My South Western Railway week of delays! (and no repays) #TightwadDad Vlog

My South Western Railway week of delays! (and no repays) #TightwadDad Vlog



So this is a good start.
The train has 5 carriages.
It's half a train.
It's 5 carriage train, instead of a 10 carriage one.
[Music]

It looks pretty busy... and there's no seats!
Cos it's half a train.
On the upside, the company's going to call itself "--Ern Railway" now.
[Music]

So this is my seat for the one hour journey.
Gonna get myself comfortable, I think.

[TANNOY:] Usual 10. I've just been informed this is due to a brake problem on the rear 5 coaches this morning in the depot. I do sincerely apologise for this. This service is half the size of a normal service of 5 car. I've been informed recently this is due to a brake fault on the rear 5 coaches which are in the depot. So we do apologise for the uncomfortable conditions up to Waterloo.
They're gonna remove the guards, and replace them with full-time apologisers.
[Music]

[TANNOY:] For the cramped and uncomfortable conditions this morning. As most of you well know, this service is normally a 10 car. For the last couple of days it's been a 5 car.
This is not a permanent change. This was just due to I've been informed brake problems on the rear 5, so I can only apologise. And hope for the rest of the week return to a 10 car.

Hello South Western Railway.
This is what it looks like when half a train runs.
It's nice and cosy.

Okay so that wasn't a great start to this week of filming this.
I can't move my legs! I've been standing for an hour.
And holding this at an awkward angle because I don't want to enrage the many people that I'm sharing this train with.

Anyway I give this journey a half out of 10.
Half for the half train that we got.
Man that was ugly.

115 quid -- oh and er it was a little bit late as well!
[Music]

What a difference 13 hours makes.
Got a completely empty train. Life is good.
For this evening.

So... I'll probably give this journey a 10 out of 10. Solid 10.
Knew it was too soon. The guard has just asked for police assistance over the tannoy.
It's gonna be okay. It's all gonna be okay.

Ah well. So I've now downgraded this score to... erm, the journey's a 7, a gentle 7 out of 10 now.
[Music]

Okay so that didn't go so well but you know there's still the rest of the week to go
[Music]

It's Wednesday, it's 5 past 7.
And I know it's gonna be a good day
We're gonna we're gonna get solid tens today, I know it.
[Music]

So that was a nice journey. Got a seat.
Ten minutes late so it's ten minutes
I give that journey I give it a 9 out of 10 even though it's 10% late so there's 10% off the mark. So I think that's fair.
I don't know why it can't just turn up on time, but...
guess we'll call it South Western Railway time
[Music]

So it's 10 hours later.
And I'm after the 1845.
Agh, knew it was to be true
They've run the train short!

Look!
Instead of 12 carriages, it's 8.
I'm looking at the wrong camera again.
It's 8 carriages - we can't get on!
So it's a short, short form train again
I dunno if I can get on.

[TANNOY:] If you do require Clapham, please return to the platform.
Thank you.
So I squeezed on. And er it looks like we're gonna be leaving five minutes late
So we've, there's the camera, so we've left late.
Again. Let's see how this goes.
[Music]

That wasn't such a great journey - I got my bag strap caught in the door, it was so crowded.
I was standing for 45 minutes - it was a good job that I've got on it and nearly didn't get on it because it was so crowded, but the train behind us the 1900, that got cancelled totally because of a train fault - as well as our one being short because of a train fault

And the 1815 before it was short, because of a train fault so... I guess I should be lucky that we got a train at all
So that's a win.

But I'm only gonna give this a score of 7.
We're late as well but not late enough to get any compensation so I'll give that journey actually no I was standing I'll give that journey 6 yeah [CRASH!] that train!
Oh hello there it's Thursday morning it's 7:15 and I've got a good feeling about today
I think this might be the day where South Western Railway can show us it's excellence!
[Music]

So we're nine minutes late.
Late enough to have an impact - Not late enough to get any compensation.
I think I'll give that journey... a, a, it's tricky - I'll give it a nine with some indecision
Yeah it's a solid nine.
[Music]

So it's Thursday night - there's a camera! I keep missing it.
It's Thursday night - going for the 1745.
Let's see if all the carriages are here.

Looks like most of them are here.
Looks like it'll also leave on time, so I don't wanna jinx it, but this this could look good.
(SINGS) It's a proper length train!
[Music]

Okay so this is going well. We're on time and there's a faster service that's going to overtake us so I'll be able to get on that and maybe get home a bit sooner
I don't know why I'm staring you like this.

It's like I'm looking down - I don't - lift it higher that's what I should do but I feel weird holding the phone this high.
I think I'm getting better at this over the week, no?

Okay I spoke too soon. It's a third of a train - there's only four carriages.
Oh South Western Railway!
You keep us hanging on!

