This is the main railway station serving the University town of Loughborough, 20 miles north of…read moreLeicester. First opened in 1840 on the then Midland Counties Railway, the station was rebuilt in its present position and style by its successor company, the Midland Railway in 1872. The transverse gabled glass canopies and neat Italianate buildings in yellow stock brick are classics of Midland Railway architecture, and the building is grade II listed. It is served by East Midland train services from London along the Midland Main Line to Nottingham and Derby, with a smaller number of Sheffield trains calling. It is also served by the local service from Leicester to Newark and Lincoln via Nottingham. The station has a small shop, ticket office (part time), toilets, an ample car-park and cycle storage, but there is no cafe. Regular local buses call here, including the town shuttle into the centre, and a link bus to East Midlands Airport. The station has level access to platform 1, but platforms 2 and 3 require the use of a barrow crossing which can be used with staff supervision only. The station has short platforms, so some expresses can be accessed by specific carriages only.

Loughborough was a bit of a surprise for me. I heard about how small the town was before I came…read morefor a weeklong stay, and expected it to be like some of the other small towns on the outskirts of England. Maybe a bit rough, a bit old and run-down. It was actually quite a pleasant place to stay! It definitely has that small-town feel, with everything within walking distance. Loads of great restaurants to visit, and a plethora of assorted bars catering to different clientele. The bars all seem to have deals on Jagerbombs, so that's a plus if you're in a party mood. As for the train station specifically, it's a small one-platform setup, the type of station where half of the trains fly by without slowing down. Modern amenities with electronic access, all the normal features you'd expect from a smallish station. Nice and clean, too.

Narborough railway station is located between birmingham new street, and Leicester stations, on the…read morecrosscountry trains service route from Stansted Airport to Birmingham New Street, the service is around 1 to 2 services an hour in either direction, some services in the east direction only go as far as Leicester, Cambridge, and some go to Stansted Airport. As some trains stop as less stations you may need to change at Leicester to reach stansted airport. The station is served by crosscountry trains turbostar 170 trains, and these can become rather busy during the morning and evening rush hours. The station is within close proximity of Narborough town centre, and allows a convinient location for passengers.

The UK's Southeastern Railway operates one of the busiest networks in the country, running the…read moretrain service between London and Kent and parts of East Sussex.. Gayle and I recently were on their system for a round trip (St. Pancras to Faversham and Canterbury West back to Charring Cross). We sat regular class on slower "local" trains both ways, which were basically commuter runs. The price was right, we had lots of room to spread out as there were few fellow passengers, the ride was comfortable, and the scenery out the window was interesting enough. I'm not sure I'd want to commute like this every day, but that's the bargain that a lot of folks make to live in a nice area that's not the big city.

Southeastern Railway is currently owned by London & South Eastern Railway Limited, it operates…read moreroutes on the Integrated Kent franchise by Govia, who in turn is owned by two rather big players in the UK transportation game including Go-Ahead (largest bus operator in London, Manchester and offering services in other cities) and Keolis (A truly worldwide company who operate buses in Sweden, trains in Boston, the Metro in Shanghai as well as services closer to home such as Manchester's Metrolink, the DLR in London and TFW Rail services.) While the interior of my train wasn't overly impressive or modern, it was comfortable for a short journey of 10 minutes between Charring Cros and London Bridge which also goes via Waterloo East, this is a zone where you can use your Oyster meaning it can work out pretty cheap to travel in comparison to a normal ticket. This journey only came to £2.40, with a daily cap of £7.20 for all zone 1 and 2 services in the cap which includes national rail, tube, DLR and buses. Trains seemed to operate efficiently and quickly with services every two minutes between these destinations and the train staff seemed friendly enough at both stations, although I didn't see a train staff member on board which could be down to it being a short journey. The website is easy to use and explains the ticketing system including Oyster well. Southeastern has 73 stations in the Oyster PAYG area (the price varies between zones obviously between 1 and 9), which is one of the highest of any railway operating company and I presume is second after TFL Rail. I would recommend going along their central London route between London Bridge and Charing Cross via Waterloo East just for the view, with trains every 2-3 minutes during the day (which didn't get busy outside of rush hour) and a journey lasting just under 8 minutes, it is worth it for some great views on the bridge crossing including Parliament, Big Ben and the London Eye. 3*

The station is very convenient for me - just an £8 pound taxi ride from home. It is not the best in…read moreconnectivity unless you want to go to Cardiff, Manchester, Nottingham or a few other cities - Plymouth, Bristol for example. However to get to London you can just take one stop to Tamworth and then change for direct to London - that is my plan today. The station is not really very inviting but they do have a small news and coffee shop and (very important on a cold winters day like today!) a heated waiting room serving both platforms. In summary - thank goodness for little stations like this that connect you with everywhere in England, Scotland and Wales affordable and without having to drive! Review #92 2019

Burton Upon Trent is located between Derby an Birmingham. Burton Upon Trent rail station is…read moreoperated and managed by Cross Country Trains, which operate frequent services between Nottingham and Birmingham New Street / Cardiff Central. Crosscountry services run twice every hour to Nottingham, and once hourly to Birmingham, and once hourly to Cardiff Central. Cross Country high speed services to the South West, and th North East stop at the station, however these are less freqent, and occur mosty during the morning and evening commute.

