I’m not going to get to London am I?

[Iwasjustasking]

I’m so gutted, booked to take the kids on train to London on wed and stay overnight, never been to London (and have asked on here about tubes, places to go etc) so has to put together a loose plan and now it’s forecast torrential winds (47mph gusts) I am absolutely gutted, this isn’t going to happen is it?

The weather warning from the met office isn't covering Birmingham at the moment, but it mentions London. The main risk with train is things blowing down onto the line or overhead power cables being damaged.

I would suggest keeping an eye on the National Rail website/app where you can check the live departure boards at Birmingham and any major disruption will be flagged.

If the train you are booked on is cancelled you will be able to claim a refund - if it's significantly delayed you'll get a partial refund if you claim.

Re. the hotel part - do you have UK travel insurance, e.g. with a bank account? If so and you were unable to get there, you could claim it back on that.

I know you’re worried but I think that comment was just a bit of gentle teasing OP.

Hope your trip can go ahead as planned.

It will be absolutely fine, and if the train is a little delayed, just make it into an adventure! You are doing a less than 2 hour journey, it really isn't a big deal.

op may be taking a train that goes through a forest

It was a lighthearted throwaway comment on the internet, I feel nothing except mild surprise that a grown up would get butthurt about it.

Anyway, I hope you get there without issue and have a good time

If the train is cancelled I expect you’ll get a refund.
Is your accommodation refundable?

A month ago we were forecast severe weather in France and it wasn’t too bad.

I admit I found it funny but I’m not the OP.

Are there many forests on the trainline from Birmingham to London, in fact are there any trainlines through forests in England?

I've never thought about it before but surely that's not a thing is it, would that ever have bene done?

I'm in London. The forecast was for heavy rain all day - it rained this morning and very blustery for a while and I got wet, since about 13.00 it's been dry, sunny and no wind! Forecasts are unreliable.

I don’t think I said I was hurt! I am obviously worrying and ur comment was shitty and now you are saying it was a light hearted comment!
I just wanted advice on trains that was literally it and got jumped on like I had said the stupidest thing in the world!

Thankyou, I have paid extra for my hotel so can cancel up to 1.00pm and get money back, I just want the kids to have a lovely time they are so excited so I’ve just been a little worried that’s all.

Hi OP - have checked the Met Office for Greate London and the wind speed for Wednesday is at most 20 mph with gusts of 41 mph mid to late afternoon and feeling a bit chilly.

If it makes you feel better I'm going to N Devon tomorrow, which has a yellow warning for wind and gusts of 45-50 mph, plus rain.

There are, but not between Birmingham and London as fair as I know. There are railways through the New Forest and Thetford Forest, for example.

The main risk is the overhead power lines going down on that route.

@Iwasjustasking if you are coming down from Birmingham remember there are two different lines.
You can go New Street to London Euston or Moor Street/Snow Hill to London Marylebone.
The only reason the trains might be cancelled/delayed is if there was a tree on the line or similar. If your route is blocked you might be able to switch to the other one.
But it should be fine.
Take drinks and snacks for the train incase it has to stop on the line and is delayed a bit.
I've done the Marylebone route a gazillion times. A few years back the train was delayed because of some cows on the line - the farmer had to come and get them. But 99% of the time it's fine.
🙂🐄

I think wind speed in London should peak Wednesday afternoon not morning so you should be ok I think.

Worth following this thread-

Stormy middle of week next week - 11th/12th April www.mumsnet.com/Talk/weather/4780061-stormy-middle-of-week-next-week-11th12th-april

I don't think a lighthearted comment is that out of order, it wasn't very clear what the problem was, most people won't give taking a train on a windy day a second thought

When I was working I travelled to Birmingham most days, can't remember any journey being cancelled due to wind.
If you take the Moor Street- Marylebone line they don't even have overhead power-lines.
As few branches may come down but trees aren't in full leaf yet so not likely

Interesting, actually through forested/wooded parts or through the wider area?

I can't remember ever going through a forest on a train

Don’t be such a drama queen OP.

I took DC to London in February 2021 when there were 2 major storms in a week, the winds were a lot stronger than are forecast this week, the roof blew off the O2 arena. There were no trains running on the day we were meant to travel, but we were able to get an early train the next day and still do everything we had planned. In London everything was still running except maybe the London Eye. A couple of days later when we were due to travel home there was another storm which threatened to delay or cancel trains. I did a good impression of pretending to DC that it would be ok if we couldn’t get home and nothing to worry about. I was incredibly anxious about the whole thing and very upset about potentially not being able to go, as it was our first trip since DH died. We made it there and back and probably so will you, but I get how very stressful this is. If possible, don’t panic yet, wait and see what the weather forecast and train companies are saying late tomorrow because you can’t do anything about it at the moment and the weather forecast is not always reliable, try not to obsessively refresh all the websites like I did! Good luck.

There's unlikely to be a problem with the trains, OP, it takes a lot of bad weather to stop them running. You won't be using a line that runs along the coast. If the weather is bad, go to the museums. Places like the Natural History Museum are really child-orientated. And enjoy! London is fab.

I'm a train driver and 47mph gusts are fine. Don't worry.

If the wind gets really bad we just run at reduced speed due to the overhead lines.

At 47mph I'd expect to be running at normal line speed.

You’ll be fine, OP.

It’s currently blowing wind at 35mph where I am and I’ve just come in from outside where I was doing some gardening. Only stopped because it started raining heavily.

You'll be fine. Wind speed here is 41mph - not far off the 47 you've read about. It's just very windy - hasn't stopped me gardening this afternoon and hasn't disrupted the local train service.

Do you use the train line app? That's quite useful as you can check whether there is any disruption to the train service before you set off.

Are you generally nervous about the trip? I'd understand that as I always get anxious about travelling - even journeys I know well. But am sure you'll have a fun time. Do you know London at all? Have you got your itinerary mapped out?

There you go op - straight from the horse's mouth!