The Final Countdown.

I arrived at Lancaster, yay. Well early as I wasn’t risking the 0805 service from Ulverston being on time, the connection for this was tight and had let me down previously. Upon arrival at Lancaster the first thing I did was go to the waiting room and get my laptop out to upload my farewell Virgin Trains video. This was easier said than done, station wifi was ridiculously slow, I ended up using my hotspot on my phone. This done it was time to track down some breakfast. McDonalds was calling me, so I obliged and off I went. I even had time to sit in the outlet. Back to Lancaster I went to await the arrival of my first virgin train of the day, and also my final ever northbound Virgin trains service.  On board was a prearranged meet up with good friend Jan (@AvfcSquirrel) who would keep me company for the journey to Glasgow.

. For the most part of this journey it is one that I do frequently as part of my commute. The scenery going over Shap though never disappoints me and I never get bored of it. Travelling north, myself and Jan discuss the abandoned railways on the route, the viaduct at Low Gill and then the old branch line that ran to Keswick. After Penrith it was on to Carlisle and the end of my regular commute. As we headed north out of Carlisle is dawned on me this would be the first time I’d be arriving into Glasgow on a Virgin Train, quite fitting that it would also be the last time. I also noticed, thanks to Facebook memories, that it was exactly a year to the day that I visited the Glasgow area to visit IBM before it’s closure. 

We arrived into Glasgow Central, a station I am really looking forward to spending more time at in 2020. Jan had his own plan for the day which would end with the final Virgin service from Glasgow to Wolverhampton. My plan was to go to Sainsburys and buy some lunch, Bacon and Tomato Ketchup sandwich is always my first choice when in a Sainsburys store, Possibly my favourite sandwich from all the supermarkets. Oh and Donuts, can’t forget donuts when in Sainsburys, either the sugar donuts or the chocolate donuts, both are very yummy!

After my explore of the Sainsburys chiller and bakery it was back to the station and back to the same Voyager I had arrived on. This time it would be my chariot to Wolverhampton. Now after the 2 hours from Lancaster to Glasgow had made my bum very numb, so I decided that over 4 hours to Wolverhampton required a little cheeky upgrade to 1st class. I located the train manager on the platform and asked if upgrades were available, he said yep and to take a seat and enjoy the journey. Little did I know at the time he had no plans to come and upgrade my ticket, he just marked my standard class ticket with a grin.

The journey south was as beautiful as ever. This was a limited stop service. The calling pattern at the start of the journey was: Glasgow, Carlisle, Lancaster, Preston, Wigan North Western, Warrington Bank Quay, Crewe and then Wolverhampton. I can’t remember a time I ever got a train from Carlisle that didn’t stop at either Penrith or Oxenholme. Next stop was Lancaster, there was a sense of déjà vu here after starting my day here.

I headed further south, stopping at Preston, Wigan North Western and Warrington Bank Quay. We then arrived into Crewe where there was a few minutes scheduled into the journey. I knew that day a friend of mine was spending the day at Crewe to get some photos for his Instagram page. Knowing there was some dwell time I’d prearranged to meet George for a quick catch up and see how his day was going. He was spending the whole day at Crewe ending with getting the final Virgin Train from Crewe to Lancaster that evening.  Cheers for letting me use your photo pal. We must have a proper catch up sometime!

It was time to head south again. Nonstop through Stafford meaning the next stop would be the end of this journey. Arriving into Wolverhampton dead on time was nice, there was quite a substantial dwell here as well. It was welcomed as it gave me time to get over to the other side of the station and to the end of platform 5 to get a photo of the train departing. After getting this, it was time to head out of the station and try and find my hotel for the night.

I found my hotel, wasn’t difficult really, just down the road from the station. The building looked impressive from the outside. Reception looked equally impressive. Unfortunately, that is where the impressive stuff ended. The corridors had creaky floorboards, the bedroom needed some TLC and the less said about the cleanliness of the bathroom the better. 

After a bit of chill time watching the snooker, I headed back to the station to head into Birmingham New Street to catch the next leg of my farewell tour to virgin trains. Other than the train from Ulverston to Lancaster this would be the only train of the day that wouldn’t be Virgin Trains. I caught the West Midlands Railways Wolverhampton to Walsall stopper service. It was quite nice stopping at stations like Tipton, Dudley Port knowing that I had already done these stations. For so long during these challenges it was the opposite way around, stopping at stations knowing at some point I would have to return and alight or board at this station. I certainly am not saying the end is in sight, but the beginning is far behind now. 

I arrived at New Street station and headed straight to my platform to get a few photos of the pendo that was going to be taking me down to Euston. After this I boarded said pendo for the penultimate journey of the day. I took a seat in Coach C by the train managers office. The train manager boarded and while having a brief chat with him I asked him if I could have a 1st class upgrade. He was like yep, head on down and make yourself comfortable. I’ll sort the £20 out later with you. So off I went to first class where there was some youths sat around a table all playing music and shouting. I headed to the other end of the carriage and made myself comfortable.

