Best places to go in UK if you're a train spotter

[Sh4318]

Just wondering the main UK locations that people travel to for train spotting and photography. I quite like Shrewsbury, cause you get a good amount of sprinters and cordias and Birmingham New Street's always good for train spotting

[Kevin]

I like Shrewsbury aswell, just a bit too quiet sometimes. Prefer Nuneaton and Crewe meself

[JIM H]

Locally i prefer Water Orton, Nuneaton and Stafford because of the amount of freight workings.
Tamworth is also good because it has high and low levels. Further afield i'd recommend Doncaster, Peterborough, Cardiff, Newport, Reading, Didcot and London has several good places such as Clapham Junction, London Bridge, Stratford, Barking and Willesden, just to mention a few.

[Sh4318]

I went to Crewe today. I was quite impressed, 5 TOCS: LM, ATW, NR, EMT, VT. '12' platforms, even though only 3-7, 9 & 11 are in use. A good range of trains, 323s, desiros, pendolinos, voyager/supervoyagers, sprinters, super sprinters, coradias. My only critcism is the players that just get in the way, especially on platform 5 and 6 when trying to take photos

[JIM H]

Crewe station is OK for passenger trains, but you miss most of the freight workings because the freight lines drop down to the west of the station and then under the junction to the north of the station.

[Sh4318]

Crewe station is OK for passenger trains, but you miss most of the freight workings because the freight lines drop down to the west of the station and then under the junction to the north of the station.

Yeah true, I'm not really that interested in freight workings, and it's pretty good for sprinters  :). I'm also quite curious about Hereford too, as I've never been

[D10]

Crewe station is OK for passenger trains, but you miss most of the freight workings because the freight lines drop down to the west of the station and then under the junction to the north of the station.

I haven't been to Crewe for years, but if the Heritage Rail Centre is still open, then you used to get some good views from there.

[JIM H]

Hereford station is served by Arriva Wales, London Midland and First Great Western and is on the line from South Wales to Shrewsbury.
London Midland services arrive from Birmingham via Worcester and First Great Western from Paddington. It's not very busy when compared with larger populated areas, but  Manchester Piccadilly, Leeds and Sheffield which have much higher volumes of passenger services and are well worth a visit.
Network Rail now have a passenger "Working Timetable" on their website, i found it hard going but interesting.

[Kevin]

Crewe station is OK for passenger trains, but you miss most of the freight workings because the freight lines drop down to the west of the station and then under the junction to the north of the station.

Last time I went to Crewe I went just outside the station as well to where the freight lines dive under, got the best of both worlds

[Sh4318]

Anyone know what Liverpool Lime Street is like for spotting? I should be heading to Water Orton in a few days to record some freight workings

[JIM H]

Liverpool LIme Street is a terminus for mainline passenger services. Train operators are Virgin, London Midland, Northern,
Trans Pennine,  & East Midlands. So you can expect to see multiple units from those companies. There is no freight.
Merseyrail's Class 507/508 units run into platforms on a separate level.

[s-m-991]

I reckon Rugeley TV. See Pendos and Voyagers speeding past, 350's with its alarm and it's very peaceful.

[nitromatt1]

Although I'm not a train spotter, I find Tamworth station is a very nice place, stood on the upper platform for a short while to watch a couple of trains pass, really quiet and a nice view

[Kevin]

Anyone know what Liverpool Lime Street is like for spotting? I should be heading to Water Orton in a few days to record some freight workings

Not gonna lie, I find Lime st a bit boring, might be because I go there a fair bit to visit family but doesn't really seem anything special there these days. Back when Central trains ran the class 310s and 323s all the way to liverpool perhaps it was a bit different

[Sh4318]

I'd recommend Manchester Piccadilly if you like Enviros and Sprinters, virtually most of the services are Enviro 400 in some form. Piccadilly Gardens is possibly the worst place for taking pictures though. Buses constantly get stuck at the Zebra Crossing which gets in the way of bus you want to photograph