Tips For Uk Interrail

Discussion in 'Off Topic' started by Tom Fresco, May 6, 2022.

  1. Tom Fresco

    Tom Fresco Well-Known Member

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    Hello
    I always wanted to travel around with an Interrail Pass, and due to its heavy Discount currently, i am able to get a 1 month unlimited travel global pass 50% off for just 250€ :D
    As i am planning to visit the UK as well, i wanted to ask which routes or cities (besides London of course ) are worth visiting, i already have plans for the Highland Line, and one Hotel night will surely be replaced by the Night Riviera/Caledonian sleeper. (With just a Seat its included in the Pass)
    It shouldn't take up the whole month though as i want to travel trough other countrys like Switzerland or Italy (Penzance is just a 25h Journey from Rome), but i'd be grateful for both interesting Tourist and railway related recommendations. :)
    And with the 9€ Ticket in Germany, this will be quite a train themed summer....
     
    Last edited: May 6, 2022
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  2. theorganist

    theorganist Well-Known Member

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    City wise it would depend what you want to see. Canterbury, Bath, York, Durham, Lincoln and Edinburgh are among the best preserved cities if you like history there are plenty of pretty market towns and villages too. The Cotswolds and the Welsh Borders (Welsh Marches) are two areas I personally would recommend, Ludlow, Bishops Castle, Clun, Knighton, Radnor are all lovely. If you want something more lively then places like Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Bristol and Cardiff would fit the bill.

    The Cambrian Coast line is a nice scenic rural railway. The route starts at Shrewsbury which still has a lot of traditional mechanical signalling. The Settle to Carlisle is another famous route and has some wonderful scenery. The national railway museum at York is worth a visit and there are a myriad of heritage railways. The Severn Valley Railway near me is certainly worth visiting.
     
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  3. matt#4801

    matt#4801 Well-Known Member

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    Hello, hope you are well.
    Top 5 places for me are:
    1. Lincolnshire: Make sure to not only visit Lincoln but the wonderful countryside and seaside. However avoid Boston at all costs or shut your eyes as you go through :)
    2. The Peak District: Just search a picture up online and you will see why!!!
    3. Norfolk: Beautiful inland and coastal scenery and home to, in my opinion, the most scenic heritage railway in the UK (The North Norfolk Railway).
    4. York: A wonderful historical city with many things to do such as the Railway Museum (home to Mallard) and York Minster.
    5. The English Riviera: Beautiful dramatic scenery with many things to do and with some very interesting and scenic railway journeys both on National Rail and on Preserved lines. If you get the chance take a short trip up through Dartmoor or Exmoor as the scenery is outstanding!!

    As some advice I would spend more time out of London than inside to grasp a better understanding of life in Britain.
    Also don't forget there are many places around the UK and these are just my personal favorites so explore and enjoy yourself no matter where you go!!!
     
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  4. ARuscoe

    ARuscoe Well-Known Member

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    Depends on what you mean by "tourist related"... but I'll stick to trains for now
    London has all the big sights, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace etc, and of course the oldest sections of underground railway still in use, so places like Baker Street on the Circle Line are a good shout, and if you want the first Thames Tunnel this is on the East London Line of the Overground between Wapping and Rotherhithe
    The TfL museum in Covent Garden has some great stuff, and if the depot museum is open (Acton Town) then that's a great thing to see as well with loads of archive material, old tube trains and busses etc

    Outside of London there's Bristol Temple Meads which was Brunel's terminus from London (and Bristol is a decent city as well, built around the docks), Manchester has two big stations in Piccadilly and Victoria (with trains to almost everywhere), and Birmingham has a big hole in the ground called "New Street" which is pretty dull to be fair.
    York is a good shout as it has the National Rail museum, some great locos on display from the 1800s on to the 1960s and a treasure trove of an archive.
    Didcot and Swindon have large railway museums (Swindon is the old GWR factory where they made just about everything for the railway and that one's a good visit), and another good one is "Locomotion" in Shildon, County Durham (up north). Loads of great locos on display. Lastly is Crewe Heritage Centre which has a full APT set on display and a number of signal boxes from around the UK moved to the site.

    List of UK Railway Museums

    When it comes to "railway goodness" I guess you've got the Dawlish sea wall, although the wall's been redone so less likely to get the sea coming onto the tracks these days, loads of 125mph running on all mainlines if you're on a fast enough train, there are still HSTs running in the West Country and South Wales as well as Scotland, loads of freight up the East and West Coast lines as well as out at Felixstowe and the best railfanning spot I've found so far is at Harrow & Wealdstone with Undergrounds doing turnaround, Overground running, Local and regionals on P5&6 doing up to 100 and Pendolinos on P3&4 shooting past at 125, as well as loads of freight... Spent a few hours there last month, but just about every mainline on the London boundary will give you a similar experience (minus the underground)
     
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  5. CK95

    CK95 Well-Known Member

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    Would definitely add my vote to Crewe, great little heritage centre there, and the APT is sort of surreal to see in the flesh, there’s a some great locos on display too.
     
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  6. SonicScott91

    SonicScott91 Well-Known Member

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    Highly recommend York, it's a beautiful city plus the National Railway Museum is also a few minutes walk away from the station. It's free entry into the museum though they usually ask if you'd like to make a small donation at the entrance, it's not compulsory though.
     
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  7. Rybnicki

    Rybnicki Well-Known Member

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    Nobody mentioned the North Wales Coast line yet? Lovely scenery, you can get the Cambrian Coast line from Birmingham to Porthmadog, then buy a ticket (as it's not covered in Interrail) for the Ffestiniog line up to Blaenau where you can switch back to National Rail and return towards Chester and Manchester. Lovely day out.
     
    Last edited: May 8, 2022
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  8. driverwoods#1787

    driverwoods#1787 Well-Known Member

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    The key feature of the Didcot Railway museum is that it has a 7ft gauge track in metric 2.140m. In Brunel's era Standard Gauge 1.435m tracks was called narrow gauge
     

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