So I have been wanting to do an All Line Rover for many years now, and I am now looking at planning a trip, but as expected I am scratching my head!
There's shampoos for that
Seriously though, we'll welcome you to the All Liner Club once you've successfully completed one! I don't blame you doing one, I love the freedom one gives you. I really need to make the effort to get another one in, although quite frankly I'm a long way off the amount of ching I need for the one I want to do, the Golden Ticket that is a 14 day ALR!
Me and my dad plan do do a 7 day First Class All Line Rover, starting from Langley Mill/Alfreton, including a mid trip night at home.
My plan has always been to start on a Wednesday, Saturday night at home, and finish on a Tuesday, taking advantage of 4 nights on the sleeper (preferably one each of the Caledonian Sleepers and one on the Night Riviera) and one night in a hotel. The hotel stay would be sandwiched between a north and south trip on Arriva Wales North South Premier (The breakfast and evening meal reviews make this a must to do in both directions) and then taking advantage of some of the mainline routes around the UK, and of course the First Class service on each of those, trying to squeeze a full WCML run with Virgin and ECML run with East Coast in somewhere along the way.
Not a bad idea having that break at home in the middle, a chance to de-rancify and sleep in your own bed will no doubt come in handy. A home cooked meal will keep you going nicely too, you'll be surprised how quickly fast food gets boring!
Quite frankly it's not an ALR if you don't do the Cally Insomny at least once, all part of the adventure, especially if you do it on the cushions!
If you like 'posh' food you'll be fine on the ATW run, but I have yet to see anything I like the look of or could stomach! I would recommend looking at their menus before committing to it.
DarloRich on here will know much more about the East Coast First Class experience, having done it multiple times on his ALR last year. He's got a trip report from it on here in this sector of the forum.
My experience of First Class service in Virgin is less than positive from the Holyhead trip in April 2008, and not much better from the Pretendalino trip in November 2011. Although if they still do it on-board, I would highly recommend the Cusquena (apologies if not quite the right spelling), it's most rateable and was the best bit about the Pretendalino First Class experience!
Are you not going to be sampling the delights of FGW HST First Class during your week then? Extreme tutting if that's the case! You simply must have a go on it, and if time's tight in your plans then a run from Paddington to Cheltenham Spa will take you through the Golden Valley, a rather nice run in the autumn and I'd imagine it's not bad during the rest of the year either.
We are not interested in 'Bashing' different classes of trains, or covering random branch lines, just an enjoyable weeks travel taking advantage of the first class ticket and the 'freebies' you get.
Can't comment on the freebies you get with any of them these days, it's been more than 3 years since my last First Class trip with any of the major operators.
So far I have had countless attempts at various routes, so what would peoples advice be who have done All Line Rovers in the past, what must travel routes, or must visit stations do you recommend?
Please don't tell me you're one of those people who goes around with a fixed itinerary on an ALR. If so you're missing out on one of the big advantages such a ticket gives you, the freedom to just go with the flow and enjoy the adventure as it unfolds. I liken it to getting a brand new book you've been looking forward to for ages, but instead of reading it cover to cover to reveal the story, you instead prefer to read the highlights of the book in an online review.
I know everyone has different methods of enjoyment in the hobby, but I just cannot see the point of doing an ALR by strict times. Even when I had a ton of coverage to get in 2011 when I did my 7 day ALR, I didn't make any firm plans whatsoever, except for getting to/from mandatory reservations on sleeper trains. Aside from those, I pretty much just went with the flow. I will always say that's the best way to do an ALR!
Routes worthy of travelling:
Paddington to Penzance
West Highland Line (especially beyond Fort William)
Inverness to Kyle of Lochalsh
Highland Main Line
Ayr to Stranraer
Heart of Wales
North Wales Coast
Hope Valley
Newport to Shrewsbury
Liskeard to Looe
Par to Newquay
Lancaster to Carstairs
Newcastle to Edinburgh
Blackburn to Halifax
Without a doubt I'm missing a few lines but I'm sure other forum members will have some to add. The above are listed for scenic reasons principally.
Stations worthy of visiting:
Worcester Shrub Hill (for the semaphores gantry)
London St Pancras (obviously not the low level!)
London Kings Cross (for the new public area at the front, much better than what was there previously!)
