วีดีโอ

A wonderful selection of photographs. Tank you so much for posting

More of my money squandered by the SNP. Anything to virtue signal

Umm I been on that train at exact time I did see some on the stairs

How dare we invest in infra structure which will serve communities in the future as well as giving some transport options right now. Sit down.

Ayr is a shithole.

Is there parking at Upper Tyndrum station itself?

£20 million spent on White Rose Station, just outside of Leeds, they ran out of money and now it stands 80% completed with no indication when or if it will be finished/operational. The lunatics are really running the asylum!

The Scottish government love wasting money

It is a very pretty station and lovely to stand at on a warm summers day. After saying that I stopped using it due to cancellations, strikes and no buses. Pretty much if Transpennine are on strike there might as well be no trains. Berwick is served by LNER and Crosscountry, in addition to Transpennine, on a regular basis and it is rare for all to be on strike at once. Also, the bus service to and from Berwick is far more frequent and convenient than to Reston. Pretty much, unless you have a car or live in Reston, it's useless.

Video here of that day! th-cam.com/video/QZz81FBUmfI/w-d-xo.htmlsi=ueGdNEMf14E3umx6

Too many cancellations for me to use it

I worked building Reston station. Alot of the cost will be down to the increase of materials that happened at the time of construction post Brexit and covid. But thats not an excuse. Was a good job to work on.

I think Reston has unfortunately turned out to be white elephant TBH. I haven't used it since 2022. Unfortunately the bus service to Duns has been withdrawn as well. It already has decent bus connections to Berwick which has a much better train service. I think East Linton was much more justified. I like Eyemouth but it's difficult to think of reasons to go very often.

Let's be fair - this is more about how staggerlingly expensive it is to built new stations. Some of it is future-proofing and basic spec - if longer trains could call in the future, it'll cost more and be very disruptive on the ECML to lengthen them. There's a preference now for building stations with no curve in the platforms. Lifts are a requirement to allow access for all. etc. etc. It all adds up. I tried out return journeys from both Reston and East Linton last January. I was surprised how small a place Reston is, but I saw more passengers at Reston. A bus did call while I was waiting, and I made use of the EV charging. By the way, national station usage figures are calculated on entries and exits. Presumably the Herald halved the figure, perhaps believing nobody makes a single journey. But to compare, you must use the same standard as everywhere else. A more pertinent question might be why was so much had to be spent to retain Breich station, rather than close it.

It is certainly a very big, elaborate station for the number of trains that call there and the numbers of people using them. While one can't move the railway to a better location, I do wonder if the much larger village of Ayton wouldn't have been a better location for the station - not least because it is served by more buses going to and from Eyemouth, which as the largest settlement in the area, is presumably one of the main sources of revenue. As it is - and with the very occasional bus service to and frrom Duns now withdrawn and replaced by a Demand-Responsive vehicle covering a much wider area, and that needs to be booked in advance; only the 5-times a day 253 bus route between Berwick and Edinburgh now passes through Reston - and none of the timings connect with any of the trains! If one travels on the mid morning train from Edinburgh that arrives there just after 11, there is a 48-minute wait for a bus to Eyemouth, arriving there around 12.15 pm (and that, I might add, is the best connection on offer!), from which the last northbound bus leaves at 3.10 pm, drops you at Reston around 3.30 - a full hour and 20 minutes before the next Edinburgh train! Hence, because of poor bus connections, it takes 1hr 45+ mins to get from Edinburgh to Eyemouth, where you get less than 3 hours, before a return journey of over 2 hours, to Edinburgh - all but 25 minutes of which is spent waiting in an unheated bus shelter at Reston station... Not exactly an attractive service, is it? Another out-and-back bus service runs at roughly 2-hour intervals between Berwick-Ayton-Eyemouth-Coldingham-St Abbs, also having later northbound departures from Eyemouth. Coldingham is another significantly larger village, with many watersport activities and holiday accommodations at the nearby Coldingham Bay (which some of these buses also serve); while St Abb's is a major tourist destination and walking centre - less than three miles from Reston... You do therefore have to wonder whether the part of this route that is north of Eyemouth couldn't be extended to take in Reston Station - preferably at times that would offer better connections with the train sevices. Okay, so it would require some kind of subsidy, but what is more 'socially-necessary' than a link to your local railway station - that also extends the use of the facility to several hundred more families residing nearby and untold numbers of holidaymakers, daytrippers and hikers? Even if only the last couple of runs of the day could extend to Reston Station... Come on, Borders Council: get the finger out and don't be so institutionalised!

Scottish govt were keen on it. Pork barrel politics? Now try Soham on a single line outside Ely.

Hello Clive, we have our own white elephant down here in Worcestershire - Bromsgrove station. Trains hurtle through this major town (a fairly new station with FOUR large platforms) on their way to Edinburgh, Cardiff, Manchester etc. and all we have are local WMR services to Birmingham, Lichfield, Worcester and Hereford. It's a disgrace, frankly. p.s. I enjoy your videos, by the way!

