From Planes to Trains

So today I am travelling up to Warwickshire for a Muster with the Sealed Knot. Beth drove up last night but due to work I am travelling by train. For the first time I am traveling on Chiltern Railways one of the UKs less well know services and I've got to say I'm impressed.

Chiltern's London terminus is the lovely Victorian station of Marylebone. This station (partly through previous neglect) is still very much it's original self with the modern updates of electronic departure screens etc. Compared to my usual rail surroundings of Euston (a horrible 60s building) Marylebone is quaint, quiet and a fairly nice place to be at 7.30 on a Saturday morning.

I am writing this whilst sitting on the train using the unlimited free wifi (usually a cost is involved in standard class) with my phone plugged in and charging. Another great plus is that the seats on this train are comparable to first class seats on other operators.

And the best point? This journey is costing me a grand total of £6! And i'm getting to see some of the lovely Chiltern countryside. A similar journey on Virgin Trains/London Midland would cost me 2-3 times as much if bought in advance and I'd get to see the joys of Watford, Milton Keynes and the M1.

However, despite the plus sides of the journey there have been a few negatives... Firstly is the fact the golden rule of public transport has been broken...Don't sit near people if you don't have to! Despite a fairly empty train, a couple has come and sat on the seats opposite my table seat and have proceeded to kick me (accidently I'm sure) frequently whilst I have had my leg room stolen!

Also once again the rules of the 'quiet' carriage have been broken. I'm sorry how hard is it not to talk on your phone, have a loud conversation or listen to loud music for an hour and a half.

However overall this journey is an improvement on my usual rail travel so I really shouldn't complain and I'm going to try and use Chiltern if I'm ever going up to Birmingham.

Landan Town

Sorry for the delay in posting, it's been a bit hectic since we moved to Cheshunt. I started work 2 days after we moved in.

During my first week I was here there and everywhere as part of my induction week. One activity we undertook was a 'Monopoly Challenge ' which involved travelling around London attempting to get a photo of all the streets on the monopoly board. Considering we work for Transport for London this involved way too much walking and not enough using of the tube or buses : / Other activities during induction week were a Transport Museum quiz ( added benefit of working for TfL, we get into the Transport Museum for Free! ) and death by PowerPoint presentation.

Since then I have been in operational training and based at either Oxford Circus (fairly easy commute) or West Kensington (ridiculous commute to the far side of London!) However the training is now complete and starting from next week they are letting me loose.....

So if you are in London during the next 3 weeks avoid Liverpool St, Barbican and Farringdon stations.

Well that's what's been going on, I'll be doing a few posts during the coming weeks but to finish off this post I'm going to leave you with a few facts about the underground (you may leave the post now if you are already bored.)

- London is home to Europe's most frequent rail service ( the Victoria Line operates 34 trains per hour during the morning peak, meaning a train every 115 seconds! )

- The four stations serving Oxford St (Tottenham Court Road, Oxford Circus, Bond St and Marble Arch) handle over 100million passengers per year (approximately the same as ALL the rail journeys in Scotland in a year)

- The District line is the only underground line that crosses over the Thames (other lines cross under but the district line is the only one to use bridges to cross)

- There are 1.265 billion passenger journeys on the Underground network annually, this compares to 1.5billion rail journeys nationwide

Anyway I'm sure that I have bored you enough so I'll finish there.