WCML sights

[Denzo]

Going the full ticket next week Edinburgh Waverley to London Euston via Birmingham New Street. I know it's a bit longer than the usual ECML but was cheap and I fancied the different scenery.

What things should I look out for on the journey?

 

[6Gman]

Going the full ticket next week Edinburgh Waverley to London Euston via Birmingham New Street. I know it's a bit longer than the usual ECML but was cheap and I fancied the different scenery.

What things should I look out for on the journey?

When you pass Wembley it's time to start getting your things together.

 

[6Gman]

Seriously, the Lune Gorge (between Penrith and Oxenholme) is gorgeous scenery. Sit on the left for that bit.

 

[30907]

Seriously, the Lune Gorge (between Penrith and Oxenholme) is gorgeous scenery. Sit on the left for that bit.

But then on the right for the scrap line at Carnforth and views over Morecambe Bay, and left again for Lancaster Castle.

Fine scenery over Beattock earlier on the trip.

 

[rebmcr]

The Lovell Space Telescope is visible to the east on a clear day (and if you ever go via Wilmslow it would be right next to you).

 

[snowball]

The Lovell Space Telescope is visible to the east on a clear day (and if you ever go via Wilmslow it would be right next to you).

It's not a space telescope, it's on the ground.

 

[rebmcr]

It's not a space telescope, it's on the ground.

The ground is in space too.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Not much scenery on the Birmingham loop.
But plenty of industrial legacy, especially around Wolverhampton (canals etc).
Birmingham New St is worth half an hour to see "Grand Central", if your ticket allows.

On a good day you should see the Lakeland fells from various points on the right hand side (south of Lockerbie, around Penrith and particularly just before Oxenholme).
You can just see the Welsh hills (Clwyd range) crossing the Mersey/Manchester Ship Canal south of Warrington.
Plenty of green hills Crewe-Stafford, around the Cotswold ridge (Kilsby tunnel) and Chilterns.
Watch out for the Whipsnade lion pattern cut in the hillside after Leighton Buzzard (on the left).
I forget if the big sign on a house (left) at Willesden is still there: "Prepare to Meet thy God...Perhaps Today".

You pass under the GC/Chiltern Marylebone main line twice, once north of Wembley, and again in the depths of the cutting just before Primrose Hill tunnel.

At Carstairs, you creep round the indirect connecting lines, but can see the route of the old direct line you ought to be taking, now left to the sheep.
And enjoy the tilt. The upper Clyde valley will give you a first taste of it, around the Lamington viaduct which caused all the trouble last year.

 

[najaB]

There's a mini Statue of Liberty on the left as you head up to Shap.

 

[misterredmist]

The Mcr Ship Canal bridge after Warrington Bank Quay provides a good view and the new Norton Bridge 'flying junction' an example of recent changes to the route....enjoy !

 

[najaB]

If it's a clear day you can (I've been assured) see the Blackpool Tower when you're between Lancaster and Preston.

 

[DarloRich]

nothing to see south of Preston - go to sleep.

 

[IanM]

Highlight of your trip will undoubtedly be the Concrete Cows, which are on the Up side of the line: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concrete_Cows

 

[WatcherZero]

Wigan Traction Depot just to the south of North Western, not much to see though.

The scenery through Lancashire/Cumbria is stunning.

 

[Bertie the bus]

Highlight of your trip will undoubtedly be the Concrete Cows, which are on the Up side of the line: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Concrete_Cows

When I was a kid and my dad would take me and my brother on occasional trips from Lancs – London those were indeed one of the highlights of the trip.

Life was much simpler then.

 

[boxy321]

And enjoy the tilt. The upper Clyde valley will give you a first taste of it, around the Lamington viaduct which caused all the trouble last year.

Indeed. Sitting on the 11 coach 390 at 125mph swapping from left to right to left sides every few seconds is incredible (especially near Rugby). Seems like a lot more than +/-8 degrees. My mate said once, 'prepare for takeoff!).

Don't see any point in HS2 after visiting Euston last week. It's fast enough.

 

[najaB]

Don't see any point in HS2 after visiting Euston last week. It's fast enough.

It's not just about speed, it's about being able to fit more trains on the network.

 

[boxy321]

It's not just about speed, it's about being able to fit more trains on the network.

I know, but how much money could be saved if the line wasn't such high speed, and served more than just Brum-London commuters and politicians? (Wrong thread...)

 

[MidnightFlyer]

The run once Edinburgh dies down to approaching Carlisle is for me very underrated scenically through the empty landscape of the Scottish Borders, and between Carstairs and Carlisle is one of the few places you can genuinely feel the sheer power of the 390s for an elongated stretch. As others have said, the scenery all the way through to Lancaster or Preston is worth watching, after that not so much aside from the odd minute of prettiness around Madeley and Cheddington. The run between Wolves and Birmingham New Street isn't too bad for an industrial / urban run, especially the northern bit.

 

[sheff1]

At Carstairs, you creep round the indirect connecting lines, but can see the route of the old direct line you ought to be taking, now left to the sheep.

Just before Carstairs you will see, on the right, the innocuously named State Hospital. When it first opened it went by the rather more graphic title of State Institution for Mental Defectives.

 

[TimboM]

Just before Carstairs you will see, on the right, the innocuously named State Hospital. When it first opened it went by the rather more graphic title of State Institution for Mental Defectives.

It's a high security psychiatric hospital housing some of the UK's most dangerous folk. It's the same type of place as Broadmoor, Rampton and Ashworth.

 

[BantamMenace]

M74 corridor over Beattock and then the M6 corridor over shap.

Hest bank level crossing with the views over Morecambe bay.

The river Lune and Lancaster castle.

Superbly renovated water pumping station between Crewe and Stafford.

Crewe station and yards to the south.

Birmingham airport if that sort of thing takes your fancy, great view down the runway and then past the apron and the terminal buildings.

Wembley stadium.

 

[AndrewE]

It's a high security psychiatric hospital housing some of the UK's most dangerous folk. It's the same type of place as Broadmoor, Rampton and Ashworth.

It's a grim sight and some terrible things have happened there:
Wikipedia says

Mone, whose motive was apparently revenge for being expelled from the school three years prior, was found to be insane and sent to the State Hospital for Scotland and Northern Ireland in Carstairs.

In 1976, Mone broke out of Carstairs Hospital with fellow inmate, Thomas McCulloch, murdering another inmate and a male nurse in the process and also killing a police office

http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottish-news/nurse-breaks-30-year-silence-on-carstairs-965005
also describes the breakout incident!

 

[Bletchleyite]

Going the full ticket next week Edinburgh Waverley to London Euston via Birmingham New Street. I know it's a bit longer than the usual ECML but was cheap and I fancied the different scenery.

What things should I look out for on the journey?

It's a beautiful journey that will take you through near enough everything Britain has to offer.

Roughly in order...
- The hills of southern Scotland
- The "borderlands city of Carlisle", as an announcement once proudly proclaimed
- The Lune Gorge - absolutely stunning
- Lakeland fells
- The only time you see the West Coast from the WCML just north of Lancaster
- Rolling Lancashire hills
- The Ruhrgebiet-like industrial heartland of the North West
- Rolling Cheshire hills
- The other Ruhrgebiet-like industrial heartland of the West Midlands including Birmingham's modern city centre
- Planes and the NEC at Brum Intl
- More of the English country garden - Warwickshire and Northamptonshire
- "A gentleman's lavatory at 100mph", except you'll be stopping...Milton Keynes Central (see how green it all is, and pass very close to Bletchley park, though you won't actually see it!)
- The rolling and beautiful Chiltern hills
- Then finally, building up from Watford through the suburbs into London

Definitely a recommended trip, whichever side you sit on (though I'd go for the left for the Lune Gorge even if you then move later).

 

[Bletchleyite]

When you pass Wembley it's time to start getting your things together.

Time for one last coffee from the buffet when you get to MKC. (Yes, I did used to actually do this).

 

[Bletchleyite]

Don't see any point in HS2 after visiting Euston last week. It's fast enough.

Without turning this into the HS2 thread, see how many trains there are south of MKC - HS2 is about capacity!

 

[Mag_seven]

Roughly in order...
- The hills of southern Scotland

Shouldn't the first thing on the list be - "Edinburgh Castle and Princess St Gardens"!

 

[sheff1]

Shouldn't the first thing on the list be - "Edinburgh Castle and Princess St Gardens"!

Indeed, followed by Cobbinshaw Reservoir.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Indeed. Sitting on the 11 coach 390 at 125mph swapping from left to right to left sides every few seconds is incredible (especially near Rugby). Seems like a lot more than +/-8 degrees.

It is, as the track is heavily canted as well. Same through Berkhamsted, if you've been on a train on the fasts calling there the cant on its own feels like at least 10 degrees.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Shouldn't the first thing on the list be - "Edinburgh Castle and Princess St Gardens"!

Good point!

TBH I would recommend the WCML (either via Brum or the yet-more-rolling-hills Trent Valley) over the ECML any day. The ECML is interesting and scenic as far south as Durham, then it is just pancake-flat and downright tedious, like spending 4 hours travelling through the Netherlands or northern Germany.