Give it time. If/when new housing is built more passengers will use it. A direct service to/from London Kings Cross would be a good idea.

Apparently, it was built ahead of a major housing construction project. I think?

The station seems OTT unless some major housing development is expected nearby. Or it's needed in case of Scottish Independence. Just in Scotland it would be ideal for border control ?

It's definitely very over-engineered. Does it really need that massive footbridge and pair of lifts? Do they realllyyyyy need that many lamposts along the platform? I don't think Reston really needed a station so badly, there's other places in Scotland such as Cove Bay in Aberdeenshire that have been dying for a proper rail link for decades.

The Topsham signs have long gone

What excellent photos, I'm from Leeds and often spent time at York around this time, 70s, 80s. Perfect memories of brilliant carefree days. Thank you.

Wow steam trains

Great capture

Did you know they were all coming, or just a lucky day? Thanks for all your neat videos, Clive!

Ayr has it's problems, like any U.K. small-town, but I think it's a great place to live. The communications are great: road, rail and air. It has a brilliant and safe beach. Entertainment wise, it's cinema has just been renovated, the Gaiety is a gem and there are plenty of restaurants and pubs. The town has some lovely parks and is surrounded by golf courses. Sportswriters, we have a Championship football side, Ayr United, a fist class rugby side and also a cricket team. Ayr has an easy reachable General hospital, Android access to both G.P. and dental services. Unfortunately, like many other towns, the High Street is suffering. As an Englishman, who has settled here, I enjoy living here. The people on the whole are very friendly.

Hello. Lovely video and very detailed. If the station is request to stop from the platform, how do you inform the driver which station you wish to alight from?

Great video. I look forward to Altnabreac/Allt nm Breac station reopening.

Do you have a phobia of birds ??? what is the big deal with chickens in the countryside? ????? I am not that much older than you and I clearly remember as a boy chickens scratching about on village road sides was extremely common in fact it has to be said it was quite normal. Further I would suggest anyone who finds it strange that chickens are allowed to roam is abnormal.

Awesome video Clive. BTW they aren't wild flowers the yellow ones, they are toxic, even photo-toxic, they are called Ragwort.

Really enjoyed that, thanks!

Altnabreac is ran by nutters

What an amazing time capsule - wonderful pictures, thank you so much

Lovely video Clive. Great Autumn colour . I think the signal box at Banavie might be in charge of most of the route via radio signalling ?

Awesome video Clive. Well let's hope when we work things out with Network Rail that Altnabreac gets the best shelter on the whole line. Me and Liz choose you Clive to cut the ribbon at Altnabreac when it re-opens 👍

My father and I have fished from the pier at Craigendoran.

Cynfal Halt on the Talyllyn Railway is much shorter.

Very nice video. Gives you some Italian vibes with all the beautiful places you showed us.

Started spotting in 1976, loved York for a day out and still do. Great photos Clive they brought back a lot of memories 👍

Absolutely fantastic bring back some happy memories for me at York 👍🏻 I can remember standing at the north end all night in the winter 🥶 with those water heaters roaring away keeping us warm 👍🏻

Clive, A fantastic video! I think possibly your best yet. Of course. it helps that by coincidence, I was daydreaming about riding from Scotland to southern Italy by train yesterday. Thanks!

OvO convince in Lucca?

I'm looking forward to your Italian adventures Clive!

I was travelling back to North Wales on that very day from Euston. My 1502 to HHD was Cancelled at EUS, so had to change at Crewe. I heard many people having such travel disruptions and opted to travel on the ECML instead of the WCML to Scotland. I travelled on the ECML for the first time on the 30/09/2024 and had eye opening views. Thank goodness for the Pennines and the Newcastle - Carlisle lines!

One of my favourite walks is along the Greenock Cut, sometimes also the Kelly Cut and down into Wemyss Bay, one of the loveliest stations in Scotland. Get off at Drumfrochar, schlepp up the hill and then a nice flat walk. Lately I’ve been descending to Inverkip, quite transformed to make it accessible.

I live in Wales 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿:- Eastern Valley Pontypool to Blaenavon. Having lost our Railway line service back in the late 60’s trust me you don’t want to loose yours at Altenbreac. Our Jewel lost don’t loose yours because of the two interfering persons who should know better.

It's the same with all of Britain's incompetently managed train operators - no contingency planning, no flexibility built into the schedules or staff scheduling, management that just shrugs and goes "DO NOT TRAVEL!!!!!!" 🤷‍♂️🥺

Newsflash: a broken rail has diddly squat to do with Avanti. Like most delays on WCML, it is Network Rail's responsibility, ffs!

You summed up my limited experience with Avanti perfectly: "Good Staff, crap management."