Jack May visits Scotland

[daveklepper]

We woke up early on Wednesday, May 23, our last [half] day in Glasgow.  We
would check out of the Z (leaving our luggage with the desk clerk), do som> last minute sightseeing, and eventually go our separate ways for the last
days of our journey.  We visited the Council Chambers (built in 1889) and
the Modern Art Museum before reclaiming our bags and walking to Queen Street
station.  I purchased a ticket for Clare at a machine and put her on the
12:15 train to Edinburgh, and then walked to the bus stop just outside the
station.  The route 500 express coach to the airport was running every 10
minutes (:03, :13, :23, etc.) and I caught one at 12:18, paying the driver
the 8-pound fare using a credit card.  The ride took less than a half-hour
with arrival coming at 12:40.  The airport is less than a mile and a half
from one of Glasgow's suburban rail lines and there have been on-again,
off-again plans for direct rail service from Central Station to the air
field.
The terminal is relatively small, and the announcement of the departure
gate was not made until 14:40.  After passing through security, the walk to
the Ryanair area (gate 7B) made me feel that with just a little more effort
I could have reached Dublin on foot.  Loading began at 15:25, our scheduled
departure time.  Passengers were instructed to leave carry-ons on the tarmac
and board the aircraft by either the front or rear stairs, as per their
boarding passes.  The flight was far from full and I was able to move from
seat 19E (middle--didn't pay extra for seat selection) to 19D with ease.
The Boeing 737 pulled away from the gate at 15:53 (25), but wasn't aloft
until 16:06.  As soon as the Fasten Seat Belts light was turned off, an
attendant began walking down the aisle, and in the best Pennsylvania
Railroad news-butcher tradition, tried to sell us Clark Bars and Baby Ruths
(actually drinks, snacks and duty-free items like perfume).

 We hit the tarmac in Dublin at 16:49 and got to our parking place at 16:53
(25), where passengers alighted using stairs at both the front and rear.
Then it was a long walk (again!) to Irish Customs and Immigration, where
there was already a long line for non-Shengen visitors, extending way past
the maze into a holding pen.  I joined the masses, shoulder to shoulder with
many others and noticed the line was hardly moving.  Was a job action
underway?  Suddenly, about a half hour later, more agents appeared out of
the blue and the line began to advance--fortunately now at a brisk pace.
I'll probably never know what that problem was, but soon enough I was
perfunctorily questioned and admitted into the country.  A route 757 bus wasloading as I reached it, and it departed shortly after I boarded.  But my
ordeal was not yet over.  A huge amount of traffic congestion led to a long
1-hour trip (schedule called for 39 minutes) to my stop, which was the one
before the end of the line, but fortunately directly in front of the
entrance to my B&B.  It was now 19:00 and after being checked in I found a
Japanese restaurant and had a good dinner.  My room was a bit odd,
reasonably large, but arranged in a way that if I didn't want to crawl
across my bed's mattress I could only reach half of it, and not the window.
But it was reasonably priced, had a decent clean and well-equipped bathroom,
a large, comfortable double bed and good lighting.  I didn't really need
anything else, so I definitely would go back.

  Tuesday, May 22 dawned dark and gloomy--and it stayed that way all day,
which included some periods of rain, but also brief stretches of brightened
sky.  The blue sky in some of the photos below was serendipitous, but
because the clouds filled almost the whole sky there weren't any shadows.
The breakfast at the Kilronan House was excellent, up to the level of what Irish breakfasts

are touted to be.

Dublin, which houses over 550,000 people, is the capital and largest city
in Ireland, and accounts for almost one-third of its population.  Although
English is the predominant language, about 40 percent of the inhabitants are
able to speak Gaelic (Gaeilge), which is formally known as Irish.  The
official language of Ireland is Irish, according to the nation's
constitution.  As a result, despite the fact that only about 5 percent of
the natives use it in conversation, a great deal of signage is bilingual.

 The tramway in Dublin is called Luas (not a mnemonic, as it means speed in
Gaelic).  It was inaugurated in 2004 with two unconnected lines.  Clare and
I traveled to Dublin in 2005, where we rode the initial 15-mile long system
and did a great deal of sightseeing.  Since then the standard-gauge 750-volt
DC operation has expanded, almost doubling in size, with the North-South
Green Line extended through the city center and across the River Liffey to
connect with the Red Line and continuing even further (see
http://www.urbanrail.net/eu/ie/dublin/dublin.htmhttp://www.urbanrail.net/eu/ie/dublin/dublin.htm).
It is 15 miles long and operates with two services, combined over most their
length through the areas of the heaviest traffic.  The Red Line was extended
too, and now has short branches at both ends, with a total route mileage o> 13.

The roster consists of 73 double-ended low-floor cars, numbered in the
3000, 4000 and 5000 series, all built by Alstom.  The 3000s started out as
5-section Citadis 301 units, but were since lengthened with the addition of
two more sections, to be virtually the same as the 4000s, which are Citadis
401s.  Both are not totally low floor.  The 5000s were built for the
extensions, with the first 26 being 100-percent low-floor Citadis 402s.  The
last 7 came in 2017, and have 9 sections, thus they are Citadis 502s.
During this period, all the equipment received yellow horizontal striping to
aid in visibility.  Right now the original 40 cars are assigned to the Red
Line, while the newer 33 operate on the Green.  They are totally compatible,
so those assignments could be easily changed.  Luas is operated by Transdev,
a transit spin-off of Veolia that also manages streetcar operations in New
Orleans, Cincinnati, Detroit and Milwaukee.

 The Harcourt stop on the Luas Green line was a couple of blocks from my
hotel and I found a ticket machine that issued a day pass in exchange for Euro 7.30;

it would serve me well for my planned activities--principally
riding the entire system.  I was soon approached by a young lady who urged
me to vote "Yes" in the election that was taking place today--to eliminate
Ireland's rigorous and vigorous anti-abortion statutes.  Throughout my

travels within the city, I observed much electioneering, with 

preponderance of folks wearing Yes buttons (others displayed No), along with
a number of small demonstrations, mainly populated with attractive young
women favoring a Yes vote.  There was much exuberance and great optimism on
the Yes side, while a good number of those wearing No buttons seemed to be
older prim-looking people and clergy.  On the next morning I found out that
Yes had won by a landslide (just short of 2 to 1)--a great blow to the
Catholic Church.  Now terminations are allowed during the period leading up
to 12 weeks of pregnancy, and beyond that if there is a risk to the life of
the woman or the fetus.  The pill remains illegal unless medically
prescribed.

The Harcourt stop is adjacent to the site of the old Harcourt Street
railway line, a steam road (later diesel), which closed in 1958, and now
provides the right-of-way for the southern end of the Green Line.  The
station itself became the Odeon, an upscale cocktail bar in this area that
is home to many beautifully preserved Georgian-style buildings that lie
 along the light rail line.  Several of them are hotels and B&Bs, and Clare
and I stayed at one back in 2005.  Like Britain, the rule of the road in
Ireland is left handed, so one had to be extra careful when crossing
streets.

I hopped on the first southbound car, whose destination was Sandyford, the
original end point of the line (the other end at the line's inauguration was
St. Stephen's Green, one station in the other direction).  Two

mostly-overlapping services are operated on the line, with off-peak headways
every 12 minutes from Broombridge to Sandyford and from Parnell to Brides
Glen, which means there's a car every 6 minutes between Parnell on the north
side of the Liffey, through the city center crossing the river, and on to
Sandyford.  I did not bother with a picture at my car's terminal, but
continued on the next tram to Brides Glen, where I laid over and took some
photos.  There are a number of photogenic locations on the original GreeLine,

but I covered them nicely in good weather in 2005, so I wasn't upset
that I hadn't time to stop at the cable-stayed bridge nor in an attractive
well-landscaped cut.  I then rode a Parnell tram back to O'Connell Street in
the city and then continued to Broombridge on the following car.  It was a
bit too dark for photos along O'Connell, but it was a bit lighter at the
northern end of the line.

An Alstom Citadis 401 lays over as the Brides Glen terminal of the Green
Line.  It will loop at the Parnell stop at the northern edge of Dublin's
business district.  Service beyond Parnell is provided by cars that start at
Sandyford.

The bumper blocks at the Broombridge terminal of the Green Line don't look
sufficiently sturdy to withstand a runaway tram.  The line's northern
terminal can be considered multi modal, as the overpass at left connects
with the Broombridge station of the suburban railway system, which is along
the former Midland Great Western line to Galway and Sligo.  Ath an Glainimh
is clearly Irish for Sandyford.  Luas destination signs switch back and
forth between the two languages.  The tram on the left is one of the three
wrapped ones I noticed.

I especially enjoyed the new part of the line that threads its way through
the city center north of St. Stephen's Green.  The routing had been a bit
controversial because of fears of traffic congestion, but it seems to have
worked out very well.  Northbound and southbound rails run roughly parallel
to each other on different one-way streets, and cross the Liffey
separately.  Part of the purpose of today's activities was to find places
that were photogenic, and on the return trip, I stopped at Phibsborough for
pictures, as the station is in a cut with streets crossing over the
right-of-way at either end.  The lighting, however, was not good, but I came
back on the following morning to retake my photos in bright sunlight,ashown below.

Above and below:  The Green Line travels through Phibsborough in an
attractive cut.  The upper photo shows a tram heading for Broombridge, while
e lower shows two trams in the station.  Elevators and stairways connect
the stop to Cabra Road (from which the upper photo was taken) and North
Circular Road (behind the photographer).

After returning to the city center I transferred to the Red Line to do the
equivalent, riding first eastward to The Point and then all the way to
Saggart, covering the new extensions.  There is a great deal of high-rise
office and residential construction along this part of the line.  I also
shuttled from Belgard to Tallaght and return, stopping for a few more
> photos.  Similar to the Green Line, overlapping services operate on the Red
Line, but with branches at each end.  With a combined off-peak frequency of
every 4 to 5 minutes, trams between The Point and Saggart run every 7
minutes and between Connolly and Tallaght every 14.  Thus there is a never a
long wait for a photo, except along the branches.  The Red Line connects
Dublin's two major railway stations, Connolly and Heuston.  An intensive
electric suburban rail service called DART operates with eMUs through
Connolly station, and over an elevated structure that passes above the heart
of the city, serving the area with stops at Pearse and Tara Street
stations.  Diesel MU commuter service from Heuston Station is also
operated.

Above and below:  Canopies stretch over at least two stations on the Luas
Red Line.  The upper photo shows the Connolly terminal.  Note the signs on
the left posted before the abortion referendum.  All was peaceful--it's
today's Ireland, not the United States--and the posters were removed after
the results of the voting had been tallied.  The lower view is at the
Belgard stop, the last before the junction of the Red Line branches to
Saggart and Talaght.


The Red Line parallels Dublin's Grand Canal for several stops, and I had
noticed swans congregating around the Drimnagh station while I was riding
outbound.  Heading back downtown I saw they were still there, so I stopped
off for a few additional photos.  Unfortunately it was raining at the time,
so I couldn't stop for long (and the results were far from being great).

Above and below:  Two views of the Red Line along the Grand Canal.  This
waterway runs east-west through the southern portion of Dublin, while a
similar one, the Royal Canal, roughly parallels it on the north, close to
the outer end of the Green Line.  Both connect Dublin with the River
Shannon, and were closed to commercial navigation between 1950 and 1960.
They each had over 40 locks and now are maintained for pleasurable outdoor
pursuits.


I had dinner in a neighborhood steak house, which was barely acceptable,
but it did sate my hunger.  Breakfast the following morning, Thursday, May
24, was excellent again, even better because the sun was shining brightly. I would only have a few hours to get some photos and would not be able to go
far.  I checked out and left my bags for collection later, and walked back
to the Green Line at Harcourt, where I bought another day ticket.  I first
traveled to Phibsborough, where I repeated my pictures from yesterday, and
then went back to the Red Line, where I took some photos downtown.  I then
headed back toward the hotel, saw I had a little extra time and continued
beyond my starting point for one stop to, Charlemont, which is on an
elevated structure.  I took my last photos of Dublin there and along
Adelaide Road, a half-block from my B&B.


The rear of a Connolly station-bound tram near St. James Hospital.
Conghaile is the Irish translation of Connolly.

Connolly station bound car pauses just short of the intersection with
O'Connell Street.  Note the connecting track from the Green Line to the Red
Line in the foreground.



Dublin's Hilton is conveniently located adjacent to the Grand Canal and the
elevated Charlemont station of the Green Line.

I had checked the location of the bus stop for the airport and saw that it
was a good 5-minute walk from my B&B, as the bus makes a one-way loop
stopping in front of the hotel only in the outbound direction, but then lays
over one stop beyond before heading back.  Thus I left Kilronan House with
my bag at 11:35.  The 11:55 trip of route 757 picked me up at 11:59 and I
was at the airport at 12:45.  I had to navigate security twice, the second
being pre-clearance so I would not have to go though Customs and Immigration
back at Stewart Airport.  I persuaded them to refrain from frying my film
the second time, which I appreciated.  I was assigned Seat 21A on Boeing
737, and was fortunate the middle seat was empty.  Before boarding the
Norwegian Air personnel announced we would be delayed 20 minutes on the
ground.  All the passengers impatiently waited until boarding began at
14:20.  We pushed away from the gate at 15:05 (14:25) and left the tarmac at
15:27.  The flight was uneventful, and I skipped purchasing any food or
beverages.

Far above Greenland.  My return flight was a continuous sightseeing
opportunity.

Our aircraft smoothly landed at 17:15 and we arrived at a gate shared with
domestic carriers at 17:20 (16:15).  I didn't mind the lateness as I had to
wait for Clare anyway; her arrival from Edinburgh wasn't scheduled until
19:30 and she would have to go through Immigration and Customs.  If I could
bail out our car by 20:30 I would be able to avoid an extra day's worth of
charges.  As it happened Clare's plane was late, but only by about 25
minutes, and we connected at 20:10.  We drove to a nearby Outback Steakhouse
for dinner, where Clare told me about her achievements in Edinburgh, and got
home by about 22:15.  It was a great trip. So ends the report.
Jack May

[daveklepper]

In the past two days I've received a number of comments regarding my posts about Glasgow, including particularly interesting ones from Rich Taylor, Richard Horne, Andrew Beech and Martin Heyneck.

