FNRttC FNRttC London to Cambridge - 14th June 2019
- Thread starter Flying Dodo
- Start date
Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.
robjh
Legendary Member
- Location
- Cambridgeshire - almost Essex
10 minutes if you know which way to go. That part of Chesterton Road is just north of the centre.
redflightuk
Guru
- Location
- going round in circles
Where are you having breakfast. I hope to be in Cambridge Saturday morning.
robjh
Legendary Member
- Location
- Cambridgeshire - almost Essex
I'm in - hopefully not too late.
Shadow
member
- Location
- edge of the south downs
Right. Can anybody explain the weirdness that is Greater Anglia?
Ticket booked for saturday morn on website. No mention anywhere a bike reservation is required. Or the facility so to do, even if one wanted to. Foolishly, decided to check. Told to phone them. The guy on the phone said train I was booked on had no bike spaces available but I could take/book an earlier train that did not require a bike reservation, it was first come first served basis. What to do with non-refundable ticket I have, I ask. Send him an email and he will refund it.
So, apart from trying to make sense of above, do I hope for best with my booked ticket or do I book a different train?
Ticket booked for saturday morn on website. No mention anywhere a bike reservation is required. Or the facility so to do, even if one wanted to. Foolishly, decided to check. Told to phone them. The guy on the phone said train I was booked on had no bike spaces available but I could take/book an earlier train that did not require a bike reservation, it was first come first served basis. What to do with non-refundable ticket I have, I ask. Send him an email and he will refund it.
So, apart from trying to make sense of above, do I hope for best with my booked ticket or do I book a different train?
robjh
Legendary Member
- Location
- Cambridgeshire - almost Essex
If you're talking about the Liverpool Street-Cambridge line, then just ignore the nonsense you have been told by their call centre. Barring weekday peak-hours to or from London, you can take your bike on any GA train on this line, without any restrictions whatsoever. Most of the trains have no dedicated bike spaces so you stand your bike in any available door space. This is bog-standard practice on these trains and I have done it many, many times. You'll have no problem.
Shadow
member
- Location
- edge of the south downs
Thanks Rob. Simple clarification for a simple country boy is all I needed.
Rhetorical question: where do they find these 'staff' and their 'training' methods?
Rhetorical question: where do they find these 'staff' and their 'training' methods?
mjr
Comfy armchair to one person & a plank to the next
- Location
- mostly Norfolk, sometimes Somerset
The Cambridge-Liverpool Street line never used to be part of Anglia's empire until there was the great idea of one company per London terminal (which strangely doesn't apply to King's Cross or St Pancras, where one has three regular companies and the other four, plus some "open access" ones) and they seem unable to cope with it. I doubt they're trained or tested on Cambridge services. Anglia is Norwich, Ipswich and Colchester and the rest of us can go take a flying one.
Last time I checked, the stuff Anglia was uploading to www.NationalRail.co.uk for Cambridge-Liverpool Street services said "Reservations required: Yes" and then the small print explained that reservations are only required on the Norwich-London Intercity services (which go through Ipswich not Cambridge).
Clear as mud! The cynic would say that they don't want to encourage people with bicycles in Cambridge to be taking them for free on Anglia when they could be cluttering up Thameslink's trains and London terminals instead.
OP
OP
Flying Dodo
It'll soon be summer
In answer to the various questions posed above:
No, it won't be wet, apart from a few puddles.
Breakfast/beer will be at the Regal Wetherspoons.
No-one can explain Greater Anglia. There are no issues with taking bikes on trains though.
Great Northern run the new 700 series trains just like Thameslink (same group) so as they're designed to have fewer seats, there's plenty of space for putting a bike even if you don't use the bike designated carriages which have the 3 fold up seats space. I'll be using that train to run through Kings Cross for heading south.
No, it won't be wet, apart from a few puddles.
Breakfast/beer will be at the Regal Wetherspoons.
No-one can explain Greater Anglia. There are no issues with taking bikes on trains though.
Great Northern run the new 700 series trains just like Thameslink (same group) so as they're designed to have fewer seats, there's plenty of space for putting a bike even if you don't use the bike designated carriages which have the 3 fold up seats space. I'll be using that train to run through Kings Cross for heading south.
Last edited:
OP
OP
Flying Dodo
It'll soon be summer
After a few cancellations which is usually the case when I do an email reminding people about the ride, there's 43 people signed up. I haven't bothered to, but I promise I'll turn up. 
Some nice quirky roads to ride on, so it should be a good ride.
Some nice quirky roads to ride on, so it should be a good ride.
