Friday 27 March 2009

The end of the line

Have you ever stood in a station and wondered where the tracks go. If you just got on the train and kept going where would you end up? Probably Thurso if you were heading at all north as its Britain's most northerly railway station and only a street away from the coast so you couldn't really go any further if you wanted to. There is something about the seaside terminus, especially the rural Scottish one that really attracts me. Standing there and seeing those buffers which represent the railways limits is something that shouldn't be undertaken without a little thought about the journey you have just taken. When I arrived in Thurso most passengers hurried out of the Station as quickly as possible. It was a cold day and a long journey so who can blame them? But it left me on my own in this remote outpost of the British rail network with the sun coming through the rafters to keep me company on a quiet afternoon. Thurso is one of my favourite stations for the very reason that it is the end of the line. Its remote, quite and has the atmosphere of a long journey having been completed. I have come somewhere very different to my home. I have attached a couple of other pictures of the Station so you can see its architectural merits. In an age where train stations are more often bus shelters it is nice to arrive at a substantial stone building with ticket office and comfortable waiting room. A building that says the railway is important. It may not be the lifeline that it once was, but its here in town and I hope will remain so for a long time to come.
Talking of the waiting room I came accross this even more exotic item on the wall - a picture of a Union Pacific steam locomotive. UP is an American railroad so I'm not sure what it was doing up in Thurso. If anyone know's drop me a line, I'd love to find out. UP is the world's only mainline railway which has a steam locomotive that it has never retired. It now joins a co locomotive in providing the UP steam program, a rather clever marketing tool for the railway company.
My own visit to Thurso was for a careers event where I was representing my college. Perhaps an event which requires a couple of display stands, plenty of literature and some goodies to give away on top of my own luggage might not seem like the obvious occuasion to use the train, but with a bit of thought it worked out really well. If I did have too much to carry you can always courier the extra at less cost than taking a car anyway. The careers event went really well with over forty people coming up to ask about our courses. Before it started though, and after I had set up, I had the chance to have a look round Thurso. Most people on holiday are probably taking the train to Thurso in order to catch the ferry to Orkney. Having had a look around I was not blaming them, Thurso didn't seem to be the most interesting of towns. But when I left the exhibition hall I was greeted with the most amazing view of these huge cliffs behind the town. Obviously I had gone up hill more than I had realised. I went down to the beach to get a better view and came accross my second surprise of the visit - the sea was filled with surfers! It was good fun watching them for a bit so I can only imagine taking part must be even more fun. Thurso it seems is one of Britain's surf capitals. California it might not be but if you like riding the waves maybe you should be taking a trip up here too.

The next day I took the train back and enjoyed one of the most scenic journeys in Britain. It doesn't matter how many times I take this train, it always seems to get yet more interesting as the seasons and lighting add variety to every journey.

Thursday 5 March 2009

BTP at 30th Street Station

The British Transport Police are the railway's own police force keeping travellers safe on their journeys all over Britain. With one of my friends in the force it is one that I naturally have an interest in and a fondness for. 30th Street Station is the former Pennsylvania Railroads impressive Philadelphia Station built in 1933 and now used by Amtrak. I've been there twice on my travels and it instantly became one of my favorite railway stations. It is the 3D definition of style and the photos do not do justice to this masterpiece. So I was interested to hear that the BTP did an exchange with their American Amtrak colleagues and were to be seen patrolling 30th Street. It must have been an unusual sight for the passengers that day! You can see the story and some pictures of the event here.

Well I'm just back from Thurso, another of my favourite stations some 160 miles north of here. I was up north for a careers fair with my job. Perhaps tomorrow I'll upload the pictures and let you see what it was like. Unfortunatly the snow kind of messed up the train windows so I am lacking pictures of the most beautiful sections of the line, but there are some good ones and a surprise in Thurso beach... to be continued.

Monday 2 March 2009

Fares comparison with Europe and music to enjoy :)

Last week Passenger Focus (the rail passengers representative body) published a report that hit the headlines with the claim that UK rail fares are 50% higher than in Europe. The rail operators then came back with the statement that 'Advance' fares are the lowest in Europe. Going beyond these headlines it is true that we have some amazingly low advance purchase fares in Britain. If you have some time to spend on the computer searching for fares, don't mind when you travel and know well in advance what trains you'll be taking you can get some great deals. It works a bit like a plane fare only when it comes to pay the price doesn't triple with 'extras'. These are great fares and since last year anyone with a railcard can get an extra 1/3 off these already low fares. Some of the prices I've seen tickets bought for are almost at the stage of getting the journey for nothing. However, in Britain, as most European countries, we have always enjoyed the luxury of being able to turn up at the station and go. Then we can come back any time, on any train up to a month later. These are the best fares and unsurprisingly they are expensive and often much more expensive than in Europe. What rail companies have to remember is that you don't have to book your car journey in advance and that is the competition. Of course so long as they are filling trains they won't care. That's where the government, the representatives of the people should be stepping in. It is up to the government as infrastructure owners to put in place as much capacity as is needed for the private train operators to run as many trains as is possible to make profit - not make profit by squeezing more out of the existing passengers. After all the government is always going on about its green credientials, how about showing it in practice?

The report by the way is an excellent read and sets out some really good recommendations for moving our fares structure towards a truly user friendly, fare and value for money system. You can read it all here. Having read it, think about dropping a note to your MP to ask when they will be taking up its findings.

Music
On a lighter note if you can find one of those value for money tickets you might be looking for some good music for the journey. Well in addition to enjoying my travels I also like music and here are two of my personal favourites for you to try out and maybe download (legaly please!) for your next journey.

First up is Addison Road and Hope Now. This song was a real encouragement to me this weekend. Life isn't all fun or enjoyment and it just reminded me of the hope we can all have if we look for it. This is a thoughtful song and it left me in an upbeat mood, isn't music great like that!?



Now this is a bit different. I'm not the first person to rush out for this kind of music but I have just discovered the music of Tobymac and I'm sold on it. Listen to the words and enjoy the great sound these guys have produced. Enjoy:



and if you enjoyed that see this video about the making of the above video, its pretty good.



all of the music may be purchased from Itunes or Amazon. Buy it before you travel because I didn't hear anything this good on Virgin Trains radio last time!

Well, its been a long Monday so I'm going to leave it there for tonight. Check back soon people for more random thoughts.