One for the railway heads

[gap74]

It does in a way - but looking on Google sat views, there's a fair sized gap behind it before the bridge opens out above the line. Presumably where the stairs and station building itself used to be.

[Josef]

Fair enough. It did/does look unstable though, enough that one or two of us commented on the fact, and much more so then several of the recent 'went on fire' cases.

[HollowHorn]

Acht, ffs!

[gap74]

I wandered by it just the other day - noticed the wall on the West side had come down, presumably in the storms a few months ago.

And don't get my started on the state of the Doulton Fountain!

[tobester]

Might not be everyones cup of tea...BBC4 at 8pm tonight (20/3/12) Bombay Railway, first in a 2 part show following staff on the railway, i saw this last year and its quite good....super crush load time

[Vinegar Tom]

Couldn't give a chuff about the mural , but you might not have seen This story about the Glasgow Green Station.

[The Egg Man]

Didn't Richard Wright, a recent Turner Prize winner (and excellent banjo player - d'ye see what I did there?) indicate that he didn't expect his work to have a long lifespan?

[Mori]

I'm not a regular train traveler
Got a meeting in the Auld Reekie on monday 2nd April for 1pm,Queen st or Central station,
Cheapest and best way to travel to Edinburgh ? any ticket offers on anyone knows of ?

Cheers in advance for any info.

[gap74]

I quite like taking the Shotts line from Central to Edinburgh - most of them are limited stop now so only take a little over an hour, and it's generally quieter than the Queen St route via Falkirk. Can sometimes get Cross Country trains that run via Carstairs and only stop at Motherwell too. Check them on the National Rail website, can sometimes be had for a wee bit cheaper than the standard 12 quid or so return if you book in advance to travel on specific trains.

As an example, the timing isn't ideal, but you can get Cross Country trains that day from Glasgow Central (1059-1202) and back (1511-1623) for 9.70 return at the moment, as opposed to the 12.10 an anytime return would cost.

[the researcher]

BBC

Exhibition recalls Scotland's railways

this pic makes a great screen saver pic on the laptop

[Mori]

I quite like taking the Shotts line from Central to Edinburgh - most of them are limited stop now so only take a little over an hour, and it's generally quieter than the Queen St route via Falkirk. Can sometimes get Cross Country trains that run via Carstairs and only stop at Motherwell too. Check them on the National Rail website, can sometimes be had for a wee bit cheaper than the standard 12 quid or so return if you book in advance to travel on specific trains.

As an example, the timing isn't ideal, but you can get Cross Country trains that day from Glasgow Central (1059-1202) and back (1511-1623) for 9.70 return at the moment, as opposed to the 12.10 an anytime return would cost.

Thanks Gap74, can the ticket be got on the train ? where can i access the train timetables for monday 2nd april, the scotrail site is hopeless.

[tobester]

Thanks Gap74, can the ticket be got on the train ? where can i access the train timetables for monday 2nd april, the scotrail site is hopeless.

I would say if youre getting the cross country only ticket to buy before you board, and make sure you ask for cross country only, i say this as XC are an english company and sometimes they follow the conditions of carriage rules more stricter than we do at scotrail, and you may end up getting charged for a full return to edinburgh (via any permitted route)

I use national rail for my timetable checks.....http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/

[gap74]

Yeah, National Rail is the website I used to check those time and prices. Probably best to buy in advance - use a train company operator's site for this, like Cross Country's own:

http://www.crosscountrytrains.co.uk/Tic ... ables.aspx

and elect to pick it up from the ticket machines in Central (which you can do anytime from around 20 minutes after you make the booking - they give you a reference number which you punch into the self-serve machines, and you can pretty much choose to get them at any station which has these)

The ticket says it's an anytime ticket, but it's specific to Cross Country trains only, and they're not frequent - if you miss the one back at 3.11pm, there's not another till 4.57pm. I guess it must be available from the ticket office, but you'd need to specify that you wanted a Cross Country Anytime return.

[gap74]

Oh, and when you're searching for times on National Rail, make sure you specify a Glasgow Central departure, rather than all stations or Queen Street, or you'll get overwhelmed with all the other routes!

[gap74]

And don't rule out the bus - takes a wee bit longer (about 1hr 25mins) but that's fairly manageable if you don't get overly travel sick! Leaves every 15 minutes during the day, costs about 9 quid and the return portion is valid on any bus back for 28 days. Much cheaper than two singles on the train if you stay overnight, I find.