I've travelled between London and Birmingham plenty of times in the last few years and between LNR and Chiltern, I definitely prefer Chiltern by far, especially the 68-hauled sets - not to mention the lovely historic look of Moor Street and NSE livery of Marylebone too.

@geraiswaiya2347

10 ай бұрын

Chiltern electrification + upgrade : probably the most ignored yet widely supported railway policy. Reckon a superfast service could match the Avantis.

@ChetNotJet

10 ай бұрын

@@geraiswaiya2347if avanti is only ten minutes faster it would probably beat the avanti before hs2 is completed

@geraiswaiya2347

10 ай бұрын

@@ChetNotJet Marylebone - Moor St (both termini) buffer to buffer non-stop services make a great deal of sense. If that is what they are bothered about. Remarkable they could beat tilting 125 mph services. And of course there are interventions like quadding Rugby Coventry Brum as well

@tomwatts703

10 ай бұрын

​@@geraiswaiya2347 I don't think electrification is likely for another few decades yet unfortunately, Chiltern is tendering for new 'low-emission' stock as an alternative but that's more on decarbonisation rather than improving speeds ofc.

@LittleWing-35

10 ай бұрын

@@geraiswaiya2347government won’t consider electrifying it until 2030 at least which has been confirmed as Chiltern are now looking at enviro friendly units to replace 165’s. A lot of neighbours are complaining about 68’s and the noise, especially Westminster council so there’s a lot of pressure to get rid of the 68’s but they keep getting renewed because chiltern don’t have many units at all anymore as they’ve been used for parts or broken after incidents

I've visited the UK a couple of times and ridden on a handful of operators, Chiltern, GWR, Scotrail, and Southwest. Chiltern was definitely my favorite, and while I love big city stations, Marylebone was very pleasant and easy to navigate. The scenery on the line was stunning (my first time seeing any part of the English countryside) and the staff were very friendly. Definitely recommend Chiltern.

travelled to birmingham from london for the first time last year and took the chiltern route as it was significantly cheaper - even in standard class the seats were unbelievably more comfortable than on the euston to new street route!! not much slower either, it was far more enjoyable than expected. hope to ride along the chiltern line to birmingham more in the future!

I live in the West Midlands, and have cause to travel to London on occasion - unless there's a massive price difference, I'll always use the Chiltern service for the reasons you've described - the start and end stations are just delightful (it wasn't that many years ago that Moor Street was a long-term host to a GWR steam loco), you have very little of the noise of New Street & Euston, the route is extremely pretty and, as you said, the rolling stock is just so much better than the claustrophobic, poorly laid out Pndolinos. To be honest, I don't mind which stock appears (the 168s are superbly laid out, nice windows, very comfortable), but my heart sings if a see a Loco or DVT...

I’ve been using Chiltern regularly into London for years now and I always love a loco hauled set. The standard class seating is the best of any train operator. I didn’t know business zone had been discontinued! Thanks for the tip! I’ll definitely try it out!

I can confirm that Leamington is bloody lovely

It's a lovely line to ride, and Moor Street is a real treat for one's arrival in Birmingham.

Thank the ex BR management team, that included the late Adrian Shooter, for their foresight that revived the moribund Chiltern line and now East/West 'Varsity line. Combined with the then unique 21 year franchise it gained it is one of the few success stories of "privatisation". It's owned by the German state railway now, DB (Schenker) Excellent service, always great deals available. Got an off peak return recently, Bicester to Marylebone - £6.18p, with Senior Railcard discount 😊

@chrisbailiss7309

10 ай бұрын

Chiltern only offer good deals on the Marylebone to Bicester and beyond route. They use the Marylebone to Aylesbury route as a cash cow and never offer cheap tickets - i.e. travel a much shorter distance on a slower and dirtier train for three times the price.

@peterharris3006

10 ай бұрын

@@chrisbailiss7309 Historically, fares on the Marylebone to Aylesbury via Amersham route were tied to LU fares for Metropolitan line services to Amersham (Chltern trains run on LU tracks between Harrow & Amersham). This is why, in the morning peak you could only get CDR tickets for the route via Wycombe and had to wait til 0930 to get similar tickets via Amersham. North of Bicester, Chiltern are in direct competition with whoever operates the cross country route to Birmingham.

