The Poolie Bunker

Watched the video on the Mail website of the new train to London. It was virtually empty!
Hasn't really been marketed well, but will people use it?
I came back from London on a Sunday a few months ago and I was the only one on the train all the way from Darlington to Hartlepool!!!

Mutley has a point. The train times are wrong.

I can't use it going or leaving Hartlepool.

Football fans wont be able to use it.

I saw it go past the station from the bridge and it looks quite canny.

But the problem is...they don't have a target market.

What are the times of the service like?

Just seen the article on Local Rag Today. Some bloke from Peterlee went to the station just to see the train go through, thats enthusiasm for you. But looking at the times it's not too bad if you are having a session in Yarm on a Saturday as you could get off at Eaglescliffe.......

http://www.grandcentralrail.com/timetable.html

There will be more departures and return times, this is just the initial run period. Also, the train loadings will be judged on the entirety of it's route stopping at York, Doncaster etc, this is the end and start of the lines loadings and are always goona look a bit sparse... imagine a bus pulling away from its first stop of the day....it's never anywhere near full, it fills up as it goes along..we're almost the first stop.
Typical bloody Hartlepool attitude, praise what others have got, complain we want it, then when we get it, start organising it's wake

I'll use it a few times a year, but it would have been much better had there been a service leaving Kings Cross at about 8 or 9 in the evening and it would have got significantly more useage.

Where this train wins hands down is the walk on fares are half for an equivalent journey with GNER/National Express trains and most importantly you don't have to go to Darlow to get it.

Exactly.

For the ease of getting a direct train from and to Hartlepool I'll happily pay more than travelling to and from darlow.

I was reckoning up the prices - the cheapest GNER day return fare to/from London is £24, if you're lucky enough to get one (all the people who buy those tickets gets them off the trainline.com the second they are available, and they sell out within hours).
The one I'm usually able to get is the £35 day return. If there aren't enough of us to share a minibus or taxi to Darlo, then that adds £42 total taxi fares on the journey for me and the wife.
The GNER option then costs £35 x 2 + £42 = £112

The Grand Central option is going to cost £69 x 2 = £138

If I'm on my own, or just meeting up with others on the train, then the option from Hartlepool = £69
The Darlo option on me own then = £77 (not even an option)!!!!

There's also the added stress of hoping that the taxi driver turns up on time to drive you the 25 miles to Darlo to factor into the equation.

All in all, even with the extra cost of £26 from Hartlepool for me and the wife, I would rather pay that and go door to door, and also do my bit to help keep the thing running from the town!!!

The only factor to consider is the availability of the right train times!!!

I'm willing to bet that GNER have engineered a way of ensuring that footy fans can't get back to the North East from London,by restricting the travel times of Grand Central on GNER routes, which means you've still got to use their overcrowded trains for day returns!!!

I had to go to London short notice for work earlier this year and it was £205 for a day return from darlow.

Fortunately it got claimed on expenses.

Myself and a couple other London poolies on here have been looking at this since it was first announced over a year ago.

The times previously shown on a saturday meant getting into Hartlepool for about 11.30am, with the return journey leaving Hartlepool at 5.30pm, absolutely perfect.

The cost is steep mind so I can't see many trips for home matches.

It's only £69

Try telling my wife that £69 for a return train ticket to watch football is reasonable, never mind the tinnies, scran, bets and the ticket cost itself........................


My train tickets to Leeds and Forest this year cost me £20 from Kings Cross

I thought you's got paid in gold darn saarf?

69 quid is great value if its only you going as it'd cost you more and take you longer going in the car. If there's more than one of you then it doesn't work out good value

I just wish they had a similar pricing structure to the other companies rather than the flat rate. Hopefully it will have a quiet start and they'll have to review the structure.

The 69 quid price doesn't tempt me into using it but neither does it put me off if I really need to use it.

BUT it doesnt appear to be very reliable according to somebody (lord seaton) who waited 20 minutes after the train he had booked onto this morning was supposed to appear and had to get a taxi to darlow and get the gner from there to a important meeting in london not very happy by all accounts

It costs me about £70 in diesel for a round trip to Hartlepool & we're about 45 miles north of Kings Cross. When we lived in London we sometimes got the train up, changing at Darlo it would also cost to park at Kings Cross or get a train to there.
Using the train has the benefit that there is the lack of hassle involved in driving & the wear & tear on the car. Against that is that you are limited where you can go without a car when you arrive -not so bad north to south as the transport system in London is pretty good and of course you are limited by the times of the trains.
So, there are many things that need to be taken into consideration. It will be much easier when matter transference gets invented.

it hasn't been invented?
My brain particles get transferred some place else after a few beers

But if you're booked on a cheap deal with GNER (now NE of course) then you are tied to using a particular train anyway so if yours is delayed you can't just get on the next one.