Track bash May 2022

Day 3 (Tuesday 24th May)

Newcastle to Glasgow

Last updated 2022-05-24

The main reason to go to Scotland is to meet up with a friend I haven't seen for years who lives in Edinburgh. That's going to take up at least the afternoon, if not much of the evening. But any time that's left can be used to mop up the two sections of line in the Glasgow area, plus two other much shorter ones.

One of these is a short piece of track in the Cathcart area. Here's a diagram (based on one in Wikipedia) of the various lines around Cathcart:

When I visited Cathcart signal box many years ago, there were three separate services on these lines, all of which ran between Glasgow Central and Mount Florida, after which then fanned out in three directions: to Newton, to Neilston, and via Shawlands back to Glasgow Central. (Each service ran both ways, of course, so there were trains both ways round the loop.) This meant I managed to ride the lines shown in green but not those in red.

But now it's different. There's still a service to Neilston, but Newton is served by trains via Shawlands. Nothing runs all the way round the loop and nothing uses the link from Mount Florida to King's Park. Indeed, no station - apart from Glasgow Central itself - is served by both routes. And, while it's practical to walk between Langside and Muirend, the details of the timetable mean it's actually no faster than going all the way back to Glasgow Central and then out again.

The other short section is the relatively new service between Anniesland and Maryhill. Depending on the exact time of things, it may be possible to slip that in.

If I managed to do all four, then I'll have covered every line in Scotland with a regular passenger service apart from Thurso (the northernmost rail station in the UK), though there's a number of goods-only and one-or-two-trains-per-day lines that I won't have used.

Clear run to Edinburgh. I had 12 minutes for the train to Glasgow, but decided to a bit of present shopping first at a shop half way up the steps to the street, catching a later train instead. However, the shop was closed so I rushed back down to get on the train one minute before departure. Except (a) it was running to a modified timetable with the working timetable departure two minutes later than the published time and (b) one of the train crew "had problems with her transport", so we didn't leave for another 11 minutes after that. Had I known, I had time to buy a coffee.

I text my friend to confirm the details, to discover that he's testing positive for Covid-19 and so we (again) can't meet up. Okay, that gives me time in hand to do other things instead, but I can still do the first part of today's plan without change.

The hotel where I'm staying is near both Queen Street and Central, though nearer the latter. So I walk there from Queen Street to ask if they'll look after my suitcase. No, says the lady on the front desk: it was so quiet last night that we can check you in right now! So I accept with pleasure and go up to my room briefly to dump my suitcase. (This isn't the earliest check-in I've ever managed. Once on arrival at Kuala Lumpar airport at about 07:00 after a 6 hour flight, I asked to leave my suitcase and instead got checked-in with an upgrade to a better room and access to the lounge with a chef to cook your breakfast to order.) I then headed to Central station. I got there with a few minutes to spare so went for the coffee I'd missed at Edinburgh. It turned out the person in front of me had a complicated order and, although it looked like I still had enough time, the train actually departed with me still about 30 metres from it. So time to do some replanning on the fly.

The next train out to anywhere interesting is to Neilston, so I'll get that. At the far end, I just stay sitting and, to my satisfaction, nobody checks the train before the doors are closed and we head off into the reversing siding. When the driver walks through the train he tells me I shouldn't be there. "Sorry, I wasn't paying attention. I'm heading back to Glasgow anyway." There wasn't much he could do, so he just left me there. The same happened when the guard came through the other way.

Okay, since I've got this ticket I might as well make use of it. If I leave the Larkhall branch to the last train, I can get to Dundee and back, out via Perth and back over the Tay and Forth Bridges. However, I decide instead to come back via Perth again, which gets me all the remaining lines in Glasgow and still be finished by 8. So, while I get to see the "bridge over the silvery Tay", I don't get to cross it. (It turns out to be quite hard to photograph from the Perth line, as well.)

The rest of the day went fine and I was finished before 20:00.

The rebuilt Queen Street station is very impressive, but why are there no food facilities apart from two "pop-up" coffee and cake stands? Compare almost any other major terminus (or even through stations like Edinburgh Waverley).

Oh, why am I staying in Glasgow when my friend is in Edinburgh? That's a story for tomorrow.

Today's trains table

Today's route table

New lines today

• Cathcart to Neilston
• Bonus: Neilston reversing siding
• Maryhill to Anniesland
• Larkhall branch
• Cathcart west curve

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