Mr Kevincm returns to Washington – CrossCountry trains from Manchester to Birmingham

Mr Kevincm returns to Washington – CrossCountry trains from Manchester to Birmingham

In this… well.. mess:

• How far can you go for a £1 (+Tax)?
• Off to Manchester Airport, Manchester Airport and the BA Terraces Lounge
• AA735 Manchester Airport to Philadelphia
• A long Philadelphia layover featuring the US Customs and the TSA at their best.
• AA4545 Philadelphia to Washington Reagan
• Holiday Inn Washington Reagan
• The Marriott Marquis, Washington DC
• The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum – National Mall
• The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum – The Udvar Hazey Building
• Back to Dulles, British Airways Dulles Lounge
• BA216 Washington Dulles to Heathrow with the Airbus A380
• Heathrow Transfer, North Lounge
• BA1530 London Heathrow to Manchester
• The joy of coaches, and CrossCountry trains from Manchester to Birmingham
• Short and Sweet

A diversion home

Heading off the plane, it was a matter of following the signs to the luggage claim.

Thank you A320!

And as usual Manchester Airport just loves to take its time when delivering bags. Even though it’s a just an A320s worth of bags with connecting traffic on it.

This way, please.

Belt number 3?

Ah. Rushing to get the luggage off Manchester Airport.

Gotta love this airport sometimes.

After reclaiming my bag, I headed over with haste to The Station – knowing the slight delay had cost me my coach journey already.

See you soon Terminal 3

Trundle Trundle Trundle…

Not so blue during the daytime.

Singapore Airlines Boeing 777-300ER taxing away.

My hope was that National Express would rebook me appropriately so I could catch the later coach to Birmingham.

Reaching the station, I headed to the National Express counter in the vague hope something could be sorted out.

Except the agents couldn’t rebook me for some reason, and the only option was to buy another full priced ticket at £25 to Birmingham.

Hmm. There had to be another way round rather than paying National Express another £25.

Thankfully, Manchester is well-connected by train. And doubly thankfully that CrossCountry train offers something that not many train companies don’t offer – the purchase advance train fares on their routes 15 minutes before departure.

With these two factors in hand, I paid up the £18 for a single to Birmingham online, and then queued up to get a single to Manchester Piccadilly for £5 or so.

And I’m still coming out ahead compared to the National Express fare

I brought a ticket online to secure a seat for the 13:03 to Birmingham. But first, I would need to get from Manchester Airport to Manchester Piccadilly.

Thankfully, there’s practically 10-minute train service between the Airport and Piccadilly. Sadly, I missed the express service and had to catch a local train. Whilst not ideal, I was due to arrive long before the other train was due to depart.

Manchester Airport – Manchester Piccadilly.
Northern Trains, Class 323, Standard class

So there’s not much to write home about this train – it’s pretty much commuter stock that’s used to ferry commuters to and from Manchester on the electrified corridors of Northern Rail.

Class 323 Train

This being commuter stock, it’s 3-2 seating across – anything to cram them in tight on these local services (I can’t complain – I use the exact same trains locally to get me from A to B).

Welcome to commuterland.

Three across. Yuck.

Whilst they’ve been trimmed with new moquette they do seem… unloved for want of a better term.

To be honest, the train was pretty empty for the run to Piccadilly – whilst not nice for the train company, it was nice to me to spread out. In good time (and with 20 minutes to go) the train pulled into Manchester Piccadilly station.

Signs you’re near Piccadilly – lots of containers stacked.

After passing through the ticket barriers, I found a lonely ticket machine and punched in the booking reference into it.

As if my magic, a seat reservation and train ticket for Birmingham New Street spat out.

Oh, the miracles of modern technology.

It’s busy in Manchester!

There was even enough time to grab a sandwich from Boots, and back to the platform to catch my next train.

The gate line and the waiting train

Manchester Piccadilly to Birmingham New Street
CrossCountry Trains, Class 220 Voyager

CrossCountry Trains Class 220 Voyager.

This train is for Bristol Temple Meads

Let’s go inside!

I boarded the waiting train and headed to my assigned seat.

The airline style seat – It’s facing forward I suppose.

The Voyager class of trains hasn’t changed much since they came into service in the early 2000s – when they were introduced by Virgin Trains. These days, the trains are operated by CrossCountry Trains, featuring a purple and silver finish as opposed to the Virgin Red (although if one was to peel away the vinyl wrap…).

The train was due to make a few stops during the day – calling at Stockport, Stoke on Trent, Stafford, Wolverhampton and Birmingham New Street – where it would go on to Bristol. (the North-West/South West axis of the CrossCountry Trains route

Ticket check in progress

Thankfully, I was assigned a seat pair of two for the 1 hour 30 ride. Amazingly, in all this time I had spent messing around, I would beat the coach to Birmingham by a long shot, and would be doing it in considerable more comfort.

As for the seating – it was comfortable enough – it’s still the same seat that was fitted to the train when it was delivered (in fact, it’s still the same seat moquette). With the extra seat, it was room for my personal items and for me.

Racing through the countryside

That and a convenient window to lean ones head to doze against is never a bad thing on the short run to Birmingham.

Passing Soho depot on the way home.

The train made it on time to Birmingham New Street, and soon I was in the bright light atrium of New Street.

Look at the light and towards John Lewis at Grand Central…

That’s something up until last year I couldn’t say without lying my backside off. Today, Birmingham new Street is a shining gateway to the city of Birmingham, and a more welcoming hub that it was before (I’m sure a lot of you remember me calling New Street Mordor Hauptbahnhof more than once).

I exited the barriers and made my way out of the station

With the distance I live from the station, I needed to make on more connection to get home But rather than plump for a Uber, or even jump in the black cab – and as I was travelling light – it was Bus number 87 for a cheap £1 ride home

Passing St Philip‘s Cathedral on the way to the bus stop

10 minutes later, I was rolling my bag to my front door – ending the short but sweet trip to Washington DC.

Finally: Short, but Sweet.

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