First, Rich Taylor, who resides here in New Jersey, discovered these two photos from the internet illustrating the electric operation of freight (goods) on the streets of Glasgow.




He wrote, with respect to the photo below:  One more showing the goods loco running from the trolleybus overhead, however in this image the railway has its own lines centered to allow buses to pass.

 



My friends (and occasional travel companions) from Britain, Richard Horne and Andrew Beech, provided some informative data and photos that I thought might be of interest.

First, this is part of what Richard wrote regarding the Glasgow subway in the days before it was renovated and was still running its original rolling stock:

You are quite right that the hidden side of the old Glasgow Subway cars was painted in plain colour.  I'm attaching some B&W and colour slide views (rare for me) I took looking around the works/depot.  As you know, the cars had to be craned out and one picture shows a car about to be lifted.  The pit down which they were craned also gave the only access to the tunnels, with a timber stair down.  The depot foreman took me down and peering into the tunnel as a train approached, waved it down to stop, so that I could photograph it!  That's Glaswegian kindness for you.

 

There was a 4 wheel battery electric service loco, which ended up in the transport museum, when at Kelvin Hall (opposite the Art Gallery) but whether it is the new museum by the Clyde, I do not know.  You'll see in one of my photos that the cars had twin horizontally mounted 'trolley poles' on the side, which ran along twin wall-mounted conductor rails on the subway wall, which you can see in the station photo. These were used for electric lighting when the cars were cable hauled and and continued to be used under electric traction, taking low voltage current, rather than the 600v traction supply.  

 

The first photo below shows the "trolley" or current collector (covering the door area toward the front of the car) used to pick up low-voltage current for lighting, etc., while making contact with the twin conductor rails on the right wall above and below the Buchanan St. station sign, as shown in the second photo.  Of course this could only work if all stations had center island platforms, which they did.



Glasgow subway car 22 being lifted at the Govan Cross Workshop (June 19, 1970 by Richard T. Horne)



Glasgow subway cars 29 and 42 at Buchanan Street Station (June 19, 1970 by Richard T. Horne)

Here are three more of Richard's photos:


Glasgow subway car 2 at stairway leading to the Govan Cross Workshop (June 19, 1970 by Richard T. Horne)



Glasgow subway battery locomotive 1 at the Govan Cross Workshop (June 19, 1970 by Richard T. Horne)



Glasgow subway car 45 at the Govan Cross Depot (June 19, 1970 by Richard T. Horne)


Andrew Beech provided some information about the tramways in the Coatbridge area and expanded on the text I provided about the Summerlee tram museum, putting it into the context of the times.  

He, along with Martin Heyneck from Germany, corrected me regarding my description of ex-Dusseldorf car 392.  It is an Aufbau car, not a KSW.  Martin wrote about "Aufbauwagen" as follows:  These were  new carbodies built on rescued trucks of war damaged cars. Later on they were built completely new with new trucks too (VÖV I). Further on they got beveled ends (VÖV II).

Andrew also wrote:

Coatbridge was served by the Glasgow Corporation Tramways, and was near the easternmost point it reached, at Airdrie. The line originated in a typical small town system, linking Airdrie and Coatbridge, served from 1902 onwards by a fleet of 15 trams. In 1922 Glasgow acquired the line, and extended its own system to join the two up. Glasgow also acquired the neighbouring Paisley and District Tramways, with its 72 trams, the following year, in 1923.

Sadly, one of the consequences of Government agreement to fund the electrified blue train network around Glasgow in the 1950s was a requirement that competing tram services be withdrawn. So most Glasgow tram services outside the city boundary, including those to Coatbridge and Paisley, were withdrawn in 1956 as a direct result. Incidentally the blue trains initially ran only as far east as Airdrie. Passenger trains east of Airdrie were withdrawn in 1956, although the line stayed open for freight. Electrified passenger service was extended one stop beyond Airdrie to Drumgelloch in 1989, but wasn’t extended further to Edinburgh via Bathgate until 2010.

 

Paisley tram 17 (later Glasgow 1017) was built as an open top double decker by the British Electric Car Co of Trafford Park, Manchester in 1904, one of the initial batch of 49 trams. BEC was a company set up to exploit the huge demand for trams around that time as new systems were built and old ones were electrified. Like many such companies in this and other industries they built shoddy products using insufficiently seasoned wood. Accordingly most of their products had short lives and the company itself went bankrupt later the same year 1904. The Paisley trams deteriorated quickly and all had been rebuilt by 1917.

 

After Glasgow bought the Paisley tramways seventeen of this batch of trams were converted to single deckers , as your email says, for the Duntocher route. After closure the tram became a training car and was sold in 1960.

 

What became the Lanarkshire Tramways Co opened in 1902. The system spread throughout the Lanarkshire coalfield. There were end to end connections with the Glasgow tramways at two points, but no through running. What killed the Lanarkshire tramways was World War I. During the war the quality of motor lorries improved greatly. At the end of the war huge quantities of lorry chassis were available, and were sold off cheap. Many ex-servicemen, who learned to drive during the war, bought lorry chassis, put a bus body on them and started to run bus services (equivalent to the jitney services in the USA). Many of these competed with tramways, which were unable to adapt. Until bus services in the UK were regulated in 1930, such competition was allowed to destroy the tramways, which were seen as old-fashioned. One such casualty was the Lanarkshire Tramways. Having been one of the most profitable tram companies in Britain in 1924, it closed completely at the ends of 1930.

 

Tram 53 was built by the United Electric Co of Preston in 1908, the last of a batch of seven open top double deck trams. They were heavy on power consumption and relatively little used as a result. Car 53 was involved in a major accident in 1917 and was thereafter stored, being used as a source of spare parts. It never ran again in passenger service until restoration at Summerlee. After closure of the Lanarkshire Tramways it was sold to a farmer.

 

The “restored” tram 53 is, to all intents and purposes, a replica. Only a few metal components from the original survive; the rest, including the entire wood body, is new. The truck (a Brill 21E made in Philadelphia) and electrical equipment come from a Porto tram.

 

Summerlee has owned two other trams as well as Rheinbahn 392 (which is an Aufbau car built by Duewag in 1951 using a truck from a war damaged tram). These were Brussels 9062 and Graz 225. Brussels 9062 was rebuilt prior to the 1958 exhibition to look like a  two-axle PCC car and Graz 225, which has been built by SGP in 1950. Sadly much of the area east of Glasgow city centre, extending as far east as Coatbridge, is an area of high deprivation. Vandals entered the museum and destroyed Brussels 9062 and badly damaged Graz 225. A sad end.

 

There is a significant bibliography:

“The Glasgow Horse Tramways” by Struan Robertson, published by the Scottish Tramway and Transport Society in 2000;  “The Glasgow Tramcar” by Ian Stewart, published by the Scottish Tramway and Transport Society in 1994;  “Paisley’s Trams and Buses – Eighties to Twenties” by AW Brotchie and RL Grieves, published by NB Traction in 1988;  “Lanarkshire’s Trams” by AW Brotchie, published by NB Traction in 1993;  “Tramways of Western Germany” by MR Taplin, published by the LRTA in 1971

Andrew also commented about car 779, which I photographed at the Riverside museum.

Before the Glasgow system closed in 1962 a decision was taken to restore a number of Standards to illustrate the various stages of their  construction and modification. Inevitably with such a huge number of trams (1004 Standards were built) built over a period spanning nearly 30 years the ones built at the end were much more modern looking than those built earlier. But all the earlier ones were modified over the years to look like later ones. So 779 is not in as-built condition, neither is it in as-withdrawn condition. 

Like all but 80 of the Glasgow Standards 779 was  built by the corporation at Coplawhill workshops. It entered service in April 1900 as an open-top double decker, as did all of the Standards built before 1904. It was rebuilt into the condition in which it is now displayed in about 1910 (I don’t know exactly when). At some date unknown, but later than 1910, the lower deck vestibules were enclosed. Its final rebuilding took place in November 1930 when 779 emerged as a fully enclosed tram. It ran in this form until December 1959 when it was withdrawn for restoration as a museum exhibit.

 

[daveklepper]

Perhaps the moderator can have more success than I have had in editing out duplicate material without removing the original as well!

[daveklepper]

Continued from Segment 6.

Tuesday, May 22 was our second day in Glasgow.  Clare accomplished further sightseeing (including tracking down some additional Mackintosh sites), plus visits to other museums and to the Cathedral, while I devoted the day to electric railway pursuits.  I should mention that this was my second trip to Glasgow, the first having come during the summer of 1960, while there were still a half dozen or so tram routes still in operation.  I was blessed with good weather and had a ball, as in addition to the streetcars, I enjoyed the Glasgow Subway and especially appreciated the suburban railway system, which was just completing electrification.  Very attractive blue British Railways eMUs were running in test service, while regular operations consisted of steam-hauled compartment cars, chugging through the deep Queen Street Lower Level station (cough, cough, cough, click, click, click, . . .)  

I had originally planned to renew my acquaintance with the circular subway line and then ride some eMU trains today, but when I asked my friend John Hayward, a retired railwayman living just outside of London, which lines he would recommend, he also informed me that there was an operating tramway museum in the area.  Thus I revised my plans and made visiting that heritage operation my primary focus.  Operated by tram enthusiasts organized as the Summerlee Transport Group, it is housed within the grounds of the Museum of Scottish Industrial Life, about 10 miles east of Glasgow, and about a 10-minute walk from ScotRail's Coatbridge Sunnyside station.  So right after breakfast, I trekked over to Queen Street station and found that the timetable indicated that I would be taking a 20-minute ride on a line that operated about 7 trains every hour, with a one-day round-trip costing only  4.20 pounds.  What could be better? 

After purchasing my ticket from a machine and passing through fare gates, I descended to the station's eastbound lower-level platform by elevator, and the first thing I noticed was the absence of smoke--no longer any steam trains here.  The double-track tunnel, which contains at least one more station, was built in 1886 by the Edinburgh & Glasgow Railway (technically the Glasgow City and District), which was soon acquired by the North British which operated the line until the groupings of 1923.  It predated the building of the Glasgow Subway (1896) and thus was the city's first underground railway, albeit not electrified until 1960.*  There were a number of competing railroads on the lucrative Glasgow to Edinburgh and Glasgow to London lines, and as a result Glasgow had many mainline terminals, and I made a point of visiting all of them in 1960, before the infamous Richard Beeching came around and "rationalized" lines out of existence later in the decade, closing Buchanan Street (Caledonian) and St. Enoch (Glasgow & South Western), while retaining Queen Street (North British) and Central (Caledonian).    

* A similar underground railway tunnel operated under the elevated Central station, but was newer, built by the Glasgow Central Railway (a Caledonian subsidiary), also 1896.  After the electrification of the competing tunnel through Queen Street, the Caledonian tunnel became very unpopular because of its soot and dirt, and was closed in 1964.  The line was later electrified and reopened in 1979.

Anyway, I just missed the 9:56 eMU (the doors were closing when I emerged from the elevator), but made the 10:08, which was operating 7 minutes late, opening its doors at 10:14.  The 10-mile ride to Coatbridge Sunnyside was very speedy despite 7 intermediate stops (some trains make only 4) and I alighted at 10:33 (10:27).  It had rained the previous evening, but now the clouds were dispersing and I enjoyed my walk to the Summerlee museum's entrance.  I saw the tramway track immediately, but all was silent with no apparent activity at all--not a person was in sight.  I began walking down the track and as I reached a curve I heard some grinding traction noises and soon a beautiful orange tram with a bow collector came into view, heading my way.  I immediately pulled out and focused my camera and breathed a sigh of relief.  When I got back to the platform at the inner terminal I approached the operator, who was quite friendly and sent me to the nearby Exhibition Hall where I bought an all day pass for the tram ride.  He indicated that service operates frequently, with short layovers at either end of a line that I eventually estimated to be about a half-mile long. 



I took this photo of the entrance to the museum, with a tram resting at the inner terminal, upon my departure from the grounds.  The Exhibition Hall is at right.



My first photo at Summerlee was of No. 1017 heading toward the inner terminal of the tramway.  The 1017 was built for the Paisley and District tramways in 1904, and was renumbered when that company was absorbed into the Glasgow Corporation Tramways network in 1923.  It was part of a small series of open-top double-deck units that GCT soon cut down to single deck and equipped with extra-long bow collectors for operation on the long Glasgow-Duntocher line, which had an underpass that double-deckers could not clear.  After route 20 was closed in 1949 the 1017 was converted to a school/training car and its tower and short bow collector were installed.  It served in that capacity until the tramway was nearing the end of operations, when in 1960 it was removed to a garden in a Glasgow suburb and used as a meeting room for local tramway enthusiasts.  In 1991 it was acquired by the Summerlee Transport Group and lovingly restored to its current authentic (for 1925) operating condition.

 
By the time car 1017 departed a number of other museum visitors had climbed aboard.  They were using the tram as transportation between various exhibits, such as miners' homes, a sawmill and a mine, as well as some buildings that house historic working machinery.  I rode the tram to the line's outer end and then began walking back to station to find good photo locations.  I noticed the carhouse was shut up tight, but later, when I asked the motorman about some details regarding the operation, he replied that he didn't know the answers, but then added that the president of the tramway group was on the property, and "I'm sure he could help you."  David Craig certainly did, treating me to a history of the museum and the Glasgow tramway--and best of all, taking me into the carhouse, from which he pulled out the other two operable trams.  In addition, he invited me into the well-equipped shop where renovation of the museum's Coronation tram was underway.



Glasgow Corporation Tramways 1245 was built in 1939 and is undergoing a major restoration.  A total of 152 of Glasgow's first new 4-axle cars were built between 1937 and 1941.  At least three of these lightweight units were preserved, and may be found in various British tram museums.


