Ken's 2019 All Lines Rail Rover
Trains
0
Stations
0
Miles
0
Train 1
Service: 1W31 0750 Glasgow Central to Wemyss Bay
Operator: ScotRail
Class: 380 (380114)
My journey
Whole route
Stats: 30.8 miles, 9 stops in 0:49 (37.7 mph
So far I’ve stuck to my plans for the trip. I wasn’t on exactly the train I’d planned from Peterborough to Edinburgh, but that made no difference overall. And I’d made Stranraer, which I’d wanted to visit since 2008. But plans are not set in stone. Despite having embarked on this trip at short notice I now had a detailed, to the minute, itinerary for the entire week. It wouldn’t survive events and changes of mind, but I was optimistic about today.
It’s Sunday, so trains start running later and are less frequent. Some routes don’t operate at all. But that’s OK, as I’ll have what may be my only hotel breakfast of the week. My hotel, the Glasgow Point A, offers a continental breakfast which isn’t included in the price. I paid for my breakfast at the front desk and went to the buffet. I have no complaints. The basement room was bright and clean, the bread and pastries fresh. And the necessary tea got me into condition for a day ahead.
I arrived at Central in plenty of time for my train, the 08:39 to Wemyss Bay. What struck me was how quiet the station was. Few trains had run so far this morning, and I’m sure it’s much quieter than a large English provincial station would have been.
The train was of class 380, the same as the one I’d caught back from Ayr yesterday, so comfortable and smooth. It was a pleasant journey along the Clyde at far as Port Glasgow. We then turned south, away from the estuary, onto the single-line section to Wemyss Bay. Along the way we passed through IBM station. On first appearance this station looks like any other quiet ScotRail station. The passenger information system screen was working, the yellow line bright and the shelter intact. But don’t be deceived. IBM station is open; it’s just that no trains call there. None at all. The industry that it served has long gone, sadly.
About 40 minutes after leaving Glasgow I arrived at Wemyss Bay. This station has been on my list to visit for some time. It’s so beautiful it’s the cover picture on Simon Jenkin’s 2017 book, Britain’s 100 Best Railway Stations. The architect, James Miller, seems to have had a dislike for straight lines, so it’s all curves of glass and steel. This was once an important station as passengers would arrive for the ferries. And that, I believe, was part of the rationale for the curves. The architect, or perhaps the Caledonian Railway, had a theory that when the public had to walk along passages and join queues, a curved route felt better. I’m not convinced but it does it looks good.
Bus and Cumbrae Ferry
I decided to miss the next train back to Glasgow and take my time exploring and photographing the station, and perhaps going for a walk in the area. The town is small with little to see, but the map showed paths and waterfalls nearby. But I decided against the rural option as the weather was ominous. The next train back to Glasgow was almost an hour away. What to do? At that point a bus rounded the bend with Largs on the front. There’s a station at Largs, so I jumped on.
The bus was on a route from Glasgow. It’s quite frequent in the week but only runs every couple of hours on Sundays. Even so, there weren’t many on it as it took me along the beautiful Ayrshire coast. I’m not surprised it was quiet. £4.90 for a 12 minute ride?
I had a mental picture of the railway line from Glasgow splitting at some point, with a branch to Wemyss Bay and a branch to Largs. After all, they’re only 6 miles apart. If my mental image is correct it’s likely that trains from Largs will run roughly 30 minutes after those from Wemyss Bay, to provide a train every half hour after the junction. But I was wrong. Largs is on an entirely different line; it diverges from the Ayr line at Kilwinning. So I still had 40 minutes until a train to Glasgow.
I walked over to the CalMac ferry ticket office and bought a ticket for Cumbrae. I was the only foot passenger on the pleasant 10-minute crossing. There didn’t seem to be much to do at Cumbrae, and I had no intention of getting off as I had a train to catch. I’m surprised it’s worth running a vehicle ferry every 15 minutes on Sundays to this sleepy island, but my return trip had about eight foot passengers and a dozen vehicles. Is that enough? It probably is, but they can’t have made much profit from my £3.40 return ticket.
Train 2
Service: 2T28 0954 Largs to Glasgow Central
Operator: ScotRail
Class: 380 (380022)
My journey
Whole route
Stats: 42.7 miles, 14 stops in 1:03 (40.7 mph)
Next to Largs station is a pub called Drouthy Neebors. I see that it’s not the only pub with this odd name, which comes, of course, from Burns. The pub wasn’t open yet so I boarded another class 380 and headed off towards Glasgow. I seem to remember the odd sea view as we passed south along the coast before heading inland via West Kilbride (which seems to be an awfully long way from East Kilbride) then Saltcoats to Kilwinning. It’s day 2 and I’m already retracing my steps; I passed along the line from here to Glasgow Central last night.
Train 3
Service: 1R50 1130 Glasgow QS to Edinburgh
Operator: ScotRail
Class: 385
My journey
Whole Route
Stats: 47.3 miles, 6 stops in 0:47 (60.3 mph)
I was at Glasgow Central and wanted to get across to Edinburgh. I’ve already ridden the slow line via Shotts, so I’d have to go to Queen Street station for a train on one of the other routes to the capital. In the past I’ve always caught the free bus, but today I thought I’d walk it. It was far easier than I expected. Most of the route is along the pedestrianised Buchanan Street, lined with shops. My journey was hindered slightly by family groups and tourists wandering aimlessly, and by bloody Oor Wully statues that were raising funds all over Scotland at the time.
Interesting fact. If you hold a phone to your ear in Buchanan Street some English or Polish bastard will stand within ten feet of you and start blowing into bagpipes within 90 seconds. Guaranteed.
