European Railroad Discussion > Suggestions for must see sites (And sights!) in UK?

A search on this forum returned nothing, so I want to ask for some suggestions, as I will be based in London for a week in mid-March. Any help would be appreciated.
Thank you,
Steve

This is a question of the 'how long's a piece of string' type. Can you be a bit more specific about what you are interested in; the present day railway scene around London, passenger and / or freight, to photograph or just to watch; heritage railways in easy reach of London; day trips by train from London etc etc

There's wealth of stuff in and around London to watch or to travel on, railways are very visible. There are heritage operations and or museums within an hour of London, The London Transport Museum is in the centre of London, the National Railway Museum in York is about two hours from London (180 miles) and then there are historical cities like Bath, Oxford, Cambridge, Canterbury and Salisbury which are places to visit for their own sake and which are easily accessible from one or other of London's main stations.



Edited 4 time(s). Last edit at 01/18/18 03:31 by 86235.

I strongly recommend you purchase a Britrail Pass. They are available for various lengths of time. The eight-day pass would be the best value for you if you intend to travel a lot on day trips from London. If you don't intend on going to Wales or Scotland, the Britrail England pass is cheaper than the classic Britrail pass.

Do yourself a favour and get the First Class pass. Standard class can be very crowded and I find the seating cramped compared to what I am used to with VIA Rail. On commuter trains and other short-haul services the seating is basically the same, but with First Class you should be able to get a seat except on the most crowded commuter trains. First Class on long-haul trains is delightful. Seat reservations are free but I almost never bother as we generally avoid travelling at the busiest times of day. Most long-haul operators provide some complimentary light refreshment and Virgin Trains (on both East Coast and West Coast routes) provide hot meals and drinks.

If you like steam, there are numerous heritage railways that run pretty much every day, but more on weekends. The Sevren Valley and North Yorkshire Moores are among the two longest runs. Wales is a paradise for narrow gauge steam....The Welsh Highland and Ffestinog in particular which share the same station in Porthmadog.

Spend c15 minutes on the Victoria line northbound platform at Victoria station around 0830. Then get on a northbound train on the rearmost car. The 15 mins should see about ten northbound trains; getting on a train will show you, just for a few minutes quite how crowded the London Underground can get. It all empties out by Warren St, and you can then go on to King’s Cross to admire the station there and the flight of southbound intercity arrivals from around 0915.

You might want to expand your searching or try different key words, keeping the European Railroad Forum as the forum. There are plenty of threads relating to the United Kingdom on here and you might find some places of interest while, I mean whilst looking at them.

Lots of stuff to see in the Great Britain. I will probably go back next year.

Jim

Check out postings on the European Board by 86235 and dwatry (me) over the last few years - lots of UK and London area photos that could give you ideas about places to go.

86235 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> This is a question of the 'how long's a piece of
> string' type. Can you be a bit more specific about
> what you are interested in; the present day
> railway scene around London, passenger and / or
> freight, to photograph or just to watch; heritage
> railways in easy reach of London; day trips by
> train from London etc etc
>
> There's wealth of stuff in and around London to
> watch or to travel on, railways are very visible.
> There are heritage operations and or museums
> within an hour of London, The London Transport
> Museum is in the centre of London, the National
> Railway Museum in York is about two hours from
> London (180 miles) and then there are historical
> cities like Bath, Oxford, Cambridge, Canterbury
> and Salisbury which are places to visit for their
> own sake and which are easily accessible from one
> or other of London's main stations.

86235,
We have The National Railway Museum in York on our itinerary as a day trip, and will definitely add on the London Transport Museum. As advised, I will look up your other posts, as well.
Thank you,
Steve

DrawingroomA Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I strongly recommend you purchase a Britrail Pass.
> They are available for various lengths of time.
> The eight-day pass would be the best value for you
> if you intend to travel a lot on day trips from
> London. If you don't intend on going to Wales or
> Scotland, the Britrail England pass is cheaper
> than the classic Britrail pass.
>
> Do yourself a favour and get the First Class
> pass. Standard class can be very crowded and I
> find the seating cramped compared to what I am
> used to with VIA Rail. On commuter trains and
> other short-haul services the seating is basically
> the same, but with First Class you should be able
> to get a seat except on the most crowded commuter
> trains. First Class on long-haul trains is
> delightful. Seat reservations are free but I
> almost never bother as we generally avoid
> travelling at the busiest times of day. Most
> long-haul operators provide some complimentary
> light refreshment and Virgin Trains (on both East
> Coast and West Coast routes) provide hot meals and
> drinks.

