On the 28th of this month Shrewsbury will at last have a through train service to London,use it or loose it ,again.Judging by their web site its going to be a vast improvment over what we have now.

If you want to get down to London for 10-11am, Wrexham and Shropshire will depart Shrewsbury at 6.25, arrive at Marylebone at 9.56, then you'll need at least one tube ride to get anywhere useful.

Currently London Midland/Virgin depart Shrewsbury at 7.12, change across the platform at Wolverhampton or New St, arrive at Euston at 9.59, within easy walking distance of a lot of useful places.

I suppose it will probably be cheaper, but I'll be sticking to Virgin, thanks. If I have time to spare, and want to save on fares, I already get the Chiltern train from Moor St anyway.

If you want to get down to London for 2pm, the Wrexham and Shropshire departure from Shrewsbury is at 8.10am, getting into Marylebone at 11.49. You can leave a lot later than that on London Midland/Virgin, and for the same price as well!

I see that there's no weekday evening departures from Marylebone between 16.10 and 20.03. Obviously people with Saver tickets are restricted from travelling back from Euston until after 18.30, but with Chiltern departures every 30 minutes from Marylebone, I can't see myself waiting around for the direct train at 20.03.

I know that the in practice getting the train from Birmingham to Shrewsbury can be a real pain, especially on Sundays, and I appreciate that Virgin has done its best to scupper Wrexham and Shropshire's plans, but in the normal course of events I can't see these new trains being of much use to me.

Hi T.W.
What are the fares like on the Chiltern service?

Hi Avron

Wrexham and Shropshire are not saying what the fares will be yet!

http://www.wrexhamandshropshire.co.uk/tickets-fares.html

A standard class saver fare to London via Birmingham is currently £43.40; it's a bit more expensive to go to London via Crewe. You can't travel on Virgin trains during peak hours on this ticket, but you can use the Chiltern line from Snow Hill / Moor Street at all times - and it only takes about 30 minutes longer (and, in my humble opinion, the Chiltern trains have a much nicer atmosphere than Virgin - less busy, more interesting views from the window, the whole train doesn't smell of blocked toilets, etc).

The open return fare to London via Birmingham is currently £152 (the single is £76, so you can't save by buying two single tickets instead of a return ticket). This allows you to travel into and out of London at peak times on Virgin.

I'm hoping that Wrexham and Shropshire will at least allow you to use Saver tickets on all their trains - otherwise, their services are not going to get many passengers!

I'd love to know how much of that £152 it actually costs to transport you on a train down to London. Any guesses? Fuel, train staff salaries, station maintainence. Would be interesting to see the maths.

Which is the best service from Shrewsbury if you are heading for St Pancras?

To be fair, the higher fare does deter the sort of people who think that it's OK to eat an entire McDonald's meal in the carriage with you, while keeping up a continuous conversation on a mobile and sharing their taste in music with everyone. Snobbish, I know! But I quite like being able to quietly read a paper and look out the window in peace without developing murderous thoughts about my fellow passengers.

At the moment, and assuming that cost is no object (i.e. £152 return for peak travel), get a train to Birmingham and then change for Virgin to Euston (every 30 minutes from New St). St Pancras is only about 5 minutes walk away. If you can travel after around 9am, this is the better route.

If you're not so keen on swelling Mr Branson's coffers, but still need to travel at peak times, get a train to Birmingham, walk across the Bull Ring from New St to Moor St, then get the Chiltern train down to Marylebone (every 30 minutes from Moor St). It takes at least 30 minutes longer from London to Birmingham, and you'll need to get the underground (walk 5 minutes from Marylebone to Baker Street, then get the Circle/Metropolitan line to St Pancras) or alternatively walk to St Pancras - it's quite an interesting flat walk past Madame Tussaud's, etc - although it takes 30-40 minutes. Possibly not recommended for asthmatics, as Euston Road has some of the highest levels of particulate pollution in London.

I'm looking forward to this new London service starting (have been for years now) - I'll try to get some photos of the first trains running on Monday 28th April. Finally Shrewsbury will once again have direct trains to the capital!

Now the next step is to get a faster route sorted out so that journey times from Shrewsbury are reduced to about 3 hours.

I would not call that much in the way of progress P.S.they were running 3hrs to London back in the 70s.

Yes but without the correct infrastructure what else can they do? WSMR run trains, not the signalling, track, stations, etc. They'll do their best to run as quickly as possible.

Whatever happened to the direct sevice to Waterloo?

P.S.do you think it would be possible to spend a few hours in Lille using the new London service and eurostar,all in one day without staying in London. i am asking you because you seem to know a bit about rail services.

The cost of train fares for the new direct service between London and Shropshire, have been announced.

Fares will start from as little as £24 for a one way single on specific trains if purchased in advance.

Standard saver returns which can be bought on the day off peak will be £41 return from Shrewsbury to Marylebone.

A first-class return for business travellers will cost £185.

Went onto the website - it's been updated with ticket info:

http://www.wrexhamandshropshire.co.uk/tickets-and-fares.php

I've worked out that it would cost me £32 to go Shrewsbury-London return with my young persons railcard (which they accept). That's not too bad.

