I was travelling back to London this day following a weekend visit home, and thought it would be good to do a video on my local link with East Midlands Railway – EMR operate a strong fleet of 27 Class 222 Meridian trains on their core route from Sheffield to London on the Midland Main Line, however as many of us know, the condition of their standard class interior is… questionable. One inexpensive Seatfrog upgrade later, and I’m now in first class for the journey, so join me as we experience EMR’s first class offering post-Covid!
Journey Details:
Date of Travel – August 2022
Operator – East Midlands Railway (EMR)
Train type – Class 222 “Meridian”
Origin – Sheffield
Destination – London St Pancras
Price – £62.42 (Super off-peak return, including Railcard discount of 1/3, Seatfrog upgrade of £12 and delay repay 15 refund of £7.18)
Thanks for watching and I hope you enjoyed the video!
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I want them to being back catering!
Good work 👍
Paddington Bear is better
I haven't been to Sheffield in almost 10 years, but remember the station and the Redcliff power station very well. One interesting thing that happened to me is both on my first trip up from London and final trip back to London (more than a year later) there were track problems in Leicester . Anyway I really hope I can fly out to visit the city again because covid cancelled my last try.
Sheffield Victoria was on the Great Central Railway from Manchester to London Marylebone
That was really good, thanks. I live in Glasgow so my routes south tend to be West Coast or East Coast. I have often thought about going to London St Pancras via Leeds (like in the old days) and now I've seen your film I may well do that one day soon. I often go First Class and am pleased to see that EMR give refreshments. I was slightly disappointed to learn that southbound trains from Sheffield no longer serve any stations south of Leicester, as I would like to "do" the Corby line but that seems a bit difficult if travelling from The North!
It's becoming the same story on East Coast – I regularly visit friends near Northallerton but now it's almost impossible to get trains direct between Edinburgh and Northallerton (and vice-versa). We're now supposed to change at Newcastle, but as you rightly say, Trans-Pennine trains seldom bother to turn up! London-centric thinking is getting worse, in spite of the Government endlessly wittering on about "Levelling-up" but doing nothing whatsoever about it!
Brillaint video, the Class 222 meridians are good units and ones local to me who lives in Leicester since introduction. It's a shame the standard class seats aren't in the best of condition right now. I've never tried first class myself but maybe I will someday. I think the Meridians will probably end up with CrossCountry in the future.
As a fairly regular user of this line it was good to see this review. I agree with your good and bad points – friendly staff, free-flowing refreshments, worn out interiors. Industrial action aside, I find the operation usually reliable with minimal delays. First class fares can be very reasonable too with advance purchase. I wish EMR would reinstate the first class lounges but I suspect they're gone forever. Something to try one day: Derby to Long Eaton is 8 minutes and an advance first class ticket can be just £10. Is it possible to consume the cost of the ticket in free sandwiches and other refreshments in the time the journey takes? 🙂
I want the 222’s to replace the 158’s at SWR 🤞
Great video midland. Will the 222s end up with XC? Who knows? The monorail coast £4.90 singal from Luton to the airport? That's crazy considering the Birmingham version is free…
Maybe XC will take them and off load there 12 HST strong fleet?
Excellent and informative video 👍
I'm a big fan of Sheffield station too. Not just the architecture though, the Sheffield Tap pub is a real gem 🍺
Cross Country
Great review. I have really enjoyed your channel, and have enjoyed travelling on some of the routes over the last year or so. Such an inspiration, keep up the fantastic content 🙏😊
2:47 I think the 1st class lounges are now permanently closed as I have seen a few of the regular first class lounge hosts now on gatelines or platforms etc. Though that said Derby's 1st class lounge has reopened as a waiting room a while ago. Everywhere else is still shut though.
3:26 The reason for the "overkill" of 1st class carriages is that when they were orignially built the 222's was 9 carriages (222001-222007), (3 1st carriages and 6 standard carriages) and 4 carriages (222008-222023) (1.5 1st class and 2.5 standard). The 9 car units then got reformed into 8 in the MML days. And then reformed into the 7 carriage units at the start of the EMT days. So at the start of the EMT days units 222001-222006 was 7 cars, and 222008-222023 was 5 cars. Fast forward to EMR and units 005 and 006 got reformed into 5 cars so that units 101-104 was given an extra carriage to make 5 cars.
It was also spectualted that Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) as well as MML (Midland Mainline) overestimated the number of 1st class customers when ordering the new units.