DrawingroomA,
Fantastic suggestion about the Britrail Pass. I am on it
Thanks,
Steve

andersonb109 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> If you like steam, there are numerous heritage
> railways that run pretty much every day, but more
> on weekends. The Sevren Valley and North
> Yorkshire Moores are among the two longest runs.
> Wales is a paradise for narrow gauge steam....The
> Welsh Highland and Ffestinog in particular which
> share the same station in Porthmadog.

Thank you for the direction, Andersson nb109.
Steve

cricketer8for9 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Spend c15 minutes on the Victoria line northbound
> platform at Victoria station around 0830. Then get
> on a northbound train on the rearmost car. The 15
> mins should see about ten northbound trains;
> getting on a train will show you, just for a few
> minutes quite how crowded the London Underground
> can get. It all empties out by Warren St, and you
> can then go on to King’s Cross to admire the
> station there and the flight of southbound
> intercity arrivals from around 0915.

There seem to be so many famous stations! Thank you for the suggestions, cricketer8for9.

Thanks, Jim. I have some great suggestions, which will help focus the search.

I will also add posts by both of you to my research. Thanks.

radio Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> andersonb109 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > If you like steam, there are numerous heritage
> > railways that run pretty much every day, but
> more
> > on weekends. The Sevren Valley and North
> > Yorkshire Moores are among the two longest runs.
>
> > Wales is a paradise for narrow gauge
> steam....The
> > Welsh Highland and Ffestinog in particular
> which
> > share the same station in Porthmadog.
>
> Thank you for the direction, Andersson nb109.
> Steve

Bearing in mind when you are going to be in the UK the number of heritage operations actually running will be limited. The Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railways for instance don't start full operations until the last week of March, although there is a limited Welsh Highland operation in early March, but only on a five mile segment from Porthmadog to Hafod y Llyn (and back). Elsewhere the North Yorkshire Moors doesn't start normal operations until the last week of March, although there is a special event earlier in the month which has to be prebooked and involves the new build LNER A1 Pacific 60163 Tornado.

The nearest (and oldest) heritage operation to London is the Bluebell Railway in Sussex. Easily accessed from London Victoria to East Grinstead (two trains an hour, journey time 50 minutes). They are celebrating the 60th anniversay of the line's closure by British Railways on the first three weekends in March

https://www.bluebell-railway.com/whats_on/diamond-anniversary/

I think the Bluebell is well worth a visit, because it was the pioneer of the standard gauge heritage movement it has an unrivalled collection of rolling stock which simply wasn't available to those heritage railways which started much later

It's worth noting that the search facility has a date function and if you don't change that it only searches back 30 days!

In the immediate London area the London Transport museum has been mentioned. If all you want is to watch trains then Clapham Junction; it's mostly passenger but you won't be bored; in a similar vein Stratford and (slightly less easy to access) South Kenton where there's a footbridge about half a mile north of the station that gives views not only of the main line the bridge crosses but the Chiltern/Met bridge a little way further north.

Further afield (but still close to London) Didcot has a good mixture of passenger and freight. As things stand today you'll see a mixture of HSTs (being phased out here), Class 800 bimodes (to replace the HSTs), local electric and diesel units as well as freights; if you go at the right time the GWR society museum is here; 20 minutes by train (from Didcot) towards Bristol and Cardiff is the "Steam" museum in Swindon. Basingstoke has much the same freights as Didcot but here you're in 3rd rail territory and many of the passenger trains here are the same as at Clapham Junction (and you can continue from Clapham Junction to Basingstoke).

If you are going to York for the NRM you might consider continuing to Pickering for a ride of the North York Moors railway. You'll need to take the bus from York which means it's a day trip from York by the time the bus has got to Pickering, you've ridden the railway and then got the bus back.

