
Manufacturer: BREL York
Maximum speed: 75mph
Lines served: London Overground and TFL Rail
Last refurbishment: 2015-2016
Total built: 61
Formed of: 4 cars - on TFL Rail its normally 8 cars
Depot: Ilford and other slidings along the line

London Underground S Stock (S7)

Bulit in: Derby Litchurch Lane Works

Constructed between: 2009-2017

Entered public service in: 2010

Stock replaced: C Stock (Circle/Hammersmith and City Line) D Stock (District Line)

Manufacturer: Bombardier Transportation

Maximum speed: 62mph

Lines served: Circle, Hammersmith and City and District

Last refurbishment: None

Total built: 191

Formed of: 7 cars

British Rail Class 390

Bulit in: Washwood Heath, England (old liveried 9 coaches) Savigliano, Italy (new liveried 11 coaches)

Constructed between: 2001-2012

Entered public service in: 2002

Stock replaced: Class 86, 87 and 90

Manufacturer: Alstom

Maximum speed: 125mph

Line served: Virgin Trains

Last refurbishment: None

Total built: 57 (one has been scrapped due to the Grayigg derailment)

Formed of: 9/11 cars

British Rail Class 220

Bulit in: Brugges, Belgium

Constructed between: 2000-2001

Entered public service in: 2001

Stock replaced: Class 47 and Intercity 125 (HST)

Manufacturer: Bombardier Transportation

Maximum speed: 125mph

Line served: Cross Country

Last refurbishment: None 

Total built: 34

Formed of: 4 cars

British Rail Class 323

Bulit in: Leeds

Constructed between: 1992-1996

Entered public service in: 1992

Stock replaced: Class 304

Manufacturer: Hunslet

Maximum speed: 90mph

Lines served: Northern and West Midlands Trains

Last refurbishment: 2011-2013
Total built: 43
Formed of: 4 cars

Something I spotted a few weeks ago...

Unexpected but its small progress at least.

There. That was probably one of my favorite blogs written so far. I just had a good day out so yeah I thought of doing this. 

Hopefully more adventures to come.

Hope you enjoyed this blog, winter is fast approaching so stay warm!

Take care and happy riding! :)