Scotland’s Railways

Back in March, not long after I’d completed my Aberdeen to Penzance mega train ride, I had a free day. Still in railway mode, I decided to head up to Glasgow and purchase a Strathclyde Roundabout ticket for the princely sum of £7.40. This gave me a day’s off peak travel on Glasgow’s suburban railways, much of which I had never travelled on before. I had no plan, just to start at Paisley Canal St station, take the short ride to Glasgow Central and choose whatever trains that subsequently took my fancy. That day saw me visit the delights of Newton, Hamilton, Dalmuir and <Neilston>, the last of which is displayed on the departure boards at Central Station with the < and > to aid passengers in distinguishing between it and Newton. Many a rushed commuter had caught the wrong train home in the past so a solution was sought and for all I know it probably works. There wasn’t much in the way of nice scenery and some of the trains were old and smelly but it was interesting getting to know some of Glasgow’s urban and suburban rail network, the largest in the UK outside of London. Having travelled on new ‘metals’ (its a word trainfans use to mean ‘tracks’ as having an extra syllable is as important as the right anorak) that day, along with some more on the earlier cross country trip, I started to wonder just how much of the Scottish passenger rail network I had not been on. I downloaded a couple of maps off the Scotrail website and a plan was formulated. It wasn’t a very complex plan: I was to travel on every mile of the network with a time limit of whenever.

Yellow highlighted lines already completed…

…with still a fair bit of the Central Belt left.

The maps showed me that I’d done a fair bit of the network as it was. Of the ‘biggies’ the West Highland Line, Highland Line, Stranraer Line, Dundee-Aberdeen Line, West Coast and East Coast Mainlines, Kilmarnock, Dumfries and Carlisle Line along with a number of Glasgow-Edinburgh lines were already in the bag so to speak. However, three major lines in the north of the country were notably absent from my tally along with plenty more suburban lines in Glasgow, the Central Belt, Edinburgh and Fife. There was also an annoying number of short branch lines to places like North Berwick and Ardrossan Harbour that would prove a bit tricky. The East Kilbride Line would have to wait as it was closed whilst being upgraded and whilst the line from Kilmarnock to Glasgow was technically ticked off, it must be more than forty years ago that I travelled on it so I was never quite happy that it counted. So plenty to do, best to crack on.

I hastily arranged a trip to Inverness to bag those lines at the northern extremity of the British railway network. I purchased a Spirit of Scotland Rover ticket for £100 with a railcard (£155 if you don’t have one). This gave me four days of travel within an eight day period on any train within Scotland with the exception of some, but not all, peak morning services. Unlike my day on the suburban railways of Glasgow, I made a plan and set off. The Rover ticket allowed me to take a leisurely route up to Inverness thereby ticking off the Glasgow-Edinburgh via Shotts line and most of the Fife lines that I needed. Annoyingly the branch to Leven wasn’t completed and I’d have to formulate a plan to do that later. In Inverness I checked in to my cheap and not exactly cheerful hotel – when in Inverness do yourself a favour and pay a bit extra to stay in hotel that isn’t the Waverley Guest House – and prepared myself for the early start the following morning. The first train to Thurso and Wick departed Inverness at 07:00 and the Rover Ticket is accepted on this route despite the ‘peak’ departure. The Far North Line takes over four hours to reach Wick having first branched off to Thurso to visit Britain’s most northerly railway station before returning to Britain’s most northerly railway junction and continuing on to Wick. I had actually done some of this line before but north of Dunrobin Castle it was new ‘metals’ for me. Once in Wick the obvious option was to return to Inverness but I had an alternative plan. I’d take Wick Airport’s one daily service to Aberdeen, thereby ticking off another airport in another potential challenge, and get a bus to the city’s station. There I would catch the next train to Inverness which meant I’d complete another line before dinner. The following day I needed to get home but not before I’d ticked off the Kyle of Lochalsh Line, an outrageously scenic trundle from the east coast to the west. I had to do this both ways before catching the train from Inverness back to Glasgow with a small detour to Alloa on the way to capture one of those annoying little branchlines I was talking about. Even in Glasgow I managed to tick off a stretch of suburban railway that might otherwise have been a bit of a pain to complete, before returning home.

The Rover Ticket still had one day left on it and a few days later I used it to do more of the Glasgow suburban lines including extremities such as Helensburgh, Gourock and the legendary Cathcart Circle. That left plenty of suburban lines still to do and through a mixture of opportunism and another Strathclyde Roundabout ticket, I ticked them off by late-May. The East Kilbride line had reopened and was the last of the Glasgow lines to be completed. This left just two small branchlines to do, North Berwick to the east of Edinburgh and Leven in Fife, the latter being a newly reopened line that had been closed to passengers following the Beeching Report on the 60s. It took me a while to get round to doing them as summer stuff had got in the way. On August 27, however, I set out from Troon via the Kilmarnock Line, thereby taking away my unease at a journey forty years ago counting towards the total, to Glasgow and then Edinburgh. There I changed onto the local service to North Berwick and removed that short branch off the East Coast Mainline from my to do list. Back at Edinburgh I changed onto a train to Leven and prepared to tick off the last short stretch of railway – only for signalling problems that saw the service cancelled at Kirkcaldy. An hour on the platform at Kirkcaldy is long enough for anyone but thankfully the issue was fixed by the time the next scheduled service came along. I got on it and a short while later we branched off the main line onto the curiously meandering line to Leven. At 15:16 the train pulled into Leven Station and my not exactly onerous quest to ride on all of Scotland’s passenger railways was complete.

Scotland’s Railways complete. Note: the carriage behind was not the one I’d travelled in.

Well, almost. Technically speaking there is a short section of track on the Fife Circle and another near Cathcart in Glasgow where passenger trains sometimes route but I’ve discounted these as they don’t contain any stations. I’ll maybe get round to doing them someday, just for the hell of it. Anyway, enough of the boring stuff, what you all want to know is what are my favourite bits of the network, where are the hidden gems, which bits are the most depressing and other stuff that might make you want to jump on a Scotrail Class 150.