There was entertainment before the train even departed as the 1st class host came along and asked to see the tickets of the youths mentioned above. As I suspected they didn’t have 1st class tickets, they did have standard class tickets though. Despite their pleading with the host to be allowed to travel where they were, they were ultimately told to move into standard class. Peace had been restored. 

We departed from New Street on time and started the journey south calling first as Birmingham International Airport then on to Coventry. After Coventry the 1st class host returned with the evening’s food offering. The choice was chicken and stuffing sandwich or a cheese and cracker selection. Having had the chicken and stuffing a few weeks previous on the journey to Liverpool I decided to have the cheese and cracker selection. I have to say I was pleased I had this, although the chutney didn’t get touched, not a fan of chutney. But the cheeses alone were delicious. I had always found the food offerings Onboard Virgin trains to be good, even on a weekend. I hope this doesn’t change under Avanti. 

Upon departing Rugby the train manager came down to check tickets. I got my wallet out ready to pay the £20 upgrade and the train manager kindly said don’t worry about it and just marked my ticket. Another free upgrade had occurred. After the train manager had finished checking the tickets he came back to where I was sat and chatted with me about his day and how this was his final working of the day. Also told me that half the people on the train were all travelling down to London to catch the final service later. The train manager was undecided If he would wait for the final train or just get the next one back to Birmingham. Also talked about my day on virgin trains as well. 

We then arrived at Milton Keynes Central where the train manager went back to his office in coach C. The rest of the journey was relaxing with plenty of time to think about my day. On the approach into Euston the Train Manager made the final announcement which was very emotional. While listening to the announcement been made it kind of brought it back to me what an emotional day this was for so many people. 

Once I had arrived into Euston I went outside to get some fresh air and to stretch my legs before heading back into the concourse to start working out what was happening for the journey home. So, lets discuss the background into the planning of this final journey back to the midlands. When I started planning and booking tickets for my farewell tour I noticed on the Virgin trains ticket website that there was another service available to book that wasn’t there a few days before. I messaged the Virgin Trains social media team to ask them what was going on and they advised me that the 2148 showing on the website was not in public use and they were working to remove it from the website. I checked back the next day and noticed that it was no longer showing. Meanwhile over on Real Time Trains it was still showing, but now as an unadvertised passenger express. Again, I messaged the social media team who were keeping very tight lipped about it and just kept stating that the last passenger service will be the 2142. I was getting suspicions this was not going to be the case but in light of not wanting to get stranded in London I went with the info given by the social media team.

At this point I would like to say a massive thank you to my good friend Jack (@JackAllStations) for basing himself in front of his PC and watching all the signalling info and real time trains so I could get a head start on to which platform we would be boarding at, I was expecting this train to be incredibly busy and any head start I could get on platform departure would be incredibly helpful.

Now armed with Jacks info that it was going to be platform 3 I headed down to the platform. Spoke with the barrier staff who confirmed Jacks info was indeed correct. Heading down the platform to get some photos I chatted with several staff who allowed me to board before official boarding was taking place to get some videos and photos. It was while doing this I got a tip off that the 2148 was actually going to be in passenger service… My gut feeling was correct. I decided I would hop off this one and head over the platform 4, after checking with platform staff I boarded the 2148. 

After watching the 2142 depart I hopped on my train. Did a live feed on my twitter as the train departed from Euston for the final time. Seeing the staff at the end of the platform waving the train off was a nice touch. Their own final farewell to Virgin Trains so to speak. Soon after the departure from Euston to announcement was made followed by the song (I’ve Had) The time of my life. This was within 5 minutes of departure. This was going to be an emotional evening. 

Shortly after departure from the first stop, Watford Junction. I was told that if I wanted, I could head to first class for the remainder of the journey. I did not need telling twice. On the way to first class I was allowed behind the counter in the shop for a photo. On arrival into first class you could tell there was a great party atmosphere. Music was playing and trolleys up and down the aisle with free drinks and snacks. This evening was getting even more memorable. 

The carriage got quieter the further north we travelled. The drinks didn’t stop getting put on my table though. We stopped at Milton Keynes Central, Rugby, Coventry before arriving at Birmingham International airport. Upon departure from Birmingham International Airport the usual departure announcement was made followed by more music. 

We arrived at Birmingham New Street where I went into a mini panic. Good friend Dave (@KiteWithRoseton) notified me that the last service to Manchester from Euston was currently delayed at Stockport. Was that going to accidentally turn out to be the final service to be out in Virgin Trains operation… My panic was short lived! They terminated the delayed service at Stockport. I was now definitely on the VERY LAST VIRGIN TRAINS SERVICE.