Among the abundance of information I gathered from David Craig was that Glasgow Corporation Tramways did not operate on strictly standard gauge track, as the distance between the rails was about one inch less, 4 feet 7¾ inches, to allow freight cars from the national railway system to be pulled over the tramway with their flanges running in the track slots. And all of the GCT cars had to be double ended.  The museum's track is set at 4 feet 8½ inches so the two Glasgow trams on the property had to be regauged slightly.  Altogether however, I enjoyed the photo session in the carhouse area best of all.

 

Single-truck car 392 from the Rheinbahn in Dusseldorf is Summerlee's only handicapped-accessible car, and is brought out whenever needed to transport museum visitors whose mobility is challenged.  The Duewag-built KSW unit from 1950 represents the final chapter in Western Germany's construction of trams using designs from the Second World War. 



Four-wheeler No. 53 from 1908 is the pride and joy of Summerlee's collection.  The open-top double-decker was built for the Lanarkshire Tramway, which was headquartered in Motherwell, less than 10 miles away from this location.  The system was abandoned in 1931 and the car was purchased by a farmer who used it for storage for over a half-century before Summerlee obtained it in 1986 and restored it to pristine operational condition, using motors from a Porto, Portugal car.



Lanarkshire No. 53 shares the spotlight with Dusseldorf 392 in this view.

 

Ex-Paisley Glasgow 1017 poses with Lanarkshire No. 53 at the carhouse.




Above and below:  Two more photos of 1908-built Lanarkshire No. 53.  The green and ivory livery of the pole-equipped four-wheeler contrasts sharply with the bright red color of a traditional British telephone box in this side view above, while a ScotRail eMU whisks by the museum grounds in the lower photo. 

 

This last  picture is a good way to transition to my return to Glasgow after a thoroughly enjoyable time at this pleasant low-key tram operation.  There are actually two different stations in Coatbridge, with ScotRail's Coatbridge Central pretty much adjacent to the museum's entrance.  It's a longer ride to Glasgow from that station, as it is on a branch running northward from Motherwell that has only hourly service, plus its running time to Glasgow (Central) is just short of an hour, twice as long as from Coatbridge Sunnyside to Queen Street.  I was quite willing to try that line, as I like to make circle trips, but I just missed the 13:30 train and didn't want to wait for the next one.  Thus I walked back to Coatbridge Sunnyside, where service to Glasgow Queen Street runs every 8 or 9 minutes.  

Virtually all rail service in Scotland is operated by ScotRail, a private company owned by Abellio (a subsidiary of Netherlands Railways).  The infrastructure is owned by Network Rail, and only a small part of it is electrified, but that is changing as 25kV overhead gets erected over the tracks of many more lines.  The division of ScotRail that is charged with operating the suburban rail lines in the Glasgow area is called Strathclyde, which translates to Valley of the River Clyde, and consists of a complex network of lines (see http://www.projectmapping.co.uk/Reviews/Resources/ScotRail%20central%20map%208.pdf for a clear map, albeit from 2008).  It shows both stations in Coatbridge, which have catenary and are served by eMUs.  I took my time on my return, stopping over at two intermediate stations for photos of two types of these electric trains.  



Blairhill was the first stop on my 334-class train and I paused there for this photo of another such train of eMU cars.  These cars were built by Alstom in Birmingham and entered service in 2001.  ScotRail's 40 3-car units are advertised as part of the manufacturer's Coradia series, which mainly consists of diesel MUs, and is represented in North America by the equipment running on Ottawa's Trillium line.  These were the cars that replaced the "Blue Trains" I saw being tested on Glasgow's first electrification in 1960. 
 


Three more stations down the line is Shettleston, where I also stopped over.  After seeing and riding in trains made up of class 334 units, I was surprised to see this 320-series train come in while waiting to take a photo and took immediate advantage.  The triplex 320s were built in 1990 by the long-closed BREL plant in York.  Similar class 321 eMUs were built for longer-distance journeys and are equipped with toilets.  They have a top speed of 90 mph, but these 320s are missing that amenity and can only reach 75 mph between the closely spaced stations on this line.


I arrived at Queen Street at 14:43 and saw a sign directing passengers to the Glasgow Subway.  It led me to a moving sidewalk, which brought me to the line's Buchanan Street stop.  The 6½-mile long, four-foot gauge circular line with just 15 stations was one of the world's first electrified subway systems when it opened in 1896.*  For such a short line, it has a very interesting history, which I will take a stab at summarizing using information gathered from various internet sources.

* London 1890, Budapest 1896 and Boston 1896.

The subway is described as having two lines, an Outer Circle and Inner Circle, but this refers to nothing more than it being a double track line, albeit in two separate tubes, with trains running clockwise on the outer and counterclockwise on the inner.  The line crosses under the River Clyde twice in its circular path, and there are very few straight sections.  Originally called the Subway when it was opened in 1896, it took the name Glasgow Underground in 1936, but finally in 2003, realizing the public kept calling it the subway, the bureaucrats gave in and now it is officially the Glasgow Subway again.  [Would that be the case with the Newark City Subway vs. the current Newark Light Rail.]  The Subway was equipped with island platforms at the beginning, but station modernization programs have resulted in the installation of some side platforms at busy stations.  This could not have happened when the line's original rolling stock was in use, as the cars had doors only on one side--in fact it is said that Scottish frugality resulted in the equipment being painted only on the door side.

Operating totally underground, but with the depot and shops on the surface, the original cars were hoisted by crane from the tunnel.  Modernization in the late 1970s resulted in switches allowing track to ramp to the surface.  The line was originally operated by cable, but in 1935 was electrified (at 600 v DC), with motors replacing the grips on the original rolling stock.  As time went on subway maintenance was neglected and it became dilapidated.  After a frequent series of breakdowns the line was shut down for major modernization work, and it was closed between 1977 and 1980.  When it was reopened new rolling stock began providing service under automatic train control, with the operator only handling the doors and pushing a start button.  The rolling stock, with doors on both sides, is painted bright orange and as a result, the circular system soon earned the nickname of "The Clockwork Orange," based on the Stanley Kubrick/Anthony Burgess film.  Trains originally were made up of two cars, but after modernization and an increase of ridership, a sufficient number of trailers were added so that the trains are now three cars long (which makes still photography of trains difficult as few stations have long platforms).  In some cases the original platform at certain stations now has a transparent wall/barrier on the side where loading of trains in that direction takes place from a side platform, similar to what was done at the Union Station stop on Toronto's Yonge-University subway.

Major changes are scheduled for 2020, when new rolling stock will be delivered from Stadler.  Although the trains will not be longer, they will consist of four cars with open gangways, and be capable of fully automatic operation.  It is also planned to add half-height screen doors to the platforms.



I used my phone to take this photo of one of the Glasgow Subway's original units at the Riverside Museum.  Cars of this type originally had grips to attach themselves to a continuous moving cable, like San Francisco's cable cars.  In 1935 electric motors were installed in conjunction with the replacement of the cable system by 600-volt DC third rail.  These cars were retired from service in 1977.

In riding around the circle, which took about 25 minutes, I found that most of the stations were poorly lit, but one, Bridge Street, was bright and had a long platform to serve two entrances, so I positioned myself there for some photos.

Above and below

:  The current rolling stock on the Glasgow Subway was supplied my Metro Cammell and began operating in 1980.  Consisting of 33 motors (101-133) and 8 trailers (201-208, built in 1992), they seat 112 passengers longitudinally and are capable of reaching 34 mph..  They're about 7½ feet wide and a little over 41 feet long, with two doors on each side.  The upper photo shows car 101, which was painted in heritage colors to match the livery on the original 1896 cars.  Some units have been adorned with advertising wraps, but they are generally in the middle of the 3-car trains.





After I completed my survey of the Glasgow Subway, I walked back to the hotel, and met Clare just in time for the lobby reception.

To be continued in Segment 8.

 

15 attachments — Scan and download all attachments View all images

Glasgow Summerlee entrance.jpg 237K View Scan and download

Glasgow Summerlee 1017 Inner Section.jpg 302K View Scan and download

Glagow Summerlee Coronation being renovated.jpg 223K View Scan and download

Glasgow Summerlee 392 at carhouse.jpg 296K View Scan and download

Glasgow Summerlee 53 and 392 at carhouse.jpg 258K View Scan and download

Glasgow Summerlee 1017 and 53 at carhouse.jpg 246K View Scan and download

Glasgow Summerlee 53 at carhouse.jpg 277K View Scan and download

Glasgow Summerlee 53 and old phone booth.jpg 301K View Scan and download

Glasgow Summerlee 53 and dMU near carhouse.jpg 339K View Scan and download

Glasgow Blairhill Outbound eMU.jpg 338K View Scan and download

Glasgow Shettleston Inbound eMU.jpg 343K View Scan and download

Glagow Subway Bridge Street.jpg 201K View Scan and download

Glasgow Subway original cars at Riverside Museum.jpg 166K View Scan and download

Glagow Subway Bridge Street Heritage Colors.jpg 188K View Scan and download

Glagow Subway Bridge Street.jpg 180K View Scan and download

[daveklepper]

Continued from Segment 6.

Tuesday, May 22 was our second day in Glasgow.  Clare accomplished further sightseeing (including tracking down some additional Mackintosh sites), plus visits to other museums and to the Cathedral, while I devoted the day to electric railway pursuits.  I should mention that this was my second trip to Glasgow, the first having come during the summer of 1960, while there were still a half dozen or so tram routes still in operation.  I was blessed with good weather and had a ball, as in addition to the streetcars, I enjoyed the Glasgow Subway and especially appreciated the suburban railway system, which was just completing electrification.  Very attractive blue British Railways eMUs were running in test service, while regular operations consisted of steam-hauled compartment cars, chugging through the deep Queen Street Lower Level station (cough, cough, cough, click, click, click, . . .)  

I had originally planned to renew my acquaintance with the circular subway line and then ride some eMU trains today, but when I asked my friend John Hayward, a retired railwayman living just outside of London, which lines he would recommend, he also informed me that there was an operating tramway museum in the area.  Thus I revised my plans and made visiting that heritage operation my primary focus.  Operated by tram enthusiasts organized as the Summerlee Transport Group, it is housed within the grounds of the Museum of Scottish Industrial Life, about 10 miles east of Glasgow, and about a 10-minute walk from ScotRail's Coatbridge Sunnyside station.  So right after breakfast, I trekked over to Queen Street station and found that the timetable indicated that I would be taking a 20-minute ride on a line that operated about 7 trains every hour, with a one-day round-trip costing only  4.20 pounds.  What could be better? 

After purchasing my ticket from a machine and passing through fare gates, I descended to the station's eastbound lower-level platform by elevator, and the first thing I noticed was the absence of smoke--no longer any steam trains here.  The double-track tunnel, which contains at least one more station, was built in 1886 by the Edinburgh & Glasgow Railway (technically the Glasgow City and District), which was soon acquired by the North British which operated the line until the groupings of 1923.  It predated the building of the Glasgow Subway (1896) and thus was the city's first underground railway, albeit not electrified until 1960.*  There were a number of competing railroads on the lucrative Glasgow to Edinburgh and Glasgow to London lines, and as a result Glasgow had many mainline terminals, and I made a point of visiting all of them in 1960, before the infamous Richard Beeching came around and "rationalized" lines out of existence later in the decade, closing Buchanan Street (Caledonian) and St. Enoch (Glasgow & South Western), while retaining Queen Street (North British) and Central (Caledonian).    

* A similar underground railway tunnel operated under the elevated Central station, but was newer, built by the Glasgow Central Railway (a Caledonian subsidiary), also 1896.  After the electrification of the competing tunnel through Queen Street, the Caledonian tunnel became very unpopular because of its soot and dirt, and was closed in 1964.  The line was later electrified and reopened in 1979.

Anyway, I just missed the 9:56 eMU (the doors were closing when I emerged from the elevator), but made the 10:08, which was operating 7 minutes late, opening its doors at 10:14.  The 10-mile ride to Coatbridge Sunnyside was very speedy despite 7 intermediate stops (some trains make only 4) and I alighted at 10:33 (10:27).  It had rained the previous evening, but now the clouds were dispersing and I enjoyed my walk to the Summerlee museum's entrance.  I saw the tramway track immediately, but all was silent with no apparent activity at all--not a person was in sight.  I began walking down the track and as I reached a curve I heard some grinding traction noises and soon a beautiful orange tram with a bow collector came into view, heading my way.  I immediately pulled out and focused my camera and breathed a sigh of relief.  When I got back to the platform at the inner terminal I approached the operator, who was quite friendly and sent me to the nearby Exhibition Hall where I bought an all day pass for the tram ride.  He indicated that service operates frequently, with short layovers at either end of a line that I eventually estimated to be about a half-mile long. 



I took this photo of the entrance to the museum, with a tram resting at the inner terminal, upon my departure from the grounds.  The Exhibition Hall is at right.



My first photo at Summerlee was of No. 1017 heading toward the inner terminal of the tramway.  The 1017 was built for the Paisley and District tramways in 1904, and was renumbered when that company was absorbed into the Glasgow Corporation Tramways network in 1923.  It was part of a small series of open-top double-deck units that GCT soon cut down to single deck and equipped with extra-long bow collectors for operation on the long Glasgow-Duntocher line, which had an underpass that double-deckers could not clear.  After route 20 was closed in 1949 the 1017 was converted to a school/training car and its tower and short bow collector were installed.  It served in that capacity until the tramway was nearing the end of operations, when in 1960 it was removed to a garden in a Glasgow suburb and used as a meeting room for local tramway enthusiasts.  In 1991 it was acquired by the Summerlee Transport Group and lovingly restored to its current authentic (for 1925) operating condition.

