The rail trail

Train travel isn’t all about delays. On holiday it can be full steam ahead. Sarah Tucker keeps the conversation on track

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Let the train take the strain. Remember that? British Rail in its colourful pomp, back before privatisation consigned it to the sidings, when leaves on the line brought annual autumnal chaos and the whole fragile network shivered helplessly beneath the wrong sort of snow.

For legions of commuters, crammed in like sardines to reach unloved offices at an hour that civilization forgot, the slogan was an absolute joke. Come the holidays, however, its wisdom was finally revealed. For nothing so relieves travel stress as abandoning the airport to undertake a journey by rail. 

This summer I’m off to Edinburgh for the festivals – International, Art, Fringe, you name it – with the train taking all of the strain. Nor is Auld Reekie the end of my trip: afterwards I’m heading for the hills, dodging the ubiquitous midges to explore the local mini-Canada that is Scotland on some of the most scenic railway lines in the world. 

It’s the continuation of a love affair that began in childhood with school holidays – not my holidays exactly, but continental trips organized by my father as a ‘thank you’ to the prefects at the school where he was deputy head. Most normal folk would probably have travelled by air, but since neither my mother nor some of the boys liked flying, we went by train instead.

Vivid are the memories: the packed lunches, the couchettes, the snugness of it all. Being surrounded by French in France, Italians in Italy and Germans in Germany – rather than a load of English abroad – was wonderful. Throw in the presence of 30 or so 16-year-old boys and the allure was complete. Alas, however, opportunity faltered as curiosity grew: the journeys stopped when I was 12. 

Even in those tender early years I sensed that mainland Europe had an affection for its railways conspicuously lacking in the British breast. Privatisation would have seemed anathema to the continentals and, for me at least, their collective enthusiasm proved contagious in the extreme. 

Since those wonderful journeys, I have jumped at every chance of train travel worthy of the name. Michael Portillo’s TV journeys through Britain, Europe and America have become compulsive viewing, turning the train into an up-tempo kind of cruise ship, though without the 24-hour buffet. Next on my agenda, Caledonian odyssey aside, are the Trans-Siberian Railway and South Africa’s luxurious Blue Train.

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What are my most memorable experiences? Well, travelling by Via Rail (viarail.ca) across Canada takes a lot of beating. Simultaneously dramatic and relaxing, it is a moving celebration of an immense and spectacular country. Start at Toronto, the throbbing metropolis on the shores of Lake Ontario, and stop off at Winnipeg in Manitoba, the ‘Gateway to the West’. A mecca for migrating Canada geese, the city also gave its name to Winnie, a Canadian black bear resident at London Zoo between the wars, who inspired AA Milne’s Winnie-the-Pooh. 

Then it’s on to Vancouver on the Pacific coast, where Chinatown and the harbour are among the highlights, with Vancouver Island as an offshore hippy paradise blessed with huge sequoias which you can hug to your heart’s content. I once managed to get an entire strait-laced press party to hug these magnificent trees by the end of a five-day trip. That was seven years ago. I do hope they’re still at it.

Any Indian train ride is a thing of beauty, but the journey from New Delhi down to Jaipur, state capital of Rajasthan, is a must. Book first class to enjoy the phenomenal scenery in comfort. I went with my son, courtesy of Western & Oriental, and it was pure magic for both of us. Tom couldn’t close his eyes for a minute, fearful of missing out on the sights.

Closer to home, the three-day trip with Citalia from Venice to Florence and Rome is another rail classic. Book a central hotel in each city (citalia.com) and avoid high season, unless queueing for everything under the scorching sun is your idea of a blast. 

And then there’s Eurostar, the gift that should have started giving decades before it actually arrived. It’s making up for lost time now, of course, with a new route to Amsterdam imminent and talk of a further extension to Rotterdam. Some of the early advertising for the tunnel route might have been less than inspired – telling passengers that they were going underwater with fish swimming above them did little to calm frayed nerves – but the service is resolutely efficient and the staff are exemplary, as I was reminded during a recent visit to Disneyland Paris in its 25th anniversary year (disneylandparis.co.uk). 

Yes, if you’ll forgive the oxymoron, trains are the only way to fly. Admittedly I’m biased: I once worked for Network SouthEast, even coining the term ‘Delay Repay’ for the scheme refunding passengers whose trains are substantially late. But there is something uniquely lulling and hypnotic about this method of travel. If there is any strain at all, the train has invariably taken it before the first cup of coffee is served.

• For Edinburgh festivals visit: edfringe.com; ief.co.uk; edinburghfestivalcity.com. For Scottish train travel see: visitscotland.com

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