So this 12 carriage train is only 4 carriages.
That's a third of a train it's-- maybe I should shoot all my videos in here?
I'm not sure. It's not exactly soundproof.
There's no water. Oh!
[Music]

Hello it's five to seven on Friday. Last day of the week yeah!
I've got this new camera I don't even know if you can see me let alone if I'm in focus
I've got good hopes for today.

I know South Western Railway can pull this out of the bag yeah!
It's funny I was thinking last night I'm worried that this video will come off as ungrateful or snarky when it absolutely comes from an opposite place
I feel so grateful in this country that we have a rapid mass transit system that's just there for us as a nation.

But anyway let's see what today brings
[Music]

Okay so my train's on time - yes! - but it's another short formation
It's 8 carriages instead of twelve but on the upside it's a Friday, so it's usually a lot quieter on this route on a Friday, so fingers crossed.

A lot of people like to not travel in by train.
What's not to like?!
[Music]

That's not the camera: The lights are off. It's nice and intimate.
I actually prefer it like this I think.

[TANNOY]
At Guildford, we were advertised differently. This lead to a couple of minutes extra.
I do apologise for the inconvenience this will cause to your journeys this morning...

So it's not going quite so well on this journey.
We've got a level crossing failure. The train was routed into the wrong platform, so we're running about 12 minutes in delay. And, and there's a third of the train missing.
So... not quite there this morning.
[Music]

Okay, so this is interesting: we're exactly 14 minutes late.
If we're one minute later we get compensation, and if we don't lose a minute, we don't.
So fingers crossed
[Music]

Okay so there's a-- there was a, we were routed... routed?
We were routed into the wrong platform at Guildford - there's a level crossing failure - a third of the train is missing, don't know if you can see that in the background?
I'm still looking at the screen instead of the camera and we're sixteen minutes late which is great because that means we'll get some compensation.

I'll put that on screen now, how much I'll get.
It takes a couple of weeks to go through
So that's gonna be a load, a load of money

We're 15-- no 16 minutes late on a one-hour journey
Ha. But it's okay, because I now allow an hour and a half...
[TANNOY ANNOUNCEMENT]

I now allow an hour and a half extra on my journey time because I might not trust South Western Railway so much at the moment
[Music]

So we're out seeing a show. We're going to get very late train, at 2245 and it looks like it's gonna leave on time - it looks like all of the carriages are here.
So very late on a Friday night... South Western Railway you're looking good!
[Music]

Oh! It's not that train! It's the front of the--
[Music]

So that was a good one. That was on time... all the carriages were on the train.
Well done South Western Railway. So I think what I've learnt is, the time to travel on South Western Railway is at midnight on Friday... then we're good.

It's Monday. It's the last day of this experiment to just record a typical week travelling on South Western Railway.
The company has cancelled two trains - the two trains I was going to get on.

So I didn't rush to the station for it. But just realized I won't get any compensation for that because I don't actually hold the ticket for the trains that were not going to leave.
So... don't know how I would claim for that.

Ah well. So, I'll go and get my ticket now
[Music]

It's a bit windy
So the train straight after the cancellations are obviously late.
So fingers crossed we can get on this one.
[Music]

Okay so this train's a bit busy.
But the next one's in ten minutes, it's delayed even more. So... there's a seat.
[Music]

[TANNOY: The next station is Guildford]
[TANNOY:] This is your service up to London Waterloo, this is your Guard.
Apologies, we're now running 20 minutes behind schedule.
We were delayed as we arrived into Guildford, we were delayed further as we were awaiting a second member of crew to head up to Waterloo. So I do apologise for the delay as we are running around 20 minutes behind schedule now.
[Music]

So two trains cancelled and the one next one in is 27 minutes late.
That's erm... I think I'll give, give that - I don't know if you can hear me?
I'll-- all I can hear is just apologies on tannoys, it's lovely.

So I think I'll give that journey a soft six out of ten
It didn't clonk over to the half hour extra compensation so I'm 27 minutes late, I'll be paid the same as being sixteen minutes late, which... is unfortunate.
[Music]

So the last journey on the last day of this random week of travelling with South Western Railway.
That last journey there, left at 1800 and I've got here on time -- it might be in one minute late but basically it's on time, so that's a good one.
That's a good one to end on!

Well done South Western Railway!
I'll give that-- Oh, I had to stand!
I had to stand for half an hour, but but look all the carriages were there!
It was a twelve coach train with twelve coaches!

And it left on time!
So one journey - that's fantastic - to end on on this journey high.

So that was a random week of me travelling on South Western Railway

Have you got any comments?
What's it like for you travelling on South Western Railway?

Or maybe on the train company that serves your area - leave a comment below I'd love to hear your stories.
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