Tag: London Midland

October 26th – Most of this week I’d be lucky, but on Friday it finally caught up with me. The rash of delays and cancellations to local train services ‘operated’ by London Midland – currently running at 411 lost services in three weeks – had caused me no end of grief the week before, but so far, I’d missed them. That was until I had to come back from Birmingham New Street to Walsall in a hurry at peak time. Great. Half an hour longer I had to wait, and even then the train barely limped in. Over the past few weeks I’l lost hours of time this way. It would be nice to think the train company actually gave a toss, but to be quite honest, I don’t think they do. A terrible situation for all who rely on local trains.

November 9th – The start and end of the rail journey to Leicester today. When I arrived for my train at Lichfield, the information sign showed that the preceding Virgin express was running very late and was due to call just before my train. For a while, the sign showed the later train as coming in first, even though the timings on the sign meant that was impossible. 6 minutes late, after the express had hurriedly called, my train limped up. In the mean time, it had disappeared off the sign completely, with the train I was to catch completely absent from the system. I think they do it just to frighten us…

At the other end, it appeared that an all night party had been occurring in the shelter at South Wigston, chip papers were scattered throughout the platform. Sometimes I think we get the rail service we deserve. 

November 7th – a drizzly wet, frustrating day. I took lots of photos today, but only a couple of ones I took of Nuneaton Station came out anywhere near good enough to use. I was in Leicester for work, which necessitates two trains – one between Lichfield TV and Nuneaton, and one from Nuneaton to South Wigston. I don’t normally mind this journey at all – it’s relatively quick and Nuneaton isn’t a bad station to change at. The London Midland service down the Trent Valley line which is normally excellent has been lousy so far this week, and on my way home, wet, tired and irritable, my train was cancelled. Faced with waiting an hour for another train that may not turn up either, I thought hard and got a train into Birmingham instead, and from there another to Shenstone. Two hours late I arrived home. 

Life can be trying sometimes.