NFR: Train Travel

[Berserker]

I'm sitting on a train going to Fowlers in Bristol to get a pair of new M/C trousers. I was just looking out of the window at the country side, and thought to myself I love train travel and the different  views you get.

Does anybody else feel like this. I appreciate it's mid afternoon and the train is quiet at the moment

[HatterDon]

I always enjoyed train travel in the UK, Germany, France, etc. I did avoid traveling by train on football Saturdays, though. Here in the States there's a vocal minority that thinks that traveling by train is akin to Communists abusing children -- in other words "too European for us" -- but I kind of miss it.

[SouthfieldWhite]

Travelling midday in the country side is a different experience from travelling by train in London in rush hour.

Most of the suits have no common sense and when you're packed on like cattle, it's not the same as midday in the county side

[Jimpav]

Yes, I love train travel when not commuting. Although saying that, even my commute can be quite picturesque on a frosty Autumn morning or when steaming past the lavender fields in summer.

I have taken a number of long distance trains and love the whole experience. Getting dressed for dinner, having the motion lull you to sleep, waking up to a different view each morning. You really get a feel for the place you are travelling through and a concept of scale that you don't get when flying.

[BishopsParkFantastic]

I'm sitting on a train going to Fowlers in Bristol to get a pair of new M/C trousers. I was just looking out of the window at the country side, and thought to myself I love train travel and the different  views you get.

Does anybody else feel like this. I appreciate it's mid afternoon and the train is quiet at the moment

I loved the old steam trains. Carriages with compartments and a corridor - you could have great conversations with people, who would be happy to talk and share the enjoyment of the passing scenery - as they wouldn't be connected to electronic devices! Every journey by steam train felt like a unique experience.

[alfie]

When my wife an i go on holidays she always wants to hire a car, but no i say because i want to look at the things you look at and if i am driving i can't, she has finally accepted that i have a point.

[BishopsParkFantastic]

When my wife an i go on holidays she always wants to hire a car, but no i say because i want to look at the things you look at and if i am driving i can't, she has finally accepted that i have a point.

........and maybe she has found someone else to go on holiday with?!

[King_Crud]

I love doing trips by train, even my rare London commutes aren't too bad. I've gone on the Eurostar many times, as well as going onwards to Amsterdam, Dusseldorf and Cologne. Also last year I went Prague > Bratislava, then Bratislava > Budapest a couple of days later. Have also caught the train + ferry to Dublin before. And also around the UK, it's fantastic.

If the train trip is no longer than about 6 hours I'd rather get the train than the hassle of flying, by the time you have getting to the airport, checking in, security, queuing to get on, cramped seats, getting off, getting from the airport, all with luggage restrictions, it's all such a hassle. Give me a train that drops me to the centre of the city, and I can take a decent feed and some wine or beers. Lovely.

[Me-ate-Live, innit??]

Love train travel and one of my  fav programmes is Michael Portello
......and I have done this journey

British Railway Journeys S2 EP23-Oban to Corrour

I intend doing more of the trips when I have the time  :016:

I did the journey  from Podgorica to Bar   in Montenegro it was so cheap and the train had velvet seats that had seen better days  but you really feel you have been  on a trip !!!!

[alfie]

When my wife an i go on holidays she always wants to hire a car, but no i say because i want to look at the things you look at and if i am driving i can't, she has finally accepted that i have a point.

........and maybe she has found someone else to go on holiday with?!

?? don't get that, what do you know about my wife that i don't

[Shredhead]

Two of my favourite views in the whole world are from the train on the Brighton mainline - looking East from the Balcombe viaduct in the evening when the shadows are long and of the Downs as you approach Hassocks. Soothing and majestic.

Last summer I went on the Douro Valley line which is pretty special. This summer I'm going to give the line that goes along the Cantabrian and Asturian coast which is supposed to be pretty magic.

[HillingdonFFC]

Once spent three nights on the Indian Pacific from Sydney to Perth. Always wanted to do it, unfortunately couldn't persuade any of the lads to join me, so did it on me tod. Memorable start to an Ashes tour though

[ScalleysDad]

The trundle line from Exeter St Davids to Waterloo is an integral of the match day outing. I drive up from time to time but always get snagged past Heathrow on the M4 or around Twickers game or no game via the M3. The 9am departure gets me my own carriage for an hour or so and I get to see deer, the occasional fox, the rolling Devon landscape and the new town development at Cranbrook. The train passes through miles of farmland and that is always interesting in its way. I am usually pretty well chilled by Axminster. I am a back garden voyeur and have seen patios started and finished and looking rubbish and building works that seemed to be on hold for weeks only to pass one week and see two stories in place. Spring is brilliant but one of the most strange journeys was for the Blackburn game that was called off an hour or so before kick off. We did not have a frost in Exeter but as the towns passed by the landscape got whiter and the icicles on the trees got longer. Pulling into Clapham I considered not getting off as the cabin temperature was spot on.  The 9am does not really get busy until Yeovil and beyond but the local traffic chaos has messed that idyll up but it might settle down again. Most people seem to prefer the speedier Paddington route but it is often a cattle truck with standing room only even with a booked seat. Back to the trundle line and trundling past Salisbury, Andover, Amazingstoke and Woking is like a social study. Gooners get on at Templecombe but the real mix starts at Salisbury and there is always a West Ham contingent at Andover. The journey looses its buzz about then, apart from running parallel with a packed M3 for a while, as the train resembles a typical commuter wagon by Woking. The 9 o clocker gives me the option of going to Waterloo for some munchies on the riverbank, Campfire Pizza Co is good, or an hour in The Brickies. The journey back has its moments obviously depending on performance and result. I usually have to get back to Waterloo otherwise its a seat lottery at Clapham. More social commentary as the number of passengers with full on hampers, copious amounts of booze, ridiculous amounts of luggage and no idea is entertaining bordering on really sad. AND THE BLOODY PHONES! "I'm on a train. What I can't hear you. I'm on a train. What. Yeah. Lol, What. I'm on a train what ......."
The sun sets in the west of course so there is the changing sky, 606 if I can bear Savage, scan the paper I didn't read coming up as there is often a conversation or two going on and I have to confess to subsiding to the wicked pace of it all by having the occasional nap. All for £15 each way if you want to gamble on a Saturday 3pm kick off but I have lost out on that twice, its like buying tickets 12 weeks in advance. The fares go up again next year and the train has a new change at Basingstoke adding twenty minutes each way so we will have to see. The Dawlish link opens up again soon. If anybody is on holiday down here it is a must and if you are clever enough to plan a high tide and blue sky get to a door window, ram the window down and soak it up.
Top geezer that Portillo.