Day 11 - Visit to Newcastle

The catch of the day was Timothy Taylor's Havercake Ale

We left the hotel quite early in time to catch the 08.35 train from York to Newcastle. It was surprising is that Crosscountry trains run a train ahead of us by 3 minutes all the way to Edinburgh.

Our train came out of the mist at York

As we expected it turned out to be an Azuma

It was cold and misty leaving York and the mist did rise at one point when the sun came through to reveal sheep wallowing in sodden fields. We could barely make out the cathedral the mist had returned as we approached Newcastle.

We purchased an all day ticket on the Tyne and Wear Metro at the Central station and took the Metro train out to Whitley Bay. It was misty over the North Sea but at least we could see the waves crashing on the rocks. This is an interesting line which was originally British Rail but it is now a local line using overhead DC power. Many of the original stations have been retained, that at Whitley Bay being particularly interesting. 

Newcastle

Whitley Bay

Whitley bay

Whitley Bay

Whitley Bay station interior

From Whitley Bay we came back to the central area and the main station where we had an enormous plate of fish and chips and a pint of Black Sheep bitter, both of which were excellent. The bar, just off the station concourse, had obviously been part of the the station construction with some incredibly imaginative and beautiful tile work.

After this we went back to the metro and caught a Metro train via Gateshead and Pelaw through to Sunderland.  Here the Metro trains appear to use the same tracks as the normal rail trains.

We had a quick walk around the town and found a park with a pond containing Mallards, Tufted ducks, Moorhens and seagulls. A man was feeding the large number of pigeons.  He was stopped by a couple of locals in uniform and commenced a big argument. It was shouted in the local accent which I couldn't understand.

Tufted Ducks are a diving duck that winter in the UK

The Metro train back to Central was pretty full.  The trains use a triple and quadruple aspect signal system just like British railways.  

We caught an LNER Azuma train back to York. These trains, although pretty new, did not give a good ride in many places and were heavily crowded.  I noticed that the seats and the windows did not match up so that some window seats did not have a proper view.

At York, this historic mile zero marker has been placed. It was mile zero for some ten railways,

A visit to the Bar near the station produced a pint of Timothy Taylor's Havercake. A little fuller that Landlord but, again, very good.

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