 
By the time car 1017 departed a number of other museum visitors had climbed aboard.  They were using the tram as transportation between various exhibits, such as miners' homes, a sawmill and a mine, as well as some buildings that house historic working machinery.  I rode the tram to the line's outer end and then began walking back to station to find good photo locations.  I noticed the carhouse was shut up tight, but later, when I asked the motorman about some details regarding the operation, he replied that he didn't know the answers, but then added that the president of the tramway group was on the property, and "I'm sure he could help you."  David Craig certainly did, treating me to a history of the museum and the Glasgow tramway--and best of all, taking me into the carhouse, from which he pulled out the other two operable trams.  In addition, he invited me into the well-equipped shop where renovation of the museum's Coronation tram was underway.



Glasgow Corporation Tramways 1245 was built in 1939 and is undergoing a major restoration.  A total of 152 of Glasgow's first new 4-axle cars were built between 1937 and 1941.  At least three of these lightweight units were preserved, and may be found in various British tram museums.


Among the abundance of information I gathered from David Craig was that Glasgow Corporation Tramways did not operate on strictly standard gauge track, as the distance between the rails was about one inch less, 4 feet 7¾ inches, to allow freight cars from the national railway system to be pulled over the tramway with their flanges running in the track slots. And all of the GCT cars had to be double ended.  The museum's track is set at 4 feet 8½ inches so the two Glasgow trams on the property had to be regauged slightly.  Altogether however, I enjoyed the photo session in the carhouse area best of all.



Single-truck car 392 from the Rheinbahn in Dusseldorf is Summerlee's only handicapped-accessible car, and is brought out whenever needed to transport museum visitors whose mobility is challenged.  The Duewag-built KSW unit from 1950 represents the final chapter in Western Germany's construction of trams using designs from the Second World War. 



Four-wheeler No. 53 from 1908 is the pride and joy of Summerlee's collection.  The open-top double-decker was built for the Lanarkshire Tramway, which was headquartered in Motherwell, less than 10 miles away from this location.  The system was abandoned in 1931 and the car was purchased by a farmer who used it for storage for over a half-century before Summerlee obtained it in 1986 and restored it to pristine operational condition, using motors from a Porto, Portugal car.



Lanarkshire No. 53 shares the spotlight with Dusseldorf 392 in this view.

 

Ex-Paisley Glasgow 1017 poses with Lanarkshire No. 53 at the carhouse.




Above and below:  Two more photos of 1908-built Lanarkshire No. 53.  The green and ivory livery of the pole-equipped four-wheeler contrasts sharply with the bright red color of a traditional British telephone box in this side view above, while a ScotRail eMU whisks by the museum grounds in the lower photo. 

 

This last  picture is a good way to transition to my return to Glasgow after a thoroughly enjoyable time at this pleasant low-key tram operation.  There are actually two different stations in Coatbridge, with ScotRail's Coatbridge Central pretty much adjacent to the museum's entrance.  It's a longer ride to Glasgow from that station, as it is on a branch running northward from Motherwell that has only hourly service, plus its running time to Glasgow (Central) is just short of an hour, twice as long as from Coatbridge Sunnyside to Queen Street.  I was quite willing to try that line, as I like to make circle trips, but I just missed the 13:30 train and didn't want to wait for the next one.  Thus I walked back to Coatbridge Sunnyside, where service to Glasgow Queen Street runs every 8 or 9 minutes.  

Virtually all rail service in Scotland is operated by ScotRail, a private company owned by Abellio (a subsidiary of Netherlands Railways).  The infrastructure is owned by Network Rail, and only a small part of it is electrified, but that is changing as 25kV overhead gets erected over the tracks of many more lines.  The division of ScotRail that is charged with operating the suburban rail lines in the Glasgow area is called Strathclyde, which translates to Valley of the River Clyde, and consists of a complex network of lines (see http://www.projectmapping.co.uk/Reviews/Resources/ScotRail%20central%20map%208.pdf for a clear map, albeit from 2008).  It shows both stations in Coatbridge, which have catenary and are served by eMUs.  I took my time on my return, stopping over at two intermediate stations for photos of two types of these electric trains.  



Blairhill was the first stop on my 334-class train and I paused there for this photo of another such train of eMU cars.  These cars were built by Alstom in Birmingham and entered service in 2001.  ScotRail's 40 3-car units are advertised as part of the manufacturer's Coradia series, which mainly consists of diesel MUs, and is represented in North America by the equipment running on Ottawa's Trillium line.  These were the cars that replaced the "Blue Trains" I saw being tested on Glasgow's first electrification in 1960. 
 


Three more stations down the line is Shettleston, where I also stopped over.  After seeing and riding in trains made up of class 334 units, I was surprised to see this 320-series train come in while waiting to take a photo and took immediate advantage.  The triplex 320s were built in 1990 by the long-closed BREL plant in York.  Similar class 321 eMUs were built for longer-distance journeys and are equipped with toilets.  They have a top speed of 90 mph, but these 320s are missing that amenity and can only reach 75 mph between the closely spaced stations on this line.


I arrived at Queen Street at 14:43 and saw a sign directing passengers to the Glasgow Subway.  It led me to a moving sidewalk, which brought me to the line's Buchanan Street stop.  The 6½-mile long, four-foot gauge circular line with just 15 stations was one of the world's first electrified subway systems when it opened in 1896.*  For such a short line, it has a very interesting history, which I will take a stab at summarizing using information gathered from various internet sources.

* London 1890, Budapest 1896 and Boston 1896.

The subway is described as having two lines, an Outer Circle and Inner Circle, but this refers to nothing more than it being a double track line, albeit in two separate tubes, with trains running clockwise on the outer and counterclockwise on the inner.  The line crosses under the River Clyde twice in its circular path, and there are very few straight sections.  Originally called the Subway when it was opened in 1896, it took the name Glasgow Underground in 1936, but finally in 2003, realizing the public kept calling it the subway, the bureaucrats gave in and now it is officially the Glasgow Subway again.  [Would that be the case with the Newark City Subway vs. the current Newark Light Rail.]  The Subway was equipped with island platforms at the beginning, but station modernization programs have resulted in the installation of some side platforms at busy stations.  This could not have happened when the line's original rolling stock was in use, as the cars had doors only on one side--in fact it is said that Scottish frugality resulted in the equipment being painted only on the door side.

Operating totally underground, but with the depot and shops on the surface, the original cars were hoisted by crane from the tunnel.  Modernization in the late 1970s resulted in switches allowing track to ramp to the surface.  The line was originally operated by cable, but in 1935 was electrified (at 600 v DC), with motors replacing the grips on the original rolling stock.  As time went on subway maintenance was neglected and it became dilapidated.  After a frequent series of breakdowns the line was shut down for major modernization work, and it was closed between 1977 and 1980.  When it was reopened new rolling stock began providing service under automatic train control, with the operator only handling the doors and pushing a start button.  The rolling stock, with doors on both sides, is painted bright orange and as a result, the circular system soon earned the nickname of "The Clockwork Orange," based on the Stanley Kubrick/Anthony Burgess film.  Trains originally were made up of two cars, but after modernization and an increase of ridership, a sufficient number of trailers were added so that the trains are now three cars long (which makes still photography of trains difficult as few stations have long platforms).  In some cases the original platform at certain stations now has a transparent wall/barrier on the side where loading of trains in that direction takes place from a side platform, similar to what was done at the Union Station stop on Toronto's Yonge-University subway.

Major changes are scheduled for 2020, when new rolling stock will be delivered from Stadler.  Although the trains will not be longer, they will consist of four cars with open gangways, and be capable of fully automatic operation.  It is also planned to add half-height screen doors to the platforms.



I used my phone to take this photo of one of the Glasgow Subway's original units at the Riverside Museum.  Cars of this type originally had grips to attach themselves to a continuous moving cable, like San Francisco's cable cars.  In 1935 electric motors were installed in conjunction with the replacement of the cable system by 600-volt DC third rail.  These cars were retired from service in 1977.

In riding around the circle, which took about 25 minutes, I found that most of the stations were poorly lit, but one, Bridge Street, was bright and had a long platform to serve two entrances, so I positioned myself there for some photos.

Above and below

:  The current rolling stock on the Glasgow Subway was supplied my Metro Cammell and began operating in 1980.  Consisting of 33 motors (101-133) and 8 trailers (201-208, built in 1992), they seat 112 passengers longitudinally and are capable of reaching 34 mph..  They're about 7½ feet wide and a little over 41 feet long, with two doors on each side.  The upper photo shows car 101, which was painted in heritage colors to match the livery on the original 1896 cars.  Some units have been adorned with advertising wraps, but they are generally in the middle of the 3-car trains.





After I completed my survey of the Glasgow Subway, I walked back to the hotel, and met Clare just in time for the lobby reception.

To be continued in Segment 8.

 

15 attachments — Scan and download all attachments View all images

Glasgow Summerlee entrance.jpg 237K View Scan and download

Glasgow Summerlee 1017 Inner Section.jpg 302K View Scan and download

Glagow Summerlee Coronation being renovated.jpg 223K View Scan and download

Glasgow Summerlee 392 at carhouse.jpg 296K View Scan and download

Glasgow Summerlee 53 and 392 at carhouse.jpg 258K View Scan and download

Glasgow Summerlee 1017 and 53 at carhouse.jpg 246K View Scan and download

Glasgow Summerlee 53 at carhouse.jpg 277K View Scan and download

Glasgow Summerlee 53 and old phone booth.jpg 301K View Scan and download

Glasgow Summerlee 53 and dMU near carhouse.jpg 339K View Scan and download

Glasgow Blairhill Outbound eMU.jpg 338K View Scan and download

Glasgow Shettleston Inbound eMU.jpg 343K View Scan and download

Glagow Subway Bridge Street.jpg 201K View Scan and download

Glasgow Subway original cars at Riverside Museum.jpg 166K View Scan and download

Glagow Subway Bridge Street Heritage Colors.jpg 188K View Scan and download

Glagow Subway Bridge Street.jpg 180K View Scan and download

[daveklepper]

1.       Apologies.  A Trains Forum reader had committed a specifically hostile act via a different website.

2.       The only URL for this material is Kalmbach's.

3.       Jack May is an old friend, and during my second stay in New York City, 1970-1996, we did more railfanning together than either did separately.

4.       Jack distributes his trip reports to about 50 good friends, and occasionally for publication in the Electric Railroaders Association Bulletin.  I am authorized to post what he emails me on Kalmbach websites.

5.       I find having to pull-up URL's to read material annoying.  I much prefer to read it on the Kalmbach website.

6.       I wish to contribute to the Kalmbach Website and enjoy doing so, which is what railfanning is all about.

7.       I will repost photos via Imgur if you list the first few words of each caption of each missing photograph on this thread.  Thanks.  

[charlie hebdo]

daveklepper

No one forces you to read a particular thread, and most readers want me to post this material.

Instead of being so defensive and hostile about a well-intentioned suggestion by JBS, why not examine what was said: "cleaner."  Your last post gets cut off on the right side, probably because of Kalmbach formatting software.  Previous posts were missing photos.  If you simply post the link with a description of content, folks can look at it more easily.

And who is May?

[daveklepper]

No one forces you to read a particular thread, and most readers want me to post this material.

So here is the next installment:

Subject: 6 - Trip to Scotland and a Brief Interlude in Dublin--Glasgow Part 1   Monday, May 21.  The Z Hotel was rather interesting--and seemed to be designed to attract Millennials, or at least younger generations than ours.  The building had been a printing plant, but was beautifully repurposed and reconstructed into a striking facility with excellent industrial-style decorations and very fast elevators--the totality best described as "urban-chic."  There were small tables in the lobby, which were used to serve a continental breakfast buffet (not complimentary) in the morning, but also for a free reception from about 17:00 to 20:00, with all sorts of consumables I don't particularly like (but Clare does), specifically wine, cheese, canapes, salads, etc.--but it did hold one attraction for me--unlimited free chocolate bark.  I had to handle it with care however, as it tends to melt in one's hands.   I made one major mistake when I chose the Z, I reserved a budget room that contained no windows.  I had never felt claustrophobic before, but both Clare and I were a bit uncomfortable--we won't do that again.  The room itself wasn't too small, but there were no closets, instead plenty of hooks and coat hangars, and we had to put our bags on the floor (there was sufficient clearance to slide them under the bed if we wanted to).  The bathroom was glass-enclosed!  Everything was very stylish and looked and felt luxurious.  As an example, the bathroom was stocked with lots of upscale toiletries and soft large towels. Also offputting was the young staff;  they were very pleasant and accommodating, but tattoos and body piercing make me feel uncomfortable.  Clearly I'm getting old and am not willing to accept the youngest generation's culture (as if I had a choice).  But also considering the Z's location a block away from Queen Street station and close to the center of downtown, we'd go to that funky hotel again. The first order of the day after finishing our breakfasts was to check the Lost and Found at Queen Street.  Yes, Clare's cane was there, nicely wrapped, and we retrieved it after showing identification.  The ScotRail lady at Inverness came through perfectly for us; an excellent end for some anxiety.  Upon our return to the Z, Clare presented the walking stick she was given in Thurso to the desk clerk, who gladly took it and said she would put it aside for anyone who needed one in the future. George Square, one of the most attractive public spaces in downtown Glasgow, and only about a block from our hotel.  The large building is the City Chambers (City Hall), built in 1888, while the column, from 1838, is dedicated to author Sir Walter Scott.  The equestrian statue at the left edge is of Prince Albert, who is clearly not in a can.* * I imagine many readers remember the joke:  A child calls the local tobacco shop and asks "Do you have Prince Albert in a can?"  After the affirmative answer, he then says, "Well then, please let him out."  Prince Albert was a popular pipe tobacco manufactured by R. J. Reynolds that came in a tin can that had a likeness of the prince on its lid.  The prince in question however, was not Queen Victoria's husband and consort (as in the statue above), but rather her son "Bertie," who became King Edward VII.  The product is still being manufactured today--by Altria (Philip Morris). Today was museum day (as opposed to railfanning day), and so we headed by local bus to the Riverside Transportation Museum (what else?), about a half-hour's trip.  The internet provided us with sufficient transit information to get around, and while I would have preferred taking a commuter train to Partrick, the closest station to the museum, I think the walk from there would have been a little bit too long--and we wanted to conserve our energy for this busy day--museums are work. The Riverside is fantastic, housing displays of Glasgow's transport history, including trains, trams and the subway.  Its location along the River Clyde also allows it to host a "tall ship" and a ferry.  There were also bicycles, motorcycles, buses and automobiles--even skateboards--in the architecturally exquisite and modern building (opened in 2011), and if we were interested in more than the rail exhibits, we probably would have had to spend the whole day--or even more--at this institution.  See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glasgow_Museum_of_Transport and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riverside_Museum, as well as https://thetallship.com/erracms/pages/thetallship.aspx?a=6&z=1 for the water-borne displays.  No. 103 and 5 are among the Scottish steam locomotives in the museum.  The 103, one of fifteen locomotives designed by David Jones and built by Sharp Stewart & Co. in Glasgow in 1894, was one of the first locomotives in Britain to have a 4-6-0 wheel arrangement.  Delivered to the Highland Railway, it was passed on to the London, Midland and Scottish in 1923, where it worked until 1934.  On the balcony above it is the last locomotive from the Glasgow & South Western Railway.  No. 9, a 0-6-0T (Tank), was built by North British Locomotive in 1917 in Springburn, about 3 miles north of Queen Street station.  It switched on the G&SW until 1934 and then was sold off to a Colliery.  On the tram side, the museum houses a wide sample of preserved rolling stock that portrays the progression of equipment operated by the Glasgow Corporation Tramways* from the earliest horsecars built the end of the 19th century to the last electric Coronation/Cunarder trams delivered in the early 1950s, with examples of all the important classes of vehicles.  Unfortunately it was just a little bit too dark indoors for me to take slides with my ASA 100 film, but Clare had her digital along, so the photos marked CM were taken with her camera. * In American vernacular the name, Glasgow Corporation Tramways, would probably be best translated to City of Glasgow's Streetcar Department. Above and below:  Horsecars were introduced to Glasgow in 1872.  First operated by a private company, in 1894 the municipal government took control.  No. 543 was one of several hundred double deckers built at that time, but its length of service was limited to less than a decade, as soon afterward the lines were electrified and extended.  The horses are not authentic. (CM) Deck roof No. 672 was constructed around 1898 for the electrification of the Glasgow Corporation Tramways.  Modeled on some U. S. streetcars of the time, it has two sections.  During that era much of Glasgow's housing for working families consisted of only two rooms, and because of the similarity, these cars were nicknamed Room and Kitchen Trams.  Only 19 of these were built, and they lasted in passenger service only until 1907, when they were replaced by more desirable double-deck cars.  Fortunately the 672 was converted to a work car, which allowed it to survive. No. 779 is one of the earliest Glasgow "Standard" cars, having been built in 1900.  Note that the 4-wheeler is equipped with a trolley pole.  Soon afterward bow collectors became the standard for current collection, but single trucks remained the rule. (CM)   Duntocher is not Scottish for Don't Touch, but rather the name of a village about 8 miles northwest of the center of Glasgow.  No. 1089 is an experimental single-deck tram from 1926 and was built for "high speed" operation in order to compete with bus service to the suburbs.  It was not a success, but remained on the roster until virtually the end of tram operation in 1962. (CM)   Glasgow Coronation tram 1173, from 1938.  Some 150 of these double-truck cars were built during the period leading up to World War II and even after its beginning.  The class received its name because the cars began entering service at the time of the coronation of King George VI.  Several of these trams have been preserved, including one in nearby Coatbridge, which will be one of the subjects covered in the next chapter of this report. (CM)   The success of the Coronation cars led to the construction of these larger Cunarder units.  One hundred were built between 1948 and 1952, but the planned improvements embodied within the fleet, other than the slight differences in the body and trim, turned out to be just the opposite, as these trams were not considered as dependable or sturdy as their predecessors.  No. 1392 was constructed in 1952 and ran in service for only 10 years, as the last of Glasgow's trams were replaced by buses in 1962.  The name Cunarder was never official, (it was Coronation Mark II) and there are a number of theories of why these cars received that appellation--and there is probably some truth in all of them.  Both the Cunard steamships Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth were built in the Glasgow shipyards and thus residents were very proud of them.  Considered to be the ultimate in luxury, Glaswegians found some similarities between the ocean liners and the new cars, specifically the moquette fabric with leather trim used on the seats, the trams' rubberized flooring and stair treads, and the use of some Art Deco embossing.  Staying with the ship analogy, but now along negative lines, riders found the ride to be erratic, with the trams having a tendency to roll (some say alarmingly), just like an ocean liner in rough seas.  Their Marley and Taunton trucks were apparently not up to the job of supporting the Cunarders' weight, especially on the under-maintained track that had not yet been corrected when the cars made their appearance immediately after the end of the war.  Anyway, for whichever reason, the Cunarder moniker caught on with the public. [Thanks to David Craig for the explanation.] After we completed our survey of the Riverside, the same bus line, No. 100, carried us to the Kelvingrove Museum, Glasgow's principal art gallery.  (I should mention that we paid one-way fares, as the buses are privatized and drivers only sell day tickets for their own company.)  Our visit filled the entire afternoon, including a stop for tea in the museum restaurant.  One of the most interesting displays consisted of some of the work of Charles Rennie Mackintosh and his wife, Margaret Macdonald, who were two of the most important architects and designers during the period surrounding the turn of the 20th century. Above and below:  The outside and interior lobby of the Kelvingrove.  The museum houses an art collection that ranges from old masters to the impressionists of the early 20th century. A table setting for a tea shop designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh and his wife, Margaret Macdonald, toward the end of the 19th century.  Note the chairs, windows and drawings, all in the art-noveau style, which later evolved into art-deco.  The museum devotes a great deal of space to the couple, who moved architecture and design into the modern era.  Their story is especially appropriate, as it relates to the city of Glasgow, where Mackintosh was born.  Glasgow was (and still is) a working class city, somewhat known for its hard drinking, and as a result, it was a natural place for the temperance movement to make an impact.  A Miss Kate Cranston opened her first tearoom, where people could meet to relax and enjoy non-alcoholic refreshments in a variety of different settings within a single building, in 1878.  She eventually operated a chain of four such tearooms and hired the Mackintoshes to design their interiors.  One was the Willow Tea Rooms, which has been restored and continues to offer patrons a venue that features Mackintosh's designs and furniture.  Macdonald's sister, Frances, married James MacNair who was also an artist, and they became widely respected as the "Glasgow Four."  More details can be obtained at https://daily.jstor.org/the-scottish-sisters-who-pioneered-art-nouveau/, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Rennie_Mackintosh and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Margaret_Macdonald_Mackintosh.  It was late in the afternoon when we finally finished our tour of the museum, and so we rode a bus back to our hotel.  After a short nap we took part in the Z's daily reception in the lobby and then went out to have dinner.  It was dessert first tonight (as it would also be tomorrow), as I consumed my heart's content of chocolate bark before the meal.  Our visit to Glasgow will be continued in the next chapter. 12 attachments — Scan and download all attachments View all images   Glagow George Square.jpg 269K View Scan and download   Glasgow Riverside Steam Display.jpg 169K View Scan and download   Glasgow Riverside Horsecar.jpg 194K View Scan and download   Riverside Glasgow 543.jpg 108K View Scan and download   Glasgow Riverside Tram 672.jpg 197K View Scan and download   Glasgow Riverside Tram 779.jpg 228K View Scan and download   Glasgow Riverside Tram 1089.jpg 204K View Scan and download   Glasgow Riverside Tram 1173.jpg 148K View Scan and download   Glasgow Riverside Tram 1392.jpg 87K View Scan and download   Glasgow Kelvingrove Exterior.jpg 163K View Scan and download   Glasgow Kelvingrove Interior.jpg 257K View Scan and download   Glasgow Kelvingrove Mackintosh Table and Chairs.jpg 180K View Scan and download

[JPS1]

daveklepper

 Again: Those repeat the picture already in the text.  If those are not displayed, tell me and I will try to post them a second time via Imgur.

I think the image icons do work if one has a Google account, and MAY result in an image sharper than those imbedded in the text.  If the images do not work for anyone, then I will leave them off on future possings, and attempt to delete them on existing postings.

Let me know:  If the pictures within the text are not displayed, say so in a posting.  If you have a Google account and the icons don't work, say so in a posting. 

Instead of posting all this stuff on Trains, why don't you just provide a link to the originating source.  It would be cleaner.

Who is Jack May?

[daveklepper]

Again: Those repeat the picture already in the text.  If those are not displayed, tell me and I will try to post them a second time via Imgur.

I think the image icons do work if one has a Google account, and MAY result in an image sharper than those imbedded in the text.  If the images do not work for anyone, then I will leave them off on future possings, and attempt to delete them on existing postings.

Let me know:  If the pictures within the text are not displayed, say so in a posting.  If you have a Google account and the icons don't work, say so in a posting.

[Electroliner 1935]

When I click on an image icon, I get a message similar to this:

{"error":{"code":"EC-4008","requestId":"6af8d550-6193-11e9-c000-e0c354f628e2"}}

[daveklepper]

Those repeat the picture already in the text.  If those are not displayed, tell me and I will try to post them a second time via Imgur.

Ditto for the following continuation:

• Part 4 left off upon our arrival in Portree, Skye's capital and largest city (if you can call a place with a population of 2,500 a city).  Its harbor on Loch Portree is lovely and lined by houses painted in various pastel colors.  While everyone was scurrying for lunch, we spotted an ice cream parlor and sated our sweet teeth (tooths?).  And then, while looking around the town, we ran into the young couple from Cape Breton Island (as mentioned in one of part 4's captions), which gave Clare some time to relive her childhood visits.
  
  
  
  
  Above and below:  Portree.  Two photos from the road entering Skye's capital from the north.
  
  
  
  
  We were back on board the bus at 16:20 (16:15) after our hour-long stop for refreshment and were now headed for Broadford, specifically the junction of the road to the bridge and one that headed for Armadale, the location of the landing for the ferry to Mallaig.  As we approached that point our tour guide called the taxi company to remind them we were coming, and upon our arrival at the proper crossroads, we said our goodbyes to everyone, the driver unloaded us and our baggage, we shook hands with him and the guide, tipping them, and now we were on our own.  It was 17:10 and by the time I finished taking some photos, a middle aged woman in a car pulled around a corner and picked us up. 
  
  
  
  Waiting for our taxi in Broadford.
  
  
  We were running early, and on our half-hour drive to the ferry we learned a great deal about living in Skye from the driver, who had two kids in school and was enjoying the relaxed pace of life on the island.  We arrived at the ferry terminal well in advance of the 19:10 departure, and serendipitously found out the company had added an extra trip due to demand, and it was scheduled to leave in a half hour, at 18:10.  The ferry was loading motor vehicles as we arrived and was soon at capacity.  Meanwhile it was getting colder and darker every minute and once we bought our tickets and boarded the vessel the skies opened.  It also become very windy, so it was difficult to hear the sound of the sleet while we were crossing the Sound of Sleat, much less take photos of the rough sea from the deck.  But of course we weathered the storm, and the rain stopped just after we alighted at 18:55.  Thus there was no need to hire a taxi for the five-minute walk between the dock and the Hotel Marine.
  
  
  
  The Sound of Sleat was rough, due to rain, sleet and heavy winds.  But we made it to Mallaig on time, albeit slightly damp. 
  
  
  After checking in and freshening up we looked around the charming town (population under 800 and a center for hiking and boating), and found what turned out to be a very good restaurant for dinner.  The seafood was as fresh as any we've ever had, and the company was good as well, as the man at an adjacent table was Dutch, and grew up in The Hague during the period we lived there, so as we all related our adventures, we were quite familiar with the territory.
  
  We slept very well that evening, and as soon as we finished breakfast on Sunday morning, May 20, we headed for the railway station (about a minute's walk) and boarded (after photographing) our 156-class dMU train for the southward ride to Crianlarich, where we would transfer to an up train from Glasgow en route to Oban.  The 156 units, built by Metro-Cammel in Washwood Heath (Birmingham) from 1987 to 1989, seemed a bit roomier than the 158s.
  
  It was cloudy bright when the train left Mallaig on time at 10:10, but soon we plunged into a grey fog, which unfortunately limited visibility.  The first major sight that we were looking forward to was Glenfinnan Viaduct, the iconic structure that defines ScotRail's West Highland line, considered the most scenic in Scotland.  The curving single-track concrete viaduct was built at the turn of the 20th century across the River Finnan and its valley for the extension of the line from Fort William to Mallaig, which opened in 1901.  It is used by four dMU round trips on Mondays to Saturdays, but only three on Sundays.  But more important to railfans, this symbol of the area also carries the Jacobite* steam train, which runs during most of the year.
  
  I had tried to figure out an itinerary that would allow us to either ride over the viaduct under steam, or at least travel to an outlook to photograph the train (there is local bus service available in the area).  But it just wouldn't work out.  We were in the area during the period when only one round-trip excursion per day was being operated, and only on weekdays.  Service would be increased to weekends the following Saturday, while a second weekday-only train would be added on the day after our planned ride from Mallaig to Fort William.  Both Jacobite round-trips are based out of Fort William and we were coming from Mallaig, so the only choices we had were to either ride or photograph the train's 2-6-0 or 4-6-0* on the viaduct on Monday, but we then we would have to spend two more nights in the area before getting to Glasgow, with little to do other than ride the train's 2-hour 10-minute one-way schedule.  We decided to forgo that in the hope we'd have another opportunity to accomplish good coverage on a future trip.
  
  * For a good view of the Jacobite train in operation, see it as the Hogwarts Express in Harry Potter films.  The Jacobites were supporters of King James II after he was deposed in the revolution of 1688.  Mostly Catholics, they tried to restore the House of Stuart to the thrones of England, Scotland and Ireland in the 17th and 18th centuries (as per Wikipedia).  It also should be noted that Gaelic is a very common language spoken in the territory.  The Broadway Musical, Brigadoon, is set in the Highlands of Scotland.
  