3:47 The buffet car does get used however from experience, only seems ot be open on strike days or/and when the train is busy. I suspect the company behind the catering chose to do a all-trolley service to make as much money as possible, something I supected happened after covid, as weekends pre-cvodi was always buffet, but nowadays trolley service unless busy.
4:00 With the standard seating I have noticed some units have had some seats refurbished/replaced as there are some seats with all red, (with the EMT/stagecoach blue/orange dots no longer there).EMR have mentioned that they are in the stage of deep cleaning/rpelacing the seats though these seems to be taking a lot longer than usual, though suspect might have been paused.
08:15 The plug sockets was installed when the trains was build back in 2003-2005. There was talks about EMT adding usb slots back in 2018/2019 but when it was annoucned they lost the franchise it never came to be. And EMR don't have plans to install them since they are being repalced. Though the new 810s will have plug sockets and usbs.
15:43 something to point out is that from Luton to London, I'm sure top line speed is at max 90 mph so 222's and 360's will only reach as far as 90mph. So top speed between these units wont matter since they reach that speed. That said I have noticed on my journeys leaving London, that the sheffield services always seem to get stuck behind the corby services near Wellingborough. As our train is usually a couple mins early and then end up waiting for the 360s to leave early. Something i ahve always said is that the 360's should be on the slow lines after Bedford to allow the 222's/180s to pass them without being delayed.
17:00 Like with all TOC's, i think EMR's 1st class offering has reducded a lot since covid. Like pre-covid, you could have a hot meal in the afternoon, or have a full english on the breakfast trains. Both of which no longer available nowadays.
Hola from Long Eaton. Yep, the 222's are getting quite ropey now, and certainly could use with some TLC, but with the experiences I've had with both LNER and GWR, I'd sooner have these than the Hitachi's any day, even with the improved seating.
As for the 222's going to a new operator, XC would be the likely choice, however they will need to be recalibrated to work with the 220's / 221's, due to an indifference of their electrical systems.
The Meridians could be some of the best trains in the UK with a bit of TLC. The standard class seats are very comfortable when in good condition but do have a habit of collapsing and leaving a metal bar in your thigh which is quite painful.
I really hope that they head over to CrossCountry to increase capacity there but I'm not holding my hopes out for any refurbishment since CrossCountry don't seem to care in the slightest about their trains from my experience.
Have you reviewed the electric class 360s on this mainline yet? Hoping the 360 doesnt replace the 222 when electrification of the line progresses further north – no one wants the 2+3 seating!
Your accent. Kind bit of mixed great video
Hi Midland London. The class 222 meridians are potentially going to Cross Country once the Class 810 Auroras are in service. That is according to Wikipedia.
Perhaps because MMR aren't bothering with refurbishment of the class 222s because they're giving to be replaced soon.
Excellent video thanks. I only travelled 1st class this route once from St. Pancras to Sheffield but in 1980 behind a class 45. The MK2 coach then looked a lot more comfortable and a fully stocked buffet car next door. Shame you couldn’t have tried the trains then!
Class 222 will probably end up with Cross Country so they can retire there HST sets
Enjoyed the video and your comments. GWR has to be the pits in terms of passenger service.
This was fascinating for me, as i have no experience of the east midlands routes except on Cross Country up to Leeds. I would like to find out more. More videos please!
The mildest Yorkshire accent if any, I’ve ever heard
Are you American? You pronounced lever in the American way
I hope they go to XC. It would make sense to me as XC really need longer trains and are probably wanting to rid of their HSTs eventually. XC also have depots that will probably not need much tweaking if any to support these trains owing to them already having 220s and 221s. If they did go to XC I do worry that they will be left to fall apart and I suspect XC would turn off the tilting to save maintenance cost. Ideal scenario: Arriva loses XC and the government or another company take it over
Living in chesterfield I've known the voyagers and meridians since I can remember. It will be a shame to see the meridians go from EMR but exciting to see some new trains serving chesterfield. Who knows, the meridians might still serve Chesterfield if bought by XC
2nd worst company after cross country. 1st class OK but standard is awful,mainly to massive overcrowding. Years too late with new rolling stock,only took over the franchise to get access to HS 2,which will not now happen. They also use the awful class 180s.
I used to be a 1st class season ticket holder of EMTrains which I gave up upon the timetable change may 2018 (lost intercity services – DofT interferiance). At seat staff I found tentative in keeping the coffee cup topped up. 2009 (I think) we lost cup & saucer in favour of mugs after complaints from the rattling (never an issue on HST's).
EMR appear to have let the services become somewhat down market, trains always appear dirty.