There’s a new musical in London’s West End called “Standing at the Sky’s Edge” playing to packed houses. The songs and music were composed by Richard Hawley, Sheffield’s well-known singer-songwriter (remember “Tonight the Streets are Ours”?) and is set in the Park Hill municipal housing project towering over the railway station. Surprisingly you can’t see the flats from the station platforms – the hill is in the way – but it’s a massive development with 995 flats and maisonettes originally built 1957-61 and, after a period of decay, it is being redeveloped by Urban Splash. I have passed throug ..read more

You have probably been wondering: “Is it just me, or do train tickets keep getting more expensive?” Don’t assume that you are just imagining it. As recently as March 2024, rail fares in England and Wales increased by 4.9%, even outstripping the inflation rate. This price rise has added to financial woes already often arising from rail travel. This is a shame when you consider many well-documented benefits of going by train rather than, say, car or plane. So, all in all, is hopping on a train still worth the financial outlay? Why has rail travel become so costly anyway? The problem has surprisi ..read more

Northern Railway had a special offer in February if you collected two tokens from a range of local newspapers.  If you then downloaded a form from their website and attached the newspaper tokens, you could have a Northern one day rover for £10 or a two-day (Saturday and Sunday dayrover) for £17.   So, where to go? South is difficult because there is no Northern service between Darlington and York. I decided to go west, through the Lake District, to the end of what is termed the longest cul-de-sac in England and visit Barrow in Furness, and beyond that, the wild landscape of Waln ..read more

When I visited the Conwy Valley, staying at Llanrwst, in November, I was not expecting to be back in the area so soon. On 25th January, the Association of European Rail Agents met in the Imperial Hotel, Llandudno, and I was able to have a walk along the whole pier and pay a visit in the evening to nearby Conwy. It just confirmed what I had always thought, that this is a really special area to visit, and on the way back home my ticket only cost £20.95 which was a real bargain. I don’t know what the outward fare from Yarm, Sunderland, or Darlington might be because I was coming from a prison nea ..read more

I arranged a two-night visit to North Wales from 29 November to 1 December so my wife could claim I was away for two months. Staying in the small town of Llanrwst (pronounced Thlan-roost) at the Eagles Hotel, I took the opportunity to visit Llandudno, Blaenau Ffestiniog, Betws y Coed and the village of Dolgarrog. This has a very impressive Hilton Garden Hotel, but rather a long walk (30min) along unlit footpaths to the railway station of the same name. After dark when I was going back to my hotel, I was not prepared to trust the torch on my phone not to conk out along the route, so I took the ..read more

In late October I found myself for two days in a four-star hotel in southern Leicestershire. It was a thirty minute walk from the nearest bus stop in North Kilworth, ten minutes down the hotel drive and twenty minutes along a fast A road with no pavements, jumping out of the way of approaching lorries. There are often much better options close to railway stations and I estimate that there are about 400 stations which have hotels close at hand. Therefore, I am working on a list of hotels ideal for the rail traveller. The nearest railhead to North Kilworth was Market Harborough, which I reached ..read more

I approached the Haymarket Bus Station in Newcastle on Saturday 26 August looking for the stand for the X75 special service to Belsay and Wallington. Stand N was the only one with roughly fifty people queuing for the second journey of the day to two of Northumberland’s most loved tourist attractions: Belsay Hall and Castle managed by the charity English Heritage, and Wallington Hall managed by the National Trust. Whilst either could provide a full day out, it is perfectly possible to do both in a day, transferring between the venues in the early afternoon. Go North East started running the Sat ..read more

The man who was responsible for the change of name from Whitley to Whitley Bay knew nothing about it. William Oliver, was Secretary of the Rockcliff Rugby Club in Whitley, and died on a trip in 1901 to Edinburgh. The body was to be sent back to Whitley by train for the funeral, but was sent to Whitby in North Yorkshire instead, the –le- being confused with a -b-. The stationmaster at Whitby arranged to send it on to Whitley and the funeral was conducted at nightfall. The townspeople recognised this could happen again and the town was renamed Whitley Bay in 1902, much to the relief of the North ..read more

First up is news that the £2 single maximum bus fare referred to last month has been extended to the end of June. Great news for bus passengers, and as it helps reduce congestion and carbon emissions, it meets many policy objectives whilst reducing costs for cash-strapped households. My journey this month involved an early 08:45 Sunday train from Newcastle, but no buses to get there. The car parking was rather expensive at £14. I was making a day trip to visit Arbroath, the largest town between Dundee and Aberdeen on Scotland’s North Sea Coast. It has a population of 24,000. Formerly known as ..read more

As this edition is published, the new 2023 UK National Rail Map will be available for delivery before Christmas.  When days are short and the temperatures low, it’s a great time to plan ahead for when the weather is more conducive to days out for leisure.  One I am looking forward to doing for this column is a visit to Dumfries House – one of our King’s most impressive projects – near Auchinleck, East Ayrshire, accessed via Carlisle once a certain freight train which had an accident is out of the way.  I hope to write it up for January or February.    The new map featu ..read more