Pupils' railway walks book has celebrity fan - Michael Palin

[whole diary]

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the Plymouth Herald:

Television personality Michael Palin has tracked down an award-winning book written by Plymouth schoolchildren.

The BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) presenter has been steaming through Railtrails ^ From Track to Trail, the brainchild of enterprising Plymouth College pupils.

The students launched the book earlier this year through the Plymouth College Young Enterprise company, dubbed Platform.

The book, initially printed in a run of 2,000, details walks and attractions near stations on First Great Western's rural branches.

After scooping the top prize in the city's Young Enterprise Competition with the product, the youngsters this week clinched the county-wide title.

They now go through to the South West final in Bristol in June, where they will be in with a chance of competing on the national stage.

Every year about 45,000 students take part in the competition from across the country.

Platform managing director Harry Cobbold said: "The idea behind the book is to bring families together ^ and keeping them fitter ^ by taking rural train journeys and then taking walks that are linked to the station, taking in the all-important family pub for refreshments en route."

Travel documentarian Michael Palin, who is campaigning for fairer transport fares, has now become the highest-profile customer of the students' page-turner.

The book is up for sale on Amazon, at both city Waterstone's stores and from Plymouth Tourist Information.

It is not yet available at Plymouth Railway Station, although a deal has been agreed to distribute it to National Trust properties and branches of Asda and Tesco in the region.

The pupils independently researched, designed and produced the family-friendly book.

It features nine walks from three different branch lines, and also recommends attractions, pubs and restaurants along each route.

Platform has even gone international, with a German version of the book currently in development.

The 12-strong group won three out of four trophies in the Devon round of the Young Enterprise Competition at Exeter's Met Office base.

Platform was named as having the best company report, best trade stand and best overall company.

Plymouth College has a strong track record in business competitions.

The school has won 11 national titles in recent years, including the National Young Enterprise award in 2009.

[Lee]

Although there may be some ins and outs that I'm not aware of, I would have thought that FGW^▸ (First Great Western) are missing a trick here regarding availablity of the book at their stations.

[JayMac]

Surely WHSmith at Plymouth station could stock it.

I wouldn't like to see it for sale through the ticket counters. First Great Western seem to find it difficult to retail their own Network timetable. I made two attempts to purchase one yesterday. On both occasions they were locked away and there was no supervisor available to access them.

[Chris from Nailsea]

One can only imagine what suitably caustic comment Michael Palin might make, upon hearing of such stupidity ... 

[EBrown]

I've spoken to Jo, she thinks that it should be in some stations so has "passed it on".

@FGW also shared:

This looks like a worthwhile read if you are travelling on our trains to the West this summer - thisisplymouth.co.uk/Pupils-railway^ - Jo

[macbrains]

I'd like to buy a copy, but I'm not local to Plymouth.  Despite the note above, I can't see it on Amazon.  Does anyone have a link?

Thanks
Rob

[macbrains]

Sorry, now found it: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Rail-Trails-From-Track-Trail/dp/0956306314/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the Western Morning News:

Rail Trails give a new lease of life to rural railway stations of the West

Country railway stations are a part of the fabric of rural Britain.

Arriving ^ or leaving ^ from a station deep in the country has been a crucial plot device in hundreds of books and films with a rural setting, usually accompanied by the hiss of steam and the clunk of heavy door closing and leather cases being set down on the platform.

Think of The Railway Children, virtually every story ever told about Second World War evacuees and many, many more. There is a common theme, however ^ the vast majority of the scenes smack of nostalgia.

But the image has been brought bang up to date by an enterprising group of Westcountry students who believe the country station makes an ideal starting point for exploring our region on foot.

And now they are hoping their guides to circular walks from branch line stations, produced in conjunction with First Great Western, can help to improve the fabric of one of the stations they feature which has seen better days.

The youngsters ^ eight of them aged 17, who are pupils at Plymouth College ^ competed in the national Young Enterprise scheme with their book Rail Trails ^ from Track to Trail. The book is aimed at getting families out of their cars to discover the delights of the rural railways and surrounding walks in the Westcountry. Now being sold in local Waterstones and other outlets, including via Amazon and local tourist information centres, the book has been so successful that the team have decided to spend their profits on something that would enhance the community.

The group set up a Community Interest Company and decided to "adopt" Gunnislake station and use any profits to renovate it.

MD of the company, 17-year-old Harry Cobbold from Plympton, said: "We are all really keen on promoting public transport and family days out. Rail Trails is a small book of family-friendly walks that can be taken from some of the lovely rural branch line stations of First Great Western Trains and the Bodmin and Wenford steam railway. We have recently brought out a second edition centred around Truro which includes areas like Falmouth and St Ives."

Callington pupil Katie Davies-Gregory, operations manager for Rail Trails, said: "The books are easy to use and have maps and clear directions for walks from the stations. We've also included local attractions such as pubs and restaurants in each walk which we hope will boost the rural economy."

Plymouth College Business teacher Jonathan Shields said: "Rail Trails is an innovative idea. It's been picked up by Devon and Cornwall partnership in West Cornwall. The regional manager of Great Western Trains is meeting with the team to look at putting the books on their Paddington to Penzance trains."

The idea behind giving profits to Gunnislake station is also unique. Julian Crowe, Regional Manager First Great Western for West of England, said: "We think that it is wonderful that youngsters are keen to value the branch lines in this way. They are working with Devon and Cornwall Rail Partnership to work on the improvement of Gunnislake station and it is terrific to see the spirit with which they've entered the idea."

The book has already had celebrity endorsements from one renowned traveller. The students sent a copy to globe-trotting TV presenter Michael Palin and cheekily asked him to photograph himself with the book and send a picture back. He did so, as did Who Wants to be a Millionaire presenter Chris Tarrant, who received the same request.

Harry Cobbold said: "We approached a few celebrities by sending off a copy of the book with a cover letter explaining what we're doing. Michael and Chris were kind enough to send back a photograph."

[Andrew1939 from West Oxon]

It is pleasing that these young folk have seen the opportunities of combining walking with train travel. The Cotswold Line Promotion Group has had such walking publications on sale for many years and each walk, in our case along the rail line, enables one to go to one station, have a pleasant walk to the next station and return to the start by train. The first book published many years ago is now almost sold out and describes walks from the Wye (Hereford) to the Thames (Oxford) but the most recent one covers slightly different walks in the reverse direction. For anyone interested, go to clpg.co.uk for more details.