Three course lunch on the Marches Line

DINING ON THE LINE has long been one of my great pleasures and one that dates back to my first experiences in the early 1980s, when I was the only enthusiast aboard the last ever restaurant service from Waterloo to Bournemouth (2 October 1981) and, early in my journalistic career, a number of enjoyable business trips aboard the all first class Manchester Pullman.

Regular readers will have spotted that many of my trips to the South-West are rounded off with Pullman Dining aboard the 18.16 service from Plymouth to Paddington, but one missing experience, until now, has been the full dining now offered aboard certain Transport for Wales (TfW) services between Cardiff Central and Manchester Piccadilly.

Having spent many enjoyable days photographing on the Marches Line at places like Abergavenny and Craven Arms, my reluctance to attempt sampling  what some have described as the finest restaurant experience on our network was based on the number of times that the necessary Class 67/Mk IV set was replaced by Class 150 or 197 units.

Reading that reliability of the loco-worked sets was improving, I decided that this was a service I must attempt to sample, so travelled from home in Haslemere to Manchester Piccadilly on Tuesday, 2 April 2024 in order to hopefully enjoy some fine dining on the 12.30 to Cardiff Central (1V42).

To savour the experience I had bought a bargain-priced first class advance single for a two-hour trip from Manchester to Hereford costing just £22.55 (with railcard), giving me plenty of time to appreciate the on-board ambience and catering service that promised to be a vast improvement on making the journey aboard an ageing Class 150 unit.

Departing London Euston aboard an almost deserted Avanti Pendolino (08.33) it seemed that my luck was in, when a check on Realtime Trains (RTT) showed Class 67/Mk1V coaches forming four departures that day from Manchester Piccadilly to Cardiff Central at 06.27, 14.30, 16.30 and, crucially, my booked departure at 12.30.

One intriguing description of the Class 67-powered services that I noted on RTT and would investigate while on board was that all the departures from Piccadilly showed “restaurant for first class ticket holders” while those from Cardiff Central (08.49/10.52/12.49/16.49/18.53) simply said “hot food service”.

That point was quickly cleared up by the friendly Irish steward on 1V42, who confirmed that, subject to chef availability, the full two and three course menu was available on all services operated with MkIV stock in both directions, along with a “lighter bites” option.

Being keen to try out the full dining menu, I picked the excellent Golden crumb camembert starter, followed by a generous helping of Roast chicken supreme for my main course and finally the Red rhubarb crumble, with a copious topping of custard.

Given the limited number of diners in the first class coach, service was attentive and excellent, and the two-hour journey from Manchester to Hereford was exactly the right amount of time to allow for a fine and leisurely lunch and the free coffee to follow.

The three courses cost just £22.00, with a couple of small cans of Sauvignon Blanc (£4.50 each) bringing my total bill to a modest £31.00, which compares to the current £39.50 (excluding wine) for three courses in GWR Pullman Dining, though the latter includes a “free” upgrade to first class for anyone travelling with a standard class ticket.

I have often been critical of TfW in the past, but this dining service is quite superb and deserves to be marketed properly and to attract a good deal more passengers than the handful who shared my experience aboard 1V42.

Heading home from Hereford aboard the 15.18 service to London Paddington, I was reminded that one of the worst absurdities of our rolling stock procurement regime meant all GWR Class 80x IETs being equipped with full kitchen facilities, yet none are needed, apart from the two Plymouth-Paddington and one Swansea-Paddington services that offer full dining.