Talk Morgan Forums Thread Like Summary - Classic Car Show 2024 at NEC

Having booked tickets for my son and myself I thought I ought to decide how to get there. We live near Portsmouth so the thought of driving up the A34 wasn't appealing so looked at taking the train. The train takes just over 3 hours with one or two changes but for the two of us the return fare is £180!!!
Decision was easy, 280 return journey by car at our convenience with car parking at £14.
Who says "let the train take the strain"

Earlier this month Mrs W and I visited our son in Halifax for a weekend. A few days before we were due to leave our tin-top started to rattle (broken suspension joint, probably due to multiple pothole hits). I looked at the possibility of going up by train and found the return fare for the 6-hour journey from Petersfield was £158 each - so £316 for us both.

Instead, I rented a very plush automatic MG Suv from Enterprise in Waterlooville. The cost: £134 for 4 days plus £80 for fuel, saving over £100. I wonder what is the point of carving HS2 through the middle of the country when nobody can afford to use the rail network we already have.

We have recently returned from a month in Canada. As our departure day was on Thanksgiving Day with city traffic likely to be even more horrendous than normal, we took the train from Oshawa to Toronto; a 45 minute trip alongside Lake Superior in a double deck train, with seating for everyone and wide sliding doors for easy accessibility.
The fare was the same whatever the time of day; seniors are half the adult price; it cost us the equivalent of just £3.60 each!
When we made an enquiry at Toronto to find the connection out to Pearson airport, the very helpful station attendant informed us that their CEO came from the U.K.
Looks like they have taken all the good ideas with them!

Railways are in my blood. Nearly all the male family were signalmen or train crew. The local shed had 100 locomotives. Grandfather moved to Mexborough to work on the footplate after briefly fighting in WW1.

So we went everywhere by train because there was free or discounted travel. Until the late forties, the furthest they could get from Mexborough was Yarmouth, probably because it was LNER only. After that it was anywhere, so as a kid we went to Bournemouth. For train buffs, that was via Bath Geeen Park and over the S&D. I still have patchy memories of that time.