@chrisbailiss7309

10 ай бұрын

​@@peterharris3006 That may the the case historically but it is certainly a situation that Chiltern seem comfortable with now and have done nothing to change. They offer no advance fares on the Aylesbury - London route. During Covid and the recovery from Covid they briefly offered super off-peak returns on the Aylesbury - London route, but quickly withdrew those fares too. Trains are typically very busy so they know they will fill them and have set the fares accordingly. There is also the added annoyance that whenever any operational issue/need arises (e.g. reinforcing the BHM route, events at Wembley or staff shortages) the Aylesbury route is always the route they cull, often jumping straight to bus replacement that doesn't in practice even properly connect with Tube services at Amersham. As I said, people on that route pay more for a considerably poorer service (dirtier, more crowded, slower and less reliable trains) than the BHM route.

@ChilternTransportProductions

10 ай бұрын

@@chrisbailiss7309 It’s disgusting how much they charge for Amersham to Aylesbury never mind further! Even with a young person railcard you’re looking at just shy of £8 for a single, over £13 for a return! At least before you could sometimes choose the 55 bus instead for the same villages en route, for which the £8.50 (now £9) multi operator Intalink Explorer would be valid but now that route is withdrawn, there is no alternative to the train! Until this Wednesday just gone when due to local demand, the 41 got extended from Great Missenden to Amersham. There is the 50 between Wendover and Aylesbury, yes but there is still no link between Great Missenden and Wendover, so you either have to go the long way round via Wycombe or Hemel if you have Intalink, or pay dearly for the train if you want Amersham to Aylesbury! Though once you deal with Arriva or Red Rose shoddy service quality, you may want to pay for the train anyway even at its worst…

I’ve been looking forward to this video

Leamington - Local Doctor, Henry Jephson did a lot to promote this small spa in the 1830s and after Royal patronage it was Queen Victoria who was instrumental in changing the name of the town from Leamington Priors to Royal Leamington Spa in 1838. On a completely different subject I am sad thst the loco hauled Marylebone to Oxford service is no more!😢

I ride these all the time thanks for the advice to get good seats

Great video, I live close to Leamington Spa and love seeing and taking these sets. You can also change at Banbury for GWR services to Didcot Parkway too.

The Cornetto trilogy is not the only claim to fame for my hometown - in fact I’ve never heard anyone mention it! Wycombe generally got mentioned for our weighing the mayor tradition, Benjamin Disraeli, London Wasps (before they moved out), Wycombe Wanderers and occasionally the chair museum. But never the film filmed at the railway station! Also, the tower black beside the station is the Wilkinson Sword HQ!

Wish I'd have known about the Business Zone when I travelled from Banbury to Moor Street earlier in the week! Having said that the second standard class coach I found was fine apart from the fixed armrests. The first coach was like a sauna.

I’m from nearby rugby but Leamington spa is a great town and it’s class

London Marylebone is one of my favourite stations. Old network rail decor and great connectivity onto Bakerloo line. Also standing outside Marylebone station i love the building.

I've been on the Chiltern Silver Trains plenty of times but haven't tried out the business zone yet, I hope to do so when I next go to London, but if I get a Class 168 I will lose it, even though I still haven't tried it I think riding a 168 all the way between Birmingham and London is like riding an LNWR Class 350, that's why always aim for the Class 68 hauled Trains when riding with Chiltern

Sorry if I missed this detail -- do they offer seat reservations? Otherwise, great trip, great experience, and thanks for the heads-up on the former Business Zone. I'd love to give Chiltern a try on my next trip over -- always been a huge fan of the Mk 3 carriages. Great video!

The train interior reminds me of a coach interior

as someone who use to live in warwick 15 years ago seeing lemington spa again is nice (it use to be a nice place to go had many days out there when was a kid , i mean it was 15 minutes away from warwick so easy to get to) however not sure what its like this days to say if its still worth going if you live further out. I remember how we use to go to birmingham a bit as well on the chiltern class 165 and maybe a 168 and loved stopping at Moor street, i also remember seeing my first ever 43 HST as a kid at new street (opnly been there once too) the only time ive seen one in real life. now im in the south with not so great or as good rolling stock, just got 377 or SW 450 and the odd gwr 166/158. this was a great video plus bringing back some those memories

Good presentation and most informative, thank you. Just one small point, there is absolutely no need for background music to the commentary. Brilliant job - A1+.