London Paddington (I just love it, somehow it has that feel no other London terminus has)
Shrewsbury (for Severn Bridge Junction signal box, phot-able from the south end of the platforms)
Carlisle (for the station building)
Leeds (I like it, much better for photography than a lot of places)
Huddersfield (for the station building)
Newport South Wales
Cardiff Central
Swansea
Bristol Temple Meads
York
Newcastle
Edinburgh (for the maze that is Waverley!)
Glasgow Central
Paiseley Gilmour Street
Birmingham Moor Street
If you were bashers, or even spotters, I'd have a very different list of stations!
Even so, I daresay I've missed off quite a few and will remember them eventually
We both enjoy photography so the Highland sleepers are top of my list (although I have done them many times), I would also like to photograph the Forth Bridge from the banks of the river.
I've seen photos of the bridge from the banks of the river recently, very nice shots so definitely worth doing (I think the shots I saw were from the north end, so North Queensferry would be best to get off at. Dalmeny for the south end)
I have never used the Chiltern loco hauled service (although was lucky enough to do the Wrexham & Shropshire), and would like to do the ECML behind a 91 and the northern half of the WCML on a Pendolino.
The Chiltern loco-hauled services are better than they were under WSMR, Birmingham Moor Street's a much nicer station than places like Tame Bridge Parkway! There's also more of them, and more stations to be able to get on/off at now too. Of course, in WSMR days we had droplights which will be missed now the Chiltern Cats are almost out in use on passenger trains in the Midlands (that noise is pretty awesome, and I've yet to hear it in the flesh so I have a feeling I'm going to be wearing beaming smiles once I finally hear them properly!), but it's a change we must deal with!
Pendolino is the best way to do the northern WCML, as you've got the extra tilt compared to a Voyager. Never done the full run from London to Edinburgh with a 91, but I would still recommend enjoying the delights of an HST on the ECML if possible as well as behind a 91. The experience between the two is surprising.
The Saturday night at home is essential to see my wife and son, and to save me carrying a weeks worth of clothes round!
Any advice would be greatly appreciated, page after page of proposed routes is giving me a headache!
Cheers CSK
Meh, I carried around
two weeks of stuff (with difficulty after a while admittedly!) with me when I did my 14 day ALR. I had considered a flying visit home for a night in the middle of it all, but I was having WAY too much to do that!
I think some general advice wouldn't hurt a bit, since you've never done an ALR. Others will no doubt have a few bits to add too, but the following will be a good start:
- I know you're going to have free tea/coffee/water/whatever on your First Class trip (I don't think I've mentioned it yet, but I am immensely jealous!), but I cannot recommend highly enough having some of your own supplies with you just in case. It doesn't have to be much, even if it's just a couple of bars of chocolate and a bottle of pop or water, as you just don't know when it's going to come in handy. Believe me, I've had more trips than I care to count where I've needed food and drink on a long journey, and when I really need it there's usually no on-board catering available. That was a long way from London to Nottingham when already pretty dehydrated (thank Goodness for those black cherries in my bag!), Hereford to Paddington via Evesham is also a long way when you only have about 300ml or less of water with you (having to ration that was not fun!), I could go on about other such journeys but I think I've made my point!
- Leading on from that point, never under-estimate how hungry you WILL get on a long journey!
- Have plans if you must, but for Goodness sake make sure you've got a plan B just in case it all goes belly up. I came incredibly close to having that happen to me last year on a Merseyrail Saveaway, to this day I'm still grateful Northern were running late on that Manchester Airport to Liverpool Lime Street service!
- Do not under-estimate how much money you will need for stuff along the way. Since you'll have basic drinks available on your trip, you won't have quite the hit to your wallet for food/drink purchases, but it will build up quickly!
- If you're doing fast food meals, don't do what I did last time I did my trip to Glasgow and eat at the same place multiple times, or at the least have something different. As much as I LOVE a Bacon Double Cheeseburger XL meal from Burger King, having it for 3 meals in a row over 2 days made it less enjoyable! Mix it up a bit I say, which is what I'm doing on my next adventure.
- Finally for now, to make it that bit more special, don't go travelling for leisure on the rails less than a week beforehand (preferably two weeks), believe it or not the trip will feel more enjoyable that way!
I'm sure there's something obvious I'm missing here, but the above should start you off!
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