วีดีโอ

When I made this film Serco operated the Caledonian Sleeper, but they don't now. It was taken back into public ownership by the Scottish Government, though it still functions as a separate company from ScotRail.

Thanks for your comment, and providing clarification.

30th December 2024. Last film of the year!

Thanks for that, an enjoyable walk!

Thank you Frank, and the same to you. Yes, the dogs. When I first walked past that gateway they both ran towards it barking and frightened the life out of me as I wasn't expecting it. Then I thought I'd go back and take a clip of the dogs barking. But they just stood there looking at me, and I was trying to get them to bark, saying "Go on, bark then!" and making noises to get them barking. Eventually one of them did, fortunately, with the funny little jump.

Thanks for drawing that to my attention. A great song - even though I recall it now, I had completely fogotten about it over the long years since 1968! I wish now I'd included it in the sound track of my film!

Thanks for your comment Alan. No jumping the gates then!

Thanks very much, and I wish you the same.

Thanks for your greetings Frank, and I wish you many pleasant viewings in 2025! I'm never sure about posting material five months after the event, so I'm glad the summer footage was appreciated!

Thanks for your comment. It's an interesting crossing in an interesting place.

Thanks for your comment. I wish I had included more shots of the small businesses.

Indeed, I love France, SNCF, and French trains.

Thank you! Cheers!

Thanks for your comment. The journey cost €288 return for me and my small van.

Gràcies pel teu comentari.

It's on my "to do" list!

Bonjour Simon, thanks for your comment. I too am very familiar with Cerbère as my parents lived in this area for over 20 years, and I continue to visit every year in December. I often walk up to the Col de Belitres. In my film I stated "No bells or whistles" which is simply a fact, not a criticism. The main reason for this is that the crossing is manually controlled as it is on a busy station/marshalling yard entrance and sometimes trains shunt to and fro across the crossing. In my description of the film I added "how thoughtful of SNCF" as a bit of British humour which I think may have been lost on you. I have no connection with the USA and am not sure why you mention it. Finally, could you explain your reasons for saying I "should be ashamed of myself" because I am not. I am a fan of SNCF.

There's no ring at this crossing. It's manually operated from the signal box. Being close to the station and marshalling yard, sometimes a train shunts back and forth over the crossing. Crossings on the open tracks do have a ring, like the one at Taxo d'Amont which I've also filmed. Thanks for your comment.

Thanks Frank - yes I was impressed with it too!

Thanks for your comment. I think it's local, because if you look at my earlier film of the crossing at Taxo d'Amont there were warning bells. That's the case in othe rural crossings I know. Regarding the train noise iteslf, yes they are noisy but the railway was there a long time before local residents. The alarm bells are a relatively new feature and no doubt some people would mistake them for their alarm clocks! (My earlier film was appended at the end of this one).

I thought I'd also ask you how I could film "the whole sequence" if I have no idea when it would start? Being a manually-controlled crossing from the signal box, the signalman starts the sequence when he accepts a train movement. There's no way I could know when that is without being in the signal box itself. The sign I showed in my film clearly forbade "trespassing" as it's known in English law. So I stood there for a quarter of an hour, camera in hand, knowing there was a passenger train due to depart. The freight was thrown in by surprise, I had no idea it was on its way. In Britain we have Realtime Trains but I haven't been able to find an SNCF equivalent. Maybe you could help me in that regard?

Thanks for your comment. Reminds me of an old song years ago "and they all live in boxes, little boxes all the same". Found it on TH-cam - it was by Malvina Reynolds in 1962! th-cam.com/video/VUoXtddNPAM/w-d-xo.html

Thanks for your comment. Some of the pictures on the Galway line were taken from the loco cab, as I was lucky enough to be given a cab pass by CIE.

Hi Frank, I haven't, but my parents did in the 1970s which is how I got to know the country.

Thganks for your comment.

That's a good question, thanks. It's not necessary to book a folding bike on any train, as long as you fold it up and tuck it away somewhere. In Italy and Germany, for example, there is plenty of luggage space as the trains are very spacious compared with Britain. I first took a Brompton Interrailing in 2015 and got as far as Palermo. I wrote an article for Cycle Magazine about it. The only problem I've ever had was at Paris Gare du Nord Eurostar terminal where the staff insisted that I kept it folded from the point of check-in, and when I unfolded it to wheel the bike along the platform a staff member came chasing after me to fold it again and carry it. That's one reason why I tend to prefer to come home from Lille as the "Northerners" (Department 59 Nord) have a reputation for being laid-back and friendly. Lille Europe is a very easy station to use. It helps if you can memorise words meaning "folding" which is "pliablé" in French and "pieghevole" in Italian (pronounced "pee-ay-gay-bolay"!) as if they see you with a bike they might automatically ask you about reservation. If you're planning to take a Brompton it's best to limit your luggage to one item, I always use a rucksack. If you try to take it with a couple of airline suitcases, you won't enjoy the experience. Travelling light is so much easier. I've even taken my Brompton on buses in France and in Scotland but I wouldn't rely on it as some bus drivers seem to invent their own personal rule-book.

@@Clivestravelandtrains Thanks Clive, very useful info.

@@enduranceadventurez After posting my reply I had a look at your own channel and see that you do lightweight cycle journeys, so my comment about airline suitcases looks a bit daft! I do a lot of cycle touring myself, and I am thinking of getting a bag that clips to the crossbar as they seem pretty cool. My only worry is if it gets in the way of your knees while pedalling.