Best Line

The West Coast Highland Line takes the gold medal, though it is a close run thing. The journey from Glasgow Queen Street to Mallaig is just spectacular. Sure, the Scotrail trains aren’t up to much but they’ve got big windows from which to enjoy the big country outside. Branching off the North Clyde line at Helensburgh, the line climbs high above Gare Loch and Loch Long before cutting through a gap in the hills at Arrochar. Loch Lomond is on the other side of the gap and the line heads north along its bonnie, bonnie banks to Crianlarich. There the train splits with one half heading along the Oban branch, itself quite spectacular, the other beginning the climb up to the bleak Rannoch Moor. Traversing the moor, the train calls at Corrour Station, 15 miles from the closest public road, before travelling high above Loch Treig and then following the River Spean around the north of the Ben Nevis range. After pulling into Fort William Station, the train reverses out again and branches off to the northwest, passing Neptune’s Staircase on the Caledonian Canal. Following the northern banks of Loch Eil, the train then crosses the iconic Glenfinnan Viaduct, that of Harry Potter fame, heading west to Arisaig, Britain’s most westerly railway station. The Small Isles of Muck, Eigg and Rum are visible as the train heads north to its destination of Mallaig. The journey takes five and a quarter hours. There are alternatives to Scotrail’s old DMUs though and good ones at that. You can take the Caledonian Sleeper from Euston to Fort William, waking up on the banks of Loch Lomond and having breakfast as Rannoch Moor goes by is really quite special. You can also do the section from Fort William to Mallaig steam hauled in heritage rolling stock during the summer months which is perhaps even more special, as long as it is running which it wasn’t the last time I tried it.

Glasgow – Fort William is particularly scenic in Autumn…

Fort William – Malaig. Do it steam hauled if you can. You’ll see nice things no matter what is hauling you though like Our Lady of the Braes…

…the Small Isles and of course, Glenfinnan Viaduct.

Hidden Gem

Ayr-Stranraer Line. This line endured thanks to a connection with the ferries from Stranraer to Belfast, but they ceased a few years ago. Stranraer Station still lies next to the abandoned ferry port. The ferries now go from Cairnryan a couple of miles up the coast from Stranraer and there is a connecting bus from Ayr Station for those relying on public transport. Luckily, closing railway lines is a particularly tricky thing to do nowadays and several trains a day make the journey to Stranraer largely devoid of passengers. It is very scenic with both coastal and countryside views and a surprising amount of wilderness to observe. You can also have a chuckle at the name Glenwhillie on the side of a signal box miles from anywhere of note.

Not spectacular but generally rather pleasant with Ailsa Craig keeping you company for some of the way.

More Scenic Lines

The Kyle of Lochalsh Line is almost as good as the West Highland Line. The scenery is just as good but you only get two and a half hours of it rather than five and a half. Like the Stranraer Line it used to connect to a ferry which is probably why it survived the Beeching Cuts of the 60s but there is a bridge to Skye now and the line is served by a mere four trains per day. Catch one though, you won’t regret it.

Of course, doing the Kyle Line on a glorious day helps.

The Kyle Line is almost the Skye Line, Skye being the other side of that bridge.

The Far North Line is rather spectacular in places though not as dramatic as the West Highland and Kyle lines. It is definitely worth doing though and has the feel of being on some sort of expedition rather than a simple train ride.

The Far North Line is all sea lochs and wilderness.

Basic station facilities at Altnabreac and me at the end of the line.

Edinburgh-Dundee-Aberdeen gets a mention too. Not only is the scenery great, you get to traverse two iconic bridges, the Tay Bridge and the mighty Forth Bridge.

Best Suburban Lines

Very subjective this but I rather enjoyed the East Kilbride Line when I finally got to ride on it. Unlike most of Glasgow’s suburban railway network, it seemed to pass through rather pleasant suburbs and even a bit of countryside before reaching its new town destination.

Sadly, I took no photos other than this end of the line selfie so you’ll have to take my word for it.

There’s nice views of the Clyde along the Greenock Line and also the line to Helensburgh and whilst I’m so used to it now I barely notice, the Ayr line is pleasing on the eye in sections.

Firth of Clyde from the north looking south and the south looking north.

Neil’s Least Favourite Lines

To be honest I don’t hate any railway line. There are some, however, that are a bit, well, sad. The Glasgow Central Low Level line utilises old rolling stock that smells vaguely of boiled cabbage, as do the subterranean stations in the middle of the city, and when they emerge from the tunnels at either end it is hardly the sort of scenery that makes you want to look out of the window. It’s a good, frequent service though so I’m not knocking it.

Neil’s Favourite Trains

Ignoring the heritage stock that does the Fort William-Malaig tourist run and non-Scotrail operators, there can only be one train that takes the crown. A train that, sadly, is unlikely to be gracing the Scottish network for much longer. That is the Class 43, better known as the Inter City 125. Back when I blogged about them in 2019 they were in the process of being introduced onto the Scottish network. Since then they have all been refurbished and their classy interiors disguise the fact that the trains are over 40 years old. Not that you really want to disguise the age of these classic trains, they have so much more appeal than the other types on the Scotrail network. They are due to be replaced soon by new, unspecified stock. You can bet your bottom dollar that the replacements will be soulless and probably have hard seats.

Inter City 125, what an icon and me in an Inter City 125, what an icon.

Neil’s Favourite Stations

Weymss Bay is the jewel in the crown of Scottish Stations. It is a Victorian masterpiece and I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves. As for a major station, it’s hard to look past Glasgow Central, Scotland’s busiest, another Victorian masterpiece but on a grand scale.

Neil’s Summary

Neil says ‘do it’ but then Neil would, wouldn’t he? I like travelling by train and find the history of the railways interesting. Like most people I enjoy gazing at spectacular scenery, unlike most people I can spend hours doing it and little else. See my Trans Canada epic journey for if you need convincing. Scotland has some lovely lines that I can’t guarantee you will enjoy them would be very surprised if you didn’t. As for the other, non-lovely lines? You may need to be a bit of a train nerd to enjoy them. Now, should I do Wales next?

