I only have one word to describe about this day – LONG!
It certainly didn’t start out this way. We left the hotel early and walked the empty street of Glasgow one last time (for now) to its Queen Street Station and arrived in Edinburgh Waverly Station an hour later. The part that went to hell was when all passengers got booted from the train at York – about 170 miles from London. “This train has been terminated.” The conductor said.
Here are some photos from the train ride between Edinburgh Waverly and York.
Terminated, why did that sound so terrifying?
The station got incredibly crowded, filled with people from all over the world, speaking all kind of languages. 人山人海 – People mountain, people sea – as mom likes to say.
Squeezing and ducking, I weaved through the crowd to get to the arrival and departure board. “TBC” – to be canceled – that’s what it said for the train services to London Kings Cross until 1:31 PM because of a broken rail between York and the next station – Doncaster.
Meanwhile, mom decided to do nothing. Instead, she wanted coffee. “Relax,” she said.
How could she say that? Relax. We can’t be stuck here among these people. We need to get to London!
Ignoring the signs to keep left, I crossed the bridge to the other side of the station to the information booth. “Is there another way to get to London King’s Cross because obviously, all the trains to Kings Cross has been canceled?”
The man at the information booth looked puzzled. The trains had been canceled? His look told me. “You can go to Leeds and change trains there.” At last he said.
Apparently, we weren’t the only ones who knew this. People trying to get to Kings Cross rushed to the next train available. We tried to get onto the train for Birmingham but couldn’t. It was full. “For safety reasons,” the conductor.
After a few minutes, we tried another train. This one to Manchester with Leeds as its next stop. 15 minutes to Leeds and then we could catch the next train to London there, that’s not bad.
Over 3 hours and 2 overcrowded trains later, we finally arrived at Kings Cross Station. It was certainly a sight! People spilling from every train door on the platform. It was a flood, like the Great Exodus during World War II when people would send their children out of the city or seeing their love ones off to war. Hot, tired, hungry, and full of aches and pains, we made our way to the underground station for the connecting train to mom’s friend’s house outside the city.
I couldn’t believe it. We left Glasgow at 7:56 AM and arrived in Farnham at 7:55 PM. What was supposed to be an 8-hour trip ended up a 12-hour trip.
This is Another Story 
You need a stiff drink after that!
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I think I kinda collapsed into a heap after that, spent the last 2 days sleeping it off.
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Reminds me of our trip back from Amsterdam in 1991 when all public transport went on strike. If I may?
https://pensitivity101.wordpress.com/2015/04/28/coming-home-our-wedding-part-three/
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Oh, my goodness, what an experience!
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It was definitely a grand finale to our trip!
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Well, you had time to learn it all!
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That’s what adventure is all about!! 😊a
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What a stroke of bad luck. But you did make it back to London.
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Eventually… but now that I’m out of London, I’m not sure if I want to go back in but I will have to in order to catch my flight.
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Well you’ve visited UK and now you can cross it off your bucket list. I still want to visit it as my brother loved there and a lot of relatives from my husband’s side.
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I must admit though, I would love to visit again, just not to the cities. I would love to see more of the nature side of UK.
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Perhaps on your own with your own plan
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That’s always the best way to travel.
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Next time!
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As a sometime user of the British train network, I for none of this surprises me!
TBC means to be confirmed, not that that makes it any better!
I’m glad you finally made it to London and then to Farnham, which is close (ish) to where I live!
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Oh, I see and no, knowing what TBC stands for isn’t comforting one bit. I think knowing this would’ve made me even more anxious.
I’m liking the environment. So green and full of beautiful natural sceneries.
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Yeah TBC is a polite way of saying “we don’t know anything” which is not actually helpful!
I’m glad you are likening it down here 😀😀
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Sorry to hear. I hate travelling, but England at least has trains. We used to have trains but our bad government and bad people made the trains unsafe. You could get mugged. And the trains were vandalised and ran on their own times. England is the only country I managed to navigate on my own. Their signs are not daft. Their maps for roads were also great. But that was 1997 ish. I hope you get to rest a bit before you set off again.
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I agree, there’s definitely not a lack of signs here in the UK but being somewhat lazy, I still like to rely on Google Maps to get around.
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In 1997 we didn’t have Google in our hands. LoL. I didn’t. I don’t think I had a cell phone.
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Haha, that’s very true.
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Love that first photo of the street.
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Thank you. 😊
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