After the Evergreen 2 project, the service became significantly better and after Evergreen 3 the line speeds were fully increased to 100mph. In part due to removing te kinks but also due to Chiltern refurbing their old 168s to 172, using a lightweight bogie design. So many improvements because of the nature of franchising the line at the time (they had to commit to building the upgrades, and upgrading the rolling stock.) Chiltern became increasingly popular. The renewal franchise was no longer about making improvements, just pure profit, and so Arriva have had no incentive to improve the service further. Chiltern has kind of stood still (and in terms of mainline frequency, gone backwards,) where as the passenger numbers have increased on each journey available today. I personally would like to see digital signalling speed warnings on the line using ERTMS and full electrification to help reduce gas emissions - certainly at least in the cities. At the very least bi-mode trains. By the way, whoever trims the seats on Chiltern needs and award. Nice amount of padding, you're not sat on an ironing board on any trainset, in any class.

Living relatively close to Banbury, I use Chiltern Railways a London a lot

I get Class 730 afternoon at 3 cars, SCR Waterline got double 2+3 and 2+6 car each

I prefer the Chiltern Line, since it is diesel only. No overhead wires to cause problems.

I got Class 68, Waterline got Newry to LSR via Connolly Beach in 3 hours, SCR that’s

Switched to via Northampton because nearer St Pancras.Then Galton Bridge for Stourbridge. Was usually cheaper. As for London Northwestern..

There was a service about 4 a day from Paddington to Birmingham New Street via Oxford but it must have stopped around 2000.

I work on the Chinnor and Princes Risborough railway aswell lol

My brother lives in Leamington its quite nice

i have travlled wiht chiltern railway from oxford parkway to london maylebone and i have never been wiht there class 91 before it looks very nice i would love to go birgham wiht chiltern railways

I got SCR v2.0 new Waterline Class 68, 890 points has 2+3 and 2+6 car

My last few trips between B'ham to London have been pretty awful. Terrible overcrowding, with people standing up and unable to move. It doesn't seem to matter which train company you use. Chiltern is perhaps slightly better, but the journey time is nearly twice as long for my particular journey.

Seems crazy they've kept that area de-classified. Rebrand it away from being a "business zone" and into something appealing to leisure passengers and I think it could bring some decent extra revenue.

As someone from the Midlands, I can verify that this is true that Leamington Spa is the best place to live. 😄😁

Will these survive the rolling stock replacement programme?

I personally really like Chiltern railway but I wonder if they have plans for a electrification and if so would it be 3rd rail of overhead

@Wasserfeld.

10 ай бұрын

There is zero chance of 3rd rail, almost anywhere. Even within the Southern Region, it's not likely. As for electrification - totally wanted, but this government isn't going to fund that!

@b77playz33

10 ай бұрын

@@Wasserfeld. well I guess we’re going to have to wait for the government to decide

I love Chiltern. I've done a trip Report on them once. (Class 165 from Leamington Spa to Statford U Avon)

wow, they really discontinued the cafe car? That's kind of a bummer. Pretty great looking coaches otherwise.

@robertwilloughby8050

10 ай бұрын

Yes, it takes just over an hour and a half, which is perfect for a cup of coffee and a sandwich, so... Maybe Chiltern at fault for not advertising it better?

Chiltern is great!

@chrisbailiss7309

10 ай бұрын

They are a company of two halves. If you live on the Aylesbury to London route the service is definitely worse and more expensive than the Birmingham to London route.

@MerseyTransport

10 ай бұрын

@@chrisbailiss7309 I guess that's fair

@chrisbailiss7309

10 ай бұрын

@@MerseyTransport I hope you mean that "that's a fair assessment of Chiltern" and not "that's what people on the Aylesbury route deserve". (just joking - amusing how your comment can be read both ways!)

@MerseyTransport

10 ай бұрын

@@chrisbailiss7309 lol

I fort the city of London is the smallest city in England being only one square mile even Norwich is bigger then the city of London being 15 square miles.

@jaywatchtravel6146

10 ай бұрын

Great video though

I travel a lot from Birmingham to London Chiltern railways are way nicer and cheaper than Avanti

Didn't know first class was declassified?

Why don’t they tell you about the seats? Don’t you just walk done the train and sit in them?

Not a secret any more!

None of your business!

Chiltern is absolute garbage. The lesser stations can be 2 hourly intervals and if they cancel one (which is common) that extends to four hours and no one has the sense to issue a stop order. Those stations also don't have any information screens. In fact, Banbury's info screens leave a lot to be desired. Last week one of those class 68's failed .... the air con stopped working and what very few toilets there were also stopped working. Any longer trapped in a train with no air and I was going to break a few windows. What idiot decided to take out the toilets to install four pull down seats? I've used Chiltern four times and I'll be using MML exclusively from now on. Two hours from London to Birmingham is a joke. I could run faster pushing a wheelbarrow full of bricks, with a flat tyre and a nail in my foot.

The former GWR route from Paddington to Birkenhead