Cross Country

Apologies for the lack of action on this blogging site. I tend to do mini blogs on Facebook, usually day by day on any trips I make. I feel this is adequate for the stuff I’m doing but I really ought to make the effort to blog about entire trips or anything that takes my fancy. It’s not been happening though and it is possible that I might wind the site up when it comes to the annual invoice from WordPress. We will see. To prove to myself I’m still in the zone for blog writing, I’m sharing with you a little trip I did recently. A year or so ago I travelled down to Stourbridge in the West Midlands to ride on the Stourbridge Shuttle, a train ride that lasts all of three minutes. You can read about it here although it was more about the reaction to it than the journey itself. It turns out that that particular train trip is the shortest in the country. Yes, there are stations closer together but the trains connecting them do not start and end there. The Stourbridge Shuttle completes an entire 0.8 mile journey between its point of departure and final destination. So what? I hear you say. Well, if that is the shortest, there has to be a longest. Once again by longest we are meaning a complete journey by one train. You could travel from the far north of Scotland to the extreme south west of England but you would have to change trains a few times. The longest single journey is, however, from the not quite far north of Scotland to the extreme south west of England. It departs Aberdeen at 08:20 each weekday and arrives in Penzance at 21:31. As the return service doesn’t go all the way to Aberdeen, the southbound service is officially the longest train ride in the country at 13 hrs 11 mins and 774 or 785 miles depending on which source you believe. I had to do it, didn’t I?

Unlike the Stourbridge experience I couldn’t do the journey to Aberdeen and back from Penzance in a day so I had to do a bit of forward planning. I’d head to Aberdeen the day before, spend a night in a Premier Inn, do the trip, spend another night in a Premier Inn in Penzance and return home the day after. All tickets and hotels were secured at the beginning of January which was handy as there was a sale on, part of Railway 200 celebrations. The hotels were inexpensive too. I’ll reveal the costings at the end. To get to Aberdeen I took the local Scotrail service to Glasgow Central, walked to Queen Street and took the Inter7City service to Aberdeen. The nice thing about the latter service was that it was on board an Inter City 125, the world’s fastest diesel train, the grand old lady of active British trains. Whilst their days of doing 125mph have past they still provide a comfortable and pleasant ride between Scotland’s seven cities despite being well over forty years old. Having obtained them from GWR and refurbished them to modern standards seven years ago, Scotrail have stated that they are going to get rid of them and replace them with something almost certainly less exciting and probably less comfortable too. This seems to be the way with trains at the moment. Whatever happens, I was glad to get this opportunity to ride in one and it delivered me to Aberdeen on time. A wander through a strangely quiet town centre got me to the Premier Inn and a handy curry house nearby.

Class 43, aka Intercity 125. Looks cool. Is.

Retracing my steps the following morning, I returned to the station in good time for the 08:20 departure. The train was sitting at the platform having arrived from Dundee earlier which allowed me to take the necessary photographs before boarding and finding my seat for the next 13.5 hours. The train was a Class 220 Voyager operated by Cross Country Trains. The train and indeed the company are not particularly well loved by the travelling public. It was a four car unit which gave it a passenger capacity that would prove woefully inadequate later. The front carriage was reserved for First Class passengers and it was here where my seat was situated. There was a not insubstantial premium to travel in First Class, an amount that was far more than the value of the included catering we were supposed to receive. It was, however, worth it for the extra amount of personal space it gave you and the fact it meant avoiding the overcrowded Standard Class carriages further back. If I was going to be on the train for over thirteen hours I wanted to be as comfortable as possible. The chair itself was nothing special – it was a bit worn and not particularly kind to the old bum but there was a bit of recline which was nice and being a solo seat there was no need to worry about facing or sitting beside some other traveller. I had read that a forward facing seat on the left hand side was the best for the views. Mine was rearward facing and on the right. I wasn’t too disappointed but I did miss out of photographing most of the interesting sights on the way which is possibly a blessing as there’s not many worth including in this blog. We departed Aberdeen right on time and were immediately subjected to a ticket check. The carriage steward came down the aisle and served us hot drinks and some seventeen minutes after departing we made a stop at Stonehaven. This was the first of 39 intermediate stations we would call at including some biggies like York and Birmingham New Street and some small ones like Ladybank and Liskeard. We would sit at some stations for a few minutes as the train crews were changed and supplies were reloaded but for most of them we spent no more than a minute. Before the second stop, Montrose, the steward handed out bacon rolls which looked a bit insipid but were not actually too bad. For the next few hours we were regularly visited by the steward with drinks and snacks. No alcohol though, my request for a beer went unheeded. I could have gone in to Standard Class and bought one from their trolly service but I wasn’t that desperate, not a 11 in the morning at any rate. The first of several notable bridges was crossed after leaving Dundee. The Tay Bridge, which we crossed seemingly at snail’s pace, impressively spans (of which there are many) the Firth of Tay and deposits southbound trains in the Kingdom of Fife where the aforementioned Ladybank is one of the small towns we would visit in that grandly named county. We left Fife by way of notable bridge number two, the Forth Bridge, possibly the most impressive piece of Victorian engineering in Britain. Like most bridges it is better seen when not on it but it is still an impressive sight seeing the bits of the structure pass by just a few feet away.

My seat for the next 13+ hours. It was ok, not exactly plush but better than Standard Class.

First Class Catering. No silver service on Cross Country.

Tay Bridge, it has lasted longer than the original.

Forth Bridge. Scotland’s Eiffel Tower, only better.

Edinburgh Castle in moody silhouette and Arthur’s Seat hiding behind a fence.

My rather pathetic attempt at capturing the Scotland (unicorn)/England (lion) border.

Tyne Bridges and Durham Cathedral. As with the Tay Bridge I had to sneak over to the other side to get the photo.

