To set the record straight
As an example in the MME thread a LON, even SEN, route has been discussed and the conscientious of opinion is that in this day and age the trains have become too fast whilst APD is impacting upon domestic air travel, and that has been discussed without any "fisticuffs".
Last evening (my time) just as things were "kicking off", in this thread, I made a somewhat lighthearted criticism of public transport, namely trains, at STN, it's as if it passed unnoticed and certainly without any fisticuffs.
Previously, in the Carlisle thread members, including myself, have discussed points that a SEN route would be unfeasible because the train from Carlisle to London/Euston takes just some 3.5 hours as opposed to some 3+ hours by air and then by train and combined with APD the ATR72 is too large an aircraft for such a route, this was discussed soundly and maturely in the Carlisle thread and without any "fisticuffs".
So last evening (my time) I pretty much repeated what has already been uttered in such threads as MME and CAX and all hell broke loose and the only difference being that this time it was being discussed in the SEN thread.
2hrs 35mins Carlisle check-in to alighting a train at a LON terminus is NEVER likely to work. If check-in closes at STD -30 then one needs to be there at STD-35 to STD -60, let's say for scheduling purposes STD -45. A train a quoted every 10 or 20 minutes from SEN so for scheduling purposes let's say a train every 15 minutes and an average waiting time for the train of 7.5 minutes.
So 45 minutes check-in, 60 minutes CAX/SEN, 15 minutes to train, 7.5 minutes waiting time for train then 53 minutes to London/Liverpool Street ... total, for the sake of half a minute, 3 hours and a hourly train direct from Carlisle to London/Euston seems to average a schedule of some 3hrs 28 minutes and without APD.
This is the point that has been made previously in the Carlisle thread and without any "jumping down throats", I was merely trying to reiterate this point last evening (my time) but for some reason all hell broke loose!