2009 - The Irish Connection

16/04/09 18:57

After a little delay whilst I did other things, such as going off to the other side of the world for some little time, we are back on track with the planning process. From previous trips it was anticipated that getting accommodation of the right type might involve splitting ourselves over at least two B&Bs at each stop, but some judicious internet searching for the larger type of premises paid dividends. Prices seem a little higher, either because of the unfavourable sterling/euro ratio (one of the many consequences of the credit crunch) or because I have been unconsciously drifting up-market as I get older.

However, we are safely booked in at five different locations, taking advantage of having our own transport to look a little wider afield to better suit our destinations. Hence we are giving Belfast a miss, and choosing Castleblayney in preference to Newry. All that needs to be done now is to discover why I have a credit card bill for the outgoing ferry but not for the inbound one, despite having email confirmations for both. Perhaps the Dublin end of Norfolk Line's operation works a touch slower than its UK counterpart.

Read more here.

2008 - Flight to Orcadia

11/07/08 14:36

I dimly recall, back in 1997, sitting on a harbour wall in Thurso and debating the merits of including a visit to Orkney for the next sleeper trip. For ‘next’ read eleven years later, and here we are. No sense in rushing these decisions.

The idea was promulgated by the chairman, which immediately added a degree of authority to the discussion on where we should go in 2008. The prime aim apparently was to experience the world’s shortest sheduled flight, from Westray to Papa Westray in the Orkney Islands. The value of going several hundred miles to sit in a small plane for a few bumpy minutes was not immediately apparent, but like good loyal members we smiled and nodded and let the idea sit for a while to see how it looked.

Read more here, and see the photos here.

2007 - Mull - the wild side

11/07/08 14:35

Another year, another sleeper trip. It might by now be almost routine, but for 2007 we resolved to do something different, in modern jargon to push the envelope, even if it only got as far as the other side of the desk. This time we were also determined to get the full sleeper experience from London to Fort William, and heaven help Mr Branson if his Virgin trains failed to get us to the capital on time.

Read more here, and see the photos here.

2006 - The South-West Modeller

11/07/08 14:34

It’s not often that one gets a Royal Summons. For most people it’s never, but the SMRS is not most people, nor even a most society. Six weeks and counting to the 2006 sleeper trip, and one pulls out for the most trivial of reasons. Apparently some amateur gardener, name of Charlie Windsor or some such, had asked if the royal personage could be allowed to make an exhibition of himself, and of his hostas, alongside the begonias for which our member is rightly famous.

Read more here, and see the photos here.

2005 - Aviemore & Kyle of Lochalsh

11/07/08 14:33

The government, we are reliably informed, is considering congestion charges for the train network. After years of being harangued about the virtues of public transport (not that the SMRS ever needed convincing) it seems that it is now too popular for its own good. We will be required to pay extra for letting the train take the strain.

Read more here, and see the photos here.

2004 - Fort William, Mull & Bo'ness

11/07/08 14:31

THE CENTENNIAL SLEEPER*

Here we are again, a decade older since the first sleeper trip, but little the wiser.

To make the tenth anniversary expedition one to remember (for its cost if nothing else) we decided to start it from London. This would give us the benefit of the full sleeper experience, instead of the partial Preston one. The route selected was based on the classic 1997 excursion to Fort William, Oban and Mull. Again for reasons of jubilee, it would be extended, this time by a visit to the Bo'ness and Kinneil Railway. Regular readers will recall how a quirk of timetabling cruelly deprived us of a visit to this establishment last year. This time, instead of major corrective surgery to our schedule, we adopted the innovative solution of arranging our own personal tour of the site, courtesy of the Scottish Railway Preservation Society.

Read more here, and see the photos here.

(*For alliterative purposes, one sleeper year = ten calendar years.)

2003 - A Grampian Odyssey

11/07/08 14:31

Number nine already, and it seems barely a decade since we first set out on these little jaunts to the extremes of ex-Railtrack's network. One day I shall remember what ex-Railtrack calls itself now, but then again it may not last beyond the next election so perhaps I won't bother. As to destination, regular readers will surely have noticed that there are three sleeper destinations north of Scotland's Central Belt (as the planners insist on calling it) and the SMRS have only visited two. The Granite City beckoned, and there was no putting it off.

Read more here, and see the photos here.

2002 - Ireland

11/07/08 14:29

Our first foreign excursion. Precedent was set a few years ago when 'Scotland' was interpreted as 'a part of the UK with strong Celtic traditions', to permit a sleeper trip to Cornwall. This year the definition was re-interpreted as 'the land over the sea with strong Celtic traditions where they play a mean game of football', to bring Ireland into the frame. We decided on a triangular tournament, taking in Dublin, Tralee and Cork, with a four-man team that included one new signing, the ink on his domestic visa still wet.

Read more here, and see the photos here.

2001 - Hebridean Tour

11/07/08 14:29

To far-flung outposts of Empire. This trip was characterised by no less than three trips on the Fort William to Mallaig route, out-and-back on the Jacobite and then out again on the service train for a night at the Station Hotel in Mallaig.

Read more here, and see the photos here.

2000 - Fort William, Skye & Iona

11/07/08 14:28

A four-day expedition, with trains, ferries and buses interacting with military precision, co-ordinating expeditionary travel into one harmonious whole. I for one was a little surprised at how smoothly it all went, given the number of connections that needed to be made, with little margin for error.

Read more here, and see the photos here.

1999 - Fort William, Oban & Mull

11/07/08 14:27

The 1999 escape plan targeted the West Highlands, on the basis that it was three years since the last visit, and the region would have had time to nearly recover. Five members set out in mid-June, a sixth having withdrawn on the basis that life was one long holiday, and he needed some time just to live and do his laundry, like the rest of us more ordinary folk.

Read more here, and see the photos here.

1998 - Penzance

11/07/08 14:27

A new route, this time on the sleeper from Paddington to Penzance, then back to Bodmin Parkway for the Bodmin and Wenford Railway, then Taunton and Bishops Lydeard for the West Somerset, returning via Dunster and Taunton again to London.

Peter Mills produced the brochures, clearly a travel agent in the making.

The photos are here.

1997 - Inverness & Thurso

11/07/08 14:24

To the far north. The itinerary was:

Tuesday - sleeper to Inverness,
Wednesday - Class 156 to Thurso,
Thursday - train back to Inverness,
Friday - train to Preston via Glasgow.

The photos are here.

1996 - Fort William & Oban

11/07/08 14:23

This was the route we tried to do in 1995, but couldn't because of the rush of bookings anticipating the closure of the Fort William sleeper. As it happened, it was saved by combining it with the Inverness and Aberdeen sleepers as far as Edinburgh.

Read more here, and see the photos here.

1995 - Inverness & Kyle of Lochalsh

11/07/08 14:18

Our first, tentative, visit north of the Great Divide (the Merseyside/ Lancashire county line). As befits an advance party, the numbers were limited to three of the society's most expendable members. We took the London-Inverness sleeper, boarding at Preston, and had a day trip to Kyle of Lochalsh. Read more here, and see the photos here.