Our first extended stop was Edinburgh Waverley where there was even enough time to stretch my legs on the platform. That brought back memories of ‘smoke’ stops on long distance trains in Canada and the USA, not that anyone could have a fag of course. The train then followed the East Coast Mainline which for some of its length runs along the coast either side of the Scotland/England border. That border was passed nearly three and a half hours after departing Aberdeen. At Newcastle we got a crew change but the galley wasn’t restocked as it should have been so any chance of something warm for lunch was gone. Leaving the ECML just to the south of York, we entered the best part of God’s Own County, the West bit. Passing through Wakefield I caught sight of the mighty Emley Moor Mast and was tantalisingly close to the place I spent my formative years. Not for long though, we entered South Yorkshire with the stop at Sheffield being the half way point of the journey. I was feeling good, if slightly peckish. The train, however, was getting busy. The seat reservations were confusing a lot of people in First Class. Back in steerage the aisles and vestibules were filling up with standing passengers. Passing through the East Midlands on what for me are unfamiliar tracks, the scenic stretches dried up somewhat. The West Midlands was no improvement, Birmingham is a huge industrial sprawl when seen from the train.

Emley Moor Mast, proudly thrusting skywards and Chesterfield’s spire, wonkily thrusting skywards.

I finally resort to listening to IQ as outside the window the midlands didn’t have much to offer. Except the HS2 work in Birmingham.

Our arrival at New Street allowed the galleys to be restocked, not that we’d find out until much later. The train was, by now, absolutely rammed which may have had something to do with the horse racing at Cheltenham. If it was not that, several gentlemen on board were going to a fancy dress party dressed as turf accountants. Arriving at Cheltenham itself didn’t improve the situation and it wasn’t until Bristol that things started to ease and Exeter before there were any unoccupied seats. Meanwhile someone discovered that there had indeed been some provisions loaded in Birmingham but the trolly service was suspended due to aisles and vestibules being blocked. If you wanted something you had to visit the galley. By the time I realised this the only hot option was a sausage roll so I had it. After Bristol the catering ended although we were welcome to raid the remaining snacks and soft drinks. Scenery wise, things had picked up after escaping the Birmingham conurbation as we skirted the cotswolds before Bristol and enjoyed a pleasant Somerset sunset after. By the time we reached Exeter at 18:45 the light had faded and the rest of the journey was completed in darkness. This meant missing seeing the stretch of line along the seawall at Dawlish, the Royal Albert Bridge and the scenic Cornish countryside. With the last three hours of the journey taking place in darkness, things started to drag. As the last few stations were ticked off, however, Penzance was getting closer and at 21:42, some eleven minutes behind schedule, we pulled into Platform 4 and came to a standstill. Britain’s longest (single) train journey done and dusted.

A Somerset Sunset means the solar panels are little more than rural artwork until sunrise the following day.

Your correspondent reporting from Penzance, his epic journey completed.

Penzance welcomed me when I arrived but I waited until the morning to photo the welcoming committee. The train that delivered me there is behind and just about to depart, destination Edinburgh.

That evening’s Premier Inn was just across the road from the station and a little further was USA Chicken which, thankfully, was open. It was more kebab shop than a KFC clone but it provided me a fried chicken wrap the size of a well inflated rugby ball. My hunger didn’t last long. My journey home started at 09:10 the following morning with a ride in a GWR Class 802 IET to London Paddington. This is another train that is loathed by railway enthusiasts but in reality, apart from a lack of padding in the seats, it is a decent machine on which to make a five hour journey to the capital. I was in First Class again as it only cost £7 more than Standard and I really enjoyed the journey. I got to see what I’d missed when it went dark the previous evening and then had the chance to enjoy the Taunton-Reading branch of the Great Western Mainline. From Paddington I caught the Heathrow Express which is vastly overpriced but if you plan more than a month in advance and use a railcard you can pick up a ‘bargain’. From Heathrow it was a BA flight to Glasgow, the airport bus and train from Glasgow Central to Barassie completing the trip.

The Class 802 that would whisk me to London was called Shania Train. GWR have a sense of humour.

Train enthusiasts hate them but I think it looks rather smart. The seat could be a bit softer but otherwise it was fine.

It was nice to get to see what I’d missed in the darkness of the previous evening. Here is the Royal Albert Bridge crossing the Tamar and taking us into Devon.

Speeding along the seawall at Dawlish and the Westbury White Horse. To be fair, the horse was on a different line to the one I came down on.

Would I do it again? No, but that’s not to say I didn’t enjoy it. It’s a long old haul but that’s the point. You get to see a good bit of Britain on the way, warts and all, but the important thing is knowing that you’ve done it. I wasn’t the only one to think the same thing – there were at least five other folk making the journey for the same reason as me and that was just in the First Class carriage. A longer, newer, better catered and more comfortable train would not have gone amiss but I wasn’t expecting Pullman service. Here’s the thing though, it was just as well I did it when I did as this service is due to be curtailed in the middle of May. The train will likely depart Aberdeen and terminate at Plymouth. This will inconvenience hardly anyone other than folk like me that want to do the full journey ‘because it is there’. Its ending will, however, hand over the crown of Britain’s longest (single) rail journey to the Caledonian Sleeper’s service between Euston and Fort William. Will that be on my to do list come May? No, as I already did it five years ago. You can read about it here.

Costings:

Barassie-Aberdeen, Standard Class £22.70 (Split ticket, senior railcard)

Premier Inn Aberdeen £46

Aberdeen-Penzance, First Class £161.55 (Senior Railcard. Standard Class was £62.20)

Premier Inn Penzance £54

Penzance-Paddington, First Class £48.60 (Senior Railcard, Standard Class was £41.00)

Heathrow Express, Standard Class £6.65 (Senior Railcard, one month advanced purchase)

Heathrow-Glasgow with British Airways £58.00

Airport Bus Free (Scottish Entitlement Card)

Glasgow Central-Barassie £5 (Scottish Entitlement Card)

Sleeper

Back in the eighties when I first came up to live in Scotland I was young enough to hold a Young Person’s Railcard. On a couple of occasions I took advantage of it to travel to London just to watch a football match. I seem to remember it only cost in the region of six quid for a day return. To qualify for that day return you had to board the train home before midnight and at the time British Rail ran a service called the Night Rider. Unlike the sleeper service the Night Rider just had normal carriages, not sleeping berths. The train progressed slowly northwards stopping at just about every station on the West Coast Main Line as far as Carlisle, where the electric locomotive was noisily replaced by a diesel which would then haul us at snail’s pace up the Dumfries and Kilmarnock line to Glasgow. The first time I rode it the carriages were old compartmental stock. I managed to get a compartment to myself where I could dim the lights, lie down and nod off, waking up at each of the hundred stops between Euston and Glasgow. The second time the carriages were old First Class mainline carriages. Worn hard by the bottoms of numerous fat cats over the previous years, they didn’t recline and the carriage was bathed in the type of light that penetrates even the tightest shut eyelid. Sleep was impossible. The journey took an eternity but it felt far longer than that. When I finally reached Glasgow Central, my ebb had sunk to the bottom of the Marianas Trench. It was brutal. The Night Rider stopped not long after my second trip which I’m sure made a distinct improvement to the suicide rate in both Glasgow and London.

