Superstitious landmark spotting from trains

[trainophile]

Does anyone else have a silly obsession with seeing the same thing on your regular train journeys, over and over again?

I have to stare out of the window between Wilmslow and Crewe until I've seen Jodrell Bank, and if I miss it because I'm fiddling on my phone I feel disappointed and annoyed with myself . Same with the Radio City tower in Liverpool as we go through Sandhills. If I forget to spot it from the train I have to make sure I look up at it from the city at some point.

I've tried to not bother, but I have a morbid fear that if I haven't looked at my landmarks I'll have a bad day.

As for the digital clocks on stations - it makes my day if I happen to be around for **:44:44. and I get positively euphoric if I spot 14:44:44. (The significance of all the fours goes back to my childhood, when my dad used to point out any cars with 444 in the registration.)

Sad?

 

[Minilad]

I always look out for the buffer stops when I get to Manchester. If I stop before them all's good!!

 

[MidnightFlyer]

Not superstitious but I always try and keep an eye out for the Vale Royal Viaduct (between Acton Bridge and Weaver Jn) and Quintinshill Loops.

 

[IanD]

I get miffed if I fail to spot Blackpool Tower from the WCML north of Preston.

Also, the Lune viaduct if heading further north.

Also, also the Concrete Cows north of Milton Keynes before Wolverton.

 

[wensley]

White Horse visible from around Pilmoor on the ECML.

 

[trainophile]

Oh yes, the Angel of the North, not that it's a thing of beauty but I have to see it just because it's there!

 

[MidnightFlyer]

wensley's post above reminds me of the mushroom-shaped forest somewhere on the Up side of the northern WCML. I think it's somewhere near Beattock but it's been ages since I spotted it!

 

[bb21]

If I miss the Cromwell warehouse when approaching Leicester from the south/west, I get very annoyed for no particular reason.

 

[tbtc]

wensley's post above reminds me of the mushroom-shaped forest somewhere on the Up side of the northern WCML. I think it's somewhere near Beattock but it's been ages since I spotted it!

Do you mean this one? https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place...2!3m1!1s0x4888007ad325fd9d:0x858306ecf23a3f77

From the ground level (or on a train), it always makes me think of a massive "T", as in the Tennents logo that non-drinkers may recognise from the "T In The Park" logo - as if this is a subliminal advertising campaign for thirsty people heading back to Scotland - assuming that we are talking about the same forest!

It feels like a "welcome home" and something I try to "spot" as I pass northbound, regardless of whether its sponsored by Tennents

(from above it looks quite a different shape to from the ground - https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@55.4...4!1s6w7ntk6Y5FJwg-tdin2P2g!2e0!7i13312!8i6656 - a bit more "T" like)

 

[MidnightFlyer]

Do you mean this one? https://www.google.co.uk/maps/place...2!3m1!1s0x4888007ad325fd9d:0x858306ecf23a3f77

From the ground level (or on a train), it always makes me think of a massive "T", as in the Tennents logo that non-drinkers may recognise from the "T In The Park" logo - as if this is a subliminal advertising campaign for thirsty people heading back to Scotland - assuming that we are talking about the same forest!

It feels like a "welcome home" and something I try to "spot" as I pass northbound, regardless of whether its sponsored by Tennents

(from above it looks quite a different shape to from the ground - https://www.google.co.uk/maps/@55.4...4!1s6w7ntk6Y5FJwg-tdin2P2g!2e0!7i13312!8i6656 - a bit more "T" like)

I think that's the one, I had a picture in my mind of one more mushroom-y but I suspect I'm wrong. I'll have to keep a look out for that when I'm next up that way (unlikely to be for a while now sadly).

 

[fairysdad]

The significance of all the fours goes back to my childhood, when my dad used to point out any cars with 444 in the registration.

You'd be in heaven if you visited the South West Mainline!

 

[deltic1989]

When travelling between Nottingham and Lincoln there is a small grass airstrip, between Collingham and Swinderby, that I always look out for.
Though it's more for curiosity than anything else. I have seen, a small Cessna there, there is a grass runway, and a hanger, but in 5 years of travelling that route regularly I have never seen an aircraft take-off or land.

 

[hassaanhc]

Between Ealing Broadway and Acton Main Line on the Up Relief are a series of crossovers and/or otherwise jointed track bits. One of these was a double lead junction into Acton Yard which incorporated a diamond. This one made a completely different sound to the rest when the train went over it. However, during April or May they seem to have removed it, and it annoys me that it is no longer there :P.

Also annoyed if I don't see Iron Bridge between Southall and Hanwell.

Can't think of any more right now

 

[DasLunatic]

Whenever I'm off to London, I always look out of the window to see the M25. Don't know why, though.

 

[trainophile]

Whenever I'm off to London, I always look out of the window to see the M25. Don't know why, though.

To enjoy knowing that you're sitting on a train and not stuck in the traffic?

 

[NSEFAN]

Whenever travelling through Bath I always look for a building with "He is risen" written in massive letters on the roof. I think this may have been removed at some point, but the font used always meant it had a satanic ring to it, I think.

 

[GatwickDepress]

The lot of red telephone boxes on the Brighton main line, visible to the west on the Quarry lines.

 

[tsr]

The Groombridge Gates near the former Birchden Junction, which indicate (if open) that the Spa Valley Railway are running to Eridge that day.

 

[trainophile]

You'd be in heaven if you visited the South West Mainline!

I've just worked that one out - Class 444s?

 

[CC 72100]

Always look out for the two sunken boats just before Starcross when travelling Westbound from Exeter.

 

[GrimsbyPacer]

Not exactly landmarks, but when the train runs next to a huge area of water like the Humber, the Yare, other rivers and the sea it always worth the effort to look.

Landmarks I look out for include:
A giant golfball near Market Rasen, The Steelworks in Scunthorpe hoping to see the rare steam engine, Hull and the Humber Bridge from New Holland to Barton, Humberside Airport near Barnetby to see Thunderbird 3, Rotherham Masboro station to know how far along I am, the big Mill in Belper, the East Coast distance signs the few times I used it towards Peterborough, The Mount in Scarborough, a skyscraper in Sheffield, the minster in Doncaster, the 'castle' in Nottingham, Chesterfield crooked spire, a pyramid in Stockport, and the high rises near to where I live which are sadly under threat

I look out for all these and end my Nintendo GBA game early to see them.

 

[Springs Branch]

When I used to travel into London on the WCML, for me it was the two towers of the old Wembley Stadium. I would get mildly annoyed with myself if I was reading, or whatever and missed seeing them.

Then a minute or two later it was looking out for the first red Routemaster (a moving landmark?), which would usually occur around Queen's Park station, and meant we had "arrived" in London.

These habits only applied on the way into London, there were no similar requirements on the journey out.

 

[cactustwirly]

The Nestle factory near Hayes. Heathrow Terminal 4 near West Drayton.

 

[507021]

Whenever I'm travelling on the Merseyrail Northern Line south of Liverpool Central I always look out for St James station

 

[backontrack]

A big crown thing in the side of a hill between Canterbury West and Ashford International.

 

[trainophile]

Whenever I'm travelling on the Merseyrail Northern Line south of Liverpool Central I always look out for St James station

Had to Google that, I never knew about it. I'll have to add it to my own "spot" list now!

 

[Strathclyder]

The former Ruchill Hospital water tower (A-listed, I may add) located between Gilshochill & Possilpark & Parkhouse is something I always tend to keep an eye out for when travelling on the Maryhill Line.

 

[PeterY]

If I'm travelling into Euston, I always look out for the semaphore on the Dudding Hill line near Willesden. It's usually in the "on" position.
One day it won't be there.

 

[507021]

Had to Google that, I never knew about it. I'll have to add it to my own "spot" list now!

Hopefully in a few years' time it'll be a bit easier to spot as there are talks of reopening it to support the Baltic Triangle development. At some point this financial year there's going to be a feasibility study to see if it would be viable for its reopening - I for one would certainly welcome it if it was reopened

 

[theblackwatch]

When I was a child, when we went down to Birmingham on the train, I always looked out for the crooked spire at Chesterfield. Soon after it was Avenue coking plant which intrigued me - the area had a smell, and there was a big chimney with a fire coming out of it, fascinating for a kid!

Sadly Avenue coking plant is now flattened (along with most of the industry in the area), but the crooked spire survives and I finally got round to having a wander into Chesterfield to see it a bit more close up last year, some 30+ years after I first saw it.