Is the ECML boring?

[Zoe]

Does anyone find the ECML a bit boring? I can't really think of that much of note in the section from Peteborough to Doncaster. The WCML on the other hand seems more interesting. Even in the north of England where the ECML runs next to the coast, I find the WCML section through the Lake District more scenic. Oh well at least you get larger windows on the ECML.

 

[gordonthemoron]

you can't beat Newcastle though

 

[cuccir]

With York, Durham, Newcastle and Edinburgh, the ECML probably has better stretches of urban scenery. The WCML has... Lancaster/Kendal at best? Also the WCML is equally dull south of Crewe. The rural parts of the Midlands just aren't the most exciting!

 

[Capybara]

It depends what you call boring I suppose. I use the ECML at least twice most months so I have done it, literally, hundreds of times so to an extent I do find it boring. It’s certainly very flat so if hills are your bag then it won’t feature high on your top ten. Strangely, though, the only slightly hilly bit between Peterborough and Grantham is my least liked stretch on the network. It really is dull. But Huntingdon to Peterborough is OK as is Newark to Retford. North of Newcastle is great as well. But it’s all subjective. Probably the best journey I have ever been on was through the Rockies from Vancouver to Calgary by Greyhound. Half the coach was asleep, probably because they were regulars. Similarly I did Innsbruck to St Anton by train in 2009 and it was spectacular and I couldn’t understand why everyone wasn’t simply gazing out of the windows for the whole trip. Then I did it three times in four days days in 2010 and found myself planning my next day’s travel for almost the entire journey on the last trip!

 

[rail-britain]

I personally find York boring now, made the mistake of going there in the late 1980s

Doncaster still interests me, made my first visit there in the late 1980s the week the Class 91s were introduced to Leeds, but missed the Class 89
However, I think the freight level has increased slightly

Over the last few years I have been parking near the level crossings, especially the smaller ones (Claypole, etc)
One final location I used to enjoy was Sandy, with an excellent view southbound, however this has now been developed and railed

I do agree the WCML has vastly more interest, especially between Rugby and Crewe
When driving I regularly park at Stafford and observe from the car park

I also used to visit Norton Bridge, but this is not currently an option
In warm dry weather there are plenty of good observation points nearby

 

[O L Leigh]

The wide open expanse of countryside through Notts isn't the most interesting, I'll grant you. However, there are still things to look out for. My own personal game is to see if it's possible to spot Lincoln Cathedral as you pass south of Newark. However, I'm quite familiar with this stretch of countryside because I've used the A1 so many times so am on the lookout for other locations that I'm familiar with.

O L Leigh

 

[tbtc]

The reason its boring is the reason its so fast. South of Darlington its a fairly straight line through fairly flat country. Uneventful scenery, but that's one reason why it is an hour quicker to get to Edinburgh (from London) than to Glasgow (which is further south)

The scenery picks up north of Darlington, and the stretch around Berwick is superb. But for the really interesting parts, stay on the HST north of Edinburgh, you get the Forth Bridge, the stretch of Fife coastline around Burntisland, the Tay Bridge, the coast up to Arbroath, Montrose Basin, the cliffs around Stonehaven (probably better than the Berwick clifftops, TBH)... that's the part to stay awake for.

 

[DaveNewcastle]

I disagree, but much of the interest comes from knowing a little about the local history.
The stretches between Grantham & Peterborough include Careby, Essendine and other places which used to have stations and loops - that stretch was made famous by the Mallard speed record involving blowing its middle cylinder and having to be towed back north again.
These villages are still there, each with a 'Station Road' but no station.

The isolated church at Woodwalton comes with stories of a devastating local plague, and just north is Abbots Ripton where the Newcastle landowner (who's name is attached to my home street) died in the Flying Scotsman crash in the snows of eighteen seventy something. (After which signalling changed forever).
Nearer Retford, there are odd places where you can glimpse Lincoln cathedral on a clear day.

Through North Yorkshire, you can make out the white horse carved into the North Yorks Moors; its fun in winter to guess whether the white soil and any snow will be distinguishable.

