My Travels by Rail
by Phil Cooper
I’ve always enjoyed travelling by rail. It’s much more pleasant than air travel and with the new high-speed trains like Eurostar and the Azuma it’s better for the planet to travel by rail and, I think, it’s more pleasant for us human beings. I have flown a lot in the past, but I’ve always wondered what on Earth are we doing up here in the sky. My other problem is that I’m not in control and I can’t see where I’m headed! I think it’s fair to say that with shortened journey times high speed rail is a very good alternative to flying. Journey time, for instance, between London and Edinburgh is now just over 4 hours and that’s city centre to centre. I can remember when it took well over 7 hours and was usually late. Add in the travel to and from the airport and going through security checks and hanging about in the airport shops and there’s not much difference in time.
There are people making a good living from filming their journeys and reviewing them on YouTube. where there are enthusiasts who’ve made a good salary filming journey details. One of the best is “All the Stations” by Vicki Pipe and Geoff Marshall who managed to travel to every station on the UK mainline. Their videos are fascinating and humorous. I doubt they paid much for the travel, and they’ve produced great videos and a book of their adventures. I wish I had thought that one up! My current favourite reviews are “Dylan’s Travel Reports”. I imagine he’s making quite a bit of cash from those videos as he now takes on a lot of foreign travel. My favourite part of train reviews is when they show the breakfast and other meals available to First Class travellers. Many years ago, I actually got a sausage and breakfast bap which had been cooked in the smoke box of a steam engine (The Jacobite) in Fort William. I’m not sure how hygienic it was but it tasted great. I’m biased being a Highlander but that trip to Mallaig is a MUST for everybody. My vocabulary does it no justice.
Here's a tip when you ride the Jacobite-Take a seat toward the rear of the train on your left as you go further. Tick your camera safely out of the window on the Glenfinnan Viaduct to get the classic photo of the train bending to the left. On the return journey take a seat on the right side to get THAT photo again or if you missed it on the way.
When I was a wee boy my mum and dad used to make trips to Aberdeen to go shopping. Because my dad was a driver we didn’t have to pay for the tickets. I can remember him boasting that we could take the train from Inverness and travel to Port Bou on the French/Spanish border for just 21 shillings. I recall sitting in the train hearing sounds from a guy playing drums in the end coach. I even went to look for him a couple of times. But there were no drums. I was listening to the sound of the tracks which were bolted together. Nowadays track lengths are welded together and I do miss those “drums”. I loved travelling by train, and it was a journey back home to Inverness when I first became aware of the beauty of the Highlands. Before that trip I was a bit blasé, but that trip got me. This happened as my train crossed the Findhorn Viaduct (there are two and this is the new one).
In the evening light, 67005 Queen's Messenger is five minutes early as it races across Findhorn Viaduct, at Tomatin, with the southbound Caledonian Sleeper. This photo was taken by my good friend, John Gray, who takes wonderful train photos amongst other things.
To see more of John’s great photos, go to
https://www.flickr.com/photos/60956647@N02/
I’ve also enjoyed some European travel travelling by Eurostar to Paris and Brussels. In Brussels I took the Thalys service to Amsterdam. That was a disappointing trip because the Thalys isn’t a high-speed service and it’s definitely not a luxury trip on this particular trip it was very slow and seemed to take hours. On the return trip we took the Thalys back to Brussels. Once again it was slow, and they didn’t serve food! That trip was a bit exciting as there was a Frenchman on his laptop just a few metres away from us. The beep bipp that accompanied his work really annoyed me so using a strange accent I gestured him to stop. Unfortunately, my gesture was me running my hand over my throat. But it did no good, so I went to find the train manager and told him the problem. My little Frenchman “Pah pah’d” a bit gave me a look and followed the train manager to another coach. Peace restored I returned to my seat. Moments later the beep bipp resumed. Had the Frenchman sneaked back in-typical French treachery? This time I listened more carefully and traced the noise to the 2 seats behind Barbara and I where our son was sitting with his chum, Nick giggling away. I decided to leave it alone. When we got off at Brussels Midi I saw “mon ami” sitting in another coach. I ignored him. Writing this, I’ve just remembered one of the reasons I don’t like Frenchmen -yes, I voted to leave the EU! Anyway, we were on a trip south from Paris I was a young sprog when a Frenchman came into the compartment and ripped my feet of a seat.
Another trip I took was on the French TGV. Now, that was fast as we hurtled through France from Lille to Perpignan. It was a great trip with my rugby mates-we all support Wasps RFC. We ate baguettes, fromage and several vats of wine. But my best trip was in Switzerland- we used to spend Xmas there as Iain was a keen boarder. We usually stayed in Grindelwald and I parked the car at the hotel so we used the brilliant local train service to get around. We bought season tickets which we used for the local trains and also the ski lifts. We discovered a weird place high up in the mountains called Kleine Scheddig which consisted of a hotel, a couple of touristy shops and a wee station where you could take the train up to the Jungfrau. The train spiralled its way up inside the mountain
Back in the 60s I travelled to London with mum and dad and Rob for the first time to see my oldest brother George who had joined the Metropolitan Police. I can recall that the journey through the suburbs to Euston was astonishing as I could see just how big London was. And then the “tube” was incredible and exciting with all those what’s on posters advertising the city entertainment.