East Midlands Parkway is located next to radcliffe on soar power station in Leicestershire,…read moreEngland. It is the newst rail station to open in the country, and is operated by East Midlands Trains, with services to Nottingham, Derby, Sheffield, Leeds and London St Pancras Directly, with connections at Derby, Nottingham and Leicester to other towns and cities accross the UK. East Midlands Parkway is located between Long Eaton and Loughtborough Train Stations and has a bus service to East Midlands Airport twice an hour. East Midlands Parkway opened on the 26th January, and is planned to expand when rails are upgraded alongside the station, allowing more services to stop. Overall a great station to travel from.

This happened to be a much better station, and location, than the last place that I jumped off the…read moretrain. Sure, the station does come across as being rather new but that is probably because it has been given a face lift. Mind you, it is a bit of a walk from the centre of town, but you get that.

It was my first time getting the train alone. My train ended up getting delayed which I understand…read moreisn't the railways fault and sometimes happens. What stressed me out is when i tried ti go up to a staff member to ask for help they just ignored me. First I tapped their shoulder. Then i tried to speak to him, he just continued to stair forward with a smirk. Then I tried to get in front of him to talk to him and still nothing. I gave up and had to ask another passenger for help. The thing is I saw him helping other people there so I am not sure what was wrong with me. Terrible first experience using the train and I hope other train stations have a better staff team.

Nuneaton is a Category C1 station (small feeder), serving the West Midlands town. It is run by West…read moreMidlands Trains It is around an hour and a half away from London with West Midlands but services can go up to 2 hours. Avanti also uses this station onto their Manchester - London route however the train only stops at certain times, normally early in the morning and late at night. Interestingly, Manchester City tends to use this station when going to Leicester as they did the day before the game I actually attended (they put a stop request on an Avanti service). The station is also served by Cross Country on Birmingham to Leicester route, with some services going onto Stansted Airport. It is a pretty basic station with a bridge-link / lifts between platforms, I do think they could be a little clearer with finding the right lift for the right platform though. The staff at the station seemed friendly enough however I did notice him giving incorrect advice to a customer whos train was cancelled. He told them to head back into Manchester and try to get a return train from there, even though there was no possible route between Nuneaton and where he wanted to get to and all that would have changed is he would have been stranded at a slightly nearer station, the railway company should have ordered some form of taxi replacement, endorsing his ticket to a closer station which he didn't do. I didn't notice any shops/cafes in the station, strangely even WHSmith which seems to have a base at almost every category C and above railway station and airport was absent here, so the station is pretty basic considering it has multiple services across multiple providers and seven platforms. Pretty basic station yet still providing late trains into Manchester helped me and many football fans get home after watching Manchester City's 1-0 win at Leicester. 2*

My mum always tells me that the stretch of line between Nuneaton and Birmingham is one of the most…read morecongested and used bits of railway line in the country. so THAT'S why it costs an arm and a leg to get from Nuneaton to Birmingham. It's over a tenner and you can't buy returns, which to be honest is disgraceful considering it's a relatively short journey. Anyway I guess that's not the stations fault. Nuneaton is quite a big station considering the size of the town, but it's on the mainline going from manchester to London so a lot of trains run through it. You can get to London Euston in just over an hour, which is pretty good. It;s a clean and tidy station and has a nice cafe and newsagents on platform 1.

As Hannah noted before me this is a weird railway station. I would add the word desolate! Weird…read morebecause it is on multiple levels making it very customer unfriendly if (like me today) you are laden with a heavy suitcase from airline travel to London. No staff to guide you so I could have made a connection but no idea if it was the right train. And it was I discovered just too late - oh well next one in 25 minutes.

On the train as I make this, it's fairly quite and seems to be quick, train wait isn't too long.read more

Arriving off the train causes some confusion as there are two footbridges to leave the station…read more One is an older footbridge that now has an exit to the tram, this is halfway down the platform The second leads to the main train building. This is great building with high ceilings and authentic original designs worth a look if you have some time at the station.

i would love to say a massive thankyou to mags that helped me today while I was on her train while…read morein labour. she was amazing kept checking if I was ok or need anything. she even made sure I had fluids alway the way from Manchester to Nottingham. When I got of the train my contractions were every 15 minute. and my waters had broke embarrassing I now haha baby wanted to come early. mags even got me a wheelchair .Then when off the train I was meet by some one called Darren and his team where they order me and my husband a taxi home and even payed for it. while In the taxi home my contraction's come every 5 mins so we got taxi from Mine to hospital and lets say baby was born half six today weighing in @ 6 1 to a wee little boy named jude Moore so thank you peeps if you didn't order that taxi baby would of been born on train once again thank you mother and baby doing ok What a wicked team