But enough of the personal history lesson. Despite those bad experiences of overnight train travel I have for some time hankered to attempt it once more. Not on a seat of course, that would be masochistic, but on a proper sleeper service. Sleepers have operated between London and Scotland since 1873. In 1996 Scotrail took over the running of the service and named it the Caledonian Sleeper. In 2014 the franchise was awarded to Serco with the promise of major investment in the service. This was good news as one of the things that put me off using the sleeper was the old carriages. Cabins either contained one bed (First Class) or two bunk beds (Standard Class). Purchasing a single ticket in Standard Class meant you were likely to be buddied up with a stranger of the same sex which was a bit off putting. I mean I don’t, erm, snore and my farts smell of roses, honest, but I suspect the chances of being paired off with someone of a similarly pleasant nocturnal disposition were slim. I could have raided my piggy bank and gone for a First Class berth. Even that was unappealing. The cabins had a sink but there was always the niggling problem of what to do when you needed a wee in the middle of the night. There were lavatories at the end of the carriage but wandering down the corridor in your boxers didn’t seem quite right and bare feet in a train toilet is right out. You’d basically have to get dressed every time your bladder decided it had reached capacity. Then, in the morning, I do quite like to have a shower but a sink was all that was available to do one’s ablutions. Consequently I never experienced the old sleeper trains. Would the new ones be any better? Well, according to the hype put out by Caledonian Sleeper it was a big yes. There would be four choices of accommodation for the overnight services. At the bottom end of the scale was a seat. It may well be a comfy seat but it was a seat nevertheless. Sod that. The memories of the Night Rider have not yet faded. Going on a sleeper service meant reserving a place to sleep.

(If you are wondering where the photos are don’t worry, they are coming)

Of the three rooms available to book, the cheapest was the Classic Room. It has two bunk beds and a sink. Unlike the old Standard Class rooms you could book it for solo occupancy. There was still the problem of the nocturnal wee, however, and the thought that previous passengers may have opted to avoid the corridor walk and utilise the washbasin for that very purpose. It’s bound to have happened. Next up is the Club Room. Like the Classic it has two bunk beds but if you book solo occupancy more than a couple of days in advance the upper bed will be stowed. Crucially, the room has an en-suite and also affords you access to the Club Car, more of which later. At the very top end of the accommodation is the Caledonian Double where you are promised a double bed with a mattress made by the same company that supplies the Queen. Of course it has the en-suite and Club Car access too and it can also be booked for solo occupancy, though I suspect half or even all of the fun would be if you were sharing it with a suitably willing bedmate. Not exactly Mile High but a damn sight more comfortable than an aircraft lavatory I would have thought. Alas, such thoughts were not at the forefront of my mind as I was to be travelling solo on this trip so decided it would have to be the Club Room. The next thing to choose was precisely which service to use.

Caledonian Sleeper operate a service called the Lowland Sleeper. This departs London Euston and when it gets to Carstairs it splits. Half the train goes to Edinburgh, the other half to Glasgow. At the same time another Lowland Sleeper operates the service in the other direction. One of these would be the obvious candidate for me as Glasgow is the nearest terminus to where I live. The other service operated is, as you might have guessed, the Highland Sleeper. This departs Euston a bit earlier and proceeds to Edinburgh where the train splits into three. One heads north to Inverness, another to Aberdeen and the third trundles across to Glasgow and then takes the West Highland Line up to Fort William. The reverse services are of course offered too. The Fort William service was the longest in terms of time, taking nearly thirteen hours to complete the trip and had the bonus of being able to take breakfast as some stunning scenery passes by on one of the most scenic railways in the world. It wasn’t hugely more expensive than the ‘short’ hop to Glasgow so I decided to go for it. Fares vary according to demand and flexibility but my Club Room came in at £205, no refunds. The Classic Room was £170 so in effect I was paying £35 to have a shower, avoid using a communal lavatory and I got a free breakfast too so it was definitely worth it. The Caledonian Double would have been a whopping £395, in effect an extra £190 to sleep on the Queen’s mattress. A seat in the seating carriage was £53 by the way. No. Just no. Interestingly, if you were to share the rooms with someone the prices were £205 for the Classic, £250 for the Club and an eye-watering £470 for the Caledonian Double. Excuse the crudity here but it would have to be one hell of a shag to justify that outlay. Having obtained the ticket for a February Monday night I had then to make the logistical arrangements to ensure I was at London Euston by 21:15 that day and book a handy train from Fort William back to Troon after the scheduled sleeper arrival of 09:58. I swithered with the idea of flying down to London just to annoy Greta but decided that this was going to be a rail journey, just like Michael Portillo only without the silly trousers.

(Photos will be here soon…)

Then Storm Ciara happened. She brought mayhem to the rail network on the Sunday and whilst her anger had abated slightly on the Monday, the knock-on effects threatened to throw the mockers on my planned railway adventure. All the Caledonian Sleeper services on the Sunday night had been cancelled but they were hoping to run the trains on the Monday evening. More of a problem was that the West Coast mainline was closed due to flooding just north of Carlisle. All the Avanti West Coast services were cancelled up until the 13:40 departure from Glasgow. That was my train. It seemed likely it would be cancelled too but as I queued up for the replacement bus to Carlisle an Avanti train pulled in to Platform One. We got on it and it set off bang on time. All went well until we crossed the English border when we stopped. And waited. And waited. The flooding had been cleared but Network Rail had to test the line. This took a long time. We eventually set off again and finally pulled into Euston over two hours late. Thankfully I’d given myself three hours so as tiresome as the delay was it worked to my advantage – two fewer hours to kill in the hideous Euston Station and hopefully a full refund of the £93.50 I paid for my First Class ticket. A quick review of Avanti West Coast First Class: it’s exactly the same as the Virgin West Coast First Class it replaced last December. Same trains, same staff, probably the same menu. I guess that’s franchising for you. The only difference was the livery of the train and announcements which said Avanti West Coast instead of Virgin West Coast. I had a few minutes to have a look at the Avanti West Coast lounge at Euston – your Caledonian Sleeper Club ticket gives you access – before heading to Euston’s Platform One where the Highland Sleeper was waiting.

