York station is always a pleasure. Such a magnificent building in its own right, it occupies a wide curve where the main line heading north for Scotland, just manages to avoid crossing the River Ouse. For spotters, the drawback these days is the lack of locomotives, as all the passenger trains using the station are now units, apart from the soon to be displaced Class 91s. Sporadic freights do find a path through the platforms, but the avoiding line to the south and west allows most of these locomotive-hauled trains to by-pass the station altogether.
Nevertheless, it’s a grand place to be, with open access and that central footbridge linking the entrance hall to all the platforms and to the National Railway Museum, beyond. I spent a leisurely hour in the Costa coffee house that occupies the old signalbox on the main London platform, which is reached by the central staircase. I was surprised to see quite a few people bothering to stop and take a photo of their own of the famous old clock [with a clock within a clock!], the footbridge, the signalbox and some fancy wrought ironwork. They don’t make them like that anymore.
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