Great Western Coffee Shop

Been away - and I have shared so many pictures of places - of scenery and trains. But yet where I have been has not mostly been outside but in.  One picture of the inside of a train elicited the question "are trains like this in Europe" and of coures some are but others not - here is a selection, and you can click on the image to see it much bigger in a new window

(http://www.wellho.net/pix/irin00.jpg) (http://www.wellho.net/pix/irin00.jpg)

You will note huge variety - and mixed in with the trains are hotel rooms and ships and buses.  Some of the trains, Holly, are lovely - others routine and utilitarian.  But do note that my pass was a first class one, meaning that on longer distance trains I had a little more space.

You will also note that many of the trains are sparsely populated - lots of seats and few people.   Three reasons:
1. I can easily photograph trains and places. But pointing a camera at random passengers is a sure way to cause an upset
2. Good seat occupany is 30% ... so trains have lots of empty seats anyway
3. The trains I selected were not the ones the ones on the routes and times of day that typically would be busy anyway - and from a tourist and travel perspective, November is probaby one of the quietest of the year.

Individual pictures all available - of the form http://www.wellho.net/pix/irin03.jpg - where the number changes.  First row, 01 to 11, second row 12 to 22 and so on - last row 89 to 99. 

Just parking ...

1st set
Outbound - Channel Tunnel (Interrail pass journey)
To France, Spain, Portugal, Spain, France
Inbound - Cherbourg to Portsmouth (Brittany Ferries). Train via Eastleigh and Westbury changes

2nd set
Outboud - via Swindon, Cheltenham Spa, Birmingham and Holyhead to Dublin (Irish Ferries)
To Ireland
Inbound - Rosslare to Fishguard (Stena), Bridgend and Swindon

3rd set
Outbound - via Bath (272) and Bristol Airport to Catania (Easyjet)
To Italy (Sicily), Switzerland and France
Inbound - Channel Tunnel (Interrail pass journey)

4th set
Outbound - via Swindon, Paddington, Farringdon, Liverpool Street and Stansted to Dresden (Ryanair)
To Germany, Austria, Slovenia, Austria, Germany, Belgium
Inbound - Channel Tunnel (Eurostar), H&C, Paddington, Reading and Westbury. Oops - lift from there!

... log of all the journeys on the ticket  ... http://www.passenger.chat/ir_pass_complete.pdf