A couple of years (or so) ago, I was enthralled watching a YouTube channel called ‘All the Stations’ where a couple managed to visit every railway station in the UK, all two thousand, five hundred and sixty three of them.
I have always fancied doing something similar and as I was travelling on a train a couple of weeks ago, I wondered if this could be done, on a smaller scale, in the West Midlands.
Being of a certain age, I have a concessionary bus pass which also allows travel on certain trains within a clearly defined area (all those in the shaded areas).
A lot less than two and a half thousand but still a substantial FIFTY SEVEN.
To complicate matters, one station (Bordesley) is only served by ONE TRAIN A WEEK. That is the 14:08 to Birmingham Moor Street. But Saturday is a good choice as, on weekdays, I cannot use my pass until after 09:30 which severely limits the time available.
I have few, simple, rules …
- At each station I have to either arrive or leave on a scheduled train that is timetabled to stop. Fast trains that pass through do not count.
- I do not have to leave the train at every station.
After pouring over various timetables, bustimes.org and trainline, I have a plan.
The show kicks off with me catching a couple of buses, starting at 04:41, to visit station number one and catch my first train at Marston Green at 05:38.
The rough plan is to head for Wolverhampton then across to Walsall. From Walsall it’s north to Hednesford which looks a bit isolated on the map. Apparently, I am not allowed to alight at Landywood or Cannock.
Backtracking to Walsall, I shall take a train back towards Wolverhampton via Birmingham New Street getting off at Galton Bridge. This station is on two levels and serves as a cross over between the services from New Street and those from Moor Street / Snow Hill.
From the upper level, I shall make my way to Stourbridge Junction and the little shuttle train to and from the town. Back tracking I shall stay on the train all the way through to Dorridge, near Solihull.
This section of the network, namely Birmingham to Stratford, splits and takes one of two course. Dorridge being on one, I need to get to the other and to achieve this I need to return to Tyseley. The other leg is taken to the edge of the area at Earlswood before turning around and heading back into Brum. I need to change somewhere between here and Tyseley to make sure that I get on the one train that stops at Bordesley.
Back in Birmingham, probably Snow Hill, I will either walk or catch the tram to New Street to jump on the Cross City line going out to Longbridge via the new stations at Moseley, Kings Heath and Pineapple Road, before turning around and returning via Selly Oak et al.
Continuing on the Cross City, I shall ride all the way out to Blake Street before returning to New Street.
On to the final leg – Coventry. I will have already done some of the station on this line on the first train the day so I’ll get a fast train straight to Coventry. From Coventry I shall travel on the Nuneaton train as far as Coventry Arena, next to Coventry Football ground.
I’ll have a forty odd minute wait here for the return train but I seem to remember some fast food outlets on the nearby retail park.
Back at Coventry, I’ll take a stopping train to pick up the last few stations between here and Birmingham International. Finally a couple of buses should take me home arriving after a seventeen hour jaunt.
With twenty eight separate trips there is a lot that can go wrong but if it all comes together …