Operator: Avanti West Coast
Headcode: 9S77
Route: BHM-GLC
Class: 1st Class
Seat: K14 K01
Date: Sunday 17th August 2025
The middle of August saw another trip to Scotland for work, however this time our weekend plans meant the trip started from the Midlands, giving me the opportunity to take a different route north. Burton’s location on CrossCountry’s Southwest-Northeast corridor meant I had a choice of heading north via Leeds to the ECML and then up to Edinburgh, or head southwest to Birmingham and travel along my less used route of the West Coast Mainline (WCML). Of course, one option also had the significant downside of a long-distance journey onboard a CrossCountry Voyager and so this blog starts with me arriving at Birmingham New Street ready to start a journey north with Avanti West Coast.
My avoidance of relying on CrossCountry to get me to Scotland seemed well founded before I’d even left Burton-on-Trent as the hourly connection to Birmingham had departed Derby full and standing, with those of at Burton being put on a Rail Replacement Bus to the England’s second city. Thankfully I’d expected some sort of debacle on the first short leg of the journey and so still arrived at New Street with plenty of time before my train north. I’d also taken the opportunity to grab a Seatfrog upgrade and so would be travelling to Glasgow in 1st Class, meaning I was able to visit Avanti’s lounge, relax and regroup ahead of the second leg of my journey.
Unfortunately, the Avanti lounge’s offerings are nothing compared to the days of when Virgin operated WCML services and the lounge is now rather basic with a coffee machine, a fridge of cold drinks and a small selection of snacks. However, it is much quieter and calmer than the main concourse of the shopping centre come station that is Birmingham New Street and allowed me to do a bit of writing before heading down to the platform to meet the train as it arrived from Euston. Class 390 Pendolino 390152 was doing the honours and arrived on platform 6 around 20 minutes before it was due to continue its journey north. Typically, I’d lost my sense of direction within New Street and ended up at the wrong end of the platform, resulting in a trek the length of an 11-car Pendolino to reach coach K at the rear.
With Avanti’s Pendolino refurbishment programme being completed in June 2024, all the 56 strong fleet now feature the refurbished interiors, and whilst the difference isn’t as noticeable as in standard class, the refurbished 1st Class is pretty nice. Laid out in the usual 1-2 config, every seat has a fixed table with both standard and USB sockets as well as wireless tabletop charging, however unfortunately the electrics for all of this make the table quite chunky and inhibit the knee room a little. My reserved seat for the journey north was K14, however I made my way to the very back of the carriage and settled in K01 which seemed to be unreserved.
Despite the long dwell time at New Street, we somehow departed four minutes late at 1511, for what would be a roughly four hour and 20-minute journey north. Given the journey time from Euston to Glasgow is only around 25 minutes longer on the fastest trains, the journey from New Street isn’t the quickest, with 13 intermediate stops and almost an hour passing before we even left the Midlands. Stops at Sandwell & Dudley and Wolverhampton came ahead of us joining the WCML just before the stop at Stafford, with the railway metropolis of Crewe then marking our first stop in ‘the north’. As we departed Crewe I was able to get a good look of the Crewe Heritage Centre (read about my visit to that here) on the left side of the train, where I could see a class 90, a class 91 and a pair of class 43s on display along with British Rail’s first attempt at a high-speed tilting train, the APT.
Warrington Bank Quay was our second stop in Cheshire, whilst Wigan North Western was the only one in Greater Manchester before we crossed into Lancashire ahead of our stop at Preston. Despite 90 minutes having passed since our departure from Birmingham, there was no service in 1st class or even any onboard announcements until after Warrington Bank Quay when we were told the shop would be closed until after Preston because of a crew change. Service did start pretty much straight after our departure from Preston, and I was able to get a coffee and a Pepsi Max along with a very nice creamy pasta dish.
After Preston, the stops at Lancaster, Oxenholme Lake District and Penrith North Lakes were all pretty uneventful, and we were soon passing a class 37 and pair of class 20s stabled in LSL’s Upperby Depot on our approach to Carlisle. Not long after leaving Cumbria’s only city we crossed the River Sark and entered Scotland, stopping around 10 minutes later at the town of Lockerbie. Whilst the scenery had been stunning since we’d entered the lake district it seemed to reach another level as we made our way along this winding section of the WCML through Dumfries & Galloway, over Beattock summit and into south Lanarkshire. My last journey north to Scotland with Avanti (read about that here) had ended at Carstairs, where the line to Edinburgh via Slateford leaves the WCML, owing to an issue with the overhead lines near Motherwell. Thankfully this time we reached Motherwell without any issue and were soon on the final stretch of the journey passing Polmadie depot and across the Clyde into Glasgow Central where we arrived at 1930, two minutes late.
Overall, the journey was comfortable and punctual with a decent food offering and a reasonable lounge at the start. However, and this isn’t ungratefulness just an observation, the lack of any sort of service in first class for over 90 minutes isn’t good service. I 100% understand the need for the onboard staff to prepare for a crew change, however this usually happens 20-30 minutes before arrival at the station where the change is happening, not 90. The only reason I can really think of for this was either a shortage of staff, or that there was a change of crew at Birmingham as well meaning there wasn’t enough time to restart and then finish the service before the next crew change. Whatever the reason for it, the lack of any sort of announcement made it even more conspicuous.
Lounge 3*
Seat/Facilities 4*
Food 4*
Service 3*
Punctuality 5*
Overall Rating 19/25 (read about my rating system here!)
Flights & Times 