Top places to visit

[grumblingalong]

Hello all,

I have a fair bit of free time coming up which I plan on using by getting out and about on the network.

I was just wondering where to go, what places would you lot say are best for a visit? Interested in most stuff, preserved and operational, perhaps a bit out of the way?

Looking forward to your responses!

 

[47403]

Hello all,

I have a fair bit of free time coming up which I plan on using by getting out and about on the network.

I was just wondering where to go, what places would you lot say are best for a visit? Interested in most stuff, preserved and operational, perhaps a bit out of the way?

Looking forward to your responses!

It depends what your after really, unfortunately I didn't check where your from, if your after a day out spotting, the likes of Doncaster, Carlisle or Stafford.
Scenic journeys, theres a ride over the Settle and Carlisle line or the Highland lines up to Inverness or the Cunbrian coast which on a weekday, some services are in the hands of Class 37's.
Preserved lines really aren't my forte but theres many dotted all over the UK, again it depends on your preference, be it Steam or Diesel. The North Yorkshire Moors is a fairly decent one, however Im not up on their tinetables, so I'd check on line, for any preserved line.
Hope this helped.
Wherever you decide, enjoy.

 

[Techniquest]

Best preserved lines I've done are the West Somerset Railway, the Severn Valley Railway and the South Devon Railway. Oh and the North Yorkshire Moors Railway too. Not a big fan of the Swanage Railway, and the Wensleydale Railway I did on a charter in 2006. Weardale on a PLEG charter in 2012, so the latter two I'm unable to comment on really. Paignton and Dartmouth Steam Railway, done it but apart from the noise going up Churston bank towards Kingswear it's not amazing.

All the above are nice and scenic lines, but the first two in particular do a better job than the others.

Mainline stuff, well there's tons to suggest there. Depends what you want as to what to suggest!

 

[Tim R-T-C]

Main question - what are you after, spotting/photography or travel?

Could lead to some very different recommendations.

 

[grumblingalong]

Thanks for the ideas guys, for reference I'm based in Essex so England and Wales realistically for a day out, I'm interested in anything a bit different, out of the way, preferably with some scenery! Inter cities I will cover getting to and from so more interested in local routes, maybe some semaphore/local hauled stuff.

Not a spotter as such but an interested railway employee, like seeing how other people do it!

 

[DarloRich]

Hello all,

I have a fair bit of free time coming up which I plan on using by getting out and about on the network.

I was just wondering where to go, what places would you lot say are best for a visit? Interested in most stuff, preserved and operational, perhaps a bit out of the way?

Looking forward to your responses!

Can you let us know roughly where you live and roughly how much you want to spend. No use suggesting the Weest Highland line if you live in Cornwall for instance

 

[grumblingalong]

Sorry guys my reply from last night didn't post, I'm based in Essex so anywhere in England/wales is doable in a day.

I'm interested in anything a bit different, semaphores, strange track arrangements or nice old stations, anything worth taking a photo of basically!

 

[telstarbox]

How about an Anglia Rover? Although you'd have to get to Cambridge to Ipswich as well.

Good variety of trains and IIRC still some semaphore signalling - someone else will know where.

On the heritage side - East Anglia Transport Museum at Lowestoft, North Norfolk Railway at Sheringham.

Ely and Norwich are good places to stop off.

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/pr7a1a85c35ce741018bbf333fb1a59f.aspx

 

[Techniquest]

Semaphores, well top suggestions there are Worcester Shrub Hill and Shrewsbury straight off the bat!

Shall come back with more when I have a chance to examine my Baker for ideas!

 

[grumblingalong]

How about an Anglia Rover? Although you'd have to get to Cambridge to Ipswich as well.

Good variety of trains and IIRC still some semaphore signalling - someone else will know where.

On the heritage side - East Anglia Transport Museum at Lowestoft, North Norfolk Railway at Sheringham.

Ely and Norwich are good places to stop off.

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/times_fares/pr7a1a85c35ce741018bbf333fb1a59f.aspx

Am well versed on the very local stuff as work in the industry, sorry should have mentioned that! New to this forum stuff!

 

[alex17595]

Semaphores, well top suggestions there are Worcester Shrub Hill and Shrewsbury straight off the bat!

Shall come back with more when I have a chance to examine my Baker for ideas!

Barnetby? For now anyway.

 

[DarloRich]

Am well versed on the very local stuff as work in the industry, sorry should have mentioned that! New to this forum stuff!

In that case as a starter for 10 why not have a trip to Marylebone, get the Chiltern up to Kidderminster and have a day out on the Severn Valley Railway.

You could come back via a different route if you felt adventurous

 

[D6975]

Barnetby? For now anyway.

Beat me to it, I'd recommend Barnetby too.

ps go via Doncaster, not Lincoln.

 

[FQ]

Barnetby is brilliant with hundreds of freight trains as well as loads of Semephores. And I agree with D6975. If going to Barnetby, go via Donny.

 

[backontrack]

Why not try the Island Line on the Isle of Wight? Nice thing to say you've done, and there's a steam railway there too. Just catch a train from Waterloo into Portsmouth, board a Ryde ferry, and get onto a train at Ryde Pier Head/Ryde Esplanade/Ryde St Johns. If it stops at Smallbrook Junction, you can travel on the Isle of Wight steam railway.

 

[Techniquest]

Ah yes the Isle of Wight, fascinating place to go for the former LU 38-stock on the Ryde to Shanklin line. Cheap too for an all-day ticket on it. Isle of Wight Steam Railway is certainly not cheap, I personally didn't think much of it when I went in 2012.

Isle of Man is an idea too, there's some very different stuff going on there. Horse drawn carriages along the sea front, a steam railway, a mountain railway and the Manx Electric Railway too. All doable for £15 as of a couple of years ago, includes buses too which does come in handy! You can fly there from London, Liverpool or Birmingham, or ferry it over from Heysham or Liverpool.

 

[grumblingalong]

Wow guys thanks for all the suggestions! Will head to as many of these as I can and update you all

 

[Techniquest]

West Highland Line and indeed the Inverness to Kyle of Lochalsh line are also well up the list of things to recommend just for the scenery too. Expensive trip from Essex mind, would certainly be worth considering a flight up from Stansted or Southend to save some time and expense to Glasgow or Edinburgh. If you've got PRIV travel though that would be a different matter, a run up the WCML north of Lancaster is worth considering for the scenery.

If you do the Isle of Wight, I do highly recommend the hovercraft from Southsea to Ryde, much more of an experience and indeed fun than the conventional ferry! Avoid going when Bestival (late July I think) is on though as it gets crazy over there when it's on. A combined hovercraft day return (you need to specify a return time when booking though, although outside Bestival times you'd probably be OK to change it as things went anyway) and day rover on the Island Line cost me about 18 quid in 2012 so probably around 21 quid now. Not bad though when the hovercraft day return was nearly 16 quid on its own at the time!

I should have a trip report from both the Isle of Wight and Isle of Man trips on here somewhere, might give you some insight into what to expect etc.

 

[telstarbox]

Bestival takes place in September now. Handy when we went as we stayed in Shanklin afterwards, so I got in the entire Island Line

 

[Drogba11CFC]

Semaphores, well top suggestions there are Worcester Shrub Hill and Shrewsbury straight off the bat!

Shall come back with more when I have a chance to examine my Baker for ideas!

If you choose Shrewsbury, write to the station manager and enquire about the possibility of visiting Severn Bridge signal box. I did when I was on an all line rover a couple of weeks ago.

 

[alex17595]

Ah yes the Isle of Wight, fascinating place to go for the former LU 38-stock on the Ryde to Shanklin line. Cheap too for an all-day ticket on it. Isle of Wight Steam Railway is certainly not cheap, I personally didn't think much of it when I went in 2012.

Isle of Man is an idea too, there's some very different stuff going on there. Horse drawn carriages along the sea front, a steam railway, a mountain railway and the Manx Electric Railway too. All doable for £15 as of a couple of years ago, includes buses too which does come in handy! You can fly there from London, Liverpool or Birmingham, or ferry it over from Heysham or Liverpool.

Isle of Man has plusbus as well.