I live in Manchester and am planning a few days in London doing the sights. Previously I'd always used the train and it was mostly alright, but as per my username, Avanti are shit. The London-Manchester train is completely appalling now. Don't fancy relying on them to go anywhere with DC, but also don't want to drive all the way down south. Would rather split the journey up a bit.
I've had the impression that the train services aren't as bad further south. Is there a good station in the Midlands that still has an actually functioning, regular and quick train service to London, that's no more than an hour and a half or so drive from South Manchester? On brief inspection I thought maybe Birmingham International, but let me know if that's a really stupid idea.