I must admit I was getting a wee bit excited by now. The train was huge, sixteen carriages long. My allocated room was Number 6 in Coach E. A member of the staff was standing by the door with a clipboard. I gave him my name and he had a look at his list, flipped over a couple of pages and told me my room had been changed to G5 a couple of carriages down. I found it, hopped on board and discovered the room conveniently situated between rooms 6 and 4. I opened the door and… Surely some mistake. G5 had a double bed and presumably the Queen’s mattress. I had been given an upgrade to a Caledonian Double! Maybe Mister Caledonian Sleeper employee had got it wrong. I wasn’t going back to him and tell him though as I’d probably been moved for operational reasons and if not why embarrass the guy? I had a quick look around but decided I’d discover what the room had to offer a bit later. Before then I went to discover the rest of the train. Quite a long walk down the platform got me to the front where I got the geeky photo of the Class 92 Electric locomotive stood resplendent in it’s Caledonian Sleeper livery. Normally a freight hauler, this and several other Class 92s are tasked with hauling the sleeper on the electrified sections of the route. Back on board the train I discovered two seating carriages and two Club Cars. One of each was allocated to the Inverness section of the train, the others to the Aberdeen section. What about Fort William though? Caledonian Sleeper have a little trick up their sleeve for that. In the meantime Fort William passengers in Club or Double would utilise the Aberdeen Club Car whilst those hardy types who had booked their £53 seat for the journey would be sharing the seating car with those going to Aberdeen. The correct Club Car discovered, I headed back to G5 just as the train was pulling out of Euston.

This freight hauler was pulling a cargo of sleepy humans that night.

So what do you get for your £395 Caledonian Double? I tried to be rational despite only paying a little over half that amount for it. An understandably compact space for a start. Capacious it is not. Most of the space is taken up by the bed which can only just be described as a double. It is certainly big enough for one and probably big enough for two who like each other’s company and are not too fat. There’s a space beneath the bed to store a bag, a couple of hangers to hang stuff, a rather shallow sink, a retractable table underneath said sink, a couple of storage trays for your bits and pieces, plenty of sockets and USB ports and a control panel for the lights and room heating. The limited space was used well. A door led to the en-suite. On first inspection this had a wooden seat and a shower. However, the wooden seat lifted to reveal a toilet and a bog roll. It was emphasised that the toilet cover should be down when the shower was in use and if required you could sit on the cover whilst showering. Towels were stored in a string bag hanging on a hook in the en-suite. Best not to keep them there when you are showering. On the bed were three amenity kits for some reason. Squeezing the third person into the room would definitely be a bit of a push but I suspect the third bag was a bonus. The other two had identical toiletries, a bottle of water and a pack containing a bar of soap, eye mask and ear plugs. The third was a cloth bag containing the same toiletries only in bigger bottles. Whether or not it should have been there, that one came home with me.

Rooms are accessed through this narrow corridor .

Behold, the Caledonian Double with a mattress fit for a Queen.

And here is the en-suite. But where’s the loo?

The sink. It doesn’t need to be filled too much for the water to slop over the side.

Hidden table if you prefer room service to socialising in the Club Car.

The seating car. Thirteen hours overnight? No thanks.

As it wasn’t yet time to road test the room, I headed to the Club Car. This is described as the heart of the Caledonian Sleeper, a place to eat, drink and socialise with like minded people feeling smug that they aren’t flying Easyjet. Unless those like minded people are in the seating coach as they aren’t allowed in. If you are in a Classic Room you are allowed in as long as there is space otherwise you are confined to your billet for the entire journey, lavatory breaks notwithstanding. There’s usually space though. One side of the carriage has tables and seats, the other a peculiar saw tooth bench and bar stools. I half expected The Fabulous Baker Boys to pitch up with Michelle Pfeiffer sprawled on a Grand Piano but I’m guessing size constraints preclude it. I decided to eat there, purely for research purposes. The menu was suitably Scottish, prices were reasonable for onboard catering and the food actually looked quite good. I had the soup, some lentil and pepper concoction that was very pleasant though it’s flatulent effects mean I’d give it a miss if you are sharing your room with someone you like. The same could probably be said for my main course which, bearing in mind I was on the Highland Sleeper and heading for Fort William, I felt could only be the Haggis, Neeps and Tatties with a whisky cream sauce. It fitted the bill quite nicely. Many different Scotch whiskies are on offer but I’m not a fan so I plumped for a lager. A Scottish one mind you. As for the socialising aspect I didn’t partake, despite sharing the table with a bloke who plumped for the Macaroni Cheese and about five different whiskies. He was busy on his laptop – the on-board wifi was good – and I’m pretty useless at socialising with strangers when it gets down to it. Others in the carriage didn’t seem to be suffering from a similar lack of social skills. Fed, watered and passing Milton Keynes, I decided it was time to retire to G5 and the Queen’s Mattress.

Club Car. Make friends for life here. Or a few hours at least.

Lentil and Pepper Soup. Recommended for those in solo occupancy rooms only.

Haggis, Neeps and Tatties. It’s not the Caledonian Sleeper for nothing.

