Rudy’s last-minute choice of the 11:51 Edinburgh to Glasgow Central train meant he was able to take advantage of a timetable oddity for a little extra walk in Central Scotland without even changing trains!
Carstairs station is located next to a busy junction on the West Coast Main Line where cross-border express trains to & from London get priority. This means that sometimes the local Edinburgh – Glasgow Central stopping trains are given long dwell times at Carstairs. New timetables are a bit more efficient but back in early March 2020 we had 25 minutes to explore before getting back on the same seat on the same train!
Rudy was able to go for a wander round Carstairs Junction village (yes, the village is named after the railway junction!). While twenty-five minutes is a long time for a train to wait in a station, it wasn’t long enough to explore the whole village – what we did find though was lots of hints that it could be very interesting for a return trip with a proper plan and a wee bitty longer. Probably best known in Scotland for The State Hospital nearby