Which takes me nicely to a “plug” for the advertising boards sold on www.tracksidesigns.co.uk. They are brilliant in detail. I’ve put several on my platforms and with my “little people” they really add to the scene. You can find hundreds of boards on the website. The first one I bought was of Inverness.
This is a classic view of Inverness looking down from the castle over the River Ness. The city’s population is very religious and there are several well-supported churches. I think there was a time that Inverness had the most churches per head in Scotland. That statistic may be wrong but there certainly was a time that the city boasted more pubs per head in Scotland. My photo doesn’t do the billboard justice.
More recently I’ve indulged myself travelling in Europe by train. My most recent trip was with Barbara, Iain and his mate, Nick. Taking along one of his mates was always good as it gave me time to enjoy myself while Iain and whichever mate we took along got up to their fun. We went from Ashford International to Brussels Midi where we changed to the Thalys service to Amsterdam Central. This was a treat, so we went first class. Sadly, First Class on Eurostar was not as luxurious as in the early days of the service. Back then you were eating and drinking non-stop for the entire trip, but the seats are still very comfortable. We had a slight problem on the return trip when we took the Thalys back to Brussels. The train was very quiet, and we only had one other person in the coach. From where I was sitting, I could see he was working on his laptop. Several minutes into the journey I became aware of a lot of beeping noises and looked at our Frenchman gesturing him to keep the noise down. Being French he made a “Pah” sound and ignored me. Let me tell you here that I was a Brexit supporter and this Frenchman’s behaviour seemed typical, so I went to his seat and asked him to quieten it down in my weird Scottish-French accent. Anyway once again he “pah”d and ignored me so I found the train manager a few coaches away and explained the situation to him. He followed me back to our coach and I pointed out the annoying Frenchman. The train manager talked to him and seconds later he got up to his feet, made a big show of getting his belongings together and, on his way to a different coach, stopped my me and had a go at me. The only word I was able to understand in his tirade was “merde”. Then he left. Minutes later the sounds started again and that is when I looked behind my seat to where Iain and Nick were sitting. They were playing with some sort of games console, and I realised I had almost started WW3 wrongly. I thought it best not to tell the “merde” Frenchman what I had just found. A few years later I was back on-board Eurostar (1st Class again) heading to Brussels on Iain’s “stag” weekend (of Hell) with Iain and ore of his chums including Nick. Being cheap, his mates wanted to save money by going second class, but I alerted them to group booking which gave us 1st Class seats for slightly more money than 2nd Class.
Another fun trip was when me and some of my rugby mates drove to Lille to pick up the TGV service all the way down to Perpignan a few miles north of the Spanish border. On the drive to Lille we stopped off at a hypermarket to buy provisions (wine, cheese (smelly) and baguettes). On the TGV many of our coach mates weren’t happy about being locked in a coach with some drunk rugby supporters- we all support Wasps RFC.
Probably my most spectacular trip was in Switzerland. We used to go there twice a year -Summer and Christmas. The drive to Interlaken was an easy 7 or 8 hours. When we arrived in Interlaken I parked the car at the hotel and we bought tickets we could use for all the local trains and also the cable cars up the mountain. My dad would have loved the trains and the incredible angles they took. One trip that was not included in our season cards was the trip up the Jungfrau. We took the train to Kleine Schdiegg where we changed to the Jungfraujoch train. It’s not covered by the local season ticket, but it is worth every penny although you may come across some Frenchman-just ignore them!
It’s amazing and if you visit Switzerland, you must experience it. The train travels inside the mountain spiralling up to the summit. There are a couple of stops where you can get out to look through the windows. It’s very white. But the best bit is when you arrive at the summit a lift takes you up and out of the mountain. The view at the top took my breath away. It is a great experience as you are able to look down the glacier and the Alps are all visible. I’ll never forget it. I won’t forget either how thin the air was, and you have to take it easy up there. You’ll also need sunglasses as it is so very blindingly white.
Another tip for you, don’t forget your sunglasses and remember you are over 11000 feet above sea level and the air is thinner up there so don’t go charging around as you’ll feel knackered and don’t be surprised if you fall asleep on the way back down.
If you would like to read more blog posts from Phil check back every two weeks or sign up to our newsletter to keep up to date on site news or when the blog posts go live.
The views and opinions expressed within the content are solely the author's and do not reflect the opinions and beliefs of Trackside Signs or its affiliates.
