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Edinburgh Stoppers

Several readers of Informed Sources responded to the request for more calling points for the Department for Transport's proposed 20 stop HST2 London-Edinburgh service (Informed Sources April 2006)

Peter Longstaff added some tongue in cheek, (well, I think they are tongue in cheek) reasons to his list. But you can make your own decision.

 

FINSBURY PARK

Important interchange with the Piccadilly and Victoria lines and many bus routes serving north and east London , therefore a major suburban railhead.

WELWYN GARDEN CITY

Home of the icon of the British railway scene, Captain Deltic.

SANDY

Headquarters of the RSPB and site of a major bird sanctuary. (Also my niece lives there.)

New crossovers would be required for access from the fast lines (or so I believe) as the station has platforms on the slow lines only.

SELBY

(trains reverse)

To create a competitive market with open access operator Hull Trains for the significant Selby-London traffic and encourage traffic abstraction from competitive modes (there is an airport within forty miles).

THIRSK

Home of the late James Herriot and a major tourist gateway to 'Herriot country'. The station would be rebuilt incorporating a pets only waiting room which would be equipped with a new design of litter tray which does not discharge onto the track and is therefore environmentally friendly. This has still to be designed but a PIN is expected shortly with an OJEU Notice published by 2010.

CHESTER-LE-STREET

Site of Durham County Cricket Club's home ground and the answer to a million pound question in one edition of 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?' (the contestant did not know the answer and walked away with only half a million pounds in consequence.) By stopping trains here more people might be educated as to where Chester-Le-Street actually is although the question is unlikely to come up again in a major quiz.

 

However:

Alternate trains would travel via the Coast Route, thus providing a much requested facility of through trains from this line to London, but in order to maintain journey times between stations south of Northallerton and north of Newcastle which are competitive with other modes, trains would run non-stop between Northallerton and Newcastle, except for a stop at HEWORTH (interchange with Metro for South Shields and Gateshead).

 

CHATHILL

Nearest station to Lindisfarne . Trains would only call here at low tide, when the causeway to Holy Island is open; the service would therefore be somewhat irregular and variable. Intending passengers would need to consult tide tables and the current edition of Old Moore 's Almanac, which according to a prediction to appear in the 2009 edition of the Almanac, will be available on the National Train Enquiries web site by 2012.

DREM

Improved connections with the branch to  North Berwick , which will facilitate redevelopment of this major Scottish seaside resort as the ' Miami Beach ' of northern Europe (or at least of East Lothian ).