Once ensconced in the room I did, for the first time ever, get undressed on a train. I pulled on my night attire (boxer shorts), brushed my teeth using the bottled water (the tap water was not suitable for drinking) and got in to bed. The bedding was lovely, as were the pillows. The mattress was comfortable enough but if I’m being honest I felt it was a bit thin considering it is the mattress of choice for the reigning monarch. Perhaps Her Majesty prefers just a tad of discomfort to feel more at one with her subjects. Maybe she should be told that most of her subject sleep on thicker mattresses. Anyway, it was a minor complaint and overall it felt very comfortable. I read a bit before deciding it was time to put the bed to the ultimate test. Well, almost the ultimate test. It was time to try and sleep. I pulled the window blind down and turned the lights off. It didn’t go pitch black. There was a light in the en-suite that remained on and was seeping out through the door jamb. Also, the control panels various switches were illuminated and these cast out far more photons than you might think, bathing the room in a dim cyan glow. That’s why there’s an eye mask in the amenity kit I thought. I don’t like eye masks though so decided that shutting my eyes might be sufficient. I drifted off to sleep. I woke up again. I drifted off once more. I woke up again. This pattern continued until 04:30 when I had a peek outside and discovered we were at Edinburgh’s Waverley Station. I had slept on and off but the quality of the sleep wasn’t very good. There were two reasons for this. The motion of the train is surprisingly jerky. It was like being on a plane going through light to moderate turbulence. I later spoke to a steward who said that the old carriages had a more gentle rocking motion which some people found aided rather than hindered sleep. Despite the new stock being thirty years newer than the old, the ride quality is noticeably worse. This also added to the second problem which was the noise. The normal noises concerned with train operation are not suppressed and are joined by assorted rattles and creaks brought about by the jerky motion of the carriage. I tried the ear plugs included in the amenity kit. Not a single decibel was kept from my tympanic membrane by those green bits of putty so they were quickly cast aside. At Waverley the carriages for Inverness and Aberdeen were uncoupled from the Fort William carriages which had kept them separate on the journey up from London. A new Club Car and Seating carriage was attached – presumably those seated passengers to Fort William had to hang around on the platform whilst the new coach manoeuvred in to position – and after what seemed quite a long time we pulled out of Edinburgh heading west. I decided that it would be a good time to try and get a bit more sleep. This was much more successful. I believe this might have been down to the fact the train went significantly slower so it didn’t rattle about as much. Or perhaps I was just tired. I woke up at 07:30. We had just left Helensburgh High and were heading up the side of the Gareloch. We were on the West Highland Line and the inky light of dawn was beginning to illuminate the countryside. This is why I decided to take the Highland Sleeper to Fort William rather than the Lowland Sleeper to Glasgow.

Time to wake up. Let’s see, where are we now?

Shower time! It’s a bit feeble and not exactly hot but I’d paid extra for the shower so I was going to damn well use it.

Shaving was a slightly hazardous pastime on this train.

Before I could enjoy the scenery I had to road test the en-suite facilities. The toilet worked well, that’s all I have to say on that particular matter, and with the wooden cover very firmly down I turned on the shower. A power shower it wasn’t. The water dribbled out at a leisurely pace and despite it being at its maximum setting, the temperature never rose above tepid. I could live with the low pressure but the lack of heat was a bit disappointing. It wasn’t a place to linger but perhaps that is just as well as I might have missed some of the wondrous sights that were passing by outside the window. Dried and dressed I headed to the Club Car for breakfast. It wasn’t there. It took me a while to realise that the one I’d been in for dinner was now at approaching Aberdeen and the new one that had been attached at Edinburgh was in the other direction. I found it and noticed I had a reserved table with my name on it and everything. I was impressed. Breakfast is ordered when you board the train and I’d plumped for the Highland Breakfast as I thought it was as appropriate as the haggis had been the night before. It duly arrived and I enjoyed a splendid breakfast as we climbed up the imposing Rannoch Moor. I’ve been on the West Highland Line before. Perhaps the best time to go is in the autumn thanks to the russet and ochre colours that cast the Highlands in a glorious light. However, the monochrome of winter is almost as impressive as we passed from clear skies to snow showers and mountains tops lost in the mist. Rannoch Moor itself was for a while in almost white out conditions but the fifty year old Class 73 which had hauled us from Edinburgh took it all in its stride whilst we watched in awe from the comfort of our air conditioned carriage. I say ‘we’, there was just four or five passengers in the Club Car. It seemed a bit of a waste of one of the train’s best resources. They say it’s the most beautiful train ride in the world. There’s other trains that might dispute that claim but by golly it’s good. As the train passed Ben Nevis I headed back to G5 where I packed up and we pulled into Fort William forty minutes late.

Near Bridge of Orchy the line draws a contour round this valley. Where we are heading…

It’s a single line so at Bridge of Orchy we had to wait for the Scotrail train to pass…

…before heading out onto the bleak Rannoch Moor.

Corrour Station. I’ll be here again in May. Hopefully the snow will have melted.

Loch Treig as we gradually descend back to sea level.

Ben Nevis! It’s the one in the middle covered in cloud.

There’s a Caledonian Sleeper lounge in Fort William that can be used by arriving passengers who had travelled in the Club and Double rooms. I had a Tunnocks Teacake there before walking down the high street and back just to stretch the legs. It was cold and damp. The Scotrail service to Glasgow left an hour or so after I’d arrived. Whilst that train was hardly as luxurious as the one that had delivered me to Fort William, the views were the same and I simply sat and enjoyed them through the rather grubby window. Four hours later I was hoofing it from Queen Street to Central to board another train home. By the time I got there I’d spent 25 of the previous 29 hours on board trains. If the environmentalists are right I’m probably personally responsible for saving the planet.

This re-engined Class 73 is more than fifty years old and has just hauled us from Edinburgh to Fort William.