Or north of Berwick, you can walk along the narrow sheep trail between the line and the sea for a few miles and reach that abandoned house down in the curve of the cliffs. North of there is the 90degree curve round Ayton House which almost glows red in sunlight, then there's the sad story of the Penmanshiel tunnel collapse and the 'new' diversionary curve round Grantshouses. Between the two is Houndswood where there's a shop which specialises in selling fuchsia plants - that's a word most folks can't spell correctly and a place folks don't stop at, but what an odd and industrial-looking church tower there is there.
Then near North Berwick there's the pyramid-like mounds of Berwick Law and the other one near Haddington (Traprain Law?), the monument over Haddington, and out to sea there's the Bass Rock famous for its puffins and covered with white droppings (and a little lighthouse half way up). These pyramids are said to be volcanic. There's also the island of Fidrie (also with whitewashed light house).

Even in darkness, there are landmarks - I use radio & TV transmission masts as place anchors, with different patterns of red lights on them. There's one on Sandy Heath (east of Sandy, Beds.), two together in County Durham (Pontop Pike & Burnopfield), one in Chatton (west of Chathill, N'land) and one in Fife (north of Longniddrie) which are otherwise featureless at night.

Once you've become used to the tunnels you can feel smug knowing exactly when passengers using mobiles are about to be cut off too!! The Peasecliffe and Stoke tunnels either side of Grantham always come as a surprise!

I could go on, but all these fragments of interest are at their best when you 'discover' them yourself.

Oh, and don't start me on the Highland mainline and speculation about where all those lineside lupin seeds must have come from!

Boring? Never!

 

[Geezertronic]

Since I've been travelling to London in the dark and returning to Birmingham in the dark, I'd say the WCML is pretty boring for me apart from enjoying the rollercoaster effect the line provides in places

 

[MCR247]

Oh well at least you get larger windows on the ECML.

Here we go. This is where a perfect good posts falls down. :roll:

 

[Hydro]

Yes, the ECML invariably sends me to sleep. Though unless it's particularly noteworthy, most countryside generally does. Give me an elevated railway through a city centre or industrial area any day. I hold the the WHL and the freight lines out to Immingham in equal regard for "scenery that holds my attention" (especially Immingham at night, with the gas flares).

 

[YorkshireBear]

i find looking out of the window always interesting, no matter where i am always looking out for things you wouldnt usually spot and still do on a line i have travelled hundereds of times (chapeltown to meadowhall/sheffield) a 5/10 minute journey and i still find new things.

So in answer no i love the ECML, ive done it from grantham to edinburgh wanted to do southern section but wires fell down and i was diverted to nottingham and down MML which was also new territory so you win some lose some.

 

[asylumxl]

Bigger windows to see the boring and flat countryside of the south and dilapidated industrial towns and cities of the north.

 

[scotsman]

one in Fife (north of Longniddrie) which are otherwise featureless at night.

Kellyhill, above Burntisland

 

[DaveNewcastle]

Kellyhill, above Burntisland

Thanks Scotsman! Yes, and its a.k.a. Craigkelly.

. . . just to add to my post above, and some of the recommended sights along the ECML, I thought I'd add this: Ratcheugh Folly.

It is visible from the ECML on several points around Alnmouth, high on a hill to the west of the line, overlooking Longhoughton depot and the sea beyond, and owned by the Duke of Northumberland. The tiny building to the left is tenanted but the main room is only accessible up a tiny outdoor staircase - you'd never even get any furniture in there!

Boring? Not at all!

 

[Mojo]

I don't find it boring, but probably because I don't use it very often.

Maybe we could ask Network Rail to provide a herd of galloping giraffes at Grantham, the Temple of Artemis at Newark and an erupting Volcano at Doncaster?

 

[MCR247]

The latter would bring a lot more rail passengers. Worth considering

 

[amcluesent]

I don't get bored as I can point and shout "there's my house"' going north from PBO

 

[MidnightFlyer]

I don't find it boring, but probably because I don't use it very often.

Maybe we could ask Network Rail to provide a herd of galloping giraffes at Grantham, the Temple of Artemis at Newark and an erupting Volcano at Doncaster?

lol. I'm with you, i find it really interesting, again because I don't use it too often, same for the GWML and Chiltern to Banbury, if you don't like it, read a book, go to sleep a whack a new thread on here to get people to agree with you!

Is nice though, esp. up round Alnmouth, and over the flatlands south of Nottinghamshire, then again, coming from such an urban sprawl, and being stuck here 5 days a week, a field can be the height of interest on a train!

 

[paulb1973]

I don't get bored as I can point and shout "there's my house"' going north from PBO

I can do that leaving Coventry this-coming Wednesday heading to Euston. Just look for 'Allard Way' & Willenhall on any street map, the line runs through this area. I find the WCML southern section (Rugby to London) quite interesting, but mainly looking at the railway infrastructure. Parts of north London (the Willesden & Wembley areas) are pretty-ugly to some, whether it can match B'ham to Wolverhampton for ugly-ness I wouldn't like to say.

 

[DaveNewcastle]

Maybe we could ask Network Rail to provide . . . . the Temple of Artemis at Newark . . . . ?

Someone's already tried something similar! Its on a slightly smaller scale and further north but its still on the ECML !

'Penshaw Monument', visible east of the line in County Durham around Birtley.

 

[route101]

The wide open expanse of countryside through Notts isn't the most interesting, I'll grant you. However, there are still things to look out for. My own personal game is to see if it's possible to spot Lincoln Cathedral as you pass south of Newark. However, I'm quite familiar with this stretch of countryside because I've used the A1 so many times so am on the lookout for other locations that I'm familiar with.

O L Leigh

Reminds me of spotting the Blackpool Tower from the WCML north of Preston.
Coming from Scotland i find the Flat Countryside quite refreshing

 

[ChrisCooper]

If you want real excitement, you need to go East from Peterborough across the fens. Miles and miles of flat nothing, broken by numerous level crossings. Actually once they get rid of the semaphores, the whole run from Peterborough to Norwich is going to be so dull. It lost a lot when they took the old telegraph poles down. The only thing more boring is driving on the A47, which ranks around watching paint dry.

 

[Rhydgaled]

I went up to York a year or 2 back and, while the landscape was rather flat, there were a few large lineside notices (presumablly for the passenger's benift) which at the speed you go past them makes trying to read them an interesting chalange. Anybody here know how many there are? I know one of the ones I spotted was about Malard's record, and I think the other was the mileage left to Edinbourgh or somewhere. I also saw what I think was a non-rebuilt Battle Of Britain class steam loco heading the other way on a train.

 

[ainsworth74]

and I think the other was the mileage left to Edinbourgh or somewhere.

Yeah there is a sign somewhere south of York at the halfway point (at least I assume that's what its marking ) between Kings Cross and Edinburgh.

 

[O L Leigh]

There is a halfway marker between London and Edinburgh and, if my memory hasn't failed me, also a 200 miles to London marker and the same for Edinburgh too.

The thing is that the ECML, as with all railways, wasn't built as a scenic line to please the passengers but by hard-nosed business people to make money. Therefore the flatest route would be sought out to permit the straightest line for the shortest distance and the fastest running while trying to link all the major settlements along the way. If the route wiggled or was otherwise interesting it wouldn't have become a mainline railway and the journey times would be much longer (always assuming the line hadn't already been closed).

O L Leigh

 

[Zoe]

Here we go. This is where a perfect good posts falls down.

I tend to feel sick if I can't see where I'm going so that's one reason for me to use the ECML even though the WCML does seem more interesting.

 

[Clip]

How can anything be boring when you end up in Newcastle?

 

[90019]

How can anything be boring when you end up in Newcastle?

Nurse! He's out of bed again!

 

[jopsuk]

How can anything be boring when you end up in Newcastle?

Why would you get off south of civilisation (which starts just to the North of Berwick)?