Rail Rover Blues

I did my first all line rail rover between 28/5/72 and 3/6/72, though I spent most of the nights at home. The exceptions included one extremely uncomfortable journey on the overnight Paddington to Plymouth. I had no idea, previously, that there were so many rabbits around before the time that people normally wake up in the morning. I also spent one night at a youth hostel in Edinburgh.

My overall itinerary was: Liverpool, Bristol, London, Plymouth, Exeter, London, Derby, Liverpool, Carlisle, Glasgow, Haymarket, Edinburgh, London, Crewe, Liverpool, London, Norwich, London, Liverpool, Cardiff, London, Liverpool, Crewe, Liverpool – all in all, not very enterprising, really.

What a lightweight. I discovered that I liked the comfort of my own bed far too much to spend any more nights away from it than I needed to. I could easily have added a lot more miles and a greater variety of routes. The sole overnight journey, in a normal compartment coach from London Paddington, rather than in the available sleeper, was a nightmare. It left me with no sleep, a headache and feeling like a zombie for the whole of the next day.

However, here are some of the photos I took along the way, during British Rail’s blue [but still with some green] era. The photo venues were Bristol Parkway, Exeter St David’s, London St Pancras, Edinburgh Waverley, Glasgow Queen Street, Haymarket, London King’s Cross, Cardiff and Crewe.