stut

This Summer, myself and MrsStut, huge fans of train travel, are considering getting an All Line Rover or similar, and pottering about the country.

Are there any must-do journeys you would recommend?

We're probably not going to go down to Cornwall as we were there last year, but high in the running are:

• Leeds-Settle-Carlisle
• The Kyle Line
• The West Highland Line

Are there any others we should look at? Anything particularly obscure is very welcome...

Jimmie76

If doing the Kyle line make sure that the weather is looking good, I did that trip as a packaged part of a holiday to Inverness (via sleeper) to get myself out of London over the Golden Jubillee weekend. The weather wasn't great when we set out but you could still see the odd bit of blue sky, and then it got much worse.

Fog in places rain in others meant that your views from the train out of Inverness were very restricted and once we got to the Kyle it was very windy and horizontal spitting rain which meant that you did not want to be outside. I found the cafe and sat in there having ordered something hot, and waited for the return train, there was a brief respite from the rain but not for long.

Also Scotrail (not firstscotrail) had managed to print two timetable posters one stating that the return train in the middle of the day was running year round and one stating that it was summer only. You can guess which one everyone had read.

Rest of the the holiday was okay though.

Wick is another option from Inverness I didn't go on that as I only had one journey as part of the holiday I was on but (I'm told) it is the most northerly rail station in the UK.

BA-Flyer

The Cambrian line starting from Shrewsbury and going through mid-Wales, and along the coast has some lovely scenery.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cambrian_Line

NSFU

Hmm, Thurso is further north but in either case you will need plenty of time, it takes ages.

Scillybear

Another suggestion is the Cumbrian Coast Line from Lancaster via Barrow to Carlisle. You can pause at Carnforth for a bit of nostalgia in the "Brief Encounter" visitor centre (http://www.carnforthstation.co.uk/) which is actually quite tastefully done ! You can even combine the trip with the Settle and Carlisle for a very long day out too !

I have never done the Far North (Thurso) line mentioned above but it is certainly top of my list. Also the Heart of Wales line from Shrewsbury down to Swansea must be interesting too.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heart_of_Wales_Line


Of the ones I have done, (and for what it is worth) here is a very personal top 10.


1. Paddington to Penzance / St Ives. Pure Magic, especially when enjoyed with a nice meal and a bottle of wine on the 12:05 ! My favourite Journey anywhere in the world.


2. Settle and Carlisle. No explanation why required of course. There should be through trains from Preston in the summer and that can make it easier depending on your starting point. Also the regular Virgin trains between London and Glasgow get diverted over the S&C on some Sundays in Winter. That is a more comfortable train but the windows on the Pendolino are not large !


3 Kyle. I was lucky to have nice weather and the trip was stunning.


4 Preston to Glasgow on the West Coast Main Line. Lovely scenery through the Lune and Clyde Valleys. Trans Pennine (not the best name for Manchester - Scotland !) have just started operating on this route as an alternative to Virgin.


5 West Highland to Mallaig (I think there is a way of using the boat to combine this with Kyle too)


6 Conway Valley down from Llandudno to Blaneau (Flooded today!) and on via the Ffestiniog Railway (included on the All-line ticket) to the Cambrian coast line mentioned above.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conwy_Valley_Line


7 Newcastle to Dundee on the East Coast Line - Especially the section by the sea at Burnmouth and the bridges over the Forth and Tay. Again, best enjoyed with a nice meal in the dining car.


8 Cumbrian Coast Line (incl. Furness Line from Lancaster to Barrow)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Furness_Line

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cumbrian_Coast_Line


9 Waterloo to Exeter - Leaving Waterloo on a summer evening heading out past Salisbury through some lovely countryside to Axminster for the taxi to Lyme Regis ! Pity there is no dining car !


10 Manor House to Cockfosters on the Piccadilly Line Tube.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piccadi...ters_extension

Get off at most of the stops and marvel at Charles Holden's 1930's stations !



Have a great trip !!!

If you can get hold of a copy - Stopping Train Britain - A Railway Odyssey (Alexander Frater) is quite a good read, though a little dated

dunk

Although you say you're not venturing to the South West this time, for the purposes of posterity I have to recommend the route along the sea wall at Dawlish (Devon), especially on a stormy day !

Some nice photos here: http://www.therailwaycentre.com/Sea%...ide/Index.html

hth

Jenbel

I've done the Kyle route, and in good weather, it is stunning.

I'd also vote for Inverness to Thurso - I was doing some work in the area around Forsinard, and I've never been to a more middle of nowhere place in the UK - and the train runs right through all this middle of nowhere! I'm planning to go up for the weekend and do it myself in the summer, with an ovenight at Thurso before returning the next day back down again

Jimmie76

Sorry I stand corrected, I knew it was one of the two stations. What I suspect I was thinking of was the fact (again correct me if I'm wrong) that the journey from Wick to Penzance is the longest through rail journey you can do in the UK, because of the extra time/mileage it takes going to Thurso from Wick before going back to Inverness.

I've also done the Dawlish sea wall, the best was during a gale the sort that used to short out the Virgin Voyagers & leave them dead thanks to the salty sea spray. There was a family sitting opposite me across the aisle and the two youngish kids wanted to see the sea that they couldn't see therough the FGW HST picture windows thanks to the rain.

So dad and one of the kids heads out to the vestibule to open the window to look out and do so as a wall of spray hits the train from a large wave & both return drenched an dripping. The mother (who is laughing hard at this point) agrees to take the other child for a look and exactly the same thing happens only with a larger amount of salt water dripping off them, she is no longer laughing.

So as I'm in danger of serious injury from trying so hard not to laugh I dissapear out into the vestibule and notice that the carpet is wet through, and crucially they haven't closed the window. Which I manage to do just in time as another one crashed into the sea wall and soaks the train, it is at this point that I stop laughing.

Swanhunter

IIRC the run north of Newcastle to Edinburgh has some scenic bits. Also Perth to Inverness is impressive - highest point on the network and some good mountain scenery.

graraps

Don't miss Great Central Railway, a steam train between Loughborough and Birstall (it's only about 7 miles, so I can't quite imagine how slow it must be in order for them to be able to serve a 5-course meal as they're claiming!).
As a bonus, it's probably more modern than the "everyday" local trains running around the area.