I'll be in Shrewsbury on the 28th when they start - I'll get a photo or two of the train (though probably not the very first one as that's too early!) :)

Could have travelled to London from Shrewsbury, when I do. Looks like the service although direct is not as quick as I would like. I will still be travelling to Crewe then take a virgin train with Pendolinos cars they are rapid it takes two hours to get to the 'smoke'

How much does it cost to go via Crewe though?

The £32 tickets I mentioned before are not the cheapest option - there is the £41 Saver Return (£27 with a railcard) for off-peak travel.

http://www.wrexhamandshropshire.co.uk/saver.php

Well actually PS my company pay. I think its about sixty-five return What I'm saying is if business people want to use the new service and i hope they do, they would want to get to london more quickly surely? It looks like a good service for a tripper thats about all

Yeah I think that's the market they're aiming for - leisure rather than business. It's cheaper, slightly slower but direct. I'd rather go with them than go via Crewe (which I have done before). I'd rather spend less money (or more to the point spend it when in London!) and have a slightly longer journey. Also I just like the idea of going to Marylebone station in the evening and seeing a Shrewsbury bound train waiting on the platform!

Not sure which company are running it but its amazing how trains coming out of London are cancelled at the last minute. Virgin very often will not do this but East Midland trains and Arriva seem always to be the culprits

My neighbour with two businesses in Shrewsbury goes to London for buying trips. She will be a lot happier getting back to one journey and with a laptop computer, work can be caught up on and the day not wasted.

It's more expensive to go via Crewe than Wolverhampton.

£54.20 saver return Shrewsbury - London via Crewe

or £35.80 for the same journey with a Young Person's Railcard

(Just checked the price of a ticket going from Shrewsbury to London on the Hereford-Worcester-Oxford route. It's £91.50 with a railcard, and the journey is at least 3-4 hours. Probably not a good idea!)

Well the £27 return with the new guys Wrexham and Shropshire seems to be the best deal for me.

I'll give it a go at some point... wonder what the food will be like on board? I remember having breakfast on a Virgin train once - got rather messy!

I'm assuming you realise it's presently just over £27 with Arriva/LM and Virgin down to London? And that journey takes some 50 minutes less. ;)

£28.65 at the moment going via Virgin, changing at Wolverhampton or BNS. So a £1.60 saving... that's almost a pint! ;)

But I get your point. It's only very slightly cheaper and is a longer journey. Though there are no changes and you get to reserve your seat from Shrewsbury to London. I suspect the journey would be more comfortable going with Wrexham and Shropshire.

A ticket price comparison chart by the company can be found here:

http://www.wrexhamandshropshire.co.uk/tick...tion=Shrewsbury

All this talk of saving a couple of quid by not using the new service just beggars belief,we have been waiting for years to get a through service again,so lets use it.If you think its slow just check out the National Express coach timetable or try driving down there any quicker.

No, the new service is cheaper. Read the posts again!

Yes, I'm complaining but yes, I'll use it. It's simply disappointing that after announcements of £25 return fares a few years ago, that that figure's jumped to £41.

However the firm's surprised me in other ways. The seating looks plush and news that there will be a buffet bar over a trolley is great.

Wrexham, Shropshire & Marylebone Railway services have begun!



Note the loco:carriage ratio... :rolleyes:

I noticed the roof detailing on the new development behind. Parapet walling was introduced after the fire of London a feature commonly seen in urban London.
It's funny how new housing looks very much the same these days so you could be anywhere in the country.
Travel by train to Shrewsbury to see the architecture it is supposed to be famous for and don't bother getting off because you could be in Chester, Milton Keynes, Leicester etc etc.

Shame about the train breaking down at Wellington. Still the noddy houses are pretty much the same there too!

Is three coaches going to be be the final formation?.

Well it depends how many use the service I guess.

These are just rented carriages they are using at the moment.

As anyone used this service yet?and if so what was your opinion of it.

Have used it twice now. Really friendly and helpful staff, cheap and tolerable snacks/drinks, the rented carraiges are of a really high quality and are comfortable and air conditioned. The journey feels long but that's probably because you're on one train rather than two, despite the extra 40 or so minutes for me from Shrewsbury.

Probably the biggest obstacle now is not so much the price but the frequency.

Would definitely recommend just to give it a go.

Used it to and from Telford a few times. Nice trains and lovely staff, but each time I see them they are empty, so unless more people start using them I can't see them lasting.

All the bleating about no through service to London and when we do get one no one is using it.you are right Brum.i saw it before when the Virgin sevice was introduced.

I dont think its being used quite honestly because you can get quicker connections into London for business ive used it once and for me the journey was too long and it seemed strange stopping for at least five minutes at unscheduled stations and being told not to disembark (Wolverhampton/ Banbury) and also the passengers waiting on the platforms were told not to board the train. Direct is one thing but getting through the city takes longer too these days The service will bring more visitors to Shrewsbury I feel so thats how the town will benefit

I haven't needed to go to London since the new train was introduced. I'm not catching it for the sake of it. As cities go, I prefer Liverpool and Manchester anyway!