The walk between the two stations took all of six minutes, which is probably about the average wait for the bus.
I know Queen Street Station fairly well, or thought I did. Last time I visited there was work going on for electrification, but now the place is being rebuilt. A sign promised that it will be gorgeous when finished. Well, it isn’t now. I grabbed a tea from a temporary tea stand and waited in the noise and dust of a construction site. The train I was catching was on the main route to Edinburgh, via Falkirk High. I believe it runs every 15 minutes in the week, but it’s only half that frequency on Sundays. It may have been quiet at Glasgow Central earlier but it certainly wasn’t quiet here at Queen Street. It was packed.
The train, a new class 385, arrived and within minutes was packed with many standing. I got on right at the back and sat in first class and, to my surprise, was immediately offered complimentary tea and biscuits. Well done, ScotRail. The journey was fairly fast but we stopped a few times, at Croy, Falkirk High, Polmont and Linlithgow before reaching the two Edinburgh stations in about 45 minutes. The view from the train wasn’t notable, so far as I can remember.
I noticed that a group of people who’d travelled down most of the way from Largs with me were also on this train. They were heading for a sporting event. I looked it up and found that Liverpool were playing Napoli at Murrayfield. How will the goalkeepers stop shots going into those high-up H-shaped goals? The guard was suggesting over the PA that passengers for Murrayfield should leave the train at Haymarket, but nobody seemed to listen. In keeping with the spirit of the sport normally played at that ground they’d rather take their chances in a scrum at Waverley.
I had about 30 minutes spare at Waverley so stood back until the crowds had thinned. It’s a nuisance always needing to find a human to let me through the barrier, but less of a problem than you might think. My next train would take me to another place I’ve long wanted to visit, North Berwick.
Train 4
Service: 2Y16 1233 Edinburgh to North Berwick
Operator: ScotRail
Class: 380 (380102)
My journey
Whole route
Stats: 21.9 miles, 6 stops in 0:33 (39.8 mph)
It was another 380 that headed out along the East Coast Main Line towards the seaside at North Berwick. Normally I’ve travelled along here on an inter-city train heading for London or the midlands, so being on a commuter-style train that stopped at five local stations was a novelty. But just over half an hour later I was there, at the end of a short branch. I looked at my map and was surprised to see that due to the curve of the coastline I was actually north of Edinburgh.
North Berwick isn’t a bad place at all. The walk down from the station leads to a promenade separated from the sea by narrow golf links, not rare in Scotland, with a footpath across it. There’s sand and sea, and rocks, and the distant prospect of Bass Rock. There are not, however, many places to eat on a Sunday lunchtime. There was a café close to the jetty and there was the Scottish Seabird Centre. I wandered into the latter to look around the shop, see if there was space in the café (no) and to inspect the plumbing, but I didn’t pay my entry fee to go down to the exhibition. Boards announced that they run boat trips, but I’d missed them all for that day.
Oh well, let’s head back to the station. Except: I could just pop in and ask if this pub, the Auld Hoose, has food. No, it doesn’t. But it seemed like a proper locals’ pub, so I dined on Summer Lightning, all the way from Salisbury, Wiltshire, with a side of salt and vinegar crisps. The others in the bar were mainly men of varying ages, just sitting and chatting. Every few minutes a scruffy, smelly old dog would wander over to me to paw my leg, insisting that I should fuss her. I was happy. The atmosphere was nice (except in the immediate vicinity of the dog) and it was good to see a traditional pub hanging on in today’s hostile market.
Train 5
Service: 2Y17 1520 North Berwick to Edinburgh Waverley
Operator: ScotRail
Class: 380
My journey
Whole Route
Stats: 41.4 miles, 7 stops in 0:32 (41.1 mph)
Back at the station there were quite a few people. When the train arrived I noticed that it was six cars long, double the length of the train that had carried me here. And it was busy. Why? Is there a reason that many people go to Edinburgh early on a Sunday afternoon?
In any case we made speedy progress back down the ECML to Edinburgh. I’d planned more for today, including either a ride on the recently-reopened line to Tweedbank or a circuit of the Fife circle, but the football match at Murrayfield made me reconsider.
Train 6
Service: 1S43 0635 Penzance to Glasgow Central
Operator: CrossCountry
Class: 220/221
My journey
Edinburgh to Glasgow Central
Stats: 57.3 miles, 3 stops in 0:58 (59.3 mph)
I looked for the fastest way back to Glasgow and saw there was a CrossCountry service due soon that had come all the way from Penzance. This would take me to Glasgow Central via the slightly circuitous route through Carstairs. After Edinburgh it stopped only at Motherwell but despite being a Voyager, so capable of fast speeds and high acceleration, it still took almost an hour. That’s because this route is ten miles longer than the one via Falkirk High.
I really don’t like the CrossCountry Voyager trains. This one didn’t suffer from the toilet smell that I associate with the class, but it’s still the case that the windows don’t even try to align with the seats, even in first, and they feel a bit claustrophobic. Still, at least I was on it for less than an hour. On my last trip I travelled on one from Aberdeen to Penzance.
So, after an enjoyable day but with relatively little rail travel, I found myself back in Glasgow. For food I visited one of those all you can eat world buffets, which kept me afloat but would win no awards. But, with only a very slight deviation, I could walk back to my hotel via The Pot Still, a pub with a few hand pumps and, they claim, 750 whiskies. The barman was straight from central casting, a huge man with a kilt and a large red beard. When I asked him which whisky he’d recommend to chase the half of beer I’d ordered he spent ages patiently describing my options, despite the lengthening queue behind me. A great pub, but I didn’t stay long.
I was leaving Glasgow tomorrow, early, but had grown to like the place.