A ‘COMPASS TOURS’ EXCURSION, IN ASSOCIATION WITH ‘TRAIN CRAZY’:
‘the tayside liner’ – tour review
A day trip providing over four hours to sight-see, shop, or just relax in two parts of beautiful Scotland travelling from the North West of England to historic Stirling by the River Forth and on to our final destination: the Tayside city of Perth.
UPDATED SEPTEMBER 11TH 2003
saturday 30th august 2003
Our comfortably seated special charter train, formed of traditional carriages provided by the West Coast Railway Company of Carnforth – provided our passengers a direct train service for a day trip not usually easily possible by train in one day.
With prices of just £39 standard class and £56 for the more luxurious first class we provided fares lower than those normally available when travelling by National Rail train services.
The train began at the Cheshire town and busy railway hub of Crewe, and then picked up our passengers at the following stations:
Winsford, Hartford, Warrington Bank Quay, Wigan North Western, Euxton Balshaw Lane, Preston, and Lancaster.
Travelling via the high speed West Coast Main Line, our train powered by the green and yellow locomotive 47292 hired from freight company ‘Freightliner’ headed up past Morecambe Bay enjoying a short spell near the coast, before passing through Oxenholme where views of the Lake District were taken in, then climbing up the famous Shap summit, over rugged and mountainous terrain.
Through Penrith on to the famous border city of Carlisle where we stopped for a few minutes to change some of the train crew, then the train crossed over the border into Scotland near Gretna Green.
Passing through Lockerbie the train began its long climb up to Beattock, still in beautiful sunshine - taking in further breathtaking mountainous terrain.
After passing Carstairs and a brief pause at Motherwell we skirted around the side of Glasgow then continued up through Falkirk to Stirling, the first of our two destinations with its famous castle and architecture.
Many passengers stayed on the train to enjoy the scenic run through Tayside and on to the final destination and more tranquil city of Perth – home of many legends and the once named ‘Fair City’, with its whisky distilleries, parks, attractions and shopping.
After our break in Scotland we headed back home to England in the late afternoon from Stirling taking home the memories of Scotland, and once more relaxing and taking in the fine scenery of the journey as the sun slowly sets and we head for home.
The on board buffet provided a service throughout the journeys, and a trolley service passed through the train to serve passengers at their seats.
A raffle was held on the return journey to raise money for the charity AYME. This raised £284.40. Also a donation box was positioned on the buffet counter, this raised £19.73, giving a combined total of £304.13.
On behalf of AYME we would like to thank you for your contributions.
Future tours will feature similar fund raising schemes for the same charity.
The information contained on these pages will be updated on a regular basis once it is known - so please add our site to your bookmarks list.
All details subject to Compass Tours Booking Terms and Conditions available on this site
Photo's on this page copyright "Dave36" at Warrington, and "David Hall" at Perth, both taken on Saturday 30th August 2003.