Conclusion time: I really enjoyed the experience. It is something I’ve wanted to do for ages and I’m delighted I finally got the chance. Will the Caledonian Sleeper be my new favoured way of travelling between home and London? No. What was particularly good about the journey I made was waking up with three hours of the West Highland Line still to go. It was the journey itself that made it special. The novelty of sleeper travel would soon ware off if I was using it purely as a way to get from A to B. For a start it’s expensive, though I do get the argument that it could save you the cost of a night’s accommodation which at London prices makes the sleeper seem like a good deal. The Club Car is nice, the food is decent and the staff are very friendly but what you really want on a sleeper is a good night’s sleep. Being upgraded to the Caledonian Double should have given me the best chance of a decent slumber yet it didn’t really happen for me. The somewhat erratic motion and to a lesser extent the noise conspired to make it a rather restless night on the Queen’s mattress. Having said that, the line up to Inverness is rather nice…

Inter City

Back in the seventies the promotional department of British Rail, the nationalised rail company, commissioned an advert that ran on the one commercial television station, ITV. In those days there was no chance of recording a programme and whizzing the playback on during the commercial breaks so this type of advertising was very effective, especially if it utilised a catchy tune. Despite it being aired over forty years ago I can remember the advert and the beginning of the song quite clearly. A woman on a train starts singing:

We’ll travel InterCity like the men do

Inter City Sitting Pretty all the way…

The camera pans out to reveal a carriage load of ladies who all join in with the song which mentions getting away from the kitchen sink and suchlike. It ends with the line:

Away from it all and home again

The advert finishes with a view of a train crossing a viaduct in the sunset. It is hard to imagine an advert like that being aired today. Surely there would be a Twitterstorm of outrage at such blatant misogyny even though the advertisers of the day would claim it was a small step on the road to women’s rights. Women were allowed to travel Inter City before of course, it was just something that maybe they hadn’t thought of, being weak and feeble women and all that. Whatever, if the advert increased the amount of ladies taking the train to London, for that is where most Inter City routes went, I have no idea. Cringeworthy though the advert was, British Rail’s later attempts to curry favour with the British public involved hiring Jimmy Saville as the frontman and that didn’t turn out well, did it?

Class 43? No, it will always be an InterCity 125 to me.

It was a train journey I made last week that brought that advert to mind. It wasn’t because I found myself in a carriage of singing ladies, no, it was because the train I was on was some forty years old and of a similar vintage. The train in question was had a Class 43 diesel power car on each end and four Mark 3 coaches between them. Those rather dull designations hide the fact that this was one of a type of train that used to be called InterCity 125. Back in the mid seventies British Rail was in a bit of a mess. Passenger numbers were falling, hence the attempt to entice women on board, and the service was lousy. Running on a Victorian infrastructure, ageing rolling stock was coming to the end of its life and needed replacing. To halt the slide the BR engineers came up with a two new trains, one to run on the electrified West Coast Line and the other on the non-electrified East Coast and Western Region lines. The former was the original tilting train, the Inter City APT, and was something of a disaster. The latter was the Inter City 125 and was a big success. It is said it saved the railways in Britain, a bold claim perhaps but it certainly was a rare bit of good news for a failing service.

At the time it was a big deal. High speed trains had been running in Japan for ten years but no other country had any claim to speed. The French would go on to develop the TGV network and other countries have followed suit but the Inter City 125 in the mid to late seventies was cutting edge. In testing one of the prototypes reached 143.2MPH, a world speed record for a diesel train that stands to this day. Its maximum operational speed, limited by the ancient rail infrastructure, was 125MPH (hence the Inter City 125 name), a speed that shaved an hour off the journey from Edinburgh to London. Prior to their entry into service, the speed limit on Britain’s railways was 100MPH. The trains entered service in 1976 on Western Region and the East Coast Mainline a couple of year later. Living to the east of the Pennines a trip to London suddenly became rather appealing. Catching the train from Wakefield Westgate, the metropolis was just two hours away and the journey was remarkably smooth and quiet. Yes, the British Rail sandwich was just as bad as it always was but who cares when you are travelling at 125MPH through Newark North Gate? The trains did sterling service on the ECML until the line was electrified in 1989. On the line to Bristol, South Wales and the West Country, however, they provided continual service until a year or so ago when they were finally replaced with dual powered Hitachi Class 800 sets. In other words, shiny new trains. I’ve been on one. It was very nice.

All of which is very nostalgic but probably of little interest to most of you. Bringing the story up to the present, Scotrail, the company that provides nearly all the rail services within Scotland, connects the country’s major cities with a fleet of Class 170s, diesel multiple units that date from the early 2000s. Perfectly adequate, if a little dull, these trains were showing their age and consisting of just three carriages got full very quickly. It was time for a change. The solution was to replace them with trains more than twice their age. Twenty six of the retiring Inter City 125s that had served the Western Region/GWR for forty years were to be acquired, refurbished and put to work linking Glasgow and Edinburgh with Inverness, Aberdeen, Dundee, Perth and Stirling in what was to be branded Inter7City. As the speed limit on those lines is 100MPH, utilising the ‘125’ suffix might have been seen as taking the piss so it is not used. The refurbishment of the power cars has gone well; that of the carriages has not. As a consequence a number of non-upgraded units have been pressed into service. It was one of those I found myself on last week, travelling from Dundee to Glasgow. As a geeky sort of chap I was delighted.

All important door opening instructions.

These trains remain as they were when they ended their days with GWR, minus the branding but retaining GWR seat moquette. They had been upgraded from the original specification in the nineties but still seemed a bit tired, even compared with the Class 170 that had delivered me to Dundee earlier that day. Once upgraded they will have electric doors, new seats properly aligned with the windows and toilets that flush into tanks and no longer onto the tracks. This last point is quite a sore one with those employees of Network Rail who now have to maintain those human ordure covered tracks. You can’t really blame them for that. The old slam doors on the unmodified trains have given Scotrail a bit of a headache as they are having to teach passengers how to use them. Announcements are made and leaflets are available as it is a long time since Scotland’s rail passengers have had to open the window, lean out and open the door using the external handle. Despite all this it was really very pleasant to travel on one of these groundbreaking trains, still as smooth and quiet as they were back in 1978. The sandwiches are better too.

Some might say that Scotland is being a bit short changed when it comes to the railways. I say poppycock! Recycling is all the rage nowadays and the Inter City 125s are too good a train to be broken up. Refurbishment (whenever it is complete) isn’t a cheap option but it has to be better value than buying a whole new fleet of trains. I don’t suppose many people actually give a monkey’s about the story behind the train they are travelling on but the extra capacity, slightly shorter journey times and a smooth ride might just make them decide to ‘let the train take the strain’. Oh, that was a Jimmy Saville tagline, sorry.