The fourth link
Return to Glasgow
© Geoff’s Rail Diaries 2022
Geoff’s Rail Diaries
29 August 2022
tunnel mouth from the platform, trains appear as bright
lights near the roof, descending as the train approaches. My
next train is formed of a pair of class 385 electric units,
which ascend the incline as
though it’s not there! I’m not
going straight back to
Edinburgh, instead I’ll get
out at Linlithgow and do a
little of the wandering I’d
planned for Glasgow.
Wander over, I’m back at the
station for the next leg of my
trip, another 385 completing its run to Edinburgh. Trains
between the two major cities are very frequent; trains to
Dunbar less so (lots of trains pass through Dunbar). The next
service is (deep joy!) a CrossCountry Voyager. Consisting of no
fewer than nine cars at this point (a 220 and a 221), it’s
about to leave for Bristol Temple Meads. Some kind of
endurance test, I think. However, Dunbar is only about 20
minutes away, and despite a late departure (no driver!) I’m
soon back to today’s start.
I reflect on the east coast town’s rail service - provided by
Scotrail, LNER, TransPennine and CrossCountry (Lumo’s trains
pass through without stopping). How may other towns of this
size are served by so many different companies?
We’re staying in Dunbar for a few days, and I’m being allowed
out for a day on my own (the others are either working or
shopping, things I try to avoid…). If I take the train to
Edinburgh Waverley, there
are four possible routes to
the west coast city. Two of
them will make for a good
day’s exploration.
My train from Dunbar is a
Leeds - Aberdeen service,
formed of an LNER ‘Azuma’.
(Connotations of zooming? Who knows!). At Waverley, I’ll take
a Scotrail service via Bathgate and Airdrie (a reconstructed
line which was closed to passengers in 1956 and lifted in the
1980s - a fourth link between Edinburgh and Glasgow) to
Helensburgh, which will get me to Queen Street Low Level.
I’ll have a short wander around the city, down to the Clyde,
then take a look at Central. I might have been tempted to
stay a little longer, but the refuse collectors are on strike,
and all the bins are overflowing. It’s not a pleasant
environment for wandering today (happily, the strike was
settled just a day or two later).
Back to Queen Street: trains arrive at the terminus by
descending the once-notorious Cowlairs Incline. Watching the