@@Clivestravelandtrains Thanks, Clive I've got the Brompton touring bag for the front. It's not as big as a rucksack, but it has quite a good capacity. I've toured in Scotland using that, but I'd like to have a go at some European adventures.

@@enduranceadventurez Hi again, I'd like to meet for a chat and to compare notes as we have a bit in common. I'm back in Glasgow on 9th January if you want to email me on cliveinstepps@hotmail.com

Thanks for your comment. Indeed, I was there again a few weeks ago.

@@Clivestravelandtrains lovely flour covered rolls,when i moved away ,my granny used to send me a box of goodfellows potato pies at christmas,which were delicious

Thanks for your comment - it's always good to be appreciated! Did you see my film about the footbridge at St Erth? th-cam.com/video/joNfi_5AVY4/w-d-xo.html

@@Clivestravelandtrains I didn't but I'll check it out later

Thanks for your comment. In 2014 Scottish Borders Council and East Lothian Council submitted a joint bid to the Scottish Stations Fund (created by the Scottish Government) to have new stations built at Reston and East Linton. The political composition of Scottish Borders Council is about 50% Conservative & Unionist supported by a number of Independents. Both groups were equally supportive of having a station built at Reston. I also stated in my film that the local Conservative & Unionist MP supported the station. Aside from party politics, what staggers me is why the station is so colossal given the lack of enthusiasm shown by LNER to serve it. The original project bid costed Reston station at £3.2m and yet we ended up with something costing over £20m. This seems typical of engineering projects these days, which balloon out of control, and HS2 and Crossrail show that you can't point the finger of blame at any one political party. I dread to think what would have happened if Boris Johnson's plan to build a bridge between Scotland and Northern Ireland had got off the ground (no pun intended). www.scotborders.gov.uk/downloads/file/525/reston_station_project_-_scottish_stations_fund_bid

I'm impressed you can remember two years ago!!

Thanks for your comment. Only time will tell if this was a good investment.

The National Rail website shows that there are five parking spaces at Upper Tyndrum, with no charge.

Thanks for your comment, which I have a lot of sympathy with. A year ago I tried to use Reston station but ended up only going as far as Dunbar due to both the Trans-Pennine trains on my schedule being cancelled. I posted a film about it, although I acknowledge I could have made it more search-friendly. I ended up making a film about the new platform/footbridge at Dunbar, which wasn't my plan! th-cam.com/video/TS_RyEFze9w/w-d-xo.html

Thanks for your comment. On my first visit two years ago most of the trains were cancelled.

Thanks for your insight. I think another factor pushing up building costs is the aim of both the previous and the present Governments to push construction and house-building to "grow the economy". This can add to costs as it creates a shortage of things like bricks and other building materials, hence prices go up. I was planning to have a new bathroom in 2020 and I've been putting it off since the lock-downs due to high prices - the old one works perfectly well!

Thanks for your comment.

Thanks for your comments. "Modern-day standards" (as they often say) simply make everything in life more expensive. I commented in another one of my films that the Department for Transport discourage the construction of new stations on curved track - but some slip through the net like Robroyston just along the road from me. It's to do with safety as the person responsible for closing the train doors has to be able to see the entire length of the train. If they can't the train companies need to employ dispatchers. York station would never have been built in the current era!

Thanks for your comments and the local insight. I love Eyemouth and would go there by train if the connections were better and if the fares to Reston weren't so high - from my station (Lenzie) it's cheaper to "split-ticket" Lenzie-Dunbar and Dunbar-Reston by quite a lot, though not everyone knows that. It would also save the dreadfull drive round the City By-Pass which gets worse every time I go that way. Someone joked to me that there should be a City By-pass By-pass!

Thanks for your comment. I whizzed through Soham (I think) in the summer, when a fire at Attleborough made me divert via Stowmarket and Cambridge to get from Norwich to Peterborough. We made the four minute connection at Stowmarket even though over 100 people had to file over the station footbridge.

Thanks for your comment. I vaguely recall in the days of British Rail, they were reluctant to stop trains at Bromsgrove because it was at the foot of the Lickey Incline. Back then I think it only had one platform. I never used it - maybe I should add Bromsgrove to my Bucket List!

@@Clivestravelandtrains yes you should! 😊😊I made a video on Bromsgrove station (and its failings) last year if you want to see how it looks now. It's further down the line from its original site.

Thanks for your comment. I hadn't thought of that. It makes sense given all the new housing surrounding Dunbar and North Berwick.

@@Clivestravelandtrains Go to look at the stations along the Borders railway - they all have large (soulless) estates built close to them - except Gala, which has escaped these rabbit hutches. It is a subsidy for Tory-donating housebuilders.

@@davidhollins870 Thanks for your comment. I did a film about the Borders Railway a couple of years ago. I noticed the adverts all over Shawfair station promoting rural living a few minutes from Edinburgh Waverley, although I didn't comment in my film. I have a clip of Shawfair for possible future use. th-cam.com/video/NApTOIuLjfw/w-d-xo.html

@@nigelkthomas9501 Operators do not like stopping without good reason as it eats up line capacity and extends transit time. It is sad fact that new house occupiers tend to be part of the 88 % who prefer the convenience of independent transport - just look at any new housing estate outside an urban catchment and not actually built next to the station.

​@@Clivestravelandtrains just for the Local MP's to get easy 1st class travel to London.

that’s the Chinese approach. Build the Infrastructure first then construct the accommodation. £20 for a one off construction cost that could last 200 years sounds like bargain