Station to (service) station

We don’t travel by train all that often, and when we do, we think “why haven’t we done this for a while? It’s such fun!”

We went from Quebec City down to Montreal a couple of weeks ago (perhaps I’ll write about why we went in a separate post) and opted to take the train. Why the train? Why not! Also, lovely though Quebec as a province is, have you ever driven one of the two highways north or south of the river, Quebec to Montreal? Not ugly or dreary, but, to my mind, one of the most boring stretches of road to drive. There’s a train for that journey? Sold!

I don’t say that about the MTL- QC road being a challenge to me lightly – after all, I’ve driven the M5. If you’re ever on the M5 and find yourself thinking “time for a rest stop?” please don’t stop at Taunton Deane service station. There are never, ever, any good reasons, and that includes running out of petrol or needing a bathroom. What about Bridgwater services as an alternative to TD on the M5, OPC? Fair question, and sure, at least Bridgwater service station isn’t Taunton Deane. I guess it’s up to you – Bridgwater or Taunton Deane? Hemlock or arsenic? You decide! M5 services… shudder… (with a tip of the hat and a very close second place awarded to a certain pre-glasnost Soviet style service station found on the M6. If you know where, then you know where and you know to do all you can to avoid stopping. The M6 one is pretty grim, but the patrons at least appear to be alive, unlike the pod people encountered near Taunton Deane. Another shudder…)

Back to the not-so-bad-now-I-think-about-it road between Quebec City and Montreal. It’s not as though the road is particularly problematic. It’s not completely straight and flat, there are large fields, wooded stretches, glimpses of river, and an occasional spire reaching above the trees and towering over small settlements. We’ve never been unduly delayed due to construction. There are ample gas and coffee stops, and, on a sunny day, some of the outdoor rest areas are delightful, pleasant enough to stop and enjoy a picnic. As we sometimes have. Yet the road itself, to me, well goodness, it’s such a boring drive. (On boring, this tedious piece seems to be rather long on roads and such, rather than trains. For a post titled “Station to (service) station” could we get back to trains and stuff? I’ll try – sorry about that!)

Anyway, it was fun to take the train, knowing I could enjoy feeling drowsy without having to stop for a coffee. In fact, if you’d like a coffee, there was service at your seat! Same for a croissant. Or a selection of (slightly dubious looking but not Taunton Deane levels of dubious looking) sandwiches. Yeah, the train sandwiches did trigger M5 flashbacks, so I passed on those…

The departure station in Quebec City is not too shabby. Station? No, it’s a palace! The Gare du Palais – what a gem! Not all railway stations are created equal… I accept that there are plenty of wonderful, even grand and central(!) railway stations all over the world, but for a small city, the Gare du Palais is grand enough.

When I was a teen, and pretending to grow up, I’d sometimes travel from Reading to London Paddington on the train. It was a reasonably quick journey and always exciting to be headed to the big city. Paddington Station is a mighty terminus! Reading Station (it might be different now) is/was an important junction on the rail network, but could never be described as a palace. Or mighty.

My most memorable British Rail station has to be Stockport. My parents lived near Stockport for a few years, and I’d travel up by train from London Euston. Even if the UK was experiencing a heatwave, even if it was the sunniest day in the northwest of England since records began, I can assure you Stockport railway station would be the coldest place on the planet. Freezing in winter, and even colder in summer. Penguins shiver at the mere mention of Stockport station. I always had a wonderful time in and around Manchester and Stockport, but it often seemed quite cold. And it always seemed colder than anywhere else near Manchester on the platform of Stockport railway station. Manchester Piccadilly? Balmy! Cheadle Hulme? Tropical! Alderley Edge? Break out the sunblock! But Stockport? Brrr! I’d rather summer on north Baffin Island…(I’ve not been to Baffin, and I understand it gets coldish there, but not Stockport station cold…)

Let’s warm up! To Europe, and let’s take the train! Our favourite railway journey – I may have mentioned this before, but if I can’t remember, then why would you? – was an overnight rail and ferry and then rail again trip from London Victoria to La Rochelle. We’d sent our bicycles on ahead the week before – so very trusting – and after a mostly sleepless Saturday night, and a bleary-eyed Sunday lunchtime to mid-afternoon wait (nothing, and I mean nothing, was open in Poitiers on a sunny June Sunday back in the 80s) we caught the the onward train to La Rochelle. Happy to have arrived, and clutching our little cardboard ticket stubs that proved we’d been foolish enough to post our bikes to who knew where, we set off in search of the luggage office in La Rochelle station. Well, to our great surprise and relief, there was such an office – and it was open! Our bikes were there, intact and ready for a week of cycling and camping adventures. (I’ve definitely written about the cycling and camping before, so to your great relief, I won’t go on about that again!)

Well, although this post appears to have been about travel, we seem to have gone nowhere in particular! Before we completely run out of road or go off the rails, here’s one more thing to share. I’ll leave you with a favourite somewhat railway adjacent track. Track, hehehe… (Oh, enough rattling on, PC – worse than a rickety carriage on old sleepers. Time for you to be shunted into a quiet siding. Off you go!)

Almost forgot the music: I travel – Simple Minds. It reminds me of all the times in the 1980s and into the early 90s when I could have but never did travel a lot more by train in Europe, and particularly to the newly opening Eastern European places. This song (and much of the entire album if you’ve the interest and stamina) reflects that period. Cue my moody and not at all pretentious European look to camera – in black and white, on slightly scratchy film stock please…

Thanks for reading, and I hope you have a wonderful weekend!