All of the preceding is easy (and pretty quick) by public transport. If you have a car and fancy some more "traditional" tourist things head out of London down the M3 which will take you to Basingstoke (there's a foot bridge right on the west side of town that gives good views) then on down the A303 to Stonehenge. Beyond Stonehenge it depends on your precise dates and priorities but have a look at WWW sites for the Swanage Railway, East Somerset Railway, West Somerset Railway, Gartell Light Railway, Fleet Air Arm Museum, Haynes motor museum, Helicopter Museum in Weston Super Mare, National Trust properties such as Stourhead, Montacute, Tynetsfield (to name but a few), Shapwick Heath nature reserve to see if the Starlings are still there and "murmurating". Spend at least one night in or near Bath - the city has sites from the time of Rome, Georgian England, Jane Austen etc. Whatever you do DON'T take your car into Bath - parking and traffic are both equally horrible, There are Park and Ride sites around the city, park there and hop on the (frequent) bus into the city. From Bath the M4 goes past Swindon and Didcot isn't too much of a detour (and will leave you near Oxford - another park and ride city).

Hartington mentioned something very important. I would guess that at least half to well over three fourths of the population and anything else that the population would want to visit is accessible by public transit in Britain. I have done two trips, one was a whole month in 2013 and the second was two weeks in 2014. On the first trip we hired (rented) a car for one day only near the end of the trip. Other than that my dad and / or I rode buses and trains EVERYWHERE! I mean there are bus routes to places with only a dozen houses and stuff there. If you are going out I would also suggest staying in those other cities for the night as opposed to spending the complete week in London and burning up your time on the train to and from London that way you can burn up that time you saved on other trains!

http://www.traveline.info/

This site is a great start for public transit options, covering trains, trams buses, ferryboats and even walking!

Jim

Depending on quite what you mean by "mid March" you might want to look here http://www.uksteam.info/tours/index.htm for possible steam excursions to ride or view.

This website (others are available) shows all the trains (with the exception of the Royal Train) http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/search/advanced Type the name of the station and change the WTT order to Actual Order and away you go. Once you have the list up click on the ID and you'll see everywhere the train has been/is going and when. Useful if you're waiting for a particular train.

I'm not so sure about buying a Britrail Pass. Look here www.nationalrail.co.uk to see times and fares - it might be cheaper to buy separate tickets than the pass but BEWARE some tickets are only valid on the train you book, no changes (a bit like most air fares).

And if you like model trains try here http://www.ukmodelshops.co.uk/events/exhibitions for a comprehensive (but occasionally not exhaustive) list.

radio Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> cricketer8for9 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Spend c15 minutes on the Victoria line
> northbound
> > platform at Victoria station around 0830. Then
> get
> > on a northbound train on the rearmost car. The
> 15
> > mins should see about ten northbound trains;
> > getting on a train will show you, just for a
> few
> > minutes quite how crowded the London
> Underground
> > can get. It all empties out by Warren St, and
> you
> > can then go on to King’s Cross to admire the
> > station there and the flight of southbound
> > intercity arrivals from around 0915
>
> There seem to be so many famous stations! Thank
> you for the suggestions, cricketer8for9.

No problems. It was somewhat in jest, as the UK based correspondents will know, but there is some truth. There is pretty railroading, of which there is indeed plenty, and railroading as experienced by the passenger. Just once in a while the tourist needs to experience how the passenger sees things, as opposed to the tourist. If all you do is travel betwen 10 and 4 on the Tube you’ll only get a part of the experience.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/19/18 23:41 by cricketer8for9.

Hartington Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> I'm not so sure about buying a Britrail Pass.
> Look here www.nationalrail.co.uk to see times and
> fares - it might be cheaper to buy separate
> tickets than the pass but BEWARE some tickets are
> only valid on the train you book, no changes (a
> bit like most air fares).

I've visited Britain 10 times starting with 2002, about seven months altogether, and have always used a Britrail Pass, either for all of Britain, England only, or a regional one centred on London and the South, roughly the old NSE territory (this pass is currently called London Plus). These are a bargain for the active railfan traveller and frankly the only thing I've found cheap in my trips there. These passes are only available to non-residents of the UK. The decision to get one is a no-brainer, unless the vacation is confined to London's Oyster Card area.

There have been times when I've struck up conversations with British railfans during my travels and the subject of my Britrail Pass has come up. When I mention the low price, some of them think I'm pulling their leg. And a few times, there has been annoyance that foreigners can get such a good deal when the locals can't, so I generally try to avoid the subject.

A few current examples, in US dollars, for standard class. $199 for 3 consecutive days for travel anywhere in England, Wales and Scotland; $167 for the same period in England only.



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 01/20/18 04:40 by railsmith.

I thank all of you for these great suggestions. We are poring over all the possibilities, and will need to schedule more trips to the UK to take it all in.