  
  
  
  Above and below:  Two views at Mallaig, the northern terminal of ScotRail's West Highlands line.  The 156-class dMU cars were built earlier than the 158s and seemed to be roomier than their sisters.  The upper photo was taken from a window in our hotel's breakfast room.  Note the Sound of Sleat in the background and the Scottish Gaelic translation of ScotRail below those words on the side of the dMU.  All station signs on Scotrail seemed to be bilingual as well, with the Scottish Gaelic in smaller letters below the English. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  South of Mallaig the views from out train's windows were blunted by fog and haze.
  
  
  
  Glenfinnan Viaduct, between Mallaig and Fort William, from the windows of our dMU train.
  
  
  At 11:15 we paused at Loch Eil Outward Bound* station for 8 minutes for what appeared to be no reason at all until I saw a crew member on the ground inspecting our train. 
  
  * I should have asked a crew member about the name of that station.  The first thing I thought was that we were on a section of railroad similar to the Denver to Pueblo line in eastern Colorado, where southbound and northbound single track lines operated on separate alignments because they were originally built as bi-directional lines by two different companies (ATSF/D&RGW and C&S).  But we were running inbound, so what were we doing at the "Outward Bound" station?  True, we were on single track, but it didn't seem logical that there was ever a need for competing lines here among the mountains in the highlands.  Later, when I was able to interrogate the internet at one of our hotels I found out that "The Outward Bound Trust is a learning charity, which equips young people with social and emotional skills through learning and adventure outdoors.  We use the mountains, lakes and rivers on our doorstep to support our participants to build their confidence and achieve their goals."  I took that to mean that Outward Bound is an institution that offers a therapy program for troubled teenagers. 
  
  We continued without incident until arriving at Fort William, the area's principal tourism center, at 11:41 (11:32) for what was supposed to be an 8-minute stop to change ends and add two more cars to our consist.  And we did roll slowly into another pair of 156 units to hook up before passengers were allowed to detrain.  Many more boarded than alighted, and we now had some standees.  We were a bit worried that we'd be asked to surrender our seats as almost all of the places in our train had reservation tags--and we hadn't made [free] reservations.  But events then occurred that made that issue moot.  We began moving at 11:45 (11:40--only four minutes after our arrival), but ground to a halt before we were even beyond the long platform.  And there we sat for a while, the crew eventually announcing  that "we are being delayed due to a fault on this train."  For my benefit and amusement we were alongside a string of five or six Jacobite coaches, adorned in a bright [perhaps Tuscan] red color scheme.  After about 20 minutes the crew told us we would have to alight and walk down the platform to the the rear of the train, which we did, with me hurrying so I could be sure to grab two adjacent seats in the polite scrum.  Clearly reservations would no longer matter in this free for all, and Clare waited with the bags on the platform while I boarded.  Once I claimed the seats (leaving my jacket on them) I brought the luggage in, and since the baggage storage area was already filled, I found that our carry-ons would fit into the overhead racks, something that was not possible on the newer 158 class.
  
  The train finally left at 12:22 (11:40).  We were now a bit worried that we might miss our "connection" with the 14:18 train to Oban at Crianlarich, as now we were 42 minutes late, and we only had 51 minutes according to the official schedule.  So we became a bit anxious and I consulted our timetable carefully at every stop, hoping we would not fall further behind.  We did, as loading was very heavy, but only by a little bit, an additional 4 minutes.  We rolled into our transfer point at 14:05, but couldn't get off, at least not immediately, as again our cars were combined with another pair (ones that came from Oban), before the doors were opened.  We still made the connection--by a sneeze.
  
  Our new train had come up from Glasgow on time at 14:12, and the 6-car consist was split into a four and a two, with the rear two units continuing up to Fort William and Mallaig, where we had just been.  It was now drizzling but we did not have to go very far to make the transfer, just across a wide platform.  It was an hour's ride to Oban on a mostly empty train.  We departed Crianlarich on time at 14:18 and arrived at our seaside destination at 15:28, just one-minute off the advertised.  The branch was quite scenic, and we were hoping for better weather on our return trip, three hours later.
  
  I should mention that there is bus service from Fort William to Oban, which had it been convenient would have allowed us to see additional scenery and avoid doubling back over the same line, but it was scheduled to leave a few minutes before the arrival of the train from Mallaig.  It would not surprise me that there is a reason for this:  You can't miss a connection if there's no connection.  [An old saying from the Donald J. Russell playbook.]
  
  Upon our arrival we were surprised to see the Royal Scotsman parked in the station, and we were able to inspect its exterior, which included an observation car, two diners and a number of "Stateroom" cars.  We were fortunate that there were lockers in the small station building, which allowed us to store our bags while we explored the town.  On the other hand, it was now raining harder and when we found the restaurant we had selected (because of its acclaimed seafood), it was closed "between lunch and dinner."  Fortunately we had a plan B, and that was eating in an establishment more like the type of seafood shack that can be found on the Maine coast--hardly fine dining.  But at least its seating area was covered by a tarpaulin, albeit its sides were open to the cold wind coming off the waters of Loch Linnie (which reaches the North Atlantic Ocean via the Firth of Lorn and the Gulf of Corryvreckan).  In other words, it was cold and wet.  But the food was good and I
  
• gorged on fresh shrimp, scallops and oysters..(The poater avoids shellfish.)
  
•  
• 
  A view from the windows of our Crianlarich to Oban train as we neared the end of the line.
  
  
  The buildings along an inlet off the bay in the town of Oban.  With a population of only 8,500, the "Gateway to the Hebrides" is a tourist spot known for its fresh seafood and pleasant scenery.
  
  
  We left Oban on the same 4-car train in which we had arrived on time at 18:11.  Our return trip was relatively uneventful, except upon arrival at Crianlarich we stopped for a long period.  I asked a crew member why and was told that the train from Mallaig was late and we had to wait for it, as it had to be attached.  I guess standard operating procedure was not to run an extra section to avoid delaying passengers--no doubt it would mean paying an extra crew--and this explains exactly what privatization is all about.  
  
  
  
  Waiting for the two-car train from Mallaig to arrive in Crianlarich.  Our trip to Glasgow would soon continue with a six-car lashup.
  
  
  The dMUs from the North finally arrived at 19:33, we were hooked up by 19:35 and we left at 19:39, only 7 minutes late.  The scenery remained good (at least until dusk) and we actually made up all but two minutes, arriving at our final destination, Glasgow Queen Street, at 21:21 (21:19).  I observed that we began running under wire (25 kV AC) at Helensburgh Upper, but beyond Dalmuir we were back on unelectrified track.*  It was a quick, two-block walk to the Z Hotel, whose staff was expecting us and had our room ready.  Mileage for today was:
  
  105    Mallaig to Crianlarich
    42    Crianlarich to Oban
    42    Oban to Crianlarich
    34    Crianlarich to Helensburgh
    25    Helensburgh to Queen Street
  
  248    Total for our all day journey, but just slightly more than a New York-Washington trip.
  
  * I later found out that there are two lines from Dalmuir to Glasgow Queen Street, with the non-electrified one reaching the upper (outdoor) level of the station from the north and the electrified one operating in an east-west trajectory through a tunnel used by suburban eMU trains.  Think of the Reading from Neshaminy Falls to Wayne Junction, with the electrified line running via Jenkintown and the partly non-electrified "B&O New York Short Cut" running via Cheltenham.
  
  
  To be continued in Part 6.

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[charlie hebdo]

Unfortunately, I only get an error message when attempting to open the linked photos.

{"error":{"code":"EC-4008","requestId":"9e94e172-fc3c-178f-1c0f-ea0011013900"}}

[daveklepper]

We awoke quite early on Friday, May 18, as prior to our upcoming trip aboard the 8:34 train from Thurso we wanted to try again to locate Clare's walking stick.  On the previous evening our hotel's proprietor attempted to reach ScotRail in Wick to inquire if it was still on the train but there was no answer at the station.  This morning she tried again, but the best she could do was find someone who suggested we check with the lost and found department at Inverness, as all objects left aboard trains would be sent there.  At least Clare had a substitute cane, so after having a fine breakfast and paying our bill, we rolled our bags back to the station and boarded our train upon its arrival.  Naturally we asked if the cane was aboard, but none of the crew members had the faintest idea.

Our plan had been to take the train from Thurso to Dingwall and continue on to Kyle of Lochalsh from that station, which is the junction of the two lines.  That would have provided us with a two hour 20 minute layover, during lunch time, which would have been ample for us to look around and grab a bite.  But when I read the timetable again I realized that we could ride all the way to Inverness and change to the same train there (its origin point), with a layover of only a little over an hour.  And that would allow us to confer with the Lost and Found people about how we could retrieve the cane if it were found.

Our train ran on time and this time I saw the Beauly station with my own eyes.  After our arrival at Inverness at 12:26, the first thing we did was head over to the Lost and Found, which was actually the Station Master's office.  The clerk manning the window was not particularly sympathetic and after trying the phone for a few moments, indicated that he couldn't get through to Wick.  We grabbed a quick bite and then went back to ask if he could try again, but a woman was now occupying the office.  She understood exactly what we needed and then was successful in reaching Wick, where the local agent indicated that the walking stick was in his possession.  Now, how to get it, as we were leaving Inverness in about 10 minutes and would not be coming back!  After conferring with her further, she decided that the cane should be shipped directly to her and then she would hold onto it for a day, before sending it down to Glasgow Queen Street, the station at which we would arrive two days later.  And she would write a note explaining to whom it belonged and that we would be picking it up during our Glasgow stay.  Now all we could do is hope that the plan would be followed, as she could not guarantee it, as it was not standard procedure.

We duly boarded our two-car train of 158-series dMUs, which turned out to be the same set that carried us to Thurso on the previous day, and at 13:35 it promptly left for Kyle of Lochalsh.  At Dingwall we turned off the Far North line and started heading west after a 6-minute stop that did not involve another train passing us.  But it did put us behind schedule by a small amount that we did not make up.  Meanwhile the weather was turning overcast, and while it didn't rain, dark clouds filled the sky.  The scenery soon consisted of lakes surrounded by mountains, but the photo opportunities were few for a holder of a film camera because of the poor light.  Here are two photos:



Above and below:  Two views from our dMU as we were closing in on Kyle of Lochalsh.  Dank weather was also approaching, as is shown in the upper photo of boats in Loch Carron along the way.  But even that could not diminish the color of the local gorse below.




We arrived at Kyle of Lochalsh at 16:18 (12) after having covered the 83 miles in 163 minutes.  The station is on a pier, and no doubt there was once an easy transfer to the ferry service that was discontinued when a bridge to the Isle of Skye was opened in 1995.  Records indicate that scheduled ferry operation to Skye was started in the year 1600.

 

 

 

Above and below:  Two photos at ScotRail's Kyle of Lochalsh station.  The line runs right up to the edge of Kyle Akin (Strait of Akin), which separates the body of Scotland from the Isle of Skye, which appears in the background.  The lower view is from a road overpass which we had to negotiate en route to our hotel.




We climbed the steep hill from the station/pier to the road, crossed over the railway, and reached our hotel in about 10 minutes.  After checking in we strolled a little through the quaint town of less than 1000 residents and then rested before having dinner in the hotel's dining room.  As the main gateway to the Isle of Skye for motor traffic, the main street of town (called Main Street) has a number of shops, brimming with provisions and souvenirs. 

Our tourbus was not scheduled to pick us up until 10:45 on Saturday, May 19, so we did not have to get up early, allowing us to have a relaxed and hearty breakfast before checking out.  We easily found the bus stop (asking locals to make sure) and then waited with our luggage.  At this time it was sunny, but the weather varied all day, with sun giving way to clouds and then coming out again before turning to rain.

The view from the Kyle of Lochlash bus stop, looking across the Akin Channel to the Isle of Skye.  The only bridge that provides access to the island is shown in the background.


At 10:50 a small bus with about 16 passengers and a guide pulled up, and we and our possessions were loaded quickly.  The operator, WOW Tours, sells the two front seats at a premium rate.  We were too late to buy both, but got one, so Clare and I would alternate sitting up front between the various stops.  After introductions (we were the only Americans) we crossed the bridge over the Strait of Akin and reached Skye.  Skye is the northernmost of the major islands in the Hebrides, with an area of 639 square miles (compared to 1,545 square miles of Rhode Island, the smallest state in the U. S.)  It is quite mountainous with the coastline consisting of a series of peninsulas and bays, and thus is home to some of the most dramatic scenery in Scotland.  Its population is a mere 10,000, scattered through a number of picturesque towns and villages.

After crossing onto the island we immediately pulled in to a mini-shopping mall,which provided the bulk of our sightseers, who boarded at Inverness, with a much needed rest stop.  Then it was non-stop sightseeing and picture-taking until a late lunch at the village of Portree (we couldn't resist an ice-cream parlor).  We visited all sorts of natural landscapes, and at some we had to hike or climb to get the best vantage points for photos.

Here are some views from our tour's photo stops.

 

The body of water separating the northern part of the Isle of Skye from the body of Scotland is called the Inner Sound.

 

The Old Man of Storr dominates the view northward along the Isle of Skye's eastern coast.

 

A moody photo of the Inner Sound from the northern part of the Isle of Skye.

 

One of our longest photo stops was at Kilt Rock, the location of Skye's Mealtfalls.

 

This photo stop had the members of our group hiking up a hill to the rocks, but Clare did not go all the way.  Both our driver and our enthusiastic tourguide wore kilts and here is the guide taking a photo of one of the members of our group.  Clare had remarked how the terrain of Skye was similar to that of Cape Breton Island in Nova Scotia, where her father had been born and grew up.  Coincidentally, I actually met some tourists from Cape Breton Island at this stop.  They were traveling on their own and they of course agreed her comments.  We saw them again walking on a street in Portree, which gave Clare the opportunity to speak and reminisce with them during our lunch stop.

 

Sheep grazing at the side of the road.  There are more sheep than people on Skye.


Continued in Part 5.

 

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[daveklepper]

Hope to get the missing introduction from Jack soon.   And here it is!!!

 

Our second trip of 2018 was to Scotland in May.

An email advertisement from Norwegian Airlines for a $99 fare to Edinburgh through May, 2018 re-stimulated my interest in touring Scotland.  I had started a European trip by flying there the previous year, but had planned to spend only one day in its capital, en route to the midlands of England.  On top of not devoting any time to tour this beautiful city I had terrible weather, with pouring rain--and my slides showed it.  So the thought of going again sounded attractive, especially when my wife Clare indicated she would love to tour the country.  Her interest was visiting some castles and reaching the most northerly point accessible by rail, while I was especially enthused about seeing the scenery in the highlands, and on the famous Isle of Skye.

Of interest in working up the itinerary was the fact we would be flying out of Stewart Airport, which is located in the Hudson River Valley of New York, specifically in Orange County, opposite Beacon.  As we couldn't totally agree on the amount of time to stay in Edinburgh we decided to fly back to Stewart separately, with Clare spending the last 48 hours or so of our trip in Edinburgh while I would stop over in Dublin before heading home.  I'd fly from Glasgow to Ireland after putting Clare on a train to Edinburgh (see attached itinerary) and we'd meet back at Stewart, where our car would be parked.

It was easy to make hotel reservations on the internet, and after studying rail fares we decided it would be most economical to use Scotrail's Highland Rover ticket, which provides unlimited riding for 4 days in the north of Scotland, and would not have to be consecutive, just within 8 (see https://www.scotrail.co.uk/sites/default/files/assets/download_ct/map.highland_rover.2019.1812.pdf).  We discovered that the cheapest way to purchase it would be in person at a staffed railway station, so this is what we planned to do.  The territory in which the pass was valid did not extend as far south as Edinburgh (but it did include Glasgow), and so we would also have to buy relatively inexpensive one-way tickets to Inverness for after we left Scotland's capital (advance fare about $20 for the two of us).

Our toughest logistical issue would involve our day on the Isle of Skye.  We wanted to be escorted by a knowledgeable guide who would pick us (and our luggage) up in the morning at Kyle of Localsh and end up taking us to the ferry to Mallaig.  Easy to say and conceptualize.  But in looking for tours on the web all we could locate were day excursions from hotels on the Island or bus tours starting in places like Glasgow, Edinburgh or Inverness.  Since the bus service from Kyle to the Island (over a bridge) is sparse to say the least, I began sending emails to tour operators listed on the tourism portion of the island's website.  Most replies were not helpful, but one, from an organization which ran tours from Inverness, indicated they would be happy to pick us and our bags up at Kyle, and after the tour, drop us where we could get a taxi to the ferry.  None of the taxi companies listed had email addresses, but the first one I telephoned agreed to take us from the road junction in Broadford to Armadale.  Now all we had to do was hope the tour company would find us waiting at the designated spot on the street in Kyle of Localsh and the taxi company would not forget about us later that day.

The distance from our house to Stewart Airport is about 60 miles and we expected the driving time to be a little over an hour after Monday afternoon's rush hour.  But because we had no plans to buy meals from the airline for our flight, we decided to stop for nourishment at our favorite Chinese restaurant, slightly off our route, so we left earlier than we would have.  We departed from home at 18:10, spent 45 minutes enjoying our meal, and were back on the road from near Willowbrook Mall by 19:30, arriving at the airport at 20:30.  I dropped Clare and our two carry-on bags at the entrance to the terminal and found a spot in the long-term parking lot, which surprisingly was almost full.  After getting our boarding passes and passing through security it was 20:45 and the Boeing 737 was already being loaded.  Before we knew it we were pulling away from the gate, a good 15 minutes before our scheduled departure time of 21:25.  We lifted off from the runway after a 15 minutes of taxiing and headed for Edinburgh full throttle.

While Norwegian is a low-cost carrier, it does offer all the amenities that can be found in coach class on the legacy carriers--but at a price--and that is something that airlines like United, American and Delta are gradually moving toward--and are possibly overdoing it.  Our carry-on bags were transported free, and earphones were distributed free.  We just didn't want to buy any food or drink (some passengers brought their own).  The lights were soon turned out (we were in the last row, No. 32), and we dozed for awhile.  The plane was full and the crowd surprisingly quiet--no crying babies or other disturbances whatsoever!  Soon enough the skies lightened, breakfast was provided to those who ordered it (and others who must have been hungry and purchased what was available), and we began our descent.  We hit the tarmac at 8:22 (turning our watches forward by 5 hours) on Tuesday morning and exited down portable stairways to waiting buses at 8:27 (8:55), not much worse for wear.  We flew 3,225 miles in 6 1/4 hours, at an average speed of 515 mph, gate to gate.  No wonder we weren't hungry--we had a full meal only 7 hours earlier (albeit Chinese--and you know what they say about that cuisine--about an hour later you're hungry again).

There was a long line for Customs and Immigration, but it moved quickly, and we soon headed over to the airport's tram terminal and organized ourselves.  The sun was shining brightly, in total contrast to my flight the previous year, when I had been greeted by a very rainy day.  Some of the information and observations in the next six paragraphs may be similar to what I found upon arrival in Edinburgh last year, but I'm including it for the record.

In addition to the tram there is also an express bus to the center of Edinburgh and we passed one accepting passengers from a much more convenient location.  The original mock-up of a tram is used as an information center and waiting room, and my first order of business was loading up on timetables and other written material.  Soon afterward I hit one of the tramway's fare vending machine and used a credit card to buy two day tickets for 18 pounds (or 18 GBP).  The pound was worth about $1.35 at the time (now it's down to around USD 1.30).  The machines take only credit/debit cards and coins (no bills), and do not provide change. 

Before describing our first day in Scotland, here are some salient facts about Edinburgh and its tramway.  The origin of the city itself dates to ancient times, but the name that morphed into Edinburgh was applied by King David of Scotland in the 12th century.  The "burg" or fortress was first portrayed as Scotland's capital some 200 years later.  As Scotland's second largest city, with a population of about 500,000 (similar to Minneapolis), it is surpassed only by Glasgow, with slightly more than double the number of residents.  Scotland itself, occupying the northern portion of Great Britain, consists of but 30,000 square miles (almost as much as South Carolina) and contains a population of just under 5.4 million (in the ballpark of Minnesota).  The city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and is very tourist oriented, much like Washington, D. C., with many governmental buildings, historic structures and museums.  It is dominated by Edinburgh Castle, towering above the city on Castle Rock.  There are many arts and music festivals in the summer, and often a shortage of hotel rooms for the huge number of visitors, especially during August, when the Edinburgh International Festival, a series of performances from the world of music, theater and dance, is in full swing.  Hotel rooms at this time of year were cheaper and easier to obtain. 

The modern light rail system in Edinburgh dates back to May 31, 2014, some 58 years after the last double-deck car ran on the city's legacy tramway.  It is 8½ miles long, and runs from the airport to the city center.  A fleet of 27 CAF Urbos 3 low-floor cars operates on 7- to 10-minute headways.  The 7-section double-ended cars are 140 feet long and make 16 stops on their 37-minute trip, with three being adjacent to ScotRail stations for easy connections to the railway system.  It's a spit-and-polish operation, with the cars moving quite fast between stops for the most part.  The section west of the city center is on reserved track with protected grade crossings, while the slower portion in the built-up city center (5 stations) is in pavement, separated from motor traffic by curbing, with the tramway's signals being coordinated with traffic lights.  The line operates on new, attractive reserved track from the airport for the first 6 stations, twisting through fields and open land for the equivalent of 5 right-angle turns in a general southeasterly direction to the Edinburgh Park stop, where it begins running eastward parallel to the Glasgow-Edinburgh mainline, but not actually on the railroad's right-of-way (see http://www.urbanrail.net/eu/uk/edin/edinburgh.htm for a map).  It reaches the city center 5 stations later at Haymarket, where it begins running in the center of streets, albeit segregated from motor traffic.  There are four more stops, with two on Princes Street, Edinburgh's principal shopping artery, where a large number of transit buses also operate.  In fact, much of Princes Street is open only to trams, buses and taxis, and the south side of the street borders on a park leading to and affording excellent views of stately Edinburgh Castle and other historic buildings.  Then the line makes a sharp turn to the north and again to the east, to finally terminate at York Place.

The line had to contend with a great deal of controversy starting immediately after the inception of its planning, and finally came in both late and way over budget.  As a result, certain parts of the original plan had to be scrapped, but it seems now that there may well be a 3-mile, 8-station northeastern extension to Leith and Newhaven (on the Firth of Forth) because of the line's great success (ridership was 6.6 million in 2017).  See https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/news/transport/work-to-extend-edinburgh-trams-to-leith-could-start-in-2019-1-4525948.

Fares and their collection are also a bit complicated and have been somewhat controversial.  The fare system is integrated with the local bus system, Lothian Buses--GBP 1.70 one way and GBP 4 for a day ticket, but only valid as far as Ingliston Park-and-Ride, the last station prior to the airport.  The cost of traveling to and from the airport is sharply higher, GBP 6 one-way and GBP 9 for a day ticket.  This protects the slightly faster airport express bus, which charges only GBP 4.50 (7.50 round trip), and as a result, much traffic has been diverted to the rubber-tired line, which runs every 10 minutes).  The tram takes a little over a half hour to get downtown, and it's hard to imagine that the bus provides a much shorter ride.  Interestingly, one of the things that Clare and I observed were airport passengers rolling their baggage to the Ingliston station in order to avoid paying the surcharge.

The trams are operated with both a driver and a conductor, the latter checking tickets and answering questions.  If a passenger doesn't have a valid ticket when he is approached, the fare becomes GBP 10.  This is not regarded as a Proof-of-Payment type fine, but officially deemed the "on-board fare."  At times we observed a third employee on board, also checking tickets.  He may have been some sort of auditor to keep the conductor in line, or just present to help out between high-volume stations--I really don't know.  Despite the large number of on-board personnel, it has been stated that the trams actually made money during 2017, with revenues exceeding operating costs--and reports indicate that the profit was higher in 2018.
 
We were on a tram before 9:30, but soon got off.  As mentioned earlier, the sky was solid blue and when we arrived at the first stop, Ingliston P&R, I saw the sun was in perfect position for photos, so I asked Clare if she wouldn't mind if we hung around for a few minutes and she agreed.  I ended up getting some decent photos, some of which are displayed below.



Above and below:  Two views from the Ingliston Park & Ride station, one stop in from the line's Edinburgh Airport terminal.  In the upper view an airport-bound tram has just left the stop, and takes a 90-degree curve as it accelerates.  The lower photo was shot in telephoto mode, and shows two trams heading to Edinburgh after leaving the airport.  Two of the three bridges that cross the Firth of Forth are in the background.  The cable-stayed structure was opened in 2017, while the suspension bridge dates from 1964.






A side panel of car No. 269 at Ingliston P&R.  Some 18 of Edinburgh's 27 CAF trams are wrapped in an advertising campaign developed for CR Smth, Scotland's leading home improvements company.  Entitled Window to Scotland, each of the attractive posters highlights a different aspect of the country's enchantment.  Another rail-oriented wrap shows the famous Firth of Forth bridge.


When my "work" at this busy station was completed we hopped on the next car (they were coming through every 7 or 8 minutes) and rode all the way down to the Princes Street stop, which is only about a block away from our Mercure hotel.  We were quite lucky, as even this early in morning (about 10:30) our room was ready.  This allowed us to freshen up, unpack and actually grab a bite of breakfast in the dining room.  Once fulfilled we were ready for some sightseeing.



Another CR Smith-wrapped car, operating inbound, is shown after having dropped passengers on Princes Street.  It has but two more stops on its journey to its York Street terminal and is shown in the front of the Old Waverley Hotel, which dates from 1848.  Across the street is the posh House of Fraser Jenners department store, established on that site 10 years earlier (1838).


But first I wanted to get our housekeeping tasks out of the way.  It was a short walk to Waverley station, where we found an office for Virgin Trains at track level, which we reached by elevator.  Even though Virgin was not our carrier, the folks behind the counter sold us our Scotrail Highland Rover passes and validated them for our first use on Thursday morning.  I also went to a ticket vending machine, keyed in a code, and out popped our tickets for the trains between Edinburgh and Inverness, which were not covered by the passes.  A nearby rack, stocked with timetables for all the private rail operators in the area, provided me with all the schedules I would need for our forthcoming trip.

Back on the surface and noting that Edinburgh Castle is high up on a hill, we grabbed a taxi, which brought us up to the Royal Mile in the old town, a pedestrianized way over which we had to navigate to reach the gate (fortunately we were dropped at an intersection that minimized our uphill walk).  We spent much of the afternoon at that sight (see photos below), even catching a ceremonial firing of the canons, and then walked back down the street.


Looking northward from Castle Rock over Princes Street Gardens toward Hanover Street in downtown Edinburgh.



Crown Square, dating from the 15th century, is the heart of the castle, and is surrounded by various museums and monuments.  Its most prominent building is the Royal Palace (not pictured), where Mary Queen of Scots gave birth to James VI in 1566.  It houses the Scottish Crown jewels (discovered as recently as 1818) and the Honours of the Kingdom exhibition, which were well worth visiting.  This structure is the Scottish National War Memorial, which was opened in 1927 to honor soldiers of Scottish regiments who died during wars. 



Looking like it might topple over, Clare rushed over to this light pole at the side of the castle and held it upright, no doubt preventing a possible catastrophe.



The entrance/exit of the castle grounds, looking toward the Royal Mile, which is dominated by The Hub, a Gothic public arts and events building dating from the 1840s, that had been used as a church until the mid-1980s.  The Royal Mile connects Edinburgh Castle with Holyrood Palace, one of the Queen's official residences.



One of the many statues gracing Princes Street Gardens, the large park that leads up to Castle Rock.


It now was mid-afternoon and with the sky clouding up, we began to feel a little tired, so we taxied back to the hotel, and grabbed some z's.  We later found an attractive French bistro for dinner and after dodging drops in a fine drizzle, went to bed early.

Continued in Part 2.
 

 

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  339.7kITINERARY

   

  Jack and Clare May

  Scotland – May 2018

   

  Mon     May 14       Lv  Stewart        21:25   D8 1601                      LTAPVJ

  Tue      May 15       Ar  Edinburgh      8:55   B-737

  Tue May 15 - 17 Stay in Edinburgh Mercure Edinburgh City,  1098.104.013

  53 Princes Street                     (2285)             Tel:  [phone]

  Highland Rover:   4 days out of 8:  17/18/20

   

  Thu      May 17  Lv  Edinburgh 8:34   Scotrail,  9:36   Scotrail  X6RJT44R                              Ar  Perth       10:55

                          Lv  Perth       11:16   Scotrail

                          Ar  Inverness 11:58                   

                          Lv  Inverness 14:00   Scotrail 

  Ar  Thurso    17:50  

  Thu MaMay 17 - Fri May 18  Stay in Thurso      Station Hotel   882.824.909

  54 Princes Street                     (8523)           1847 892 003

  Fri  MaMay 18     Lv  Thurso   8:34   Scotrail

   

                           Ar  Dingwall  1:50  

                           Lv  Dingwall  14:11   Scotrail

                           Ar Kyle of Lochalsh  16:12

  Fri.Fri May 18 to Sat May 19  Stay in Kyle of Lochalsh  Kyle Hotel 13886.450.543    Main Street               0840        Tel:  [phone]

  SatSat May 19   Tour Isle of Skye  Pick up Kyle of Lochalsh at 10:45 

  44 1808 511 773   WOW Scotland  Drop off in Broadford at 17:45

       Sat May 19   Lv  Broadford  17:45   Taxi     Broadford Private Hire

                          Ar  Armadale   18:15  44 7972 070 891

  Lv                    Lv Armadale     19:10   Ferry

                         Ar  Mallaig        19:55

   Sat May 19 to Sun May 20     Stay in Mallaig  Marine Hotel  Station Road (2274)                                 Tel:  [phone]

  Sun  May 20  Lv  Mallaig 10:10   Scotrail 

          Ar  Fort William          11:32 

          Lv  Fort William         11:40   Scotrail    17:37   Scotrail

   

                                          Ar  Crianlarich     13:27              

                                          Lv  Crianlarich     14:18   Scotrail

                 Ar  Oban            15:28  

                                           Lv  Oban            18:11   Scotrail

                                           Ar  Glasgow       21:21 

  Sun May 20 - Wed May 23  Stay in Glasgow           Z Hotel 1931.480.948

  36 North Frederick St.                        (7521) Tel:  [phone]

  JACK ONLY

  Wed May 23 Lv  Glasgow     15:25   FR 5773   XREFW

   

                     Ar  Dublin        16:25   B-737

  Wed May 23 - Fri May 25    Stay in Dublin Kilronan  House                     1489.063.154   70 Adelaide Road     (9047) Tel:  [phone]

  Fri May 25     Lv  Dublin    14:30   D8 1763    LUCZF3

                      Ar  Stewart                             16:50   B-737

   CLARE ONLY

  Wed May 23 to Fri May 25    Stay in Edinburgh     Cityroomz Edinburgh 1134.611.969   25-33 Shandwick Place          (6041)  Tel:  [phone]

  Fri May 25    Lv  Edinburgh 17:10   D8 1600                                  LUKE8G

   

                     Ar  Stewart    19:30   B-737
• Thursday, May 17 dawned sunny, and remained mostly bright.  After breakfast we checked out of the Mercure and rolled our bags to nearby Waverley station, which is located in a wide cut.  The departure boards directed us to gate 15, where we found two 2-car dMUs, ours being the furthest from the bumper block.  Waverley is a complicated station, with both through tracks and stub ended ones coming from both directions (London and Glasgow/North).  Most of the station's facilities are located in a rectangular central island between the through tracks and the ends of the stub tracks.  The tracks (or platforms in British terminology) are numbered 1-4 and 7-20.  We were about 20 minutes early and found a pair of seats on the right side in the center of the first car.  While we awaited our departure (which was on time at 9:36) we saw only a few people boarding, but when we arrived at Haymarket about 3 minutes later, lots of travelers got on, and now about every window seat was taken.  We stopped at Edinburgh Gateway, probably for passengers coming by tram from the airport, and soon we were on the famous railway bridge that crosses the Firth of Forth.

If I were ever to spend more time in this area I'd like to get to various locations where I could photograph the bridge (preferably with a train on it), but when you're riding you are limited to seeing the surroundings rather than structure itself.



I lifted this photo of the Forth Bridge from the internet.  Less than 10 miles from Waverley station, it is considered Scotland's greatest man-made wonder, and has become a UNESCO World Heritage site.  Opened in 1890, the 9-mile long bridge is a cantilever structure made up of three spans, some 150 feet above the water.  About 200 trains use the massive crossing each day.




Above and below:  Two views from the windows of our train as it crossed the iconic Forth bridge.  A cruise ship plies the Firth in the upper photo, while the lower one shows the two road bridges that parallel our massive structure:  the Forth Road [suspension] Bridge from 1964 in the foreground and the Queensferry [cable-stayed] Crossing from 2017.  Pardon the reflections.




The run to Perth was enjoyable, with our train bisecting farmland, passing small villages and skirting the coast, with North Sea views in the area around Inverkeithing and Kirkcaldy as well.  Of course we sailed by golf courses galore, probably as many just on this part of our itinerary than Amtrak trains pass for the whole of their American network.  The Scots certainly love golf.  There are but seven way stations between Edinburgh and Perth (51 miles taking 78 minutes for an average of 40 mph) and we stopped at four, arriving at the train's terminal on time at 10:55.


We saw patches of yellow gorse at many places along the right-of-way, especially later in the Helmsdale area.  The prickly flowering shrub has been used by Scottish farmers and shepherds to hedge their fields, as it keeps livestock in and intruders out.  It is said that it also acts as a good flea repellent.

 

Our train of class 158 dMUs after our arrival in Perth on one of the two stub-end tracks.  There are also four through tracks surrounding two platforms.  Perth has a population of just under 50,000.


We bought a snack from a kiosk at track level and waited for the arrival of our 11:14 train from Glasgow to Inverness, which dutifully appeared on time.  The dMU paused for two minutes while we and some others boarded and easily found seats.  Our first train of the day consisted of a pair of 158-series cars, built between 1989 and 1992 by BREL (British Rail Engineering Limited--in Derby), while the one we just boarded, which looked a little dilapidated, had three cars of the 170-series (built 1999-2005 by BREL's successor Adtranz and then Bombardier, also at Derby*), but felt a great deal roomier.  Both had large picture windows and rode well.  We would ride 158s twice again on our circle trip, which would last for four days.  They had been refurbished in 2010, but their seating was still a bit tight.

* The 170-series were introduced to the public as "Turbostars."  The privatization of British Rail resulted in BREL's Derby Works being acquired by ABB, whose rail division was merged into Adtranz in 1996.  In 2001 Bombardier acquired Adtranz.  This information is from Wikipedia.

We proceeded to Inverness (also just under 50,000 in population) aboard the 170s, which left on time at 11:16, and made stops at four of the eight way stations listed in the timetable.  Until Pitochry (11:50) we were on time, but then fell three minutes late waiting for a "down" train to pass.  Then, at Kingussie, we were passed by the Royal Scotsman, a luxury train with a diner and an observation lounge.  I couldn't tell if it was in regular service or being deadheaded.  It's a beautiful train, which we came upon again later in the trip (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Royal_Scotsman).  The fare for a multi-day excursion is rather steep though, ranging from about $5,000 to $15,000, depending on the length of the "voyage" and the type of accommodations.  Additionally, after we arrived in Inverness we were able to see the Caledonian Sleeper, an overnight rail service between a number of points in Scotland and London (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caledonian_Sleeper).  It was attached to a diesel locomotive lettered for the Deutsche Bahn--why the DB, I don't know.

We arrived at Inverness, a relatively small stub-end station, on time at 13:27 (2 hours for 120 miles--60 mph average).  Rather than grabbing a quick lunch before our 14:00 departure, we just bought some snacks and drinks for consuming aboard the final train of our day's worth of riding.  Now we would be entering some scenic territory as we headed toward Thurso along ScotRail's "Far North" line aboard another pair of class 158 dMUs.

Before continuing the narrative I should mention that many of the rail routes we would be covering are considered to be among the most scenic on the British Isles.  That, and the fact that many Brits and Scots have an affinity for trains (remember the Titfield Thunderbolt?), there are many tracts on the subject; on the internet I found quite a few describing the lines we were going to ride and the points of interest that we would be able to see from the trains' windows and/or as a result of pausing at various stations, if we chose to do so.  Some are quite detailed and even indicate which side of the train should be ridden to see the most desirable scenery.*  As a result I copied some of these commentaries and we brought them along to get the most from our rides.

* Before Amtrak many American railroads published "Route Guides," booklets describing the towns, cities and topography that could be seen through the windows of their varnish.  This was even adopted by Amtrak, but eventually discontinued in its war against long-distance trains and passenger amenities.

Of the three mainlines we would be riding this one was the least interesting topographically, as we mainly moved through flat territory, seeing farmland and sheep--lots of sheep.  But the gorse and mustard fields were colorful and we also ran along the North Sea for quite a spell, some 15 miles or so, seeing many firths and lochs (rivers and lakes).  It was a pleasant ride and we observed patches of snow at the tops of mountains in the distance.  If we got hungry or thirsty, an attendant with a portable food cart (trolley in British vernacular) catered to our needs.

The timekeeping on the line, which has a combination of single- and double-track, was a bit spotty, as at Ardgay (15:29) we waited for 8 minutes for some reason and never recovered.  After leaving Inverness at 14:00 we looked out for Beauly station (14:15), as it's a treasure from 1862.  The building became a private home in 1960 and the stop was relocated, and now has the distinction of having the shortest platform in all of Britain.  I was looking out the wrong side, but Clare got to see it--and photographed it with her digital. 



We passed a down train at Muir of Ord (14:23) during a period that we were operating right-handed.  I wondered if the sections of double track, which consisted mostly of jointed rail, were signaled for both directions.  There are 23 way-stations on the 155-mile line, and 8 were listed as flag stops for our train, but we only skipped 3 of them.  After Ardgay we tended to run some 10 to 13 minutes late, and despite very short dwell times, we arrived at Georgemas Junction, one station before Thurso, still 13 minutes late, at 17:49 (36).  The run from Inverness took 4 hours and 3 minutes (average of just under 40 mph).  We passed a down train that was on time between Kimbrace and Forsinard.



Dingwall is the junction of the Far North line to Thurso and Wick with the Kyle line to Kyle of Lochalsh, which we would cover on the next day.  The schedule called for a one-minute stop and since we arrived about a minute early, I took the time for a quick photo of our dMU.



A view of the fields of mustard alternating with plots of green in this view over Dornach as we continued northward.



We waited at Ardgay for our opposite number, which was 7 minutes late, causing us to fall behind schedule by an equal amount.



A typical scene from our train's windows in the highlands of Scotland, where sheep outnumber humans.



Our train ran along the North Sea again, between Brora and Helmsdale stations.


Georgemas is one station before both Wick and Thurso, which are on separate branches.   When ridership was greater (there is a lot of competition from bus services, as the highway is much more direct than the rail line, by as much as 40 miles), trains were made up of two sets of dMUs, which were separated at this station.  But now the same pair of cars travel to both.*  After changing ends, the two-car units first continue to Thurso, where they change ends again, come back to the junction, and then continue on to Wick, where they finally lay over (there are 4 round trips on Mondays to Saturdays with only 1 on Sundays).  There was a coach tour on board our train, which was heading for Wick to spend the night, but quite a few of the group stayed on the platform, probably deciding to stretch their legs as they knew the train was coming back in about 20 minutes.  I detrained too, but only for a photo.

* Very reminiscent of the off-peak operation of Pennsylvania-Reading Seashore Line single-Budd car trains, which would first run into Wildwood from Wildwood Junction, and then return to continue their trip to Cape May.

Clare saw me get off and for some reason thought we were in Thurso, so she disembarked as well.  After the crew changed ends and I hurried back to get aboard, it was lucky I saw her and she was able to board in time.  The dMU arrived in Thurso 10 minutes later at 18:03 (17:50).  We alighted and I took another photo as the crew changed ends again.  After the train moved off to go back to the junction, Clare realized she had left her folding cane aboard.  Our accommodation was only a short distance from the station so she walked carefully without the cane to the B&B.

 

:  Two views of our 158-class dMU train near the end of its journey.  The upper photo was taken at Georgemas Junction, where Clare stepped off as well (she is behind the crew member).  Note the electronic train annunciator even here in the middle of nowhere.  It only took ten minutes more to get to Thurso, the northernmost point on Britain's rail system, which is the location of the lower view.  Here the equipment changed ends again to return to the junction and on to Wick, where it laid up for the night.

 

Our concern about the lack of a cane was eased when we checked in to the B&B, and the proprietor indicated that a previous guest had left her "walking stick" (the British word for cane) and had never came back for it, and Clare was welcomed to take it.  Problem solved--although there is a "rest of the story," which will be related in part 4 of this series.

It was still light and we walked about a half-mile to this town's (of about 8,000) beach, which was the furthest north we would get on the entire trip.  It was not warm enough for a swim, but there were plenty of dogs being taken off their leashes by their owners to run loose and some children enjoying themselves on playground equipment.  Ferries are operated from Thurso to the Orkney Islands, which are even further north, from a terminal about a mile away.  We had passed a hotel that had posted an interesting menu, so we attempted to stop there for dinner, but were turned away as all tables were taken.  Fortunately our B&B also served meals, and we ended up enjoying their victuals.


Thurso Beach as dusk approached on a Thursday in May.

It was a pleasant day of train riding, and we were looking forward to resuming our exploration of the Highlands of Scotland on the following morning.
 
To be continued.

 

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