I’ve always fancied a long trian journey, not necessary luxurious, anyoen done one? I guess it would be best to break it up a bit, but must be a great way to see a country.

Plymouth to Bournemouth was pretty epic. 4 changes

I’m not so sure. It would depend how often and for how long you got off to look around. I’m not sure that railways go through the most scenic part of a country either.

Dundee to Reading.
Took two days.
Found myself leaving Carlisle about 8hrs after setting off heading for Euston.
Had to spend the night in Warwick.
No special circumstances, just British trains are ****.

not as good as you think it will be. DO you think you would see the best of this country if you just went on a long train trip?

Wakefield to Aberdeen – seemed epic at the time, in reality it took 8 hours from start to finish.

Alnmouth to Loughborough had to overnight in York…

However did fancy Perth to Adelaide or Darwin to Adelaide

Moscow to St Petersburg was interesting the first couple of times. Was better than Aeroflot internal flights.

Mike, Alnmouth? From where do you hail originally?

Glasgow to kyle of lochalsh is the longest I’ve done. I wouldn’t be in a hurry to do it again, but it was good to do once. 5h 45 if I remember right. If you do it make it one way, the return is a bit much. And any longer would probably drive you loopy without a bed.

Last train I was on was from Zurich to Zug. It left three minutes late! A Swiss railway, not on time! EPIC!

Done Calais to Innsbruk a few times.
Preceded by the delight that is Manchester – London, tube, then London – Dover.

I’m not sure that railways go through the most scenic part of a country either.

He’s right. You tend to see a lot of car parks, industrial estates and scruffy canals.
Well you do on that trip anyway. 😀

As mentioned above, not the best way to see a country at all in my opinion.

Motorways are a bad way to see a country

Trains are even worse.

Driving From Calais to the South of France on Motorways for example, for 99% of the journey, it looks like France is devoid of any sort of life. Just flat fields everywhere (nice to look at for 5 mins, not hours and hours on end)

Railways are worse.

A Swiss railway, not on time! EPIC!

It happens. Apparently 10% of their trains are 5 minutes late.
This was a major national scandal and the chairman of the rail company had to go on telly and appologise to the whole country!

Brindisi to Innsbruck. Overnight sleeper. Not a journey I enjoyed but I’d do it again.

I travelled all over europe by train, I loved it and saw a lot more of the real country than you’d se as a tourist. I prefer trains to planes as you can see more, move around more and not put up with all the nonsense that goes with flying.

Uphilcruising west Bolton near glanton far too many trips on the east coast

I have taken the train from Montreal to Halifax, and from Winnipeg to Vancouver. The Montreal-Halifax trip was something like 24 hours, while the Winnipeg-Vancouver trip was a few days. Both were magnificent, and if you put them together, and added the addition 2400 kms between Montreal and Winnipeg, would make for more than a week’s travel

You will see whales in the Gaspé, forests that go on forever, the citadel of Québec where General Wolfe defeated Montcalm and won Canada for Britain, more forests, the Great Lakes, cliffs and rocks like you wouldn’t believe, moose, wolves, and bears, plains where the sky is so big there is nowhere else on land that you will get such horizons, the Rocky Mountains, and finally, Vancouver.

Do it.

Overnight Delhi to Dalhousie.

it looks like France is devoid of any sort of life.

I did bordeaux to san sebastian, extremely dull until after biarittz, got better after that mind the closer and more in to spain you get.

Lake Garda,Italy to Munich airport German with my MTB.

Just rode the Transalp Challenge route from said airport to Lake Garda, kipped rough alot of the time on route which took about 8 days and only took a small rucsac (10 litres). Looked a bit of a state but the journey was quick, as I slept most of the way as I was f00ked.

Done Alice to Adelaide on The Ghan.

Frankly it was a bit boring and not very comfortable in sleeper seats. Sure there’s the ‘expanse’ but that’s pretty much all there is and I’d seen a lot of open spaces from the car or 4WD. Having a beer and a laugh with some old Aussie codgers in the bar carriage was entertaining.

About two-thirds the way through I was starting to try and calculate how long it would take the TGV to cover the same distance…

Kind of glad I did it though as we were in Alice and I wanted to go to Adelaide so it made complete sense.

One of my favorite rail trips is East Coast Mainline from Yorkshire ideally up to Fife – York, Durham (cathedrals), Newcastle and Tyne bridges, Holy Island and Northumberland coast, Torness power station, run into Edinburgh (Bass Rock??) over the Forth Rail and into Fife. Flippin brill – just make sure you sit on the eastern side of the train.

I had another overnight trip to Toulouse, many years ago, on a sleeper. There were six bunks. Three people in the cabin.

I was the only one not in a couple. The couple in question were very, erm, close. The WHOLE journey.

A colleague at work (in his 40’s) still does the Euro Rail pass thingy. He’s almost been everywhere in mainland Europe now and loves it. He’s off over Xmas for the full 2 weeks going from Eindhoven throu Northern Germany, the Baltic (costs more) then down to Slovinia and back through Hungary, Germany, Home,
He finds hotels along the way, spends no more than 15hrs on a train at any one time, knows Europe and the Towns/Cities like the back of his hand, knows a gazillion micro Breweries and wineries, pizza houses and rail side eateries.
I’m surprised he hasn’t written a book.

And there was I thinking you couldn’t do the Euro Railcard thingy anymore ( they cost something like £360.00 )

San Francisco to Portland – took 28 hours after delays because of prioritised freight.
Good job we took our own weight in beers, crisps and cookies.

Definately fancy the Trans Canada one.

Oh, did Limerick to Dublin at night once.

Reckon we saw a total of four or five lights out of the window all trip 🙂

I think they take the countryside in at night in Ireland. 😀

My wife went from Hanoi to Saigon – supposedly in almost 1st class – and said it was the most uncomfortable she has ever been. 2 x triple bunk beds in a compartment, and the toilet was a smelly hole through the floor of the train out to the world below. She numbed the experience with Thai Whiskey and playing cards with strangers.

Scenery was breathtaking though.

@nealglover True but at least you can sleep and read e.t.c on a train.

Mike, you could fall out of bed and into Thrunton woods from there. How does Tazzie compare?

You don’t need to wash the bike as often. Riding not as developed and access laws are a long way behind. But it’s 22+ this week so not all bad

Did the trans-Siberian Beijing to Moscow with my wife a few years ago.

Epic journey, broken up with stays in Ulan Bator, Irkutsk and Ekaterinburg en route. Think it was about 2 weeks in all. Beijing and Moscow at either end were also great places to explore.

Great trip but you’d need to be happy with the tempo of the train – think my wife read Ulysses on it, she won the trip’s cribbage championship by 32 games to 31 in Moscow station, that sort of thing.

Not the sort of trip you would do at the drop of a hat – a lot of paperwork required in Russia for even just staying in a hotel. We did the trip through a tour company that organised places to stay etc that made it pretty effortless. Forget how much it cost but it was a substantial amount (for us), 2 1/2 grand (incl flying to China) or something like that – that was 10 years ago and it was a honeymoon trip so we were in 1st class, half decent hotels. Could be done for less I am sure.

Hanoi to hue was enough for me. Took the plane from hue to saigon, bout $20 more. Bargain.

Leeds to Saltaire in the summer at rush hour. People literally passed out because of the heat in the carriage and being packed in like sardines

I would love to do the trans – Siberian train ride, looks fantastic.

Beijing to Pyomgyang. Took about 24hrs and was mostly quite dull. The 5hrs getting across the border was the only interesting part. The return journey was much the same.

HaNoi to HoChiMinh – took about a week what with stop offs and sights etc. Too fond of my comforts now to consider it, but it was a pretty good adventure. At the time a foreigner couldnt buy the tickets – you had to get a local to act as “travel guide” to get them and that led to more adventures than the actual journey.

Also sleeper to Fort William (actually, it broke down about 5 miles short, so arrived in a coach.)

Done a few long journey’s as a student:
Auckland to Christchurch only 24 hours
Glasgow to London to Paris to Strasburgh to Munich to Berlin to Prague to Berlin to Hamburg to Berlin to Krakow to Warsaw to Krakow to Prague to Frankfurt then flew back to glasgow, took three weeks
Philadelphia to Washington DC to Chicago to Seattle to Vancouver (by bus)to Seattle to San Francisco to Chicago to Pittsburgh
Oslo to Bodo (never seen so much snow in my life)

Long journey’s are great; met some very strange and wonderful people on the train across America!

Sydney to Cairns. Took forever. The leg to Brisbane was 16 hours.
Outside temp around a hundred ,inside train temp frucking freezing and any warm clothes in baggage car. Nearly died of hypothermia.
Then Adelaide to Sydney via Melbourne. There sure is a lot of nothing out there.
Inter railed around Europe for 2 months. London,Paris,alps bottom of Italy. Boat to Greece train to Athens. Bummed around the islands for a month. Then up to Germany and Holland following The Nephilim. Good times.