Whilst I agree that this can be a bit dull, I think this is one section where the number of different stops, trying to predict how busy/empty the train will be after any given station (I can never seem to fathom it!) just about saves this journey. There's also some nice scenery in the Derby to Sheffield stretch, which helps!
It's just the Sheffield to Doncaster/Wakefield section that I'm not keen on. I quite like the rest of the journey.
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Birmingham-Wolverhampton
abandonned factories, empty canals, the M5 going overhead.
While it would seem to fall into all the same traps that make me dislike the run from Sheffield to Doncaster, I don't mind the stretch between Birmingham and Wolverhampton. It sums up the overwhelming grimness of the Black Country quite appropriately.
Then again, the Sheffield to Doncaster run could be said to do the same for South Yorkshire...
It must be down to the fact that, as I said, the Sheffield to Doncaster bit is usually in the middle of a long journey, whereas Birmingham to Wolverhampton usually falls at the start or as a short trip.
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How much of the beauty of York can you see from the train? The southern and northern approaches a just dull suburbia!Yes, they are there, but you could hardly be said to be close enough to get anything of the true beauty of either area. You are in the vale of York, as flat and dull for miles in every direction as any of East Anglia.
Two spectacular and brief moments, I grant you, but still very brief, and little to grab the attention between them
Which these days contain little but rusting, disused wagons and overgrown undergrowth,
Even those are pale shadows of what they were even ten years ago. I suppose, in terms of bustle, the same is true of most of the network. But I still maintain that the physical geography of the ECML is more homogeneous throughout than any other main line
Each to their own then, we'll have to agree to disagree. The ECML from Doncaster northwards still holds my attention, in all of what I perceive as it's many variations.
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I should have thought of that. The entire Cross City period is dull.
King's Norton to New Street on XC is also very boring as it's usually very slow.
Oi! Leave the Cross City line alone you lot!
I find the run into Birmingham up to Five Ways from Bourneville quite pleasant, both on local and long distance trains, with the run alongside the Birmingham & Worcester canal and a few "green bits" around University. South from Kings Norton even the 323s get the opportunity for some decent stretches of high speed running. Lichfield to Sutton Coldfield isn't too bad either. Admittedly there's not much going on between New Street and Sutton Coldfield, but the regular start stop nature of the Cross City service at least breaks up the journey a bit. And the line passes under that marvel of brutalist engineering design, Spaghetti Junction!
